The night after the awakening felt wrong.
London was never silent — not truly — but when Daniel stepped out of Evelyn's small apartment building the next morning, the city seemed to be holding its breath. The usual rush of traffic on the main road below was muffled, as if filtered through cotton. The sky, washed in faint winter blue, pulsed with something faint and invisible. Even the air felt heavy, pressing against his skin with a quiet, unnatural insistence.
He exhaled shakily and ran a hand through his hair. He hadn't slept. None of them had. Evelyn sat at the tiny kitchen table half the night, her fingers trembling each time sparks flickered around her palms — sparks she didn't produce intentionally. Clara paced the hallway, muttering to herself about symbols she could now "see" in ordinary objects that she never noticed before: patterns on curtains, on Evelyn's wallpaper, even in the steam from a boiling kettle.
Daniel's own power frightened him the most. Every time he panicked or felt overwhelmed, the world slowed around him for half a second — people's footsteps, the little swinging clock in the kitchen, even his own breath. It wasn't long enough to be useful. Just long enough to terrify him.
Now, standing outside, he tried to ground himself.
"Just breathe," he muttered.
But as soon as he said it, the street in front of him flickered — like a video glitch. A cyclist riding past seemed to stretch slightly, then snap back into real-time motion. Daniel stumbled backward, heart pounding.
This wasn't normal. This wasn't manageable.
It was getting worse.
"Daniel?"
Evelyn stepped outside, her coat pulled tight around her, hair messy from lack of sleep. Her eyes widened when she saw his expression.
"You saw something again, didn't you?" she asked softly.
"Everything glitched," he murmured. "Just for a second."
Evelyn swallowed, her breath clouding in the cold air. "We need Clara."
Clara joined them moments later, clutching the Manuscript to her chest with both hands. It vibrated faintly — not aggressively, not dangerously, but like something living was shifting inside it.
"We're not safe here," Clara said immediately. "The Manuscript is reacting to something close. Or someone."
Daniel's blood chilled. "Victor?"
"Maybe," Clara whispered. "Or someone tied to him."
Evelyn looked between them, anxiety rising. "We need to move. Staying still makes us easy targets."
Daniel nodded and led the way down the narrow street. They didn't walk far before things began to feel wrong again. A crow swooped low overhead, cawing loudly — but instead of flying onward, its wings froze mid-flap for a split second, suspended unnaturally above the street. Then reality snapped back, and the crow darted away as if startled.
Evelyn grabbed Daniel's arm. "That was you."
"I didn't do anything!"
"You don't have to," Clara said. "Your magic responds to your fear. The more distressed you become, the more the world around you… bends."
Daniel felt sick.
They turned the corner toward the small riverside park they usually cut through. Morning joggers passed them, unaware of the strange shifts happening. But the three of them felt it — the pressure in the air thickening, the subtle static fizzing along their skin, the way the trees seemed to lean slightly toward them.
Clara slowed down.
"Something's wrong here," she whispered.
Evelyn nodded. "The park feels… distorted."
Daniel tried to stay calm, but the air around him shivered again. The leaves on the nearest tree rustled even though there was no wind. The world dimmed slightly, as if the sunlight had been turned down for a moment.
Clara lifted the Manuscript. Its cover glowed faintly in response.
"It's trying to warn us," she breathed.
"About what?" Daniel asked.
"I'm not sure… it feels like—"
The ground beneath them rumbled softly.
Evelyn's eyes widened. "You feel that?"
Clara nodded. "Yes. Something is—"
A sudden burst of force knocked all three of them backward.
It wasn't physical. Not like an explosion. It was more like a surge of energy — raw and cold. The trees around them bent outward as if pushed by invisible hands. The joggers in the distance felt nothing. The rest of the world remained oblivious.
But for Daniel, Evelyn, and Clara, the world shifted.
Daniel scrambled to his feet, dazed. "What was that?!"
Clara's voice shook. "Someone else is awakening. Or using magic."
"Who?" Evelyn demanded.
But the answer came from the shadows near the far end of the park.
A man stepped forward — tall, sharp features, dressed in a charcoal coat. His eyes glowed faintly, a pale unnatural sheen barely visible beneath the morning light.
Daniel's breath hitched. "Is that—?"
"No," Clara whispered. "Not Victor. Someone working for him."
The man raised a hand — and the air between them warped instantly. He didn't cast a spell. He didn't chant. His magic moved like instinct, like breath.
Daniel felt his pulse spike and the world slowed into syrup again — much longer this time. The man's advance became sluggish, distorted, like moving through thick water. Evelyn's hair drifted through the frozen air like she was underwater. Clara's coat fluttered in slow motion.
Daniel stumbled backward in shock.
He was doing this.
He didn't know how, but fear had triggered something deeper, stronger than before.
But slowing time wasn't helping. His legs felt heavy, his chest tightened, and the more he panicked, the more the world flickered like a broken film reel.
Evelyn reached toward him, her movements still slow in Daniel's warped perception. "Daniel— let go! You're losing control—"
He forced his eyes shut and inhaled shakily.
Release. Release. Release.
The world snapped back.
The impact of reality slamming into place made Daniel fall to his knees. Evelyn grabbed him just in time before he hit the ground.
The stranger wasn't slowed anymore. And he was close now — too close.
Clara stepped in front of them, holding the Manuscript like a shield. "Stay back!"
The man smiled faintly. "Victor wants the book."
Evelyn's hands crackled with unstable sparks. "You're not getting it."
The man extended his arm, palm glowing with a cold, silver-tinted light.
Before he could strike, Clara cried out — not in fear, but as if something struck her mind. Her eyes went wide, irises glowing with symbols Daniel had never seen before. She gasped, clutched her head, and the Manuscript responded with a violent pulse.
Light burst outward.
The stranger staggered back, covering his eyes. "What—?!"
Clara's voice layered strangely, like overlapping echoes. "Do not touch them."
The glowing symbols in her eyes expanded into the air, forming a shimmering circle of light around Daniel and Evelyn. The barrier hummed, vibrating like struck glass.
The man recovered quickly, glaring. "You're only delaying—"
He struck the barrier.
The entire park trembled.
The barrier cracked visibly in the air like shattered ice. Clara cried out, falling to one knee. The Manuscript dimmed, struggling to maintain the protective field.
Daniel's panic spiked again — and the world lurched. Not slow this time, but fragmented. The man's arm moved twice in the same moment, overlapping visuals like split images. The ground beneath Daniel's hands rippled like liquid.
Evelyn hooked her arm under Daniel's and pulled him up. Her voice came out strained. "Stay with me!"
But another crack echoed through the shimmering barrier.
Clara whimpered. "I can't hold it—"
Daniel forced himself forward, fear buzzing under his skin like electricity. He didn't know what he was doing, didn't know how anything worked, but instinct screamed that running wouldn't save them.
He pressed his hand against the shimmering barrier.
Something inside him responded.
A pulse. A thread of power. A spark buried deep.
Suddenly, the barrier brightened — not from Clara, but from Daniel's touch. The cracks sealed, the light strengthened, and the stranger stepped back in shock.
Evelyn stared at him. "Daniel… you reinforced it."
"I don't know how," he breathed.
Clara gasped and felt the Manuscript blaze with renewed strength. "It's amplifying us… all of us. We're connected now."
The stranger recovered quickly, but for the first time, he looked uncertain.
"This isn't over," he hissed. "Victor will take the Manuscript. And he will break all of you to do it."
Then he vanished into the air — dissolving into a spray of silver dust.
Silence returned to the park.
Daniel collapsed onto the grass, chest heaving. Evelyn knelt beside him immediately. Clara fell back, the Manuscript dimming until it was silent again.
For a moment, none of them spoke.
Then Clara whispered, voice trembling:
"We're not the only ones with awakening magic. Victor has others. And they're trained."
Evelyn looked down at Daniel with fear and determination.
"Then we don't have a choice. We have to learn how to use our powers."
Daniel stared at his trembling hands, the residual shimmer of unstable magic still flickering under his skin.
He swallowed hard.
"We have to survive first."
And far away, hidden within the city's shifting shadows, Victor opened his eyes — smiling faintly as the echo of the power burst rolled through him like distant thunder.
"They've awakened," he murmured.
"At last."