Crossed Fiction

The sky above Earth always looked too clean for a city that large. Towering buildings stood like rows of faceless machines while thin rain quietly fell over the streets below. Massive digital billboards replayed the same polished p********a about safety, order, and peace — things people had stopped questioning a long time ago. Vincent woke up a few minutes before his alarm rang. Habit. His eyes slowly opened to the dark ceiling of his apartment. Nothing about the morning felt unusual. The faint sound of underground trains still echoed from somewhere beneath the city, the smell of coffee from the apartment next door lingered in the air, and the black pistol resting on the bedside table remained exactly where he had left it the night before. A tidy world. Almost too tidy. Vin let out a quiet breath before getting up from bed. His dark hair was messy, his black shirt slightly wrinkled, and the thin scar across his neck became visible under the pale morning light. Fifteen minutes later, he stood in front of the apartment window wearing the long gray coat that marked him as part of the intelligence division. A small earpiece lit up beside his ear. New mission. Illegal data trafficking. Southern district. Threat level: high. Vin simply grabbed his gloves with little reaction. Missions like this had long stopped feeling dangerous. At some point, they had turned into routine — repetitive, exhausting, and painfully normal. In Earth, Vincent was known as one of the government’s finest secret agents. Efficient. Precise. Difficult to kill. Meanwhile, far beyond his universe, the crimson sky of Skyfall burned endlessly above a dying city. Skyfall had never known peace. Cities were crowded with tangled cables, collapsing buildings, and streets filled with sirens more often than music. Rainwater dripped endlessly from rusted rooftops while neon lights flickered like dying stars across the darkened alleys. Standing on the edge of an old building, a girl calmly wiped blood from the edge of her knife. Rin. Her long black hair moved gently with the cold night wind while the oversized dark jacket hanging from her shoulders carried several fresh bullet holes. Below the rooftop, three bodies lay motionless in the rain. Target eliminated. Simple. Without hesitation, Rin jumped down from the railing and disappeared into the narrow streets below as if nothing had happened. Her footsteps echoed softly through the alleyways until another sound began to rise behind her. Multiple footsteps. Fast. “They found her!” “Don’t let her escape!” Rin rolled her eyes in annoyance. Bandits. Again. She had no idea who leaked her location this time, but now nearly half the district seemed determined to hunt her down. Gunshots suddenly erupted through the alleyways. A bullet slammed into the concrete wall beside her head, scattering dust across her face. Rin immediately broke into a run. Fast. Her boots splashed through puddles as she moved effortlessly through the crowded maze of streets. Her breathing remained calm despite the growing number of people chasing her. Normally, she could have killed all of them without much trouble. But tonight felt wrong. The air itself felt heavier somehow. Like the world was beginning to fall apart. And seconds later— The sky cracked open. A deafening sound tore through both universes at the exact same moment. Buildings shook violently. Electric cables exploded overhead while powerful winds swept through the streets without direction. In Earth, Vin stopped walking the moment the enormous light appeared above the city. His brows furrowed slightly. “What the hell…” At the same time, in Skyfall, Rin nearly lost her balance as a massive portal suddenly formed in front of the alley she was running through. Even the bandits behind her froze in fear. The portal looked like a wound carved directly into reality itself — a giant swirling fracture glowing with blinding white light. And somehow… Rin felt it calling her. Another gunshot rang out behind her. Closer this time. She clicked her tongue softly before making a reckless decision. Then she jumped. The world around her instantly shattered into light. Her body felt weightless, dragged violently through freezing emptiness while distorted fragments of both worlds flashed around her like broken memories. Buildings twisted. Voices echoed. Time itself seemed to tear apart before everything suddenly stopped. Hard. Rin crashed onto the roof of a parked car. The vehicle alarm instantly screamed through the silent street. “…what?” Slowly, she lifted her head. The sky was different. Not red. Not broken. Too clean. And standing only a few meters away was a man staring at her with a mixture of confusion and suspicion. Rin froze. So did he. Because their faces looked almost identical. Only their presence felt different. One looked like someone shaped by rules and order. The other looked like someone who had survived by staining their hands with blood. Rain quietly fell between them. Vin stared at the strange girl for several long seconds before finally speaking in a tired voice. “…either I’m dreaming, or the universe just smoked something.” The sky above Earth disappeared without warning. There was no explosion. No dramatic shockwave. The world around Vincent and Rin simply folded inward like paper before shattering into millions of fragments of white light. Streets vanished beneath their feet while reality itself dissolved into an endless void without direction or gravity. Vin reacted instantly, pulling his pistol from beneath his coat. Rin raised her knife at the same moment. Both of them instinctively stood back-to-back, eyes scanning the darkness surrounding them even though there was nothing there except an infinite emptiness that seemed to stretch forever. Then the floor appeared. Slowly. As if reality was rebuilding itself around them. Fragments of light gathered beneath their feet, forming a strange place that felt impossible for the human mind to fully understand. The sky above was black, covered in glowing fractures like shattered glass. Massive structures floated endlessly in the distance, connected by enormous stone bridges suspended over the void. Giant clocks stood motionless across the landscape — some ticking backward, others missing their hands entirely. The air itself felt ancient. Not old in a normal sense. Ancient in a way that made Earth and Skyfall feel insignificant. Vin slowly lowered his pistol while staring around the impossible world. “…yeah, I already hate this place.” Rin remained silent. Her eyes moved carefully across every detail around them like a predator searching for hidden danger. Then, through the silence— The sound of a wooden cane striking the ground echoed softly. Tok. Tok. Tok. A figure slowly emerged from the shadows. An old man. Or at least something that resembled one. He was tall and unnaturally thin, wrapped in a long dark coat whose edges seemed to blend directly into the shadows beneath him. Long white hair rested messily over his shoulders while his dim glowing eyes looked like dying stars on the verge of fading forever. He looked exhausted. Not physically. Existentially. Like someone who had lived far longer than anything should. “Ah…” his rough voice echoed through the endless space. “So you finally arrived.” Vin and Rin immediately shifted into defensive stances. “Who are you?” Vin asked coldly. The old man remained quiet for a moment before slightly bowing his head. “My name is Frâld.” Even his name sounded unnatural, like human language was never meant to pronounce it properly. Rin slowly spun her knife between her fingers. “And you’re the reason all this happened?” Frâld let out a tired sigh. “Yes… more or less.” His casual answer instantly made the atmosphere heavier. The glowing cracks in the black sky flickered for a brief moment before dimming again. “I made a mistake,” Frâld continued quietly. “A very small mistake… that accidentally connected Earth and Skyfall into the same universal path.” Vin stared at him in disbelief. “Small?” “For beings like you? No.” Frâld slowly raised one hand. The space around them shifted immediately. Millions of glowing transparent lines appeared in the air, branching endlessly like the roots of a cosmic tree. Entire universes moved across the darkness around them. Timelines twisted together. Realities crossed paths before separating again. Earth appeared before them. Then Skyfall. Two worlds with nearly identical structures. But opposite souls. “There are billions of universes,” Frâld explained. “Each one exists in its proper place. Earth and Skyfall were never supposed to touch because they are inverted reflections of one another.” The image of Earth glowed brightly. Clean. Stable. Controlled. Then Skyfall appeared beside it. Broken. Violent. Chaotic. “If opposing universes remain connected for too long…” Frâld’s voice grew quieter. “…the multiverse will eventually label one of them as defective.” Rin finally spoke. “And then?” Frâld looked directly at both of them. “The Multiverse Guards will erase one world entirely.” Silence followed immediately after. The sentence hung heavily in the air while distant fractures across the sky slowly pulsed like cracks spreading through glass. Vin dragged a hand down his face. “…I met the female version of myself like ten minutes ago and now you’re telling me one of our worlds is getting deleted?” “Essentially.” “That’s insane.” Rin narrowed her eyes slightly. “If you caused this, why don’t you fix it yourself?” For the first time, Frâld smiled. A weak smile. The kind someone makes after carrying exhaustion for centuries. “Because I am too old to travel between universes anymore.” His wrinkled hand trembled slightly around the wooden cane. “For longer than your civilizations can comprehend, I maintained the balance of the multiverse. This body can no longer survive dimensional traversal.” The glowing branches around them shifted once more, now showing dozens of collapsing universes flickering through existence. “You must locate the origin point of the fracture,” Frâld continued. “If the core instability is repaired, Earth and Skyfall can still be separated back into their proper universes.” “And if we fail?” Vin asked. Frâld stayed silent for several seconds. “…then one of your worlds disappears.” No one spoke after that. Only the sound of distant fractures echoing endlessly through the darkness remained. This place was called The Fallen. A world outside the multiverse itself. A place where broken realities were abandoned before they could infect everything else. Frâld slowly walked past them before stopping beside two floating metallic objects shaped like black bracelets. “Wear them.” Vin caught one with a raised eyebrow. “…seriously? A watch?” “Adaptive Traversal Gear,” Frâld replied calmly. “You’ll need it if you want to survive traveling between universes.” The moment they equipped them, a thin layer of light wrapped around both of their bodies. Vin’s clothes changed first. His gray agent coat dissolved into dark futuristic combat wear layered with lightweight armor and glowing silver lines running across the fabric. Rin looked down at herself moments later as her oversized jacket transformed into a long black coat fitted with weapon holsters automatically locking into place around her waist and thighs. Vin stared at his new outfit for several seconds. “…okay, this actually looks cool.” Rin exhaled softly in mild annoyance. Frâld raised his hand one final time. A massive portal slowly opened behind them. Inside it, another universe twisted violently in unstable flashes of light. “You do not have much time,” Frâld said quietly. “The fracture between universes expands every minute.” “And where does this one lead?” Rin asked. Frâld stared silently at the portal. “To a universe already approaching collapse.” The portal pulsed slowly. Cold. Unstable. And without truly having any other choice— Vin and Rin stepped forward into a journey neither of them fully understood yet.