That morning, the sky was gray—like a sheet of paper untouched by ink.
The wind flowed slowly through the crevices of the rickety window in a cramped room, furnished only with a metal bed, a dusty bookshelf, and a study desk with a flickering lamp.
In the corner of the room lay a young man, silent, staring at the ceiling as if seeking meaning in the small cracks of the concrete wall.
His name was Caeltharyn.
He was no one in the world's history—not a hero, not life's golden child.
He was just an ordinary vocational high school student, an orphan who lived his life like a shadow—always present, but rarely noticed.
Yet behind his calm eyes and slow steps, a world deeper than the ocean was hidden.
Every morning before school, Caeltharyn would climb to the roof of his small rented house at the end of a narrow alley.
There, he would sit cross-legged, bringing a slice of plain bread and a glass of water. He didn't eat because he was hungry, but because life asked him to remain.
And there, he stared at the sky—not to challenge fate, but because he was searching for something—
...something he himself did not even know.
"Why is the sky so silent?" his heart whispered.
"Is it watching... or merely a blank mirror of a greater emptiness?"
Caeltharyn didn't have many friends, but he wasn't a hated loner either. He existed somewhere in between—like the dusk shadows unnoticed in their presence, but never fully erased.
At school, he sat in the fourth row from the back. Not too close to the teacher, but not too far from the world either.
He liked certain subjects—especially physics and art.
Not because he wanted to be a scientist or an artist, but because in those moments... the world stopped judging.
"Bro, you're coming, right?"
That voice came from Radith, a fast-talking classmate known for his loud laugh. He was one of the few who still tried to talk to Caeltharyn.
"Going where?" Caeltharyn asked briefly, not lifting his head from the book he was reading—The Stranger by Albert Camus, borrowed from the city library.
"The vacation to the mountains, duh! C'mon, this semester break is long. Don't disappear like usual. Just once, let's take a trip to ease our minds!"
Caeltharyn slowly closed his book.
"The mountains, huh? Maybe... I think I'll come," he replied.
"Seriously? You're coming? Alright, next week, 6 a.m., meet in the school yard—don't be late, Cael!"
Radith smiled in disbelief—Cael wasn't the type to join these kinds of events. Perhaps time was changing something.
With the trip drawing near, Cael began preparing what he would need.
"I've got plenty of time to prepare. Alright, I'll get everything ready after school. For now, I'll focus on the exams," he thought.
In class, the trip to the mountains became the hottest topic.
"Hey, it's settled, right? We're going next week. Even Ms. Alea gave her approval," said Radith—the noisiest student and the usual instigator of all group plans.
The day of the trip arrived.
One old bus, thirty-two of Cael's classmates, and one beautiful female teacher who seemed more interested in her phone than her students.
The journey was ordinary. Pop songs played from the speakers, laughter and jokes filled the air, and Caeltharyn sat by the window, silent as always. He stared at the thickening forest as the bus turned onto a narrow road toward the mountain peak.
"I'm curious—why are you always alone?"
The question came from Sinta, a classmate who sat in front of Cael. She had shoulder-length hair styled in butterfly layers.
Caeltharyn turned slowly, his face calm and expressionless. "What's it to you?"
"I don't know... I'm just curious. And what really puzzles me is—why are you joining this trip? That's not like you, Cael."
Cael didn't answer. He just stared blankly at her.
Truthfully, he didn't understand it either—perhaps it was fate that led him there.
The trip took three hours. They arrived at the mountain base around noon.
After distributing supplies, they began hiking the easy trail that had been arranged.
"Man, the air here's so fresh," said Yudha, a joker of the group, though he tended to panic if things didn't go as planned.
Caeltharyn touched the bark of an old tree.
He felt something—not on his skin, but from within. As if the world was watching them.
But he said nothing. He knew—not everything needed to be spoken.
When they reached the planned campsite, everything seemed normal.
They set up tents, lit a small bonfire, and split up the chores.
Some took photos. Some made social media videos. Others just sat, gazing at the trees as though waiting for the sun to set.
Caeltharyn chose to wander a little farther, into a forest that wasn't too dense.
He didn't get lost, nor did he disappear. He was just... seeking air not filled with voices.
There, he found a large stone embedded in the earth. Not glowing, not striking—just... different.
On its surface were faint marks, like remnants of ancient carvings.
He touched it briefly. Nothing happened.
But something inside him trembled.
He stepped back. And left without saying a word.
Night fell.
Stars hung silently in the soundless sky.
They gathered around the campfire—joking, playing word games, and complaining about the lost signal.
Someone asked, "If you could escape this world, would you?"
Another replied with laughter, "Hell yeah, bro! This world's insane!"
Caeltharyn said nothing.
He knew... sometimes, the craziest world is the one inside ourselves.
The next morning, as they prepared to descend, the fog fell too quickly.
The return path vanished from sight.
GPS stopped working.
And in the confusion that slowly turned to anxiety, they started walking... aimlessly.
"This isn't the path we took," someone said.
"Wait, didn't we pass this tree yesterday?" added another.
"Relax... maybe we just walked in circles."
But no one was truly sure.
And in that confusion, they came upon the stone again—
Now clearer, as if it had moved closer.
Its carvings glowed faintly, as though breathing.
Someone touched it.
And the earth began to tremble...
And in the midst of the unnatural fog,
They saw it again—the stone.
Once hidden, now it seemed to wait at the heart of an unfamiliar path.
It didn't shine brightly, but each groove pulsed as if in rhythm with something not of this earth.
"Looks like... writing?" murmured Yudha, his voice low, as if afraid to disturb something older than time.
Caeltharyn stepped forward silently.
His footsteps made no sound on the damp ground.
He didn't know why... but his heart beat like a war drum yet to be struck.
There was a silence within the stone—a silence that called to him.
Then... the wind stopped.
Leaves ceased to rustle.
The air grew tense, and his friends' voices slowly faded,
As if the world itself was holding its breath.