Three days earlier.
The Awakening Hall of the Grey Tower Tribe was built to impress. High arches of white marble, banners fluttering with the crest of the Iron Eagle, and the humming vibration of pure Origin Flux in the air.
Evan stood in the center of the Runes, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird.
"Step forward," the Clan Elder commanded. His voice was bored. To him, this was just inventory management.
Evan placed his trembling hand on the Awakening Crystal. It was cold, smooth, and terrified him more than anything in the world. He closed his eyes, praying to whatever gods watched over Astra.
Please. Just a C-Rank. Even a D-Rank. Just let me be useful.
He didn't want to conquer the world. He just wanted to stop being looked at like a mistake. He wanted his father to look him in the eye.
He pushed his internal energy into the stone.
Usually, the hall would erupt in color. Red for Fire, Blue for Water, Violet for Lightning.
Evan opened his eyes.
The crystal remained dull. A cloudy, lifeless grey. Like stagnant water. Like a dead eye.
The silence in the hall was heavier than a scream.
"Evan Grey," the Elder's voice rang out, stripped of boredom and replaced with icy disdain. "Awakening Result: Null."
[ CLASS: NONE ]
[ ELEMENT: NONE ]
A murmur rippled through the crowd. It wasn't pity. It was disgust. In the Empire, to be weak was a sin. To be useless was a crime.
"A waste of blood," someone whispered from the high balcony. Evan looked up. It was his uncle, Lord Varrick. Beside him stood Evan's father, who simply turned his back, walking away as if he had seen a smudge of dirt on a pristine window.
That walk away hurt more than any beating.
"Remove him," Varrick ordered, waving a hand dismissively. "The Grey Tower has no resources to waste on parasites. Throw him in the Valley. Let his bones serve as a warning to the others."
Evan had tried to speak, to beg, to promise he would work in the mines, anything. But the guards had already seized him. As they dragged him out, the last thing he saw was his cousin, smirking, already stepping up to the crystal to take Evan's place.
They didn't just exile me, Evan realized. They erased me.
Present Day. The Valley of Lost Bones.
The memory burned hot in Evan's chest, hotter than the magma veins of the earth.
[ EMOTIONAL RESONANCE SPIKE DETECTED. ]
[ SOURCE: MEMORY - "THE UNCLE'S VERDICT" ]
[ CONVERTING RAGE TO ORIGIN FLUX... ]
[ MANA REGENERATION: +200% ]
Evan blinked, and the marble hall vanished. He was back in the dust, the rotting smell of the wolves filling his nose. The lead wolf, the one whose jaw he had just shattered, was whimpering on the ground.
The other two wolves circled him, hesitation in their glowing green eyes. They were animals, but they weren't stupid. They sensed the shift. The prey had become something else.
Evan looked at the circling wolves, but he didn't see beasts. He saw the Elder. He saw Varrick. He saw the backs of the family that threw him away.
"You look hungry," Evan said softly, his voice raspy but steady. He cracked his neck, the System flooding his limbs with unnatural strength.
He held out a hand, fingers curling into a claw.
"Good. So am I."
[ SYSTEM ALERT ]
[ SKILL UNLOCKED: PREDATOR'S GRIP (Active) ]
[ COST: 10 Fear Points ]
The wolves lunged together.
Evan didn't flinch. He moved.