Three days passed.
Three days of silence, wires, and wavering beeps. Auren drifted somewhere between breath and oblivion
while the medical ward bent itself around one goal: keeping him alive.
Not healing—stabilizing.
His body was no longer a vessel; it was a storm. Every scan showed violent surges of energy tearing
through him, each wave stronger than the last. Even sedatives failed to suppress the fluctuations. The
technicians whispered that his value had surpassed every cadet in the academy—not because of talent, but
because of the unknown.
Auren wasn't unconscious.
Not exactly.
He was falling.
The Abyss
There was no sky. No ground. No air. Only a void stretched endlessly in every direction—a cosmic wound
without light or sound.
Auren dangled in it, weightless.
Then the void tightened.
A cold pressure curled around his limbs like an invisible serpent, dragging him downward—if down could
exist in a place without direction. He tried to scream, but the sound didn't travel. It didn't even form.
The darkness ate his voice before it left his throat.
He fought—arms flailing, mind screaming—but nothing changed. The abyss consumed effort, hope, breath.
Minutes felt like hours. Hours felt like eternity.
Fear, sharp and absolute, pressed in on him.
He wasn't dying.
He was dissolving.
1
An Intruder
Outside, in the silent hospital room, the infirmary door whispered open.
Footsteps—soft, precise—glided inside.
Alys Virellis.
Her nano-tech suit shimmered faintly, tracing elegant lines of soft blue light across her frame. She moved
like a phantom with a purpose, eyes cool and sharpened.
Behind her stepped a shadow.
Tall. Armored. Crimson suit with lines that pulsed like living veins. A presence that felt like a blade held
against the world.
Code 001.
The moment he entered, even the automated systems dimmed their lighting—as if acknowledging a
predator.
Alys approached Auren's bed, tilting her head as if studying a damaged specimen.
Her lips curled.
"I would've loved to torture you slowly," she said softly, almost tenderly. "But it seems your… value has
changed. My family wants you erased quickly. No theatrics."
She turned with a flick of her cloak.
"001. Make it hurt. Don't disappoint me. My family spent a fortune for this window."
001 bowed, visor gleaming.
"Suffering is my specialty."
Alys left without looking back.
Execution Attempt
001 drew his blade.
Red lightning coiled along its edge, hungry and snarling. With a single swing, he struck toward Auren's
heart.
2
And—
Time fractured.
Inside the abyss, Auren's descent stopped.
A presence stirred.
A gaze—not seen, but felt—pressed down on him from beyond the void. It wasn't human. It wasn't mortal.
A voice followed.
Not loud. Not gentle. But absolute.
"Awaken."
The abyss shattered.
Light exploded from every corner—white, searing, all-consuming. It rushed into Auren's chest like he'd
inhaled a sun.
Rebirth
The shockwave erupted from Auren's body.
001 was thrown across the room like a rag doll, smashing into reinforced steel. Blood rolled down his chin
as he grinned.
"Now this is interesting."
Auren floated inches above the bed, engulfed in a swirling core of blue fire. Runes—ancient, geometric—
glowed across his skin.
His eyes snapped open. White. Blinding. Alive.
001's armor hummed, two crimson blades manifesting as his suit calculated threat levels.
"Resonance energy: 37%," the visor reported.
001 launched.
Blades cleaved through the air—
Auren didn't move.
3
The strike hit nothing.
001 blinked—Auren stood behind him.
Auren caught the blade with two fingers.
001's armor hissed—burning.
Auren lifted his hand.
"You enjoy torture," he murmured. "Let's see if you enjoy being the victim."
A psychic lance pierced 001's mind.
The assassin screamed—dropping to the ground, clawing at his own skull.
Auren knelt, expression cold.
"Soul corrosion," he said. "Irreversible."
001 begged—voice no longer human.
Auren placed a hand on his shoulder.
Blue flames devoured the assassin.
In seconds, nothing remained but ash.
Aftermath
The room was silent.
Auren exhaled slowly as the runes dimmed and the power settled back into his core.
But fragments of the abyss still clung to him.
He hadn't escaped it.
He'd merely been pulled out.
By something.
Something that now watched from the depths of his soul.
4
He felt it.
And feared it.
5