PROLOGUE...
...
...
The lab was silent except for the hum of energy thrumming through the air.
Dozens of holographic displays floated around a single man—Kael Ardyn, physicist, theorist, and the youngest to ever lead the Dimensional Rift Project.
To the world, he was a genius.
To himself, he was a dying man racing against time.
A rare degenerative disease was breaking down his cellular structure. Even his cybernetic augmentations couldn't stop the decay. Every day his body failed a little more—but his mind burned brighter than ever.
> "If the universe won't give me more time," Kael muttered, typing furiously,
"I'll take it from another one."
On the holographic screen, a simulation rotated — a glowing core labeled: ETHER FIELD RECONSTRUCTION: 99.4% STABILITY.
He had spent years decoding traces of an energy that appeared in the void between dimensions. He called it Ether — a force that could reshape matter, mind, and reality itself.
His colleagues called it impossible.
He called it survival.
The lab's containment field began to hum, lights flickering as power surged beyond safe limits. The air warped, the floor trembled, and space itself began to bend inward — a dark sphere forming at the heart of the chamber.
Kael's vitals spiked. His body screamed in pain, but he couldn't stop now.
He reached forward, pressing his palm against the barrier.
> "If this works…" he whispered, "…then death is just another door."
The orb pulsed. For a brief moment, Kael saw something — stars collapsing, galaxies breaking apart, and a vast, endless nothing swallowing everything.
Then came the voice.
> [SYSTEM INITIALIZATION COMPLETE.]
[HOST SOUL FOUND: KAEL ARDYN.]
[COMPATIBILITY: 99.97%]
[ERROR: UNDEFINED DIMENSION DETECTED.]
[Engaging Dimensional Transfer Protocol.]
"Wait—what—?"
The chamber exploded in a burst of black light. Everything vanished.
---
Kael opened his eyes to silence. No lab, no machines—only a boundless expanse of light and shadow. Planets floated like dust, and rivers of luminous energy flowed around him.
> [Welcome to Aetherion—the Cradle of Ether.]
[Primary Affinity: Void]
[Secondary Affinity: Space]
[Status: Reconstructed Soul Vessel Complete.]
Kael stared at his hands—no longer trembling, no longer dying. His body felt alive, overflowing with an energy that pulsed like a heartbeat through the universe itself.
> "Ether…" he breathed. "I found it."
But the voice spoke again, deeper this time.
> [You have not found it. You are it.]
[You are the Heir of the Void.]
Dark tendrils of energy spiraled around him, calm yet infinite. For the first time, Kael felt what it meant to exist without limits.
> "Then this time…" he said quietly, eyes glimmering with resolve,
"…I'll discover what even gods fear."
As the world of Aetherion began to take form around him, an unseen presence whispered through the void:
> [Observation Log #001: Subject 'Kael Ardyn' has entered the Etherverse.]
[Initiate Cycle Zero.]
And so began the tale of the scientist who defied death…
and awakened as the Heir of the Void.