When a meteor crashes into Hyunjin's life, it doesn't just leave a crater-it changes everything.
Embedded within it was an ancient relic, a forgotten piece of a lost civilization, that fused with his very being, granting him superhuman abilities fa...
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The night air was thick with the scent of damp earth and pine, the forest alive with the soft rustling of leaves and the occasional hoot of an owl hidden among the towering trees. The moon hung low, casting a silver light that filtered through the canopy, creating shifting patterns on the forest floor. He walked slowly, relishing the solitude, the quiet hum of the world around him a balm for his restless mind. The cool breeze brushed against his skin, carrying with it the scent of rain that had fallen earlier, leaving behind the rich, clean aroma of petrichor.
He wasn't sure why he'd chosen this path tonight, why the forest had called to him, but something about the stillness, the way the trees seemed to envelop him, made him feel grounded, safe even. His footsteps were soft, barely a whisper against the earth, as he meandered through the underbrush, lost in thought.
But then, without warning, the night split open.
A brilliant flash of light blazed across the sky, and before he could react, something struck him with the force of a sledgehammer. Pain exploded in his head, sharp and blinding, driving him to his knees. He clutched his skull, gasping, as the world around him tilted and spun. The sound of his own ragged breaths filled his ears, drowning out the distant calls of the forest. The pain was unbearable, a searing heat that radiated from the point of impact, making his vision blur.
"What the hell...?" The words barely formed in his throat, fragmented and disjointed, as he forced himself to look around, desperate to understand what had just happened.
Through the haze of pain, he saw it. A small crater, still smoking, had formed just a few feet away, the earth blackened and charred at its edges. And there, nestled in the center, lay a rock—no, not just a rock, something otherworldly. It pulsed with a faint, eerie glow, as if alive, as if it was breathing. The surface was cracked and rough, veins of golden light seeping through the fissures, casting strange, shifting shadows on the ground.
Despite the pain pounding in his skull, something drew him closer. He crawled toward it, his movements slow and unsteady, eyes fixed on the strange object that had fallen from the sky. The closer he got, the more he could feel it—a warmth radiating from the rock, a subtle hum that seemed to vibrate in the very air around him. It was like nothing he had ever seen before, like something pulled from the depths of a dream, or a nightmare.
He hesitated, hand trembling as he reached out, the tips of his fingers mere inches from the glowing surface. His heart pounded in his chest, each beat echoing in his ears, loud and frantic. What was this thing? What had it done to him? And yet, despite the fear gnawing at the edges of his mind, curiosity pulled him in, overriding the instinct to flee.
The moment his fingers made contact with the rock, everything changed.
An invisible force slammed into him, lifting him off the ground with terrifying speed. He was yanked upward, as if caught in the grip of some unseen giant, his body soaring above the treetops. He gasped, eyes wide, heart hammering in pure, unbridled terror. The forest fell away beneath him, the ground shrinking as he rose higher and higher, until he was suspended in the night sky, nothing but air and stars surrounding him.
what the hell is happening? The thought was a scream in his mind, panic surging through him as he writhed in midair, struggling against the force that held him captive. But there was nothing to fight, nothing to grab onto. Just the empty sky, vast and indifferent.
And then, the rock below him came alive.
A beam of energy, blinding in its intensity, shot up from the crater, piercing the night. It connected with him, slamming into his chest with the force of a lightning bolt. He screamed, the sound torn from his throat as the energy surged through him, filling him with a power so intense it felt like he was being ripped apart from the inside. His veins lit up with a golden glow, the light spreading through his body like wildfire. His skin burned, his muscles convulsed, every nerve ending alive with a pain so profound he thought it would tear him apart.
"No... no!" He pleaded, his voice a ragged whisper as he twisted and writhed, desperate to escape the torment. But there was no escaping it. The energy flooded him, wave after wave, each more powerful than the last, until he thought he might explode from the sheer force of it.
His vision blurred, the world around him dissolving into a haze of gold and shadow. Then, from the corner of his eye, he saw them—symbols, ancient and incomprehensible, swirling around him in the air. They were made of light, shifting and changing, forming patterns he couldn't decipher, couldn't even begin to understand. They circled him, faster and faster, until they were nothing more than a blur of motion and light.
And then, with a final surge of energy, the symbols converged on him, slamming into his body with a force that stole his breath. He cried out, the sound lost in the roar of power that consumed him. The light, the energy, the symbols—they all fused with him, searing themselves into his very being.
And just as suddenly as it had begun, it stopped.
The energy beam ceased, the light around him dimmed, and for a moment, he hung in the sky, weightless and empty, every nerve in his body buzzing with the aftershock. Then, gravity reclaimed him, and he fell.
Down and down, through the trees, through the night, until he hit the ground with a thud. The impact drove the breath from his lungs, the familiar scent of earth and rain filling his nose as he lay there, face pressed into the dirt. The world around him was silent, the only sound the faint rustle of leaves and the distant call of an owl.
Pain surged through him, but it was dull now, distant, as if his body was too exhausted to feel it fully. His vision faded, the darkness closing in at the edges, and just before he lost consciousness, a single thought flickered in his mind.
What just happened to me?
And then, there was nothing but darkness.
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[A/N: SO happy that I finally started this story, the idea has been in my head for a while, please bear with me if the chapters are bad, this is my first time ever writing a fan fiction and English is nawt my first language, I'll try to improve as the story continues. Anyways, please enjoy undercover!]
