It was the letter from her Master's husband, the one she had found tucked inside the small leather wallet thirteen years ago. The words were burned into her memory:
"Ruby, while reading this letter we may not be there with you, and due to less time I will keep this short. I want you to protect my child from the shadows and just not let him die. Let him understand the reality of the world through his own eyes, which will help him to create his own judgment on what is right and what is wrong. I have no more things to say. I hope this letter will reach you. And thank you for your hard work. I am counting on you for it."
Ruby. That was her true name. The disciple who had failed to save them. Now, she was just Aunty Naina, the hospital nurse.
After a long pause, Aarav looked up, his voice pulling her back to the present.
"Aunty… Rudra has no mana, but he heals faster than the rest of us. And his blood… when he bleeds, it has a golden tint to it. Do you know why?"
Hearing the question Aarav have Naina went perfectly quiet. The temperature in the room seemed to drop.
"No, my child," she lied, after a moment. "Even I don't understand it."
She looked at Rudra's sleeping face and sighed. "Come on, let's go outside. He needs rest. By tomorrow, his body will recover. He will be fine."
Aarav nodded reluctantly and followed her out into the dim corridor. After taking a few steps, he stopped, refusing to move further.
"Will Rudra suffer like this his whole life?" he asked, his voice cracking with frustration.
Naina stopped, keeping her back to him so he couldn't see her expression.
"No one knows when Rudra will fully heal from his condition," she said quietly, her voice laced with hidden meaning. "But one thing I know for sure the day Rudra fully awakens, no one in this village will stand against him."
Aarav took a deep breath, finally asking the question that had always bothered him. "Do you know his parents, aunty?"
Naina looked down the dark, empty hallway.
"I cannot tell you anything about that," she said softly. "You just have to remember, Rudra is not like normal people."
At the exact same time, inside the dark, empty hospital room, something started to change.
The black pendant resting against Rudra's chest began to glow. A soft, brilliant golden light spilled from the etched markings, spreading over his battered body. It felt warm, moving in rhythm like a second heartbeat. The medical machines beside the bed flickered and sparked.
The air in the room grew incredibly heavy, saturated with a pressure that was ancient and dormant.
Deep within Rudra's mind, a voice spoke.
[Rudra… wake up.]
The Inner Void
Rudra felt as though he were drifting inside an endless, empty space. It was not a sudden darkness, but a deep and suffocating void, pressing gently yet relentlessly against his very existence. He could not tell whether he was falling or floating. There was no ground beneath him, no sky above him absolute nothingness.
There was no sense of feeling no cold, no heat. Only a heavy silence, vast and unbroken, wrapping around him like an unseen ocean.
Then, he heard it again.
[Rudra… wake up.]
The voice was calm and deep, carrying a presence far older than him perhaps older than time itself. It did not shout or demand attention. It did not command him. And yet, ignoring it felt impossible, as though the voice belonged to something that had always existed within him.
Slowly, Rudra opened his eyes.
He was not in the hospital. There was no bed beneath him. No walls around him. No ceiling above him.
Instead, he stood within an infinite darkness, a vast void that stretched endlessly in every direction. But within that darkness, countless tiny golden lights shimmered softly, scattered like distant stars across a night sky.
Each light carried a faint warmth not burning heat, but comfort. It felt as though those golden strands were alive, as though everything around him recognized his presence and acknowledged him.
"Where… where am I?" Rudra whispered, his voice sounding small against the endless void.
From the darkness came a reply, gentle and steady.
[You are where you have always been.]
There was a pause.
[Within yourself.]
Rudra lowered his gaze and looked at his hands. There were no wounds. No bruises. No blood. The injuries that had once covered his body were gone, erased as if they had never existed.
Slowly, golden lines began to appear beneath his skin, spreading across his arms like glowing veins. They moved fluidly, pulsating with life, as though they were not foreign but a natural part of him.
There was no pain. Only a strange and unfamiliar sensation as if something long broken inside him had finally been repaired. As if everything within him was finally falling into its proper place.
"Seeing his healed body and shimmering gold light he though that it was mana, but… I don't have mana," Rudra said quietly, looking at the glowing lines. "That's what everyone says."
The darkness trembled faintly, reacting to his words.
[Your body is not like the others, Rudra.]
His heart skipped a beat.
"What? How do you know that? Who are you?" he asked, panic rising.
The answer came calmly, without hesitation or pride.
[I am Genesis.]
Rudra's breath caught in his throat.
"Genesis?" he repeated in disbelief. "But… I've never felt you inside me before. How could you suddenly-"
The voice interrupted him gently.
[Rudra, I was never inside you. I was around your neck.]
Rudra froze.
[The pendant you wear day and night,] Genesis continued. [That pendant is me.]
Shock rippled through Rudra's mind.
"But… it never spoke before," he said.
[That is because I could only awaken when enough blood from one of the Three Supreme Beings reached me.]
Rudra frowned in confusion. "The Three Supreme Beings? Who are they?"
[That is not something you need to know yet.]
A brief, heavy silence followed, before the voice spoke again.
[Your mana veins are extremely weak. It is likely that at the moment of your birth, your body was struck by the energy of a gate opening from another dimension.]
Rudra's chest tightened.
"Another dimension?" he said, his voice rising in panic. "What are you saying? I don't understand."
[Leave that for now,] Genesis replied calmly. [I know you want to become stronger and I will make you stronger than you were ever meant to be.]
Rudra inhaled deeply, trying to steady his racing thoughts.
[One thing you must remember,] the voice added, echoing with finality. [After you awaken consume the pendant immediately.]
Somewhere Else
Deep within a dense and shadowed forest, an old looking man was locked in a brutal battle against the Dragon King Akura.
Suddenly, the old man froze.
Steel clashed violently against scales. Fire roared through the air, scorching the ancient trees. The earth trembled beneath their power, cracking under the force of their blows.
"What… what is this?" he whispered, lowering his weapon.
His eyes widened in disbelief as a sensation he hadn't felt in years washed over him.
"Genesis has awakened? That means-"
His voice broke, emotion flooding his weathered face.
"My daughter is alive… but where?"
Without hesitation, he abandoned the battle entirely. Ignoring the roaring Dragon King behind him, he turned and rushed toward the direction from which he sensed the energy, moving faster than the light itself.
Back in the Hospital
At that exact moment, Rudra's eyes snapped open.
The sterile hospital room came into focus. He looked down at his chest. The pendant around his neck was blazing with golden light, brighter than anything he had ever seen. It was hot against his skin, vibrating with power.
His entire life flashed before him every beating, every insult, every moment of crushing loneliness, every night spent wondering why he existed at all.
Inside his mind, a thought surfaced.
'What's the worst that can happen? I'll die.'
He paused.
'I'm already dying a little every day anyway.'
Slowly, with trembling hands, he reached up and removed the chain from his neck. Without hesitation, he put the glowing pendant in his mouth and swallowed.
The moment it entered his body, Rudra's entire form began to shake violently. His veins bulged beneath his skin, glowing with searing heat. His breathing became chaotic and uneven as power flooded a vessel too small to contain it.
And then, darkness claimed him once more.
Above the Hospital
High in the sky, space tore open. A rift formed, and from the void, the old man emerged. He hovered in the air, his eyes scanning the world below with desperate intensity.
"This… this is impossible," he muttered, his face pale. "I can no longer sense Genesis."
He extended his senses, covering one hundred kilometers in a heartbeat.
Nothing.
Then five hundred kilometers.
Still nothing.
Slowly, he withdrew his senses. Pain and fury burned in his eyes, a father's grief renewed.
"My daughter… where are you?"
The sky tore open once again, and he vanished into the rift, leaving only the wind behind.
Next Morning – Hospital Room
Morning light filtered through the curtains, filling the room with a soft glow.
As Aarav stepped inside, holding a small bag of fruit, his breath caught in his throat. The bag dropped from his hand.
Rudra was not on the bed. He lay unconscious on the floor, tangled in the sheets.
"R–Rudra!"
Panic seized Aarav. He rushed to his friend, checking for a response, but Rudra didn't move. Aarav turned and sprinted into the hallway, his heart pounding in his ears.
He skipped past several wards until he spotted the familiar white uniform. "Aunty Naina! Quickly Rudra-"
Thinking something critical had happened, Naina dropped her clipboard and rushed with him back toward the room. As they hurried down the hallway, she asked breathlessly, "What happened? Why are you shouting like that?"
"I went to check on him," Aarav gasped, running beside her. "I found him collapsed on the floor! I put him back on the bed, but he wouldn't wake up!"
"You did good by calling me," Naina said, her face grim.
They burst into the room. Naina reached toward Rudra immediately, her fingers pressing against his wrist. She checked his pulse, his breathing, and lifted his eyelids to check his pupils.
After a tense moment, she exhaled a long breath of relief.
"There's nothing to worry about," she said, her shoulders slumping. "He's completely fine. Just unconscious from exhaustion."
A little later, Rudra slowly stirred. He opened his eyes, blinking against the light.
"Aunty…" he murmured.
But Naina cut him off immediately.
"Stop don't try to talk right now, From this moment all your outside activities will be banned and you are not allowed to go outside orphanage area."
Her voice was firm, shaking slightly. Looking into her eyes, Rudra saw a mixture of anger and love that told him she was not going to hear 'no' for an answer. Seeing this, Rudra kept his mouth shut.
"Do you know the condition you were in yesterday? If Aarav hadn't reached you in time, do you know what could have happened?"
Her voice trembled, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "Think about me. How would I live without you? And think about Aarav he has no one else in this world but you."
She looked straight at him, her expression stern but pleading. "If you get hurt again, I will stop talking to you completely."
Rudra stood up quietly. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug.
"Aunty," he whispered into her shoulder. "I promise. It won't happen again."
He pulled back slightly, offering a weak smile. "Besides… if you stop talking to me… who will I even have?"
Naina softened. She placed her hand on his head, stroking his hair. "I don't know," she said gently. "But from now on, you will only go out with Aarav."
She stepped back, wiping her eyes quickly. "I need to check on other patients."
At the door, she paused and looked back. "Talk to Aarav. He didn't sleep all night. He's waiting for you outside."
She offered a faint smile. "And yes… I'm discharging you soon."
The door clicked shut, leaving the room silent.
Rudra looked at Aarav. This time, there was no weakness in his eyes no fear. Only resolve.
Suddenly, a voice echoed inside his mind, cold and mechanical.
[Impossible… Samrat Veins.]
Rudra's lips moved on their own, mimicking the words echoing in his skull.
"Samrat Veins…" he murmured softly.
Aarav immediately looked at him, surprised. "What are you saying, Rudra?"
Rudra froze for a moment. He quickly understood what Aarav must be thinking.
'He probably thinks I've gone crazy,' Rudra realized. 'Muttering to myself like this…'
He quickly controlled his expression and forced a small smile. "Oh, nothing. Just random thoughts."
Aarav looked at him carefully, deep concern evident in his gaze. "You're okay, right?"
Rudra nodded firmly. "Yeah. I'm fine. Nothing will happen to me now." He slowly stood up, brushing the dust off his clothes. "Come on. Let's go home. To Ashfall Orphanage."
Relief washed over Aarav's face. "Yeah, okay. Let's go."
Both of them walked toward the door, unaware that the strange words echoing in Rudra's mind were about to change his destiny forever.
Ashfall Orphanage
The journey back was quiet. By the time they reached Ashfall Orphanage, the familiar sight of old, weathering walls and silent corridors greeted them. It was the same stillness as always.
As they walked down the hallway, Rudra broke the silence. "Aarav… didn't you reach Fighter Level – Stage 7 last week?"
Aarav stopped, a look of mild surprise crossing his face before settling into a modest smile. "Yeah. Just luck and some hard work."
Rudra didn't respond immediately. He just nodded, his mind drifting. Genesis's words from earlier were still echoing faintly on his mind, overlapping with thoughts he had carried for years regarding the harsh reality of their world.
It hadn't always been this way. Before mana existed, the world was ordinary no power, no monsters, no awakenings. But the day Mana appeared, humanity was reshaped from the inside out. It wasn't just humans; animals evolved into terrifying beasts, growing stronger, larger, and far more dangerous. Forests that were once harmless had turned into death zones.
Because of that, power in this world had been rigidly divided.
It started with the First Awakening, the gateway that allowed a human to sense mana. From there, one would climb through the Fighter Level the foundation of all combat, where the body was forged and mana control stabilized. Each level was a grueling climb from Stage 0 to Stage 9.
'And yet…' Rudra thought, his gaze losing focus, 'Genesis said my body is different.'
"Everything okay?" Aarav's voice snapped him back to reality.
Rudra forced a light smile. "Yeah. Just thinking." He paused, looking at his friend. "You should go train. If you stay here with me, you'll fall behind."
Aarav laughed, the sound echoing in the empty hall. "Since when did you start worrying about that?"
"It's not like that," Rudra shook his head. "I just want to be alone for a bit."
Aarav understood immediately. He placed a firm, warm hand on Rudra's shoulder. "Alright. I'll train outside. Don't overthink things, okay? You're stronger than you think. Whatever happens, don't give up."
Rudra looked at him, surprised for a second, then nodded. "Yeah."
Aarav smiled, gave him a light punch on the back, and turned away. "Call me if you need anything."
With that, he left the room and headed toward the training grounds, leaving Rudra alone with his own thoughts.