Chapter 1: The Rift Opens

The night sky cracked open with a streak of fire—comet trails slicing through the stars like blades across silk. The city below shimmered under the glow of neon and moonlight, but Kael Draven stood alone atop a crumbling tower, a dark silhouette against the electric horizon.

He wasn’t startled by the celestial display. He had seen far stranger things in his lifetime—monsters that tore through dimensions, machines that whispered like ghosts, and enemies who turned into shadows. But tonight felt… different.

Kael, once a protector of his world, now a lone wanderer clad in a battle-worn Kamen Rider suit, was nearing the end of his latest mission. Or so he thought.

The first sign came with the wind—shifting, cold, unnatural. Then the light came. Blinding. Violent.

From nowhere, a vortex erupted around him. The very air twisted with force, spiraling upward as though the universe itself had grown claws and was ripping a hole through reality. Kael reached for his belt instinctively, his Rider Core flaring to life. But it was too late.

The ground vanished.

He was falling—no, being pulled—through colors that didn’t exist and sounds that made his ears ache. Time stretched. Or stopped. Or shattered.

And then… silence.

Kael awoke face-down in soft earth, surrounded by silence so complete it rang in his ears. When he pushed himself up, the first thing he noticed was the sky. It was purple. Not a soft dusk or stormy hue, but a deep, shifting violet laced with threads of silver. The stars above blinked in unfamiliar constellations. The air smelled like wildflowers and ash.

He was standing on a vast plain of glowing grass. In the distance loomed jagged mountains, and nestled between them—barely visible—was a city made of spires and light.

“Where the hell…?” he muttered.

This was not Earth. Not any version of it he knew.

He instinctively checked his armor systems. The suit responded, though sluggishly. His connection to the Rider Core was intact, but… altered. As if something in this world was interfering with his tech—or amplifying it.

A rustle.

He turned.

From the edge of the glowing plain, something emerged—a figure cloaked in black robes, face shadowed beneath a wide hood. The figure moved with eerie calm, the fabric of his robe whispering against the windless air.

Kael raised his guard. His right hand twitched near his belt, ready to transform at the first sign of threat.

The figure stopped a few steps away. “You’re not from Arcanis,” he said flatly, his voice deep, cold, and curious.

Kael narrowed his eyes. “I could say the same about you.”

The man chuckled—a humorless sound. “You’ve been pulled through the Rift. That makes you... displaced. Unaligned. Vulnerable.”

Kael said nothing, waiting.

“You’re lucky you landed here. If the creatures of the Hollow Realms had found you first, you’d already be bone and dust.”

“What is this place?” Kael asked.

The man stepped forward, revealing a face lined with faint glowing runes. “This is Arcanis. A realm of magic, chaos, and war. Two factions have been fighting for centuries—the Arcane Alliance, and the Darkveil Dominion. You belong to neither.”

Kael frowned. “I don’t take sides.”

“Then you’re already smarter than most.”

Kael looked around again. The air itself pulsed with energy. It wasn’t just magic—it was alive. Like the world itself was breathing.

“You’ll die out here without guidance,” the man continued. “Or worse—you’ll be used.”

Kael crossed his arms. “And what do you want in return for your ‘guidance’?”

A pause. Then a smile, sharp and cold. “Nothing… yet.”

Kael didn’t trust him—but the man wasn’t wrong. He needed information. A map. A plan. If there was a way back, it would start with understanding this world. And if there wasn’t… then Kael would need to carve a place for himself here.

“Fine,” Kael said. “Lead the way.”

The man turned without another word and walked toward a cluster of standing stones pulsing with light in the distance.

Kael followed, the first steps of a journey he hadn’t chosen… but one he would soon dominate.

He didn’t know it yet, but the world of Arcanis would never be the same.