The first thing I felt was pain. Not sharp or immediate, but deep—like claws scraping at my soul, pulling me back into existence.
I opened my eyes, or at least I tried to. Everything was a blur of muted colors, my senses dulled by the sheer weight of being. My body felt foreign, unsteady, as if I didn't belong in it.
"He's perfect," a woman's voice said, warm and distant, like it wasn't meant for me. "Luc. That's what we'll call him."
Luc. The name tethered me, anchoring me to this strange new reality. Memories of before—the blood, the darkness, the whispered goodbye—flickered like dying embers, leaving behind only a hollow ache.
Time became meaningless after that. Days bled into weeks, then months, and I learned the basics of this new world while trying to piece together fragments of my old one.
The city I lived in was a contradiction—a place where glowing runes powered machines, and towering spires hummed with Essence. Yet beneath its beauty was a shadow of decay. The people in the lower districts, like the ones who raised me, lived with dimmer glows on their runes and a permanent weight in their eyes.
By the time I was five, I had learned two truths:
First, I was different.
While the other children played with glowing spheres of Essence, mine remained dormant. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't summon even the faintest spark. But when I was alone, shadows clung to me, responding to my emotions like a second skin.
Second, the world had rules.
Here, strength wasn't just power—it was survival. If you couldn't prove yourself, you were a Fade, forgotten and cast aside. The Academy chose only the worthy, and once you were taken, you either succeeded or disappeared.
On my sixth birthday, the shadows came alive.
I had been sitting alone in the orphanage courtyard, watching the other children when a searing pain shot through my chest. The world blurred, and I collapsed to my knees.
[System Initializing...]
The voice was mechanical, inhuman, and yet it resonated within me.
[Core: Devourer's Core detected. Synchronizing...]
Memories I had buried deep surged forward, and the shadow within me roared to life. For a brief moment, I wasn't in the courtyard. I stood in an endless void, my body older, my hands still stained with blood.
[Unique Trait: Boundless Void.]
[Essence: Hybrid - Void/Aetherial.]
[Warning: Core instability detected.]
When I returned to the courtyard, the other children stared, fear etched into their faces. The shadows around me writhed, alive and hungry.
"Monster," someone whispered.
They weren't wrong.