Liora Vance was many things.
A genius.
A disaster.
And currently, the proud owner of a flaming toaster.
"NO NO NO NO—!"
Smoke filled the tiny apartment kitchen as Liora flapped a dish towel like a distressed pigeon. Sparks crackled inside the toaster like it had developed a personal vendetta.
Her younger brother peeked around the corner.
"…Did you invent breakfast again?"
"I was optimizing breakfast," Liora corrected, coughing. "There's a difference."
The toaster exploded with a loud POP, ejecting a piece of toast that was less bread and more fossilized carbon.
Silence.
Liora stared at it.
"…Well," she said solemnly, "we've discovered a new element."
Liora Vance, age seventeen, student at Neo-Helix Academy of Quantum Sciences, had the mind of a prodigy and the domestic skills of a confused raccoon.
Her room was filled with half-built gadgets, glowing wires, holographic screens, and at least three projects labeled:
"DO NOT TOUCH – PROBABLY SAFE"
Probably.
She pushed her silver-blue hair behind her ear as she rushed to grab her satchel.
"I'm late I'm late I'm catastrophically late!"
"You're always late," her brother said.
"Yes, but today I'm late for something potentially history-making!"
"…Should I be worried?"
"Always."
🚀 Neo-Helix Academy
Neo-Helix Academy floated above the city like a glass jewel, suspended by anti-gravity rings. Students zipped between towers on hover-platforms, laughter and panic echoing equally through the air.
Liora sprinted down the corridor, nearly colliding with a floating drone.
"Student Vance," the drone beeped, "running indoors violates regulation—"
"I violate regulation on a conceptual level," she said, dashing past.
Inside Laboratory 7-Omega, Professor Kelric stood with the expression of a man who regretted his career choices.
"You're late, Miss Vance."
"Time is a social construct," Liora replied, sliding into her station.
"…So is detention."
"…Fair."
Today's experiment was forbidden, illegal, and academically thrilling:
Temporal Resonance Calibration.
Or, as Liora privately called it:
"Let's Poke Time With A Stick."
Professor Kelric activated the core: a spherical device of shifting light, humming like a living star.
"Remember," he warned, "this is only a simulation—"
Liora's eyes widened.
"…Professor?"
"Yes?"
"…Why is the simulation bleeding?"
Everyone turned.
A crack of glowing violet energy spread across the sphere like lightning frozen in glass.
Professor Kelric paled.
"That's not supposed to—"
The lab erupted.
⏳ The Accident
Energy howled.
Reality twisted.
Students screamed.
Liora felt the floor vanish beneath her.
Colors shattered into impossible shapes. Sound dissolved into a ringing silence. Her body felt both weightless and unbearably heavy.
She tried to scream.
Instead—
Darkness swallowed her whole.