Introduction: A Quiet, Uneasy Life
Omkar, a 24 year old medical student, living with friends in a cramped apartment in a bustling Indian city. He was a final year student, practicing his skills in a hospital, surrounded by noise, patients, and expectations that never matched his dreams.
He was intelligent and kind, but was often overlooked. He felt like a ghost in his own life—present but invisible. Though he had friends, none truly understood the persistent feeling of displacement that clung to him. The pressure of being someone and to be a successful person in the future.
For months, he had recurring dreams: a vast sky cracking open like glass, a haunting voice whispering his name in a forgotten language, and a blinding light that never lets him see what lies beyond.
This was a cycle which continued everyday. This made him wake up with a pounding heart and a strange warmth in his hands.
At first, he used to dismiss it as stress—until the dreams became more vivid and started bleeding into his waking life.
And this was the turning point which changed mundane life, where he was introduced to the Nightmare' Paradise. The Paradise which is a nightmare on its own, the world which made mysteries seem haunting.
Chapter One: Cracks in the Silence
Omkar hated this stretch of road.
It wasn't the potholes or the stray dogs that roamed like ghosts under flickering street lamps. It was the silence—the kind that settled deep in your bones, pressing against your chest until every breath felt like a question left unanswered.
He walked home from his night shift at the hospital, hands stuffed into his jacket pockets, shoulders hunched against the early morning chill. The air was thick with humidity, the kind that never quite let go, clinging to his skin and thoughts alike. Street vendors were still hours from setting up their stalls, and the city itself seemed to be holding its breath.
He glanced up at the sky, expecting the usual dull orange glow of his City's smog-choked morning. Instead, the stars stared back—clear, sharp, and impossibly close.
Odd.
Omkar slowed, squinting, his eyes holding a view under his glasses. One of them was moving. Not like a plane. Not like anything.
A single pinpoint of light shimmered, blinked... and cracked.
It didn't explode. It fractured. The sky itself split, silently, like glass being sliced open from the other side. Threads of iridescent color bled from the crack, rippling through the clouds. Omkar stood frozen, his eyes widened, his breath caught between awe and fear.
The crack widened.
And from it, something reached out.
It wasn't a hand. Not exactly. It was a ripple—like heat on asphalt, like a dream trying to take shape. It brushed against his chest, and his heart slammed in his ribcage. The world around him began to twist, folding in ways that felt wrong, like watching a body bend in places it shouldn't.
He stumbled backward. His mind panicked— still couldn't fathom what was going on.
Suddenly, The ground vanished.
---
He was falling.
Not through air. Not through anything he could name. Colors spiraled around him—impossible hues that had no names, no place in the visible spectrum. Sound became memory. Light turned to voice. Every sense collided.
Then—
Silence.
When he opened his eyes, he found himself laying on soil that pulsed faintly beneath his fingertips, warm and alive like the back of a sleeping creature.
His senses avoke as instincts kicked him, he viewed the sky.
A deep blue sky stretched overhead, and twin moons cast shadows that danced like liquid across violet grass.
He tried to stand. The gravity felt strange—heavier, but… forgiving. The trees nearby were translucent, glowing softly from within, their roots moving like tendrils beneath the earth. Wind carried no scent, but whispered his name.
"Omkar."
He turned.
Nothing.
But the word echoed again, this time from behind his teeth, as if something inside him had said it first.
He wasn't alone. Not really. The land seemed aware—watching, waiting.
And he felt different too.
Sharper.
As if someone had peeled something off his skin—some invisible film he hadn't known was there. Thoughts came faster. Feelings burned brighter. And in the back of his mind, something began to stir. A presence. A name.
Velmyra.
The name came not as a word, but a recognition. Like remembering the face of someone you'd loved in a forgotten dream.
His knees buckled, and he dropped to the ground.
Not from pain.
But from understanding. His awareness led him to the conclusion.
This was not Earth.
This was not a dream.
This was the beginning.
Beginning of something, something strange.