Power was not meant to be held casually.
Kaiser realized this the moment he tried to command it.
On the rooftop where his fate had shifted, the night wind brushed past him like a silent witness. The artificial constellations flickered above, while beyond them, the true stars loomed like distant judges.
He closed his eyes.
The Seed of Ascension within him pulsed, slow and deliberate, like the heartbeat of a sleeping god.
The moment he focused on it, pressure flooded his mind.
Not physical.
Conceptual.
As if reality itself was testing whether he deserved to hold what he had been given.
Kaiser exhaled slowly.
"Do not overwhelm me," he murmured. "I will master you."
The Seed responded with cold indifference.
Power did not negotiate. It demanded proof.
When he opened his eyes, Luna stood nearby, watching him in silence.
"You are pushing yourself too fast," she said.
"If I hesitate," Kaiser replied, "this power will control me instead."
Luna studied him. "Or consume you."
Max stepped onto the rooftop moments later, carrying two bottles of synthetic energy drink. "Morning motivation for our future galactic tyrant."
Nux followed, smirking. "I brought snacks. If reality collapses, at least we die full."
Lenzo adjusted his glasses, already analyzing Kaiser's energy fluctuations. Suzy lingered behind them, expression concerned but determined.
They had all chosen to stay.
Not because they understood.
But because they trusted him.
Kaiser looked at them and felt something tighten in his chest.
This path was not meant to be walked with companions.
Yet he refused to walk it alone.
"I need to test my limits," he said. "And I need witnesses. If I lose control… stop me."
Max grinned. "Finally. A legal excuse to punch you."
Lenzo frowned. "I would prefer not to restrain someone who can distort space."
"Relax," Nux muttered. "If he explodes, we can monetize the story."
Suzy glared at him.
Kaiser inhaled deeply and reached inward again.
This time, he did not merely touch the Seed.
He communed with it.
The world peeled open.
Not physically.
But in layers of meaning.
He perceived faint symbols orbiting his consciousness like fragmented constellations. Each symbol carried a concept. A direction. A Pathway.
Conquest.
Void.
Mind.
Fate.
Time.
Entropy.
Creation.
Immortality.
Each Path radiated danger.
And promise.
At the center of them all, Kaiser sensed something unstable.
A fractured Path.
A Hybrid Path that should not exist.
The Path of Sovereignty.
Not inherited.
Not granted.
Forged.
A voice echoed faintly in the depths of his mind.
Ascension requires ritual. Power requires acknowledgment. Evolution requires sacrifice.
Kaiser's eyes snapped open.
"I need to perform a ritual," he said quietly.
Lenzo leaned forward. "Ritual? Like religious practice?"
"Not religion," Kaiser replied. "A mechanism. A cosmic protocol."
Luna's gaze sharpened. "A gateway."
"Yes," Kaiser said. "And a test."
Nux crossed his arms. "So what do we sacrifice? Please say it is not goats."
Kaiser shook his head. "Memory. Emotion. Or belief."
Silence settled.
Suzy swallowed. "What will you sacrifice?"
Kaiser did not answer immediately.
He thought of his childhood.
His fear of being insignificant.
His attachment to normality.
"I will sacrifice my fear of becoming more," he said.
Max whistled softly. "That sounds poetic. And dangerous."
Lenzo nodded. "Let us proceed carefully."
They gathered in a loose circle.
Kaiser stood at the center.
He focused on the Seed and spoke words he did not consciously know, yet understood instinctively.
"I acknowledge the Path."
The air trembled.
"I accept the burden of evolution."
The rooftop's surface shimmered faintly, as if etched with invisible symbols.
"I relinquish the fear of surpassing humanity."
The Seed flared.
For a moment, Kaiser felt something tear away inside him.
Not pain.
Release.
The hesitation that had restrained his ambition fractured.
A new certainty took its place.
If he was to rise, he would rise without apology.
The symbols within his mind aligned.
A surge of information poured into him.
Ascension was not simply growth.
It was becoming closer to a concept.
Each step forward meant embodying an idea more completely.
His first stage had a name.
Awakened: Initiate of Sovereignty.
Kaiser gasped, staggering back as power flooded his nervous system.
The rooftop cracked beneath his feet.
Max stepped forward instinctively, bracing him. "Easy."
Kaiser steadied himself, heart racing.
He felt different.
Not just stronger.
More defined.
Luna exhaled softly. "Your presence stabilized. Before, you felt like a storm. Now you feel like… a crown waiting for a throne."
Nux blinked. "That is the weirdest compliment I have ever heard."
Lenzo typed rapidly. "Your energy structure is more coherent. It resembles a structured hierarchy rather than raw chaos."
Suzy smiled weakly. "Does it feel better?"
Kaiser nodded. "It feels… clearer."
But clarity came with consequence.
As he looked at the city below, he felt a faint detachment.
Human worries felt smaller.
Petty conflicts felt trivial.
A dangerous thought crossed his mind.
If I rise high enough, will I still care about ordinary lives?
He pushed the thought aside.
For now.
Later that evening, Kaiser received a message.
No sender.
Only coordinates.
And a single phrase.
Star Market. Midnight. If you want answers.
He showed it to Lenzo.
Lenzo frowned. "The Star Market is rumored to be a black market for awakened individuals. Illegal technology. Alien artifacts. Forbidden knowledge."
Nux grinned. "That sounds profitable."
Max cracked his knuckles. "That sounds like trouble."
Luna met Kaiser's gaze. "That sounds inevitable."
Suzy hesitated. "Do we all go?"
Kaiser nodded. "Yes. This path will not allow spectators."
At midnight, they arrived at the coordinates.
An abandoned transit station.
Or so it appeared.
Kaiser stepped forward, sensing hidden layers beneath reality.
He activated his perception.
The illusion peeled away.
The station transformed.
Hidden corridors unfolded like secret veins. Neon sigils glowed along the walls. Strange figures moved in the shadows.
Humans.
Ascenders.
And beings that no longer felt entirely human.
The Star Market revealed itself.
A place where cosmic law bent under greed and ambition.
Vendors sold alien relics sealed in glass. Information brokers whispered about secret factions. Mercenaries with altered bodies loitered with relaxed menace.
Max whispered, "This is insane."
Nux whispered louder, "This is paradise."
Lenzo looked overwhelmed. "The data here could rewrite modern science."
Suzy held close to Luna.
Kaiser felt eyes on him.
Not curious.
Calculating.
A woman approached, draped in dark fabric adorned with faint star patterns. Her smile was polite but unreadable.
"You are the new Ascender," she said. "Word travels fast."
Kaiser kept his expression neutral. "Who are you?"
"A broker," she replied. "You may call me Astra."
Luna narrowed her eyes slightly.
Astra continued, "You seek answers. I seek opportunities. A fair exchange."
Kaiser nodded. "What do you know?"
Astra leaned closer. "The cosmic force that chose you is not unique. It is part of a greater system… created long before humanity reached the stars."
Lenzo tensed. "Created? By whom?"
Astra smiled faintly. "By beings that no longer exist. Or perhaps… never truly did."
Kaiser felt a chill.
"What do they want?" he asked.
"To cultivate Ascenders," Astra said. "To observe them. To use them. Or to replace them."
Nux muttered, "That is comforting."
Astra's gaze shifted back to Kaiser.
"You are not the only one," she said. "There are other candidates. Other Paths. Other monsters in the making."
Kaiser thought of Charles.
"Some of them are already far ahead," Astra added quietly.
Before Kaiser could ask more, the lights of the Star Market flickered violently.
A wave of pressure swept through the station.
Everyone froze.
A presence descended.
Refined.
Dominant.
Amused.
Charles stepped out of the shadows.
The crowd instinctively parted.
Some lowered their heads.
Some watched in fear.
Some watched in admiration.
Charles's gaze settled on Kaiser, a faint smile curving his lips.
"So," he said calmly, "you performed your first ritual."
Kaiser clenched his jaw. "You are watching me."
"Of course," Charles replied. "You are walking an interesting Path."
Max whispered, "I do not like this guy."
Charles glanced briefly at Max, then back to Kaiser.
"Tell me," Charles said, "how does it feel to take your first step toward sovereignty?"
Kaiser met his gaze.
"It feels like the beginning of a war," he answered.
Charles smiled wider.
"Good," he said. "Because the galaxy does not need another hero."
His eyes gleamed.
"It needs a conqueror."
The tension between them thickened.
Two Ascenders.
Two ideologies.
Two futures on a collision course.
As Charles turned away and disappeared into the crowd, Kaiser felt something settle inside him.
This was no longer about survival.
It was about direction.
About belief.
About what kind of being he would become.
He looked at his friends.
At the hidden world.
At the distant stars beyond the artificial sky.
And in his heart, a quiet realization formed.
This was only the first ritual.
The path ahead would demand more.
More power.
More sacrifice.
More transformation.
And one day…
He would no longer be just a boy from Earth.
He would be a name whispered across galaxies.