Aldric shot upright in bed, heart hammering against his ribs. Sweat soaked through his shirt, clinging to his skin. His face was locked in an expression of pure horror.
He'd had a nightmare. The worst in years.
But as he sat there, gasping on sweat-drenched sheets, he couldn't remember a single detail. Couldn't explain why it had terrified him so completely. Why fear still coiled tight in his chest for something he couldn't even recall.
He forced himself to breathe slowly. Each exhale carried an attempt to forget something he didn't remember in the first place.
Once his breathing steadied, Aldric wrestled free from his sheets – which seemed determined to keep him prisoner – and stumbled toward the window. Each step drew a protesting creak from the aged floorboards.
He grabbed the window handle and swung it open. Air rushed into the room, but it wasn't fresh. Far from it. The breeze carried the bitter tang of industrial waste, thick and contaminated with the neighborhood's desperation.
Aldric breathed it in anyway. People like him didn't have the luxury of choice. These parts always reeked. He lived where he could afford to live. Or rather, where he had been able to afford. Now his money was gone, and being awakened had so far failed to pay a single bill.
His gaze drifted to the floating pyramid in the distance – a dark monolith suspended eternally in the sky. Blue light cascaded down from beneath it, flowing toward the earth like luminous water. A gateway. One of several.
All had appeared over a hundred years ago. They called it a gate to another realm – the Expanse, where countless worlds supposedly collided and converged. Of course, that could just be more government propaganda for all Aldric knew. He'd believe it when he saw it. But if he tried to pass through the gateway now, he'd be turned to dust, so seeing the Expanse firsthand wasn't an option.
What he could see was the power of the awakened – individuals who'd begun emerging around the same time as the gateways. Aldric had called that propaganda too, until he witnessed a dungeon rift years ago. He'd believed completely once he became awakened himself.
After awakening, he'd thought his financial problems were over. Poor orphan to millionaire overnight. But fate proved crueler than that. Somehow, Aldric had managed to become one of the weakest awakened in history.
"Status," he muttered, hoping something had changed.
Every day he checked. Every day it remained the same.
Except today.
━━━━━━━━━━
[ ALDRIC VOSS ]
━━━━━━━━━━
Markings: [The Remainder] [A False Existence]
Affinity: [Null]
Rank: [Warrior (0)]
Xai Energy (XE) Reserve: 10/10
Returns: (__)
STATS
| Strength: [2]
| Agility: [3]
| Durability: [2]
| Intelligence: [10]
| Memory: [0.3]
| Xai Control: [0]
━━━━━━━━━━
Aldric's breath caught. His status window was different.
He was certain he'd had no markings before. This was his first time seeing a "Memory" stat, or "Returns." He didn't know what markings meant, but everything that would have made him any less useless remained constant. Still a tier-zero warrior. Stats still an insult to every awakened who'd ever lived.
He'd figure out the changes later. First, he needed to make his rounds through the guilds before he ended up on the streets.
Aldric sat in an uncomfortable metal chair, staring through the window at the buildings rising in the distance. They all looked painfully similar, bereft of creativity.
His attention shifted to the man across the desk. The recruiter's face was carved with wrinkles that spoke either of old age or a life of frustration. The paleness in his blue eyes argued for the latter.
Disappointment flickered in those dull depths with every page he turned in Aldric's file. Glance at the page. Glance at Aldric. Heavy sigh. Turn another page.
Aldric couldn't even pretend to be surprised. He'd been through this scenario countless times since awakening. His only reason for continuing was to avoid the crushing hopelessness of having no plan at all.
"Mister Voss, I'm honestly in disbelief." The man looked up from the folder. "In all my years working at this guild, I've yet to see a file as terrible as this."
Aldric could have recited the words himself. He'd heard them enough times to memorize them – more by circumstance than intention.
"I know it might not look like it on paper, but I'm an extremely valuable asset to any team." Aldric's voice came out hoarse from disuse. He rarely spoke, and when he did, it was at meetings like this, saying these exact words. "I have tenacity and drive, and regardless of how little it seems, my assistance always – "
"Listen, Mister Voss." The man cut him off. "Save me the speech. You're simply too weak for this guild. Not even for a limited contract. Honestly, I've seen non-awakened stronger than you."
Aldric flinched. That one was new. Maybe that's why it stung so much.
He sighed – a sound of pure exhaustion – and reached forward to grab his file and close it. This was usually the part where he launched into a twenty-minute lecture about how teamwork could sometimes outweigh individual strength. Today, he couldn't be bothered.
"Well, thank you for your time, Mr. Henderson."
Aldric stood, tucked his file under his arm, and walked away from the desk.
This made fifteen attempts at this guild alone. Over a hundred total since awakening two years ago.
He headed to the elevator and pushed the button. The red LED display above counted down floors as he waited.
A woman came to stand beside him.
Bright hazel eyes. Brown hair flowing down her back.
Aldric failed to notice any of it. He'd already retreated into his own head, where the chaos was somehow preferable to his collapsing joke of a life.
Ding.
The elevator doors slid open. The woman stepped inside, and only then did Aldric register her presence – her features, the fact that she existed at all.
He followed her in. The doors slid shut with the same mechanical sound.
He waited for her to press her floor. Seconds bled together. She didn't move.
With a sigh of pure disinterest, Aldric pressed the button for the lobby. The elevator began its descent.
Ding.
Doors opened. Aldric walked out, his footsteps on the marble floor drowned by the bustling activity around him as he crossed the lobby and pushed through the revolving door.
Outside, sunlight caught his bleached hair, warming his face.
"I'm really going to start living on the streets," he muttered. "Should've just gone to college."
Aldric shoved both hands into his pockets – not to look cool or fish for money, but to confirm what he already knew. Empty. No cab fare. A very long, painful walk home.
"Isn't that just a wonderful time," he said with bitter sarcasm.
He stretched his arms and legs, then started the trek home.
"Hey! Mister, please wait!"
A female voice called from behind him. Aldric turned to find the hazel-eyed woman from the elevator jogging toward him.
"What do you want?" His voice was heavy with disinterest.
As both a man and an awakened, Aldric lacked quite a number of things. Good manners was one he deliberately failed to cultivate.
"You've been searching for a guild, right?" The woman extended a flyer toward him. "I have an offer for you."
Bold letters at the top read: EVERSTONE GUILD.
Aldric had never heard of them, though in fairness, there were too many guilds to know them all.
"Is this some kind of scam?" Suspicion laced his tone.
"Of course not, sir. This is an upcoming guild with significant backing. The next big thing." She flashed him a bright smile. "We have a raid coming up soon. Do your best during that, and your entry will be based on your performance. Isn't that perfect for a low-rank awakened like you?"
Her grin widened, stretching almost unnaturally across her face.