The night was silent, unnaturally so.
No wind. No rustle in the trees. Not even the faintest tremor in the air. It was as if the universe itself was holding its breath, waiting.
In the planet named Cindergard, inside a small villa, two men stood in a poorly lit hallway, constantly gazing at the door before them.
A towering figure with fiery red hair, broad shoulders, but tensed with a worried look. Garrick Drake was a man of principle and unrelenting spirit. He wore a plain shirt and had rough, calloused hands built from years of discipline, clenched into tight fists.
Beside him stood a notably different figure, tall and lean, with sharp facial features and long black hair flowing past his shoulders. A silver-lined coat draped over his slim, masculine build, its metallic accents catching the faint moonlight.
Ashwin Thapa was a quiet, charming man with dark eyes that had depth as deep as the abyss. While Ashwin was calmer than Garrick, he still felt a little uneasy.
"Keep staring like that, and you'll burn a hole through that door."Ashwin joked, glancing at Garrick.
Garrick exhaled sharply. "You'd be like me, too, if it were your wife in there."
Ashwin smirked, gazing out the window towards the moon.
"I would be… But you are married to the bravest woman I know. It's not easy to handle even a single member in our family, and now you have to deal with two."
Garrick chuckled.
A scream broke through, raw and human. Louder and louder, tearing the night apart, pulling every nerve tight.
The two men flinched, waiting.
The air around them felt cold and heavy with anticipation and uncertainty. All they could do was wait, pray, and hear her screams.
Then the screaming stopped.
A child's single piercing cry instantly echoed.
The sound of a newborn's cry filled the room. As soon as the door opened, Garrick and Ashwin rushed to the room. Looking for the mother.
Garrick rushed to his wife's side, his voice trembling, "Angila! Are you alright?"
Angila smiled slowly, her tone soft and tired," I am… fine."
Garrick turned quickly toward the physician. "Doctor! How is she? Is she okay?"
"Both mother and child are stable," the doctor assured Garrick.
Garrick grasped the doctor's hands, showing watery eyes. "Thank you… You're our savior."
The doctor smiled and patted the father and left after giving the nurse instructions.
"You did great, Angila. Thank you for this miracle." Garrick smiled softly, about to burst into tears.
Angila smiled at her husband. "It's a Boy, our little prince." She handed the baby to the father.
Garrick didn't know how to react.
A newborn wrapped in soft cloth, his skin pale and tender, still carrying the warmth of his mother's womb.
Garrick held him close, breath unsteady as tiny fingers twitched faintly, grasping at the empty air as if reaching for the world that had just begun.
For a moment, the world felt still; only the child's quiet breaths filled the room. Garrick's chest tightened as he looked at the tiny life in his arms, and he whispered, "Welcome to the world… Adam."
A tired smile curved Angila's lips as she looked at them.
"Adam…" she whispered.
"It's beautiful."
Ashwin stood quietly in the corner, smiling as he watched the couple, choosing not to disturb their peace.
Unnoticed by anyone, the child's single piercing cry had instantly sent a silent shockwave.
It rippled through existence itself… sweeping through the villa, the cities, the sky, even the edge of the universe. The flow of the universe faltered for an instant.
Humanity had long since stepped beyond its cradle. They bent laws once thought absolute, and they forged weapons that could destroy stars. They expanded throughout the galaxy, meeting countless other Races. They had become one of the superior races in the universe.
Back at the villa, the air was warm and quiet with the Soft rustle of curtains swaying in the night breeze.
Ashwin, after waiting for a while, finally joined.
"Congratulations, Garrick… and my dear sister." He said softly, stepping closer.
"I might not look like it, but I might be the happiest in the room."
Angila chuckled weakly, her voice trembling with exhaustion.
"You must only be happy because I just continued our bloodline," she teased.
Ashwin's gaze softened as he looked at his sister, who was lying weakly on the bed.
He stepped closer, brushing her hair away from her forehead before gently patting her head. "You did well, my brave little sister."
A faint and tired smile curved Angila's lips as her eyes shimmered with emotion.
Ashwin couldn't have any children, so watching the man's affection for his sister, despite all the burden Ashwin carried. Garrick couldn't help but feel grateful.
For that brief moment, the world outside didn't matter… only the warmth of family did.
Ashwin reached for Adam from Garrick, carefully holding the small bundle in his arms. Ashwin couldn't take his eyes off Adam. He was instantly enchanted.
Adam's tiny eyes, barely open, had a beautiful, crimson, gem-like glint. The baby was just born, but his face was impossibly angelic. Every twitch and yawn melted Ashwin's heart.
Suddenly, Ashwin felt a weird pull in his origin energy, but it was such a slight pull that he didn't think much, as he was more focused on celebrating this special moment.
Ashwin grinned, looking at Adam, "Now I've got another adorable family member."
Angila smiled, looking at Ashwin holding Adam, and looking at how Ashwin was smiling. Her worries quickly faded away.
Garrick interrupted. "Now, now… Let my wife get some rest, and Adam needs his mother right now."
Aswhin understandingly hands the baby to Angila, "Papa and Uncle will wait outside, look after momma for a bit, okay, little one."
Garrick gently kissed Angila's forehead, and as they were about to leave.
Thud!
The door swung open without warning.
A Member of the Drake family enters the room. A woman clad in gold and red armor, her eyes sharp and commanding, her crimson hair shimmering a fierce, blood-red under the moonlight.
As she entered the room, Ignes smiled mockingly when she saw Garrick.
" Hey there, black sheep."
Garrick confronts her. "Why are you here?" He was not happy to see her.
Ashwin goes and stands in front of Angila and the baby, unsure about her intentions. Ready to grab his weapon.
Ignes sends Garrick a hologram newsletter.
"As your sister, I just delivered this news. I'm just trying to look out for you here."
Garrick doesn't believe her for a single bit, but when he reads the message, a look of horror sets in his face.
He immediately panics and shouts, "W-what kind of trick is this?"
The news says that members of his research team were going to be executed for working on forbidden technology.
Garrick looks at Ignes's mocking face and shouts. "Answer me!!"
Ignes smiles and acts clueless, "How would I know?"
Angila asks worriedly, " Dear, what's wrong?"
Garrick tells her, "Our research group is in trouble." Garrick doesn't disclose everything as he is worried about her.
As Anglia was also part of the research group, she panicked as well.
Anglia looks at Garrick's face and assures him, "Dear go, you have to help them."
Ashwin convinces Garrick, "This might be a trap, but don't worry, I will look after Angila and Adam. Trust me"
After Garrick looks at his beautiful baby boy, he makes up his mind.
Garrick kisses his wife and baby, entrusts them to Ashwin, and he hurriedly rushes out.
But as he leaves.
Garrick warns Ignes, "If you touch even a single hair of my family."
"I will destroy you."
Ignes gets shaken a bit by Garrick's bloodlust, as she knows how capable Garrick is and why the Drake family still keeps him around despite being born powerless.
Garrick left Ashwin in charge, as Ashwin was a famous user with Gravity powers. Despite being young, he was regarded as a talented individual throughout the galaxy.
Garrick leaves.
As we see from the window, a spaceship hovers and takes off faster than light speed.
Ignes says, " Now that the troublesome guy is gone."
"Step aside, trash."
Ashwin stops her, "whatever you are planning to do. Stop"
AHHHHHHH!
An ear-piercing scream filled the villa. The screaming of people kept multiplying until it stopped.
Ashwin tries to sense what's going on, but before he can, he sees shadowy figures behind Ignes appear.
Ignes laughs, "Ah, sorry, I told them to do that."
Anglia gives a dreadful look as she realizes her colleague doctor, the nurses, and even the servants whom she always looked after in the villa are all dead.
Anglia angrily shouts with eyes full of tears, "Why harm the innocent? Why harm the doctors and servants?"
Ignes shows a devilish smile, "You see, I just felt like it."
As Ignes laughs like a maniac, a soldier hands her a device and a remote.
Ignes asks Ashwin and Angela as she shows 2 devices, "Which one do you prefer me using?"
"One is for scanning that bastard's core, and the other one is for blowing up the whole building without a trace."
"Oh, and if you are worried about me, then we're rich, so I can just teleport away."
Ashwin is enraged and asks. "Why do all of this, just to check his core?"
Ignes says, "This is a bothersome task that the higher-ups asked me to do. They want to know if this kid is also a black sheep of the family, just like his father. If it wasn't an order, I would't be anywhere near you low lifes."
"All people from the Ancient Families are born with a core, you see. Although commoners like you developed it in the future. We are blessed by the universe from birth. So we want to know if that kid is worthy to carry our name or not."
"Honestly, you have no choice."
"So choose wisely."
Ashwin reluctantly says, "Only you can come and scan him, you can't touch him, and you have to hand the bomb remote to me."
"Deal!" Ignes agrees immediately.
Ashwin is shocked seeing that she agreed so fast, but he doesn't let his guard down, knowing what kind of psycho he was dealing with, he pulls out one of his Khukuri.
Other soldiers start pulling out their swords.
Ignes says to her soldiers, "Stop, don't move yet."
As she hands over the bomb remote to Ashwin.
Ashwin puts his Khukuri right in her neck, "Try anything funny and your head will go flying."
Ignes replies with a smile, "Oh my~ so scary."
She takes out the Scanner and starts scanning Adam.
As she scans Adam, Angila glares at her with eyes full of tears and anger.
Ignes mockingly smiles and continues scanning.
After the scanning is done, it shows that Adam has only 1 core, with almost nonexistent origin energy, as the Scanner detects that it is one of the lowest-ranked cores, as indicated by the grey color. And on top of that, it was also an unattributed core.
Ignes sighs, "Not even anything near our family's attribute, huh…"
"So trash it is."
Suddenly, all 10 Standing Soldiers attack; they were all Herald-ranked
As they attacked Ashwin, who is two ranks higher than them.
Their light-speed attacks made Ashwin waver for a fraction of a second.
But that was enough for Ignes.
Ignes looks at Ashwin, smiling menacingly, "I put it on timer, trash."
Ignes teleports away with Adam.
Ashwin realises what she meant. But the soldiers were still attacking. Enraged Ashwin brings out his second khukuri and slices all the soldiers to pieces in just 1 move, and rushes to Anglia.
Before Anglia could even notice that Adam was missing within less than a fraction of a second, the explosion happened, leaving nothing but a huge crater.
Garrick reaches the planet that kept his research team prisoner. But when he entered the city they were being held in, his stomach dropped.
His friends with whom he shared dreams and goals. Whom he considered family more than his actual family. Their heads were pierced on long spears with holographically written 'Repentance for their sins of researching evil' in the center of the city.
Garrick looked up at them and couldn't stand straight as his legs gave out, and tears started flowing down his face. He knew his friends were framed, but it was too late.
Then a chill ran down his spine as he realized this was a plot to lure him away. Although his legs were shaking from the tragedy, he still rushed back to the villa on his ship.
Garrick hurriedly returned to the villa.
But the moment his ship descended, his heart dropped again.
Bodies lay scattered across the ground. The maids, servants, and guards, all burned and shattered, a horrific scene. Where his villa once stood, there was nothing but a vast, smooth crater.
A Fire Atomizer.
A bomb designed not to destroy but to erase, burning and breaking matter apart faster than an atom could even react.
Garrick stumbled around, with a shaking voice as his vision turned red, and his nerves pulsed rapidly. Garrick was under extreme stress as he screamed while slowly collapsing under the weight of rage and such horror.
Then a signal cut through his comms.
–Hey… Brother-in-law…
Garrick froze.
He followed the weak transmission and sprinted to where the signal came from.
He found them.
Angila was lying on the ground, half-burned, her body barely holding on to life. Ashwin was beside her, his lower body scorched, one leg completely gone—nothing left but drifting ash and blood.
Garrick fell to his knees.
"No… no… no—"
He pulled them both into his arms, tears streaming down his face as fury boiled beneath his grief. He took them to his spaceship and activated emergency supplies, stabilizing them as best he could.
"Who did this?" Garrick demanded, his voice shaking.
Ashwin's lips trembled. "The Drakes… they took Adam."
Garrick's breath hitched. The little faith he had in the Drake family vanished. Even though he was born without abilities or any original energy, Garrick's bloodlust was making the air around him tremble.
"I'm sorry…" Ashwin whispered, tears spilling from his eyes.
There was no hospital he could trust—not on a planet under Drake's control.
He sealed them inside healing pods on his ship, activating every device he had built over decades of research. Machines hummed. Energy surged.
Hours passed.
They survived.
Angila lived.
Ashwin lived.
But Garrick could not rest.
His hands trembled as he stood alone in the ship, staring into the void. His family had crossed a line that could never be undone.
This was no longer exile.
This was war.
Ashwin eventually woke, pain etched across his face. "I'll go with you," he said quietly. "I need a leg."
Garrick didn't hesitate.
Garrick was a researcher but was also one of the most well-known engineers, so he gave Ashwin the finest mechanical limb he had ever created—metal and elements fused into perfection.
Two men stood together once more.
One is a father.
One is an uncle.
Both are burning with vengeance.
Garrick's hands tightened as he suited up.
Ashwin stood beside him, silent, broken, and burning with rage.
That night, two men, for their loved ones, unleashed calamity.