Ren woke up with the taste of ozone in his mouth and the sound of crashing waves in his ears.
"Ugh... Rin, if this is a prank, I'm eating your leftovers for a month," he muttered, rubbing his head.
He opened his eyes and froze.
He wasn't on the street.
He wasn't even in his city.
He was lying on a beach of dark, purple-tinged sand. Massive, jagged rock formations rose from the earth like the ribs of a dead giant, and above him, the sky was a swirling vortex of bruised clouds and constant, flickering lightning.
"Holy shit... what the hell is this?"
He stood up, his legs feeling strangely light. The architecture in the distance looked like ancient Japan—pagodas and tiled roofs,.
There were trees with glowing leaves and a literal mountain split in half in the distance.
"It looks like Japan... but from the past. Or like a movie set," he whispered.
He looked down at his hands.
He was still wearing his hoodie and jeans, but he felt... different.
There was a buzzing under his skin, an itch he couldn't scratch.
"Okay, Ren. Don't panic. You're just... dreaming.Or you've been drugged. Or Rin finally cracked and put something in the pizza."
He decided to stretch, reaching his arms out wide and then throwing a casual, playful punch toward a nearby boulder—a massive hunk of stone the size of a minivan.
CRACK.
With a sound like a thunderclap, the boulder didn't just break. It disintegrated. A shockwave rippled out from Ren's fist, turning the stone into fine sand and pebbles that rained down for seconds after.
Ren stared at his hand. "Holy crap... I'm fvcking strong."
He looked toward the ocean. The waves were high and violent.
"No way. There's no way."
He ran toward the shoreline, wound up a punch, and slammed his fist into the air just above the water's surface.
The sea screamed.
A massive trench opened in the ocean, the water driven back by sheer physical force.
For a few seconds, Ren could see the sandy floor of the ocean, crabs scuttling in confusion, before the wall of water slowly began to collapse back in on itself.
"What happened to me? I'm like... a superhero? Or a villain? Man, Rin is gonna be so jealous."
He touched his head and felt his hair "Phew im not bald , my hair still there".
He looked up at the high cliffs surrounding the beach.
"Can I jump high?"
He bent his knees, gave a little hop, and—
"WOOOOOOAH!"
He didn't just jump; he launched like a surface-to-air missile.
The wind whipped past his face, cold and biting, but it felt amazing.
For a moment, he was suspended high above the clouds, looking down at the sprawling islands of Inazuma.
He saw a massive city built into a mountain, a grand palace sitting at the very top.
"The wind feels so good! I can see everything from here!"
As he began his descent, gravity pulling him back down toward the ground,he failed to notice a sudden change in the atmosphere.
The lightning in the sky stopped flickering randomly.
It began to coalesce, centering on a single point on the palace balcony.