Rin sat at his desk, staring at the flickering screen of his old computer. The soft hum of the machine was the only sound in the room, a constant companion to his routine. The calendar on his wall still read "April 12th, 2023." He had long since stopped caring about dates. Every day blended into the next.
Outside, the world continued on. People die, argued, loved, and lived. But not Rin. He had long ago accepted his isolation. At 16, he had already learned the futility of reaching out. Everything felt too loud, too... overwhelming. The weight of his own thoughts often drowned him, and in the silence of his room, he found solace.
His friends from school had stopped reaching out. Not that he minded. What was the point? They had their own lives, their own ambitions. And Rin? He had nothing. His days were a cycle of mindless scrolling, a search for meaning in distractions that only dulled the ache of his existence.
Rin's eyes drifted to the corner of the room, where a strange dusty box sat half-hidden beneath his desk. He hadn't noticed it before, but now, something about it seemed... odd. The box was old, its wood warped by time, but it was unmistakable—a relic from a time he had almost forgotten. He hadn't opened it in years.
With a sigh, he pushed his chair back and stood. He was going to ignore it. But before he could turn away, his hand reached out almost involuntarily.
His fingers brushed against the cold surface of the box. What's the harm?
He lifted the lid slowly, the hinges creaking as if protesting the intrusion. Inside, nestled between layers of yellowing paper and forgotten trinkets, lay something that shouldn't have been there.
A small, smooth stone.
It was unlike anything he had seen before—a pale, translucent object that shimmered faintly with an inner light. Rin frowned, his brow furrowing. Where did this come from?
He picked it up, feeling a strange tingle as his fingers wrapped around its cool surface. The moment he touched it, a jolt of energy shot up his arm, sharp and immediate, as if the stone itself was alive. He dropped it instinctively, but the stone didn't fall. Instead, it hovered for a brief moment before dropping gently back into his palm, its faint glow pulsing in time with his heartbeat.
Rin recoiled slightly. What... is this?