NOVPUBBella stood perfectly still at the center of the ruined battlefield, surrounded by pillars she had summoned with sheer telekinetic precision. Her breathing was steady, eyes focused, and her body moved like a conductor leading an orchestra—graceful but deadly. That was, until a subtle shift in the wind and the crackling energy in the air told her someone had stepped inside the danger zone.
She turned back casually, already expecting to scold whoever was dumb enough to interrupt her training. But when her eyes met the figure before her, everything around her melted away. The sky, the ruins, the lingering black lightning in the air—it all faded into a blur.
That face. That expression. The aura.
It was him.
"N-Nate?" she whispered, her voice cracking.
She blinked rapidly as if her mind was trying to catch up with what her heart already recognized. The man standing before her was different. He was taller, broader. The black lightning that swirled faintly around his feet was unlike anything she had seen before. And yet, it was still him.
Nate smiled. Just that. No words. Just a soft, warm, knowing smile.
Bella's lip trembled as she stepped forward, her hand reaching out and landing softly on his chest.
"It's been two years…" she said with a voice that barely held itself together. "I knew you were alive all along. I could feel you."
Nate opened his mouth to respond, but before he could say a single word, Bella surged forward and kissed him.
It was sudden. Urgent. As if two years of waiting, hoping, praying… had boiled down to this moment.
The wind stirred around them, gently lifting the dust from the ruined ground.
---
Back in the heart of the city, at Madison's apartment, the birthday party was in full swing.
Colorful lights danced across the walls. Music thumped in the background, but it was warm, relaxed—everyone was just happy to be together. Laughter echoed. Jokes were thrown across couches and kitchen counters. Empty plates stacked high on tables told the tale of a feast already consumed.
The apartment had been decorated beautifully. Streamers, glimmering candles, and photos from their journey lined the walls—photos from the island, from their battles, from their victories. Each one a memory sealed in time.
Madison stood by the mirror in the hallway, adjusting her sleek blue dress. The one Bella told her not to wear earlier. It hugged her curves perfectly, flowing down with grace and elegance. She didn't need anything flashy—she was the flash.
People moved around her, giving greetings and sharing stories, but the air suddenly shifted when Ryder walked up holding a big, awkwardly wrapped present.
He grinned like a kid as he handed it to her. "Don't open it yet," he warned.
Madison raised a brow, already half-tearing the wrapper. But before she could pull the ribbon, Bella appeared from nowhere and pinched her side.
"Leave that for later, idiot," Bella said, her voice firm but playful.
Madison rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine."
Suddenly…
A wave of murmurs began to ripple through the crowd. Soft at first. Then louder.
"Wait… is that—?"
"Is that really him?"
"No way…"
Madison smiled, she already knew what they were murmuring about.
Bella's also smiled.
The front door opened, and there he was—Nate.
People didn't know whether to shout, cry, or freeze. They did a bit of everything. The entire room erupted.
"Nate's back!"
"I told you! I told you he wasn't dead!"
Elena was the first to scream, "Oh my god!"
Before anyone else could move, Ray barged through the crowd with his giant belly leading the way. He grabbed Nate in a full bear hug, nearly lifting him off the floor.
"Hahahahahaha! Kid, welcome back! Welcome back!" Ray laughed.
Nate chuckled, patting the man's back.
Bella and Madison walked toward him, both stunned at the crowd's reaction.
Amara stood frozen with a cup in her hand, smiling brightly.
Ryder walked over, slapping Nate's shoulder. "Took you long enough."
Even Jack, who had mysteriously appeared on the kitchen counter munching popcorn, didn't say a word—he just nodded slowly as if he had seen this moment coming from a mile away.
Madison's mom came forward, eyes glossy, whispering, "You really came back…"
Nate looked around the room—at all their faces, at all the people who had become a family to him.
He nodded.
"I'm back."
And with those two words, the room roared with cheers, claps, and laughter again.
Madison grabbed his hand and led him to the center.
"You're not going anywhere this time," she whispered, her smile glowing with warmth.
Nate simply nodded again, heart full, as the music swelled around them.
----
Jack approached Nate with that ever-mischievous gleam in his eye, though there was a strange seriousness underneath it. He turned to Madison and gave a slight bow of his head. "Mind if I borrow him for a minute?"
Madison glanced at Nate with a raised brow but nodded. "Sure. Don't keep him too long."
Nate smirked at her before trailing after Jack, his curiosity piqued. Jack rarely showed up, and when he did, it always meant something weird—or important.
They walked in silence through the living room, where everyone was still buzzing from the surprise of Nate's return. The celebration continued, but Nate's mind was elsewhere, watching Jack's back with furrowed brows. They reached the kitchen, and Jack finally stopped. He turned around and placed a hand on Nate's hand.
"I have something to show you," Jack said quietly.
The moment Jack's palm made contact, Nate felt everything shift. His body stood motionless, but something deep within him—his essence, maybe—was pulled out. The kitchen faded into a blur of stars and blackness. A second later, Nate opened his eyes and gasped.
They were in outer space.
He stood beside Jack on an invisible platform, surrounded by an endless ocean of stars and galaxies. Before them, like a blue jewel floating in the void, was Earth.
"What the hell..." Nate whispered. "Jack, what is this?"
"Perspective," Jack said, folding his arms. He stared at Earth solemnly. "You asked what I meant when I said the humans are in trouble. Well, you're about to find out."
Nate turned to him, confused. "What do you mean? What kind of trouble?"
Jack's expression grew grim, a rare sight. He spoke slowly, as if choosing every word carefully. "Long ago—eons, not decades or centuries—humans weren't what they are now. They weren't fragile creatures of skin and bone. They were gods, Nate. Real gods. Not in myths or stories. They controlled time, space, energy... their very presence bent reality."
Nate's eyes narrowed. "You mean like... they had powers like us?"
Jack nodded but continued. "Powers far beyond ours. They didn't just bend elements. They were elements. They were fifth-dimensional beings, existing across planes we can't even comprehend."
Nate swallowed. That wasn't just strength. That was... incomprehensible.
Jack went on. "At some point, their power got to their heads. They became arrogant, unstoppable. They believed they were the rulers of all creation. They spread through galaxies, conquering planets, enslaving other races. There was no one to stop them."
"Until something did," Nate guessed.
Jack nodded again, more slowly this time. "They touched what they weren't supposed to."
Nate frowned. "What do you mean?"
"The heart of the universe," Jack said darkly. "Think of it like... the core of everything. A divine mechanism. Like the heart of a clock. It's what makes the entire universe tick. It's a source of unimaginable power, but also order. Law. Logic. Harmony. It isn't just power—it's the thing that keeps reality stable."
Nate took a breath. The scope of what Jack was saying was starting to hit him.
"So... the humans wanted it?"
"They didn't just want it," Jack said. "They took it. They seized the heart. The instant they did, the balance shifted. Other races, other beings—ancient ones—awoke. The universe itself retaliated. The humans were struck down. Their bodies torn, their essence shattered. Their knowledge erased. They fell from the fifth dimension to the third. All that remains of them... are us."
Nate stood in silence, gazing at the Earth.
"We're descendants of those gods?"
"The fallen kind," Jack said. "We're just shadows of what we once were. But... we're starting to awaken again. Slowly. And that's dangerous. Because the universe remembers. The guardians of the heart? They're watching. And they do not forgive."
Nate clenched his fists. "So... what now?"
Jack turned to him, his voice now almost a whisper. "They know we're waking up. And they're coming."
Nate blinked.
The space around him vanished like dust in the wind. The air grew still—cold, weightless. Before he could even ask where they were, his eyes caught it. Hanging in the vastness of space, devouring light and time alike, spinning with a terrifying grace:
A supermassive black hole.
Not just any.
TON 618 — the brightest and most massive black hole known in the observable universe. A cosmic titan, billions of times more massive than Earth's sun, and older than anything mankind could measure. Its light bent in impossible angles, forming a glowing accretion disk around a void darker than death itself.
Nate instinctively stepped back in awe. "W-Where… are we?"
Jack floated beside him, arms behind his back, gaze locked on the beast. "We're standing in front of the heart of the universe."
Nate's brows pulled into a knot. "I thought the heart of the universe was a metaphor—some kind of core holding everything together."
Jack nodded faintly. "It is. But it's also real. And this... is a glimpse of it."
Nate turned toward him. "Why are you showing me this?"
Jack didn't answer. Instead, he simply pointed. "Watch."
And so Nate did.
Time ceased to matter.
At first, nothing happened. Just swirling chaos and roaring silence. But slowly… something changed. The longer Nate stared, the more the black hole began to shift. It wasn't physical—it was in his mind. In his perception. Layers peeled away that he hadn't known existed. He felt as if he was being peeled back too.
His thoughts stopped. His breath stilled. His heartbeat vanished.
He felt like a ghost—an ancient being watching the slow turning of cosmic machinery.
Around the black hole, stars were being born and dying in accelerated waves. Entire galaxies flickered into view, then vanished. Nate felt himself being pulled deeper, not by gravity, but by understanding.
And then… he felt it.
Agelessness.
As if tens of thousands of years had passed in the blink of an eye. As if time was folding around him like paper.
He didn't remember blinking. He didn't remember breathing. But he knew he was still there, suspended in a moment that was also an eternity.
His thoughts slowly returned like echoes in an empty hall.
He turned to Jack—but the boy hadn't moved. Not even a hair. He was staring into the void as if it was telling him a story only he could hear.
And Nate understood now.
This black hole—this titan of gravity—was more than just a celestial body. It was a memory. A living record of what once was, what is, and what could be. Its presence rippled through all of reality, echoing in the souls of those rare enough to feel it.
It wasn't just destroying matter.
It was hiding something.
Something ancient.
Something forbidden.
Nate didn't need to ask anymore. He didn't need to speak. Because somehow, in that frozen slice of cosmic infinity, he knew:
This was the beginning…
…of everything.
And just like that, the vision trembled. The stars warped again. The void reached for him—
And Nate blinked.
