The small café sat quietly on the corner of the street, its windows glowing warmly against the late afternoon gray.

  Kai stood outside for a moment, watching through the glass as Evan, Jonah, and Felix sat huddled in a booth near the back — waiting, but unsure why.

  Kai smiled slightly to himself.

  “Time to begin.”

  With a calm breath, he pushed open the door.

  The bell above chimed softly as he entered.

  All three looked up.

  Evan looked nervous as always, glancing around like someone might be watching.

  Felix sat stiffly, hands gripping a worn notebook.

  Jonah leaned back in the booth, arms crossed, smirking like he was above all this.

  Kai walked over smoothly, sliding into the seat across from them, calm and controlled.

  “Thanks for coming on time,” he said quietly, his eyes sharp but unreadable.

  Evan looked like he wanted to say something but kept his mouth shut.

  Felix nodded silently.

  Jonah just gave a half-smirk, raising an eyebrow.

  Kai leaned forward slightly, lowering his voice.

  “You’re probably wondering why I’ve brought you here. Why you’re part of this.”

  He let that hang for a moment, watching them.

  “The truth is simple,” he said smoothly.

  “The watchers took interest in our school. And in you.”

  Felix sat up straighter, eyes wide.

  Evan looked confused but too scared to question.

  Jonah snorted.

  “Watchers? What is this, some kind of cult pitch?”

  Kai smiled faintly, unfazed.

  “No cult. Just truth. You see… they’ve been watching because of what’s happening there.”

  He let his fingers tap on the table softly as he spoke.

  “The rise in bullying. Drugs. Corruption. People suffering.”

  “Things most people don’t want to see. But the watchers do. They see everything.”

  His eyes fell on Evan.

  “They saw potential in Evan. A spark of light that could be brought out.”

  Evan looked startled but also… something like pride flickered in his eyes.

  “They saw the ghosts that visit Felix. Signs others ignore.”

  Felix leaned in slightly, breathing quietly but focused.

  “And Jonah…” Kai said, turning to him with a small smile.

  “Someone who sees everything online. The one who knows what others are hiding. Who can dig up the darkness.”

  Jonah gave a skeptical laugh, leaning back.

  “Yeah, okay. You’ve got the spooky act down. But watchers? Seriously, man? I don’t believe in stuff like that.”

  Evan glanced at Jonah nervously, while Felix looked between them, unsure.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  But Kai only checked his watch calmly, as if he was waiting for this exact moment.

  “I thought you might say that,” Kai said quietly.

  Jonah’s smirk didn’t quite reach his eyes.

  Kai stood, sliding out of the booth, and gestured to the door.

  “Come on. Let’s step outside.”

  They hesitated but followed him — Jonah rolling his eyes like he was indulging Kai, Evan glancing around nervously, and Felix trailing behind, clutching his notebook.

  Outside, the air was cool, a soft breeze cutting through the quiet street.

  Kai stopped on the sidewalk, turning to face them, hands deep in his hoodie pockets, calm as ever.

  “Look up.”

  Jonah frowned.

  “What?”

  “Look at the sky,” Kai said softly.

  Confused, but curious, Jonah tilted his head back — and the others followed.

  And there — against the gray clouds — a flock of birds wheeled through the sky, flying in tight formation.

  As they turned in perfect synchronicity, the letters formed — just for a moment — a rough, shifting shape that looked like a word.

  BELIEVE.

  It wasn’t perfect — but it was enough to make all three of them stare, frozen, unsure of what they were seeing.

  Jonah’s smirk faded.

  Evan’s mouth dropped open.

  Felix gasped, whispering under his breath:

  “They’re real…”

  Kai let a small, calm smile pull at his lips.

  “Sometimes,” he said quietly, “they leave signs. For those paying attention.”

  Jonah turned slowly to look at Kai, no longer smirking — real doubt and confusion in his eyes now.

  “How…?”

  Kai shrugged, as if it wasn’t even important.

  “I told you — they’re watching. And now they know you’re listening.”

  He let the silence hang for a moment — the weight of the impossible pressing down on them.

  “If you want out… you can walk away. But if you stay — you’ll never be alone again.”

  Felix was the first to nod, eyes wide with belief.

  Evan hesitated but nodded too, glancing at the sky one more time like he expected the birds to spell something else.

  Jonah stood there, eyes narrowed — trying to figure it out.

  “You’ll get what you wanted,” Kai said softly, glancing at Jonah. “All of you will. But you’ll also help me fix this school — and beyond.”

  A long pause — then finally, Jonah sighed.

  “Alright. I’m in. For now.”

  Kai smiled, calm but sharp.

  “Good.”

  As they walked back down the street, Kai stayed a little behind them, watching quietly.

  “Three pieces. Solid now.”

  “They saw the sign. And they believe.”

  He smiled faintly to himself, hands in his pockets, eyes calm.

  “And with them, the first circle is formed.”

  Kai sat in the dark, back against his chair, eyes fixed on the ceiling.

  His room was quiet — too quiet for the thoughts spinning in his head.

  “I used to think my power was limitless.”

  He turned to look at the folders on his desk, names neatly labeled: Evan, Jonah, Felix.

  “But there are limits.”

  His voice was low, steady, as if speaking to himself.

  “My power only works when I see something.”

  He leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees, fingers laced together.

  “If I imagine a future — a moment I want to happen — I don’t just imagine it happening.”

  “I imagine myself there, watching it with my own eyes.”

  “Because that’s how my mind works.”

  “The scene has to be part of my memory — something I witnessed, not just something I thought about.”

  Kai’s fingers drummed slowly against each other.

  “But I can’t be everywhere at once.”

  “If three things need to happen in three different places… I can’t stand in all of them.”

  “That’s where they come in.”

  He looked again at the files, a faint smile touching his lips — cold, calculating, but satisfied.

  “My eyes, when I’m not there.”

  He stood, walking to the window, looking down at the street below.

  “If they call me — if they show me what’s happening in real time — it’s like I’m there.”

  “Their phones become my eyes.”

  “If I’m watching it as it unfolds, I’ll remember seeing it — and that’s all I need.”

  “Once I have that memory — whether from my own eyes or through their call — I can make it real.”

  Kai leaned against the window, gaze sharp.

  “If Evan calls me while standing in front of a fight, and I see it happen…”

  “If Jonah shows me a deal going down…”

  “If Felix calls me during a bullying scene…”

  “I’m there. Watching.”

  “And that gives me the power to change it.”

  He smiled faintly to himself, tapping the glass of the window.

  “People won’t even know why things shift around them.”

  “Because while I sit here, watching through a screen, I’ll be bending reality.”

  A pause.

  His smile grew colder.

  “That’s why I need them — to be in all the places I can’t.”

  “To show me the things that need to be fixed… or broken.”

  Kai turned back to the files, eyes sharp as blades now.

  “With them — with my eyes everywhere — I can control the world around me.”

  The night was quiet.

  Kai sat at his desk, the city lights outside blinking softly against the dark sky.

  The folders of Evan, Jonah, and Felix were still spread out before him — like pieces of a puzzle slowly coming together.

  But something gnawed at him.

  Something unfinished.

  “If I want them to believe in something bigger… it has to feel real.”

  He leaned back, staring at the ceiling, thinking.

  “Right now, all they have is me and a story about ‘the watchers.’ But stories fade.”

  “They need a name. A symbol. Something to belong to.”

  Kai sat forward, elbows on the desk, fingers steepled in front of his face.

  “What are we?” he murmured to himself.

  “The watchers? No… that’s what I used to hook them.”

  “But what are we really?”

  He thought of the darkness in the school — the bullying, the drugs, the quiet suffering no one saw.

  “If the watchers observe the darkness… then we are the ones who push back against it.”

  His eyes drifted to the wall, where the poster of a pyramid stared back at him, its eye gleaming in the dark room.

  “The light in the dark.”

  He whispered aloud:

  “The Lights?”

  He shook his head.

  “Too simple. Too soft.”

  His gaze sharpened.

  “Luminosity?”

  He rolled the word over in his mouth, testing it.

  “No… sounds forced.”

  Then a small smile tugged at his lips.

  “Illuminated?”

  Closer. But something still missing.

  His eyes drifted again to the pyramid, and this time, something clicked — the eye, the symbol, the secret knowledge behind power.

  “Illuminatii.”

  He whispered it.

  “Illuminatii…”

  A chill ran down his spine — not fear, but excitement.

  “The ones who bring light… but stay in the shadows.”

  Kai leaned back in his chair, staring at the poster with a growing smile.

  “That’s it.”

  He stood up, moving to the poster, tracing the lines of the pyramid with one finger.

  “An order. A name. A myth.”

  “If they believe in something bigger, they’ll follow it. Follow me.”

  His eyes glinted in the dark.

  “We’ll be the Illuminatii.”

  “The light that sees all. The hand that shapes everything from the shadows.”

  A soft exhale, almost a laugh.

  “Now all I need is a place. A symbol.”

  He turned from the poster, already imagining a secret meeting place — a quiet building somewhere, just for them — a symbol carved on the wall, something only they would know.

  “Something real.”

  Kai sat back down, pulling out a blank notebook, flipping to a new page.

  At the top, he wrote in sharp, clean letters:

  “ILLUMINATII”

  Below it, he began to sketch — a rough design of the pyramid and the eye — something he could show them when the time was right.

  “They’ll believe.”

  “And once they do…”

  A small, cold smile as he looked down at the name.

  “No one will be able to stop us.”

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