The hum of the armored transport was a low, vibrating growl that seemed to rattle Reed Blackwell's very teeth. It was a sterile, mechanical sound—the kind of sound that didn't exist in the Grey Wastes. Out there, the only noises were the screaming wind and the crunch of bone under the boots of things that shouldn't be.
Reed lay on the cold metal floor of the bay, his eyes half-closed. To the guards chatting near the cockpit, he was just a piece of "salvage." A Null they'd found clinging to life by a miracle.
But inside Reed, something was awake.
He could feel it pulsing behind his ribs. It wasn't a warmth, like the stories he'd heard of the Fire Cores. It didn't crackle like electricity. It felt like a steady, rhythmic thrum of nothingness. It was as if a tiny, silent whirlpool had opened up in his soul, and it was slowly drinking the exhaustion from his muscles.
Is this the system? Reed thought, his fingers twitching. Is this what 'Non-Existence' feels like?
Suddenly, the transport jolted. The hydraulic doors hissed open, and a blindingly bright light flooded the bay.
"Move it, trash!" a voice barked.
A heavy boot collided with Reed's side. He didn't cry out. He had learned long ago that crying out only made people kick harder. He rolled, pushed himself up, and stumbled out of the transport.
The air hit him first. It was filtered, recycled, and smelled faintly of ozone and expensive cologne. Reed blinked, his eyes adjusting to the sight of the Zenith Institute. It was a cathedral of glass and steel, rising like a middle finger to the ruins of the old world outside. Floating walkways connected silver towers, and everywhere he looked, students in pristine white-and-gold uniforms moved with the grace of the well-fed and the powerful.
"Keep your head down," the guard sneered, shoving Reed toward a massive obsidian archway. "A Null like you shouldn't even be breathing this air. If it weren't for that Council Seal you were holding, I'd have dumped you in the incinerator myself."
Reed didn't answer. He clutched the black metallic coin hidden in his pocket—the gift from the stranger in the mist.
As they entered the main hall, a hush fell over the crowd of students. Their eyes, bright with the residue of their various elemental affinities, landed on Reed. He was a stark contrast to their perfection: his clothes were tattered rags held together by grime; his skin was pale and scarred.
"What is that?" a girl whispered, her eyes glowing with a soft green shimmer. "Is that... a wilder?"
"Worse," a tall boy replied, stepping forward. He had hair the color of embers and a smirk that felt like a slap. This was Kaelen Voss, the top-ranked recruit. "It's a Null. I can smell the lack of energy on him from here. Hey, trash! Did you crawl out of a sewer just to see what real humans look like?"
The surrounding students erupted in laughter. Reed kept his gaze fixed on the floor. He could feel the whirlpool in his chest spin a little faster.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: HOST EMOTIONAL TURBULENCE DETECTED]
[WARNING: VOID SIGNATURE IS CURRENTLY UNSTABLE]
[STEALTH PROTOCOL: ACTIVE. MAINTAINING COVER.]
Reed sucked in a breath. Not yet, he told himself. I don't even know what I am yet.
The guards led him to the center of the hall, where a towering pillar of translucent crystal stood. This was the Aura Pillar. It was the judge, jury, and executioner of the Institute. It measured the depth of a student's Core and determined their Rank.
A woman with a sharp face and a uniform adorned with silver stripes stood by the pillar. Instructor Vane. She looked at Reed with the same clinical interest one might show a biological specimen. "Reed Blackwell," she said. "The boy with the Council Seal. The Pillar does not lie. Step forward."
Reed walked toward the pillar. He placed his hand on the cold surface of the crystal.
For a heartbeat, the hall was silent. Then, the Pillar began to groan. This wasn't the usual melodic hum of a Core being measured. This was a jagged, grinding sound, like tectonic plates sliding against one another. The light inside the crystal didn't turn blue, red, or gold. It flickered violently. The colors bled together into a muddy grey, and then, with a sharp crack that echoed through the hall, the light simply went out.
A collective gasp rippled through the hundreds of watching students. The massive holographic screen above the Pillar began to glitch, the digital code scrolling at a blinding speed before slamming into three lines of text that flashed in a warning, blood-red hue:
[CORE TYPE: ERROR]
[ENERGY CAPACITY: 0.00]
[RANK: TIER 4 - REJECT]
The silence that followed was heavy.
"Error?" a girl whispered. "The Pillar never says 'Error.' Even a Null shows up as 'Blank'."
Kaelen Voss stepped forward, his hair practically smoking. "It's a glitch. The machine is too pure to even register his filth. Look at the capacity! 0.00! He's not an 'Error,' he's a vacuum. He's nothing."
Instructor Vane walked toward the Pillar, her face pale. She tapped the crystal, her own silver energy flowing into it to run a diagnostic. The Pillar rejected her touch, the 'ERROR' text pulsing brighter. She looked at Reed, and for the first time, her disdain was replaced by a flicker of genuine unease.
"Enough!" Vane barked. "The machine has malfunctioned due to the candidate's total lack of internal energy. A 'Zero' capacity is a 'Zero' capacity. Get him out of my sight. This 'Error' is an insult to the Zenith Institute. Throw him into Sector 4. If the Council wants him here, fine—but they didn't say he had to be treated like a student."
The laughter finally broke out, led by Kaelen's mocking bark. "An 'Error'! You're literally a mistake, Blackwell!"
Reed didn't look back as the guard's hand clamped onto his neck. Inside his mind, the violet interface of the Void System flickered.
[LOCAL SCANNER ATTEMPTED TO QUANTIFY THE VOID...]
[RESULT: ERROR]
[SYSTEM MESSAGE: YOU CANNOT MEASURE WHAT DOES NOT EXIST.]
Reed was hauled through the beautiful glass halls, down into the belly of the Institute, past the kitchens, past the laundry, and deep into the damp, dark sub-levels where the sunlight never reached. The Sector 4 dorms weren't rooms; they were cages. Iron bars, thin mats on stone floors, and the smell of rot.
The guard threw Reed into a cell and slammed the door.
"Dinner is at six," the guard sneered. "If you want to eat, you'll have to fight the others for it. My advice? Don't get comfortable. A Null like you usually ends up in the scrap heap by Friday."
The guard's footsteps faded away, leaving Reed in total darkness. Reed sat on the edge of the thin mat. His body ached. His stomach was a pit of hunger. But as he sat there, the violet screen appeared in his vision again.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZATION: 100% COMPLETE]
[WELCOME, HOST REED BLACKWELL]
[THE VOID SYSTEM HAS CALIBRATED TO YOUR CURRENT REALITY]
Reed whispered into the dark, his voice cracked. "What... what are you?"
[I AM THE ABSENCE OF ALL THINGS.]
[I AM THE TRUTH BEYOND THE LIGHT.]
[CURRENT STATUS:]
Name: Reed Blackwell
Title: The Non-Existent
Rank: 0
Current Ability: Stealth of the Void (Passive)
[MISSION TRIGGERED: THE FIRST SUBTRACTION]
Objective: The world believes you are a 'Zero.' Prove them right by 'erasing' the first threat to your existence.
Target: The bullies of Sector 4.
Reward: Unlock First Active Skill: [Grasp of Non-Existence].
Reed looked at his hands. In the pitch black of the cell, they seemed to be fading at the edges. Suddenly, he heard the sound of footsteps. Light, predatory steps.
"New meat?" a raspy voice whispered from the other side of the bars. "I heard the guards talking. A Null with a Council Seal? That means you've got something valuable on you, kid."
Three figures emerged from the shadows. The leader held a jagged piece of rebar that had been sharpened into a shiv. "Give us the coin, Null," the leader growled. "Give it to us, and maybe we won't break your legs before dinner."
Reed stood up slowly. For the first time in his life, he didn't feel the fear of the hunted. He felt a cold, calm clarity.
The whirlpool in his chest expanded. The shadows in the corners of the cell began to stretch toward the bars.
[WARNING: VOID ENERGY SURGING]
[DO YOU WISH TO INITIATE THE FIRST SUBTRACTION?]
"Come and take it," Reed said, his voice sounding deeper, echoing as if it were coming from a great distance.
The bullies lunged.