It started with a single breath—long, deep, deliberate.
I had no idea whose breath it was—mine or… something else. But the moment I inhaled, I felt it. Something shifted inside me. It wasn’t dramatic, it wasn’t like the movies na parang may sudden rush of revelations or flashes of light, but it was there, subtle yet unmistakable.
For the first time in days, I was no longer scared. Hindi ko ma-explain, but I felt like I was being pulled towards something bigger, something that had been waiting all this time. And it was ready now.
"Why me?"
It was a question I had asked myself so many times, pero this time, it wasn’t fear or confusion behind the question. It was pure curiosity. Of all the people in this universe, bakit ako? Ano bang meron sakin?
The door had stopped whispering, but it didn’t need to. My body was vibrating with energy, my hands trembling slightly as I stood there, looking at the walls that now seemed to pulse with life. There was a stillness in the air—like everything around me was holding its breath, waiting.
The door was no longer just a door. It was alive—every fiber of my being screamed that this was no ordinary wood and metal structure. Parang may consciousness, a presence na hindi mo maipaliwanag pero alam mong naroroon. And for the first time, I could feel it calling me.
I reached for the knob again. This time, walang hesitation. There was no doubt in my mind that I was meant to do this. My fingers wrapped around the cold brass, and unlike before, hindi na ito nag-resist.
The door creaked open, slowly, deliberately, as if it had been waiting for this moment as much as I had. The darkness beyond was thick, almost alive, pero hindi na ako natakot. Parang familiar siya, like something I had known all my life but had only just remembered.
I stepped through.
Immediately, I was engulfed by a strange, heavy silence. There was no sound, no light—nothing but the sensation of being… somewhere else. My body felt weightless, floating in the abyss, pero at the same time, parang lahat ng senses ko were on overdrive.
The air was dense, charged with electricity. Every breath I took seemed to carry weight, like each inhale was full of whispers and promises. What was this place? Saan ako dinala ng door na ‘to?
As my eyes adjusted, I began to see something—figures, shadows, moving in the distance. Parang they were dancing, twisting and shifting, pero hindi sila fully formed. They moved with purpose, and as they did, the whispers came back.
"Aelion," the shadows hissed in unison.
They knew my name. Shit.
"Okay, I’m listening. Ano ba ang gusto niyo?" My voice echoed in the nothingness, bouncing off invisible walls. I felt like I was talking to the void, pero alam kong may mga bagay—mga presences—listening intently.
The shadows didn’t answer. They just continued to swirl, their forms growing darker and more defined. Parang they were building up to something, waiting for me to make the next move.
Then, out of nowhere, a memory hit me. A memory so vivid na parang nasa harap ko lang ito nangyari kanina.
I was back in my childhood home. The one I hadn’t been to in years, not since my parents split up and everything fell apart. I was standing in the middle of the living room, the same one I used to play in, the one where I spent countless afternoons building Lego towers and pretending to be an astronaut. But something was off.
The room felt colder than I remembered. The once vibrant walls were now faded, cracks running through the paint like veins. And there, in the corner of the room, was the door.
But this wasn’t my door. The one I’d seen for the past few weeks in my current apartment. This was different. It was smaller, simpler, pero unmistakable. I had seen this door before. As a kid.
Memories came flooding back—images of me, running around the house, always avoiding that one room. My parents had always kept it locked, pero as a kid, I would sometimes hear strange noises coming from behind it. Like whispers. Or footsteps.
Holy shit. I had forgotten about it. I had blocked it out for so long.
Suddenly, the shadows around me became more intense, almost angry. They twisted and surged, reaching for me, and for the first time since I stepped through the door, I felt a pang of fear. What was happening?
My head spun, the room blurring as the shadows closed in. Their whispers grew louder, more frantic, pero wala akong maintindihan sa sinasabi nila. I tried to move, pero I was frozen in place, rooted to the ground as the darkness swallowed me whole.
Then, just as quickly as it began, everything stopped.
I was no longer in the void. Instead, I found myself standing in the middle of a forest. The air was cool, the scent of pine filling my lungs. It was so real, so tangible, that for a moment, I wondered if I had imagined everything.
But as I turned, my heart dropped.
The door was there, standing upright in the middle of the forest, completely out of place. It was the same door from my apartment, the same one I had been obsessed with. But now, it was different—larger, more imposing. And it was glowing.
The whispers returned, but this time they weren’t coming from the door or the shadows. They were coming from within me.
"You’re not alone, Aelion."
My body stiffened. What the fuck did that mean?
Out of the trees, a figure emerged. At first, it was just a silhouette, pero as it got closer, I realized it was me. A version of me, at least—an older, weathered version. His eyes were tired, his face gaunt, like he had been through hell and back. He didn’t say anything as he approached, but I could feel his presence. It was… heavy.
"Who—" I started to ask, but he cut me off with a simple gesture. He pointed to the door.
"You’re close," he said, his voice raspy, like he hadn’t spoken in years. "But you’re not ready yet."
I blinked, confusion clouding my thoughts. "What the hell are you talking about? Close to what?"
The older version of me smiled faintly, pero it wasn’t a comforting smile. It was sad. Like he knew something I didn’t. "To the truth."
Before I could respond, the ground beneath us began to shake. The trees trembled, the wind howled, and the door… the door started to creak open again.
A surge of panic shot through me. I wanted to run, to get as far away from that door as possible, pero hindi ko magawa. My feet were glued to the ground, my eyes locked on the door as it swung open wider and wider.
And then, just as the door revealed its dark, infinite depths, I woke up.
Gasping for breath, I sat up in bed, drenched in sweat. My heart was pounding in my chest, my mind racing. Was it all a dream? Was any of it real? I looked around the room, searching for any signs of the door, but everything seemed… normal. The shadows, the whispers—they were gone. For now, at least.
But deep down, I knew this wasn’t the end. This was just the beginning.
I stumbled out of bed, my legs shaky, and headed straight for the door. The real one. My apartment was eerily quiet, the only sound the soft hum of the refrigerator. Everything looked the same, but I could feel it. Something had changed.
The door was there, just like always, silent and unmoving. But now, it felt different. Like it was waiting for me to make the next move.
I took a deep breath, steadying myself. This was it. The moment I had been dreading and anticipating in equal measure. The Awakening.
My hand hovered over the doorknob, but I didn’t turn it. Not yet. I wasn’t ready.
Instead, I turned away, heading back to my desk. I needed to prepare. This wasn’t just some random door anymore. This was something far bigger, far more dangerous than I had ever imagined.
And if I was going to face it, I needed answers.
I sat down, grabbed my notebook, and began to write. But this time, it wasn’t about theories or equations. This time, it was about survival.
I wasn’t just unlocking a door anymore.
I was unlocking everything.
The light from my phone screen flickered as it buzzed on the desk. I glanced at the notification—another message from Kai. God, the timing. Kai—one of the few people who knew about the door, or at least knew enough that something was off with me.
"Yo, Aelion. Kumusta ka na? Haven't heard from you in a bit. Miss ka na namin ni Rina sa group call. Come join us again? Got some new theories about the multiverse that will blow your mind."
I stared at the screen for a few seconds longer than necessary. Theories about the multiverse. Oh, how innocent that all felt now. I almost laughed at how laughably mundane those discussions seemed after everything I had gone through. Parang sobrang detached na siya from what was now my reality. This door… it wasn’t just some abstract puzzle, some intellectual curiosity na I could dissect with my friends over Zoom.
This was real. It was alive. And it was waiting.
I tapped a quick reply:
"Sorry, Kai. Can’t. I’ve got some stuff to deal with."
As I stood up again, a wave of dizziness washed over me. For a second, the room felt like it was tilting, like gravity was bending around me, pushing me towards the door. I grabbed the edge of the desk, trying to steady myself. The pull was stronger now, more insistent. Like an invisible thread was tugging me toward it, demanding my attention.
"Ugh, hindi pa ako ready!" I muttered, frustrated. I couldn’t face it—not yet. But even as I said the words out loud, I knew that was a lie. The truth? I had been ready for this the moment I first touched that door. I just didn’t want to admit it to myself.
I couldn’t keep running. If I was going to unlock its secrets, I had to face it now.
I walked slowly towards the door, feeling its energy pulsing beneath my fingertips. The metal was cold, almost unnaturally so, like it had been sitting in a freezer. I felt that familiar vibration again—the hum of something otherworldly.
As I wrapped my hand around the knob, a memory flashed across my mind—my mom. She used to tell me bedtime stories about doors. Not just any doors, but mysterious ones. Ones that led to other realms, other dimensions. I used to laugh at her stories, call them fantasy. But now… now they felt like warnings.
“Always remember,” she’d say, “not all doors are meant to be opened.”
Well, sorry, mom. This one’s already halfway there.
I turned the knob slowly, the metal creaking under my hand. The door swung open with a soft whoosh, and I was greeted by that same inky darkness, thicker than before, almost swallowing the light from the hallway. My heart was pounding in my chest, every beat louder than the last.
The air around me shifted, growing colder, like the temperature had dropped ten degrees in an instant. I could see my breath fogging in front of me. As I peered into the darkness, something flickered—just for a moment—a shape, a shadow, moving deeper within the void.
"Holy sh—" I started, stepping back, but it was too late. The door slammed shut behind me with a deafening bang, and I was plunged into the darkness.
My body felt weightless again, like I was suspended in midair. The shadows pressed in from all sides, swirling around me like smoke. But this time, they weren’t just shadows. They were whispers, voices murmuring in the dark. Low and indistinct, pero andaming nagsasalita. Some voices were soft, almost comforting, while others were harsh, accusatory.
“Who are you?” one voice whispered.
“You don’t belong here,” said another.
“Aelion,” a third voice hissed, closer this time. I whipped my head around, trying to pinpoint where it was coming from, but the darkness was too thick. The voices felt like they were coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once.
Suddenly, the ground shifted beneath me, and I was falling—free-falling through the void, tumbling head over heels into an abyss. My stomach lurched as the sensation of gravity returned, pulling me down, down, down into the unknown.
I screamed—hindi ko na mapigilan. The wind roared in my ears, whipping past me at an impossible speed. My arms flailed, reaching out for something, anything to grab onto, but there was nothing. Just the endless black void stretching out in all directions.
Then, just as suddenly as it had started, the fall stopped. I hit solid ground with a bone-rattling thud, the air knocked out of my lungs. For a few seconds, I just lay there, gasping for breath, my heart racing in my chest.
"What the hell…" I groaned, pushing myself up onto my hands and knees. The ground beneath me felt cold and wet, like damp stone. I blinked, trying to adjust my eyes to the darkness, but it was still too thick, too absolute.
And then I heard it—the footsteps.
They were faint at first, barely audible over the sound of my own breathing. But they were there, growing louder, closer, with each passing second. I scrambled to my feet, my body tense, my heart pounding. Someone—or something—was out there, in the darkness, moving towards me.
"Hello?" I called out, my voice echoing back at me in the void. No response. Just the sound of those footsteps, slow and deliberate, echoing through the blackness.
I took a step back, my mind racing. I needed to move. I couldn’t just stand here and wait for… whatever it was to reach me. But where the hell was I supposed to go? The darkness stretched out in all directions, endless and unyielding.
The footsteps grew louder.
I turned and ran.
I didn’t know where I was going, but my feet moved on instinct, pushing me forward into the unknown. The ground beneath me was uneven, jagged, like I was running across broken stones. My breath came in ragged gasps, my heart pounding in my chest. I could still hear the footsteps behind me, getting closer, faster.
I stumbled, almost falling, but managed to catch myself just in time. I glanced over my shoulder, but I couldn’t see anything. Just the endless black void, swallowing up everything around me. The footsteps were right behind me now, so close I could almost feel the breath of whatever was following me on the back of my neck.
Just when I thought I couldn’t run any further, when my legs were about to give out, I saw it—a faint light, flickering in the distance. It was small, barely noticeable, but it was there, a tiny beacon in the darkness.
Without thinking, I ran towards it, my legs burning with effort. The light grew brighter as I got closer, revealing the outline of a doorway. But this wasn’t just any door—it was my door, the same one from my apartment. The same one that had brought me here.
I reached out, my fingers brushing against the cold metal knob, and then—
Everything went still.
The footsteps stopped. The darkness around me seemed to retreat, pulling back like a tide going out. I stood there, panting, my hand on the doorknob, my body trembling from the adrenaline. I didn’t dare look behind me. I didn’t want to see what had been chasing me.
Slowly, I turned the knob, pushing the door open.
I stepped through.
Suddenly, I was back in my apartment. The familiar smell of coffee and old books hit me, grounding me in reality. The light from the hallway spilled into the room, casting long shadows across the floor. I could hear the hum of the refrigerator again, the faint buzz of my phone on the desk.
For a moment, I just stood there, trying to process what had just happened. Was it real? Was it all in my head?
But as I turned to close the door behind me, I saw it—a mark. Carved into the wood of the doorframe. It was small, barely noticeable, but it was there. A symbol, a sigil, etched into the wood as if someone—or something—had left it there.
My stomach twisted into knots as I stared at it. What did it mean? Who had left it?
I reached out to touch it, my fingers tracing the lines of the symbol, and as soon as I did, a jolt of electricity shot through my body, sending me stumbling back.
The whispers came back, louder this time.
"You’re not done yet, Aelion."
And then, the door slammed shut on its own, locking me out of whatever lay beyond.