The Wastes were silent—deathly so.
A place beyond the edge of the Empire, swallowed by ash storms and haunted by monsters no man dared name. It was where criminals were thrown, where traitors disappeared, and where I, Kael Evernight—the last heir of a disgraced noble house—was left to die.
The cold bit deeper than the pain in my ribs. My breaths were shallow, smoky clouds rising from cracked lips as I blinked against the grey horizon. The last thing I remembered was my brother's voice.
"Strip him of his name. He is no longer one of us."
Caius.
He had said it with such ease—without a flicker of remorse. The same brother who once taught me how to ride a horse, who laughed with me under the summer trees… had ordered my execution with dead eyes.
My hands clenched into the ash beneath me, knuckles white.
I should've died on impact when they tossed me from the Judgment Spire. I should've bled out, body broken like all the others exiled before me.
But something stirred beneath my skin.
Something… watching.
Suddenly, a whisper echoed in my skull—mechanical, cold, yet laced with power.
[Initializing System Protocol…]
[Shadow Core Detected: Host Identified – Kael Evernight]
[Welcome, Forgotten Heir. The Shadowborn Sovereign System is online.]
I froze. My vision blurred for a moment, then cleared. A faint shimmer appeared in the air before me—text made of smoke and light.
[Synchronization in progress: 23%... 67%... 100%]
[System Class: Sovereign of Shadows – Unique Type]
[Main Directive: Reclaim Throne | Consume Betrayal | Rise through Shadows]
I coughed, tasting blood. My heart pounded against my chest.
This was impossible. Systems only bonded with those who passed the Awakening Trials at sixteen. I failed mine. They called me Hollowblood—born without magic, unworthy of legacy.
So why now?
Why me?
[Because you were born to fall… and rise stronger.]
The voice was inside me now. Not just sound—intention.
The system wasn't just artificial.
It was alive.
[Current Condition: Critical]
[Would you like to activate Emergency Protocol: Consume Shadows (Level 1)?]
"Yes," I rasped. "Do it."
A pulse of black light surged through my chest. Pain exploded—then vanished. My torn muscles knitted together. My lungs filled fully for the first time in hours.
[Consume Shadows Activated.]
+320 EXP
Level Up! → LVL 2
Minor injuries stabilized. Shadow Veins partially awakened.
I gasped, stumbling upright. My legs held—barely. Around me, the wind swirled, disturbed by something unnatural.
Then I saw it—my reflection, faint in a shard of obsidian poking from the ground. My eyes no longer gleamed the dull grey of the Evernight bloodline.
They burned black. Like twin voids.
And they were… glowing.
I wasn't human anymore.
I was becoming something else.
> [New Trait Unlocked: Forsaken Sovereignty]
– You gain strength from rejection, betrayal, and exile.
– Every act of injustice fuels your progression.
The irony made me laugh—weak and bitter. They cast me aside like garbage. And in doing so, they'd given me the one thing they feared most.
Power.
Hours passed.
I wandered the Wastes, following faint trails of heat and life the system revealed. My body adapted quickly—too quickly. Every footstep felt lighter, every breath more efficient. Even my thoughts sharpened.
But survival was still a cruel game.
The first beast attacked just before dusk.
A Hollowfang—a predator of the deep Wastes. Skin like black iron. Eyes blind but nose sharp. It smelled weakness.
[Enemy Identified: Hollowfang – LVL 4]
[Warning: Enemy exceeds host level. Engaging may result in death.]
"Yeah, well… I don't have many options."
The hound lunged.
I sidestepped, the system boosting my reflexes. My hand moved on instinct—forming a clawed shape—and plunged into the beast's neck.
A surge of darkness shot from my fingertips.
[Skill Activated: Shadowpierce (Tier 1)]
+140 EXP
Hollowfang Defeated. Energy Core harvested.
The creature collapsed, twitching once before going still.
I staggered back, panting.
I had just killed a monster. Without a weapon. Without training.
With shadows.
> [Devour Essence: Y/N?]
"Yes."
> Essence absorbed. Strength +1. Shadow Affinity +2.
So this was my system's nature.
Not one of light or law.
Mine fed on darkness. On forgotten things.
That night, I found shelter in the ribcage of a fallen skybeast. Its bones arched over me like a half-buried cathedral. The stars above were sharp, watching like knives.
I sat there, knees pulled to my chest, listening to the silence.
Not long ago, I was a noble son—Kael Evernight, youngest heir of a crumbling house.
Now, I was nothing.
No name.
No home.
No mercy.
But deep inside, past the pain and ruin, a fire smoldered.
I would not stay nothing.
The ones who betrayed me—the nobles, the Council, my own blood—they would all fall.
Not to a hero.
But to the Shadowborn Sovereign they tried to erase.
[Quest Unlocked: Rise of the Forgotten Heir]
– Survive 7 days in the Wastes (Progress: 1/7)
– Unlock the First Shadow Gate
– Discover the Truth of Your Bloodline
I smiled.
Let the empire sleep.
Their heir has returned.
From the shadows.