The room was dark except for the glow of a phone screen.

  Zaraf sat on the edge of his bed, elbows on his knees, eyes locked on the anime playing before him.

  On the screen, the heroine was dying.

  Blood stained her clothes. Her trembling hand reached toward the sky. The background music swelled.

  "Don't… don't kill her…" Zaraf muttered under his breath.

  His chest tightened.

  It was stupid. She wasn't real.

  Just a character.

  Just fiction.

  But the feeling didn't disappear.

  It grew.

  A burning frustration.

  A helpless rage.

  "If I were there…" he whispered, fingers clenching around the phone. "I would save you."

  The moment those words left his mouth—

  The screen cracked.

  Not physically.

  Reality cracked.

  A thin line of light split the air in front of him.

  Zaraf froze.

  The line widened.

  The air twisted.

  A circular distortion formed — spinning, pulling, humming like the universe itself had opened an eye.

  His heart began pounding.

  "This… isn't real…"

  The room shook.

  The portal expanded violently.

  Wind roared inside his bedroom.

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  The phone slipped from his hand.

  Before he could scream—

  The world flipped upside down.

  And he fell.

  He hit the ground hard.

  Grass.

  Cold air.

  The smell of smoke.

  Zaraf lifted his head slowly.

  Stone buildings.

  A burning village in the distance.

  And in front of him—

  The same girl from the anime.

  Bleeding.

  Dying.

  His breathing stopped.

  "No way…"

  This was the exact scene.

  The exact moment.

  Her enemy raised his blade.

  Without thinking—

  Zaraf raised his hand.

  "Stop."

  The word echoed.

  The blade froze mid-air.

  The world froze.

  Silence swallowed everything.

  Zaraf stared at his hand.

  "…What?"

  A strange sensation spread through his veins.

  Power.

  Not borrowed.

  Not learned.

  But absolute.

  He focused.

  The enemy disintegrated into light.

  The wounds on the girl vanished.

  Time resumed.

  She gasped, alive.

  Zaraf staggered back.

  "I… did that?"

  His heart pounded harder than before.

  This wasn't a dream.

  It felt too real.

  The wind was cold.

  The dirt beneath his fingers felt solid.

  And deep inside—

  Something had awakened.

  A month passed.

  Zaraf moved through this world like a silent guardian.

  When disaster struck, he appeared.

  When death approached, he erased it.

  He did not stay.

  He did not belong.

  When people asked who he was—

  He only smiled faintly.

  "A traveler. Just passing by."

  But one question lingered in his mind.

  Can I go back?

  One night, under a sky filled with unfamiliar stars, he closed his eyes and focused on the memory of his room.

  The longing.

  The frustration.

  The desire to return.

  The air trembled.

  A portal opened.

  His breath caught.

  "It worked…"

  He stepped through.

  He stumbled back into his bedroom.

  Everything was the same.

  The anime still playing.

  The clock ticking.

  Only three minutes had passed.

  Zaraf began laughing.

  Half relief.

  Half disbelief.

  "So I can move between worlds…"

  Days later, unable to resist, he opened the portal again.

  But this time—

  The energy felt different.

  Colder.

  He stepped through.

  He landed in a vast white space.

  Endless.

  Silent.

  Neither sky nor ground—just infinity.

  And someone was waiting.

  A girl.

  Small.

  Long black hair flowing like ink.

  Blue eyes glowing faintly.

  Long, delicate ears.

  She did not look surprised.

  She looked… expectant.

  "…Hello," she said calmly.

  Her voice echoed without echo.

  "You took your time, Creator."

  Zaraf stiffened.

  "…Creator?"

  She walked closer, her steps making no sound.

  "I am Bell, of the Fairy Realm."

  Her gaze sharpened.

  "And you have awakened."

  A chill ran down his spine.

  "This isn't another anime world… is it?"

  Bell tilted her head slightly.

  "This is the Imagery World. The space between realities. The place where chosen humans create worlds of their own."

  Zaraf's heartbeat grew heavier.

  "Chosen…?"

  "There are six creators currently active."

  Her eyes narrowed slightly.

  "Whether you become the seventh… depends on me."

  Silence.

  Zaraf swallowed.

  "…Depends on what?"

  Bell's expression turned cold.

  "On whether you pass."

  The white space around them flickered.

  Cracks formed beneath his feet.

  "And if you fail," she continued softly, "you will be erased from this world. Permanently."

  Zaraf's breath stopped.

  The ground shattered.

  Darkness opened below him.

  Bell's glowing eyes were the last thing he saw as he began to fall.

  "Your test," she said,

  "begins now."