Riku awoke to wind shrieking in his ears and fire in the sky.
He wasn't lying down. He wasn't standing. He was falling.
Above him, the sky was shattered — not metaphorically, but literally fractured into golden faultlines that bled light like open wounds. Jagged cracks split the heavens apart, and through them, chunks of the world fell: a car, a bus stop, what looked like a shopping mall fragment — all spinning downward through kaleidoscopic clouds.
People screamed as they fell alongside him. Hundreds? Thousands? Their cries blurred into one sickening wave of noise.
Riku twisted midair, his heart hammering so fast it barely registered, and saw a shape in the distance: an enormous continent far below, glowing faintly with rivers of light and sprawling forests of impossible color. One chunk of Earth's sky tilted and vanished into flame. A body spiraled past him, arms flailing.
He didn't have time to scream.
The air tore around him, heat surged through his chest—
—and then everything changed.
His descent slowed in a moment. As if gravity had forgotten him. He drifted sideways into a thick mist, softer than fog and smelling of sap and iron. It clung to his skin. Slowed him. Then let him drop the last few meters gently into a pool of moss.
He hit the ground hard but alive, blinking at a canopy of softly glowing trees above. Their leaves shimmered blue, and their bark pulsed faintly, like veins under skin. A low hum vibrated in the air — musical, steady, and not mechanical.
He coughed, rolled onto his side, and pushed himself up.
Silence greeted him.
No more screaming. No sirens. No wind. Just that constant, subtle hum — and the realization that he was no longer alone.
Figures stood around him. Silent. Watching.
They were tall, silver-skinned, with pupil-less white eyes that gleamed in the dim light. Tattoos glowed faintly across their bodies like shifting constellations. They wore living robes — strands of woven vine and petal that moved as if breathing.
Riku backed up instinctively, his hands raised.
One of them stepped forward — a woman, or at least shaped like one. Her face was sharp, elegant, framed by hair that flowed like oil down her back. A white circlet crowned her head, with a single dark gem in its center.
"You have fallen," she said, voice flat and musical. "You are named Sovereign."
Her language hit his ears in perfect Japanese. Not translated — native.
Riku stared. "I—what? Where am I? Who are—"
She raised a hand and pointed two fingers toward his face.
"You are Provisional. Not Chosen. Not yet."
Before he could reply, a shimmer passed across his vision.
A screen. Transparent. Digital.
[Global System Linking…]
[Assigned Role: Provisional Sovereign]
[Region: Lorian Forest – Tier 3 Territory]
[Tribe: Dream-Seers of Lorian]
[Starter Pack Deployed]
[Synchronization Error – Fold Signature Detected]
[Interface Restriction Enabled]
It vanished as fast as it appeared, leaving only the echo of a synthetic tone in his mind.
"System?" he whispered. "That was a system?"
The woman stepped closer, gaze fixed and cold. "Your fall marks the test. You stand in our rootbound realm. For thirty days, we accept your rule." She tilted her head slightly. "If you earn it."
"And if I don't?" Riku asked, trying to keep his voice steady.
She turned her hand, palm upward.
A gust of wind swept through the grove, bending the tall grasses and stirring the glowing leaves.
Riku looked past her and saw it — the outline of a skeleton, half-submerged in moss and vines. Human bones. Still wearing fragments of a blue hoodie.
A name tag caught the light.
Satoshi Yamada.
His older brother.
Riku's breath caught in his throat. His knees buckled slightly.
"That's not—" he stammered. "That's not possible—"
"He was Sovereign before you," the woman said calmly. "He did not pass."
Riku dropped to his knees.
The trees hummed louder.
"We are the Lorian," she continued. "We see truth in dreams, and dreams in liars. If you are false, the roots will judge you. If you are weak, the grove will eat you. If you run, we will hunt you."
She lowered her hand. "If you remain… we will watch."
A pulse of light flickered through the forest — a beat like a second heartbeat. Above, the sky still shimmered with the remains of the great tear, slowly sealing behind drifting clouds.
Riku looked up. The golden faultlines were vanishing, replaced by a calm, alien dusk.
A new shimmer danced in front of his eyes.
[Protection Period: 30 Days]
[Tribal Loyalty: Suspicious]
[Warning: Fold Anomaly Detected – System Restrictions Applied]
[One moon remains.]
The last line lingered longer than the others.
[And then the blood begins.]
Riku stared at it. And the tribe stared at him.
And deep beneath the glowing soil, something stirred.