Chapter 1: The Ghost of Novus City
The city of Novus never slept. It simply shifted shades steel-gray by day, neon-soaked by night. Glass towers scraped at the sky like jagged memories of a better past, while down below, the underlayers pulsed with life too busy surviving to dream.
In the middle of it all lived Samuel Gray.
Not lived "existed".
Samuel had mastered the art of being invisible. Not by magic, nor by skill, but by circumstance. At twenty-three, he was already a ghost among the living: unnoticed in crowded trains, ignored in long lines, and forgotten by those who once pretended to care.
He delivered packages for an independent courier service an ironic title for a man shackled to routine. Each morning began with a sharp buzz from his battered datapad and ended with aching legs and lukewarm noodles in his one-room apartment.
No friends. No calls. No messages. Just the hum of city life pressing down on his skull.
His neighbors didn't know his name. The vending machine outside his building greeted him more often than people did. At night, when the flickering lights of Novus painted shadows on his walls, Samuel often stared at the cracked ceiling and wondered if this was all life would ever be.
He used to dream.
As a kid, he had buried himself in comics, digital RPGs, and old space opera reruns. Back then, he believed in heroes. He imagined himself with powers flying through the stars, lifting buildings with ease, or defending a crumbling world. But dreams faded with each passing year, replaced by deliveries, deadlines, and debt.
One night, he took the long way home.
His last drop-off had been in Sector 9 one of the less regulated districts where the cameras didn't always work and the streetlamps flickered like they owed someone money. He didn't like walking there, especially after dark, but the shortcut saved him time.
Rain had begun to fall, thin needles piercing through the city's permanent haze. Samuel hunched his shoulders against it, his delivery bag empty now. The streets here were littered with yesterday's regrets crushed cans, flickering neon ads, and the distant rhythm of synth music playing from an underground club.
That's when he saw her.
A girl maybe fifteen backed into a corner by two older men. They wore jackets emblazoned with gang sigils: chrome teeth, red serpents. The girl clutched something to her chest, maybe credits, maybe food.
Samuel hesitated.
He wasn't a fighter. Hell, he hadn't even raised his voice in months. But something in him snapped. Maybe it was the girl's eyes wide, terrified, pleading. Maybe it was the years of doing nothing, of letting life wash over him. Or maybe, maybe he just didn't want to feel invisible anymore.
"Hey!"
His voice cracked as he stepped forward. The men turned. One sneered. The other laughed.
"What's this? Courier boy wants to play hero?"
Samuel swallowed hard. His legs trembled. But he didn't stop.
"Leave her alone," he said. It sounded braver in his head.
The punch came fast. A fist to his gut knocked the wind out of him. He crumpled, gasping. One of the men kicked him hard in the ribs. The other turned back to the girl.
Samuel groaned and pushed himself up. "Run," he coughed. The girl didn't need to be told twice. She bolted, disappearing into the shadows.
"Wrong move, idiot," the taller man said.
A flash of silver. Pain bloomed in his side.
Samuel staggered, warmth spreading across his shirt. The rain felt colder now. Louder. Like it was trying to wash him away.
He collapsed in the alley, cheek pressed to the wet concrete. The world blurred lights bleeding together, sounds warping. His blood mixed with the puddles beneath him.
His thoughts drifted.
This is it.
He didn't feel fear, Just resignation.
A voice echoed not from the alley, but inside his head.
> "Vitality Critical. Initializing Ascension Protocol. Do you accept?"
He blinked. What?
A faint glow danced across his vision, like a HUD from a game.
> "Do you accept?"
He could barely move. His hand twitched. His mind screamed yes, even if his lips couldn't.
> "Acknowledged. Commencing soul synchronization..."
Darkness surged inward, but it wasn't empty. It was structured, coded, alive.
Then everything shattered.
The alley. The pain. The city.
Gone.
And Samuel fell not into death, but into something else entirely.