The café door chimed as Du stepped inside, the air humming with grinders and hissing with steamed milk. Ordering the usual, the barista barely glancing up. Outside, sunlight spilled across the sidewalk, an ordinary moment on an invisible day.
Then the world shattered. The aroma of coffee was choked out by hot dust and mold. The café's gentle hum was ripped away by a monstrous bellow that shook the very ground. Sunlight curdled into oppressive gloom, and Du staggered back as the familiar counter decayed into a ruin of broken stone.
At the center of the shattered hall, a girl in tattered robes gasped for breath. A crooked staff lay beside her, its crystal flickering like a dying star. Little blue wisps danced around her, their laughter like cruel chimes as she struggled to her feet. Her eyes found his, and her panic sharpened into something worse: bitter disappointment.
“You have got to be kidding me,” she whispered, her voice cracking.
The wisps snickered. “This is the hero?” one of them laughed.
As heavy footfalls rumbled closer down the stone corridor, she clutched her head in her hands. “No, no, I messed it up again!”
