Location: Victoria Island, Corona Academy, Lagos

  The classroom buzzed with frustrated groans. An equation glowed on the board—complex, relentless, and utterly unsolvable, or so it seemed. This was a school for elites, yet even the brightest minds in the room struggled, cycling through different patterns like an AI stuck in an endless loop.

  "This is impossible to solve," a student muttered, throwing down his pen in frustration.

  "Mr. Chibuzo hasn’t even given us a clue!" another boy added.

  "I know, but don’t you realize what’s at stake? If we get this right, we won’t have to come to his class again, and we’ll get a 50% boost in our CA. Who wouldn’t want to cling to that tiny hope?"

  The equation was not just difficult—it was an advanced theoretical formula dealing with infinite sequences, energy dispersion, and space-time anomalies. A puzzle meant to measure the limits of human understanding.

  "Do you think he gave us an impossible question on purpose?" a girl with glasses whispered to a classmate. A few students nodded, their skepticism spreading like wildfire. "It’s a trick question," they murmured.

  Except for one person.

  James Kelechi Conor sat near the window, arms folded, head resting on his desk. While the rest of the class scrambled for answers, he was fast asleep.

  Mr. Chibuzo’s eye twitched in irritation. As a substitute teacher, he had been trying to connect with the class, but James wasn’t even pretending to try.

  "James Kelechi Conor!" he bellowed, his voice laced with frustration.

  "He’s sleeping again," Samantha, the class rep, whispered to her vice.

  "Bet he screws up this time. Even if he’s the valedictorian, there’s no way he can pull this off," another student snickered.

  THUD!

  A textbook slammed onto James' desk, jolting him awake. His eyes fluttered open—calm, unbothered. A sharp voice cut through the murmurs.

  "If you have time to sleep, then you have time to show us how this question is solved, Mr. James."

  With an indifferent sigh, James stood, walked to the board, and picked up the marker. In smooth, effortless strokes, he simplified the equation. The room fell silent as he worked with unshakable precision. The method he used shouldn’t have worked—yet somehow, it did. The numbers aligned in a pattern almost too perfect, as if the solution had always been waiting for someone to find it.

  Finally, he capped the marker, placed it down, and turned away from the board.

  "Done."

  Gasps filled the air.

  "How did you do that?! Using those formulas together should be impossible!" someone shouted.

  Mr. Chibuzo stood frozen, staring at the board, then flipping frantically through his textbook. His lips parted in shock.

  "P-p-perfect..." he stammered.

  The principal had just walked in and witnessed the entire event. He stepped forward, handing James an envelope.

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  "This just arrived for you. Congratulations, James. You’ve been awarded a Rhodes Scholarship—a full ride."

  The class erupted again.

  "A Rhodes Scholarship?! That’s one of the most prestigious awards in Europe! We still have a long way until graduation!"

  James finally showed a flicker of interest. He took the letter, scanned it briefly, then muttered, "Mom’s gonna make a big deal out of this."

  The principal sighed. "You don’t even look surprised."

  "I knew I’d pass," James replied, slipping the letter into his pocket.

  Samantha clenched her fists. "You act like this doesn’t even matter! Some of us have to work twice as hard, and you just—sleep through it!"

  James glanced at her, but his expression remained unreadable. "Good thing I don’t. If it’s already this easy, school would just be boring."

  The bell rang, signaling the end of the day. As James shouldered his backpack and left the classroom, his classmates swarmed him.

  "James, you got a Rhodes Scholarship—that’s insane!"

  "James, wanna be my study partner?"

  "James, how about a sleepover sometime?"

  Ignoring them all, James walked outside, but something felt… off. A strange unease settled in his chest. The world around him seemed distorted, almost wrong.

  Birds flocked across the sky in chaotic patterns, circling unnaturally. A lone crow sat atop a streetlight, staring directly at him. A dog whimpered under a car, ears pressed flat in fear. The air felt heavier, charged with something unseen. James frowned. His instincts screamed at him, but he dismissed it.

  As he reached for his bike—

  A whisper brushed against his mind.

  Not words, but something deeper—a presence, a pulse of energy that sent shivers through his spine. His shadow flickered for a split second, distorting unnaturally before returning to normal. He shook his head, thinking he was just exhausted.

  BOOM!

  A deafening explosion tore through the air, sending James crashing onto the pavement. A shockwave rippled through his body, rattling his bones. The ground trembled beneath him as screams filled the air. Dust and debris clouded his vision, the scent of burning metal and scorched earth assaulting his senses.

  James groaned, blinking through the haze. His ears rang as he staggered to his feet.

  "Damn... that hurt. Where the hell did that come from?"

  As he struggled upright, his gaze lifted toward the sky—and his breath caught in his throat.

  The sky had cracked.

  Jagged fissures spread like shattered glass, pulsating with eerie, otherworldly energy. A dark void yawned behind them, flickering with an ominous glow. A sickening sensation twisted in James' gut.

  Fear flickered across his face for the first time.

  But what truly terrified him wasn’t just the fractured sky.

  The explosion had come from the direction of his house.

  And for a brief moment, as he steadied himself, he felt something unsettling deep within.

  Recognition.

  THE WORLD HAD CHANGED…

  It wasn’t sudden. It wasn’t an era of chaos. But it all began when two moons appeared in the sky.

  There was no warning. No system event. Just two moons hovering in the night, as natural as the one that had always been there. And yet, that was what made it eerie. There was no fanfare, no announcement—just an anomaly that defied reason.

  Social media erupted.

  Posts flooded the internet:

  “We’re in a fairy tale!”

  “An isekai fantasy come to life!”

  “The gods have returned!”

  “Aliens. It has to be aliens.”

  Theories spread like wildfire, a mix of excitement, fear, and absurdity. But while the public drowned in speculation, scientists were silent. Not because they had no answer, but because the truth was worse than speculation.

  The moons—strange as they were—could still be explained. Orbital anomalies, reflections, celestial bodies previously hidden. Theories were crafted, dissected, and fed to the media. People were skeptical at first, but science had a way of comforting the masses. Eventually, the panic settled.

  But what couldn’t be explained were the stars.

  At first, no one noticed. The moons had stolen the world's attention. But soon, astronomers and hobbyists began to raise the alarm.

  Our constellations were gone.

  No Big Dipper. No Orion’s Belt. No North Star. The sky still glittered with countless stars, but they were unfamiliar—alien.

  It was as if the entire Milky Way had been moved.

  If the public found out, civilization itself might collapse under the weight of the unknown. The government acted immediately, mobilizing the world’s leading scientists and space agencies. NASA, award-winning physicists, and government spokespersons took to the news, crafting a narrative the world could accept. They spoke of time warping, gravitational distortions, white holes and black holes.

  It sounded ridiculous.

  But people needed answers. And when authority spoke with enough conviction, the world listened. The fear was contained.

  At least, for a while.

  On the seventh day of the phenomenon—

  After seven days of unease, of quiet dread lurking beneath society’s surface…

  The sky broke.