02:55, 14th June 2055

The cold Siachen air carried an eerie silence, broken only by the sharp sound of boots crunching against the frost-laden ground. The regiment had been preparing for the wave shift, an operation vital for their mission, when the sudden blaring of emergency alarms sent a shiver through the ranks, one that had nothing to do with the freezing temperatures.

"Someone has tried to trespass the compound! They are here!" a panicked voice crackled over the comms.

Lieutenant General Arvind Kaul’s jaw clenched as he swiftly turned towards the control deck. "Get me the visuals. Suspend all ongoing operations. Now!" His voice was steel, unwavering, but beneath it, the tension simmered. He had anticipated external threats, but not here, not now.

The soldiers rushed to comply, fingers flying across holographic interfaces as screens flickered with live surveillance feeds. A red dot blinked rapidly near the eastern perimeter—a breach.

"Switch it off," the Lieutenant ordered with a calm intensity. His subordinates hesitated. "I SAID SWITCH IT OFF!" he barked, his voice cutting through the room like a blade.

But it was too late.

The power in the facility flickered. Then, with a deafening hum, the lights cut out entirely, plunging the base into darkness save for the faint glow of the backup power grid. A collective breath was held as the soldiers gripped their weapons tighter.

In the shadows, something moved.

A ripple in the air, barely perceptible, shifted unnaturally near the compound’s restricted zone. The motion sensors should have picked it up, but whatever it was seemed to exist outside their field of detection,like a ghost in the machine.

“Perimeter squads, report status!” the Lieutenant commanded, but static was all he received in response.

"Sir…" One of the cadets, a young but battle-hardened officer named Karthik, pointed at the main screen. The static feed suddenly reformed, revealing a lone figure standing just outside the compound’s main corridor. He was clad in a deep, abyssal cloak, his face obscured by the darkness of his hood. In one hand, he clutched what seemed to be a weapon, but its edges glowed faintly with an eerie silver hue.

And then, he vanished.

"What in the…" Before Karthik could finish his sentence, the temperature in the room plummeted. Frost formed along the glass panels of the control center, and the very air seemed to crackle with unseen energy. A sharp, shrill noise, almost like the sound of metal scraping against ice, echoed through the base.But amid the chaos of lockdown protocols and security breaches, an anomaly had slipped through, a presence that was neither enemy nor expected.

Kriday.

He staggered forward, his body torn with gashes and bruises, his breath shallow. His uniform, or what was left of it, was soaked in a mix of sweat and blood, a stark contrast to the sterile discipline of the military outpost. His head throbbed, flashes of the fall playing in his mind like a fractured reel, plunging into darkness, metal shrieking, the air tearing past his ears, bodies tumbling, screams fading into oblivion. And then, silence. Unrelenting, hollow silence.

Yet, somehow, he had survived. And now, as he limped through the snow-laden entrance of the base, past the imposing steel barriers, past the wary, rifle-clad guards too distracted by the threat of intruders to register his arrival, he had unknowingly crossed into a place he was never meant to be.

His vision blurred. His legs buckled. His breath came out in ragged gasps. He had only been a few meters away from the main operations chamber when the entire atmosphere had changed. His head pounded, as if an unseen force was pulling him somewhere, dragging him through an unseen vortex.

“Help…” The word barely escaped his lips before he collapsed onto the cold ground.

Then, he was no longer in the compound.

Darkness enveloped him. His surroundings twisted, the ground beneath his feet morphing into something that was neither solid nor liquid. It pulsed like a living organism. The cold, harsh air of Siachen was replaced by an otherworldly silence. The sky above him was no longer the dim, starry expanse of the high-altitude desert, it was a swirling abyss of deep purple and crimson streaks.

“What… What is this place?” Kriday whispered, his voice swallowed by the void. He turned around, his mind racing, but every direction seemed the same.

Then, from the swirling shadows, a voice emerged. Hollow, yet deafening.

“Do you desire the power to change Fate?” The words weighed heavy and Kriday was unable to comprehend it. His heart pounded. A figure stepped forward from the darkness, its form barely distinguishable from the shadows it emerged from. Its presence was overwhelming, an entity that did not belong to the world he knew.

Kriday took an instinctive step back, his breath catching in his throat. His body felt weightless, as if gravity itself was no longer the same.

Meanwhile, back at the base, Lieutenant Kaul and his soldiers struggled to regain control of the situation. The power flickered, systems rebooted, but their attempts to contact Kriday were met with silence. The breach had been more than just a physical intrusion, it was something else entirely. Something beyond their understanding.

"Get the emergency strike teams mobilized, We are up against them" Kaul muttered, his voice barely above a whisper.

After 2-3 hours..

Kriday’s mind stirred awake, dragged from the abyss of unconsciousness by an echoing voice that resonated deep within him.

“It is the beginning, and you have to write its end on your own.”

His eyelids fluttered open, revealing a sky unlike anything he had ever seen, shimmering hues of violet and deep cerulean swirled as though painted by unseen hands. It was a breathtaking sight, but his body rejected the luxury of admiration. Agonizing pain surged through his limbs, forcing a hoarse groan from his lips. His fingers clawed at the earth beneath him, damp with an unnatural warmth. This was not the icy terrain of the base. This was... somewhere else.

With trembling hands, he pressed against the ground to lift himself, only for a sharp pain to radiate through his right shoulder, sending fresh waves of agony through his body. He gasped, his ragged breath carrying flecks of blood. His gaze flickered downwards, the realization settling like an iron weight in his stomach; he had been shot.

Three bullet wounds marred his body, one embedded deep in his right shoulder, two more puncturing his left thigh. The blood loss alone should have rendered him unconscious long ago, but something was keeping him tethered to reality. A throbbing dizziness accompanied each heartbeat, his limbs quivering from sheer exhaustion. His mind, however, remained alert, scanning his surroundings in an attempt to rationalize where he was.

He was lying in a field that stretched endlessly, lush with a type of greenery that was almost ethereal. The trees towered high, their bark a dull, weathered grey but crowned with glistening silver leaves that shimmered even without sunlight. The air carried a scent of something unearthly, neither floral nor herbal, just a presence that demanded to be felt rather than defined.

Was he hallucinating?

The sounds around him were foreign, a distant blend of whispers, rustling leaves, and a faint gurgling of water nearby. He turned his head, wincing as the pain in his shoulder protested against the movement. A stream flowed beside him, its crystalline waters moving at an unsettlingly smooth pace. It was almost too perfect. Too controlled.

A chill ran down his spine, not from the environment, but from an unshakable feeling that he was being watched.

And then, he heard it.

A rhythmic pounding in the distance, growing stronger with each passing second.

Galloping.

The earth beneath him trembled, as if acknowledging the approach of something colossal. The sound wasn’t of a horse or any animal he recognized—it was heavier, primal, a deep rumble that struck a primal fear into his core. His instincts screamed for him to move, but his body remained shackled by exhaustion and injury.

Then, the voice reached him.

“It is a Raigon. Run for your life!”

The desperate warning came from somewhere, filling his ears as though thundered by the very air around him. His breath hitched, adrenaline surging into his veins as the galloping sound escalated into a thunderous roar. It was getting closer.

The fear of the unknown is often the worst kind of terror, and Kriday had never felt more helpless. But his will to survive flared once more. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he forced his arms to push against the ground, his muscles straining as he struggled to lift himself.

His vision swam, his body weak, but he knew, whatever a Raigon was, it was coming. And if he stayed, he would die.

Somewhere in the shadows of this surreal new world, the hunt has begun. 

Destiny is in motion, and the fates of both realms have been irreversibly stirred.