The stolen trumpet

The city pulsed with a strange kind of silence that night. It wasn’t the absence of noise—it was the weight of something unsaid, something unseen. Himari stood on the rooftop of an abandoned cathedral, wind teasing her silvery-black hair, her mismatched eyes scanning the dark skyline. Something was wrong. Deeply, cosmically wrong.

Sebastian appeared beside her like a shadow blooming from the night itself. "They’re coming," he said without preamble.

"Heaven or Hell?"

He hesitated. "Both. And someone else."

Himari’s eyes narrowed. "The Seraphim Requiem."

He nodded, the moonlight casting a faint red glow across his eyes. "Word travels fast in the underworld. Someone stole the Trumpet of Revelation. And they say it was you."

The Seraphim Requiem—an elusive faction of rogue angels and demons who rejected the divine order of both Heaven and Hell. Their goal: to rewrite reality itself, crafting a world where hybrids like Himari could reign as gods. Feared by both realms, they were whispered about more than seen—until now.

Himari turned away, jaw clenched. "I didn’t even know that thing existed."

"Exactly why I believe you," he said. "But Ash… doesn’t."

Her chest tightened at the mention of the angel. Ash had been distant since their last encounter—quiet, calculating. She’d seen it in his eyes: the doubt, the fear. The attraction. But now he’d turned that gaze into a weapon.

The Trumpet of Revelation. A celestial relic capable of tearing open the veil between realms, or rewriting the balance of power with a single note. If someone used it… reality itself could unravel.

"Where is it now?" she asked.

"No one knows. But the Seraphim Requiem is moving. They're not just after the trumpet—they're after you."

A chill ran down her spine, and for a moment, she wasn’t standing on a rooftop. She was somewhere else. The sky above her was golden, her wings—massive, radiant—spread wide as an army knelt before her. Then a flicker—darkness. Fire. Screams. Her wings burned black. The same army, now cowering.

She blinked. The vision vanished.

"Did you see something?" Sebastian asked, his voice gentler now.

"It’s happening again," she whispered. "The echoes."

They started a week ago—flickers of timelines that weren’t hers. Or were. Different versions of herself. Different choices. She’d dismissed them as memories from her long, fragmented life. But now… they felt real. Too real.

"I saw myself with the trumpet," she admitted. "But I don’t know if it was me… now… or someone else."

Sebastian placed a hand on her shoulder, a rare softness in his touch. "Reality is thinning. Someone is playing with time—or trying to break it."

Suddenly, light split the sky. A blast of divine energy slammed into the rooftop, sending stone and dust into the air. Himari threw up a shield of shadows and flame, barely holding the strike back.

Ash descended, sword drawn, his wings a blinding silver. Behind him, two figures in obsidian armor hovered silently—Requiem agents.

"Himari," Ash called, his voice echoing like a hymn. "Hand over the trumpet. Or face judgment."

"I. Don’t. Have. It!" she shouted, stepping forward, flames curling at her feet.

Ash’s gaze faltered for a heartbeat. "Then explain the rift in the Time Veil. Explain why you are the epicenter of collapsing realities."

"Maybe because someone’s framing me!" she snapped. "You think I’d risk all this?"

The agents began to circle, energy crackling around them.

Sebastian moved closer, whispering, "We can’t fight them here. Too many witnesses. Too much power."

Himari closed her eyes, heart racing. Think, think, think.

The visions. The other timelines. What if… they weren’t just echoes? What if someone was tearing through realities, dragging fragments of her from each to forge a new being—a weapon?

She gasped. "The Requiem doesn’t want the trumpet to control reality. They want to create a god. Me. Or… versions of me."

Ash froze. "That’s not possible."

"Isn’t it?" Sebastian said coldly. "They have the technology. Forbidden celestial magic. Demoncraft. Enough to rip holes in time."

Ash lowered his sword slightly. Doubt flickered.

And that’s when the sky split open.

A portal tore through the night, revealing a burning wasteland. Another Himari stepped out—eyes glowing, wings twisted, wearing a crown of bone and light.

"Finally," she said, voice layered with thousands of echoes. "I found me."

The others stared in shock. The alternate Himari smiled cruelly.

"This world will do nicely."

And behind her, the stolen trumpet hovered, pulsing with power.

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