The clock on the wall seemed to mock Jin with each sluggish tick. He was sixteen years old, stuck in another dull afternoon at Sakura International Academy, a place where every day felt like a repeat of the last. The classroom was filled with the tired drone of his math teacher’s voice, the equations on the board blurring into meaningless squiggles. Jin leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling, wishing for something, anything, to break the monotony.

Just one more hour, he told himself. One more hour, and I’m free.

Jin glanced out the window, longing for the end of the school day, dreaming of the video games waiting for him at home. He was itching to escape into a world where anything was possible, where he wasn’t bound by the mundane rules of everyday life. But for now, he was trapped in this cage of fluorescent lights and droning lectures.

3:52 PM

It started with the fog.

Jin’s gaze wandered back to the school grounds outside. At first, it was just a thin wisp of mist curling at the edges of the sports field, barely noticeable. But within moments, it thickened, rolling in like a slow-moving tide. The dense, gray fog swallowed the familiar scenery, devouring the track, the soccer goals, and the distant cherry blossom trees until they were nothing but ghostly outlines.

A chill swept through the room. Jin shivered, feeling a strange unease settle in his stomach. He turned to Jake, his American friend who sat a row ahead, but Jake was still glued to his phone, oblivious to the world outside. With his blonde hair and easygoing smile, Jake was the kind of guy who never took anything seriously, and right now, he was completely absorbed in whatever game he was playing. Jin shook his head, brushing off the unease. It’s just fog, he told himself. Nothing weird about that.

But something in the pit of his stomach told him it was only the beginning.

3:55 PM

The air conditioner had been off all day, yet the room was suddenly freezing. Jin rubbed his arms, noticing that his breath came out in visible puffs. The cold crept into his bones, making his teeth chatter. All around him, his classmates began to murmur, pulling their jackets tighter.

The lights above flickered, dimming to a sickly yellow. The fluorescent bulbs buzzed and sputtered as if struggling to stay alive, casting the classroom in a series of eerie shadows. Jin’s heart rate picked up. This wasn’t normal. He turned to the windows again, only to see the fog pressing against the glass like a living thing, pulsating and swirling.

The teacher paused mid-sentence, her chalk hovering above the blackboard. “Is there something wrong with the power?” she muttered, but no one answered her. The classroom had fallen into an uneasy silence, everyone watching, waiting for what would happen next.

Stolen novel; please report.

3:57 PM

That’s when the hum began.

At first, it was faint, like the distant drone of a far-off engine. But it grew louder, deeper, vibrating through the floors and walls. The desks trembled, pencils rolling off surfaces, and a few students let out startled gasps. Jin clutched the edges of his desk, his eyes wide. The sound was everywhere and nowhere, like it was coming from the earth itself.

The hum intensified, rattling the windows until Jin was sure they would shatter. The air felt thick, almost suffocating, as if the entire room was sinking underwater. His classmates were whispering in panicked tones, their voices blending into the strange, unearthly resonance.

Jake finally looked up from his phone, his face pale. “Jin, dude, what’s going on?” he asked, his usual laid-back demeanor replaced with genuine fear. Jin had no answer. All he could do was shake his head, his eyes darting to the clock on the wall. The second hand was moving, but it felt agonizingly slow, each tick echoing in the sudden, oppressive silence.

3:59 PM

The entire school shook.

Books toppled from shelves, chairs skidded across the floor, and a few students screamed as they were thrown off balance. The classroom lights blinked out entirely, plunging everything into darkness. Jin’s heart pounded in his chest, adrenaline surging through his veins.

And then, just as suddenly, a brilliant flash of light burst through the windows, so blinding it forced everyone to shield their eyes. The ground beneath their feet buckled like an earthquake, but there was something unnatural about it — as if the very fabric of reality was being torn apart.

4:00 PM

Silence.

Jin blinked against the afterimage, his vision clearing just in time to see something impossible: the classroom was no longer in the school. The entire building had been ripped from its foundation, now surrounded by a swirling sea of fog and towering trees that stretched high into a darkened sky. The sun was gone, replaced by an eerie twilight that bathed everything in a muted, otherworldly glow.

The room was filled with the sound of rapid, panicked breaths. Chairs and desks were scattered, some students huddled on the floor, others staring wide-eyed at their new surroundings. Jin’s breath hitched as he turned toward the windows, drawn to the bizarre, alien landscape outside.

The fog began to lift, revealing glimpses of an unfamiliar world. Towering trees with bark as black as midnight loomed over them, their twisted branches clawing at the sky. Strange, glowing plants dotted the underbrush, casting a faint blue luminescence that illuminated the dense forest. In the distance, Jin could make out the outline of a massive, ancient ruin, its spires reaching upward like the fingers of a skeletal hand.

A murmur of awe and fear rippled through the students as they crowded around the windows, eyes wide with disbelief. Jake was the first to speak, his voice barely a whisper. “Where... where the hell are we?”

Jin swallowed hard, his mind racing. He pressed his forehead against the cold glass, trying to comprehend the impossible reality before him. The school, his classmates, everything he knew was gone — replaced by this strange, fantastical world that defied explanation. The air outside was filled with strange, unearthly sounds, distant roars, and haunting howls that sent chills down his spine.

And then, from deep within the forest, a flicker of movement. Jin squinted, his heart lurching as he caught sight of shadowy figures moving between the trees — creatures unlike anything he had ever seen, their eyes glowing like embers in the fading light.

School was out, but their real lessons were about to begin in a world far beyond anything they had ever imagined.