The heavens wept in torrents, as if the world was a tragedy. Surfaces gleamed with a patina of water, mirroring the cold light of street lamps. Noise surrounded him in the city—cars rushing past, people at their doors huddled beneath umbrellas, the never-ending thrum of life—but for Liam Vale, his world felt hollow, empty.
He plodded in the rain, hands shoved deep in his jacket pockets, bowed under the burden of a life he had learned to hate. His school uniform was drenched, clinging to his body, and his shoes squelched with every step. His dark hair hung limp around his face and his pale skin seemed to sink further into the shadows.
Another day. Another round of bullying. Yet another day of being ignored by so many who were fortunate enough to rise in the morning and walk in the world with their heads held high, who walked past the sullied underbelly of the human condition without fear or doubt. Liam was not like them. He had never been.
"Hey, Vale!" There came a voice from behind him. Liam didn't turn. He already knew who it was. He heard the sound of heavy footsteps behind him and the boys were on his tail. Tyler and his crew, the same pack of thugs who had turned Liam's life into a hell on earth.
"Look at the loser," Tyler said, shoving Liam's shoulder hard. "Still walking in the rain like a cold pathetic stray. Should've stayed home, dumbass."
Liam's jaw tightened. But the sting of their words had always left, just like that, and so far he hadn't learned to block them out, to ignore them. To survive.
"Shut up," Liam whispered, so softly over the howling wind.
"Oh? What was that, Vale?" Tyler laughed, the sound cruel, victorious. "You got something to say?" He pushed Liam a second time, more forcefully.
Liam tripped, but caught himself. He could've fought back. He could've put a stop to this, but his fists hung impotent at his sides. What would it matter? No matter how many he killed, no matter how powerful he showed his hand, they would return. They always did.
In that moment, soaking wet and helpless and bruised, something started to change inside of him. A pull. Give me a moment to breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out, because I am a good little girl, so I tell myself, I am a good little girl and it is a dark word, a word like the chill that runs down the spine of all whom the air has hit thick with violence and so, life is not a matter of do not, but rather, of do — and so I must climb out myself. For a moment, the world around him went quiet. No more rain, no more taunts.
"What's wrong, Vale?" Tyler's voice was distant, warped. "Scared?"
The hairs on Liam's neck stood on end. This wasn't normal. He raised his head, eyes narrowing as he looked up, past Tyler, down the devoid alleyway in front of him.
There, something moved in the shadow —Something else. It was too dark. It spun, flickering like smoke blown in the wind — like something that was not supposed to exist in this world. And then it moved into the street, its figure nearly insubstantial, hardly visible except for its eyes — two glowing red spheres cutting through the blackness.
Liam's breath hitched. His heart raced and alarm washed over him. Tyler and his friends didn't seem to notice, too engrossed in taunting him to notice the figure advancing through the shadow. But Liam did. He couldn't look away.
The figure came up slowly, silently, as if the world itself had parted for it.
"Who... who are you?" Liam spoke, voice quavering. It was strange to hear it come out of his mouth, as if someone else had said it.
The shadow's shape flickered again, then a voice, deep and cold, like the whisper of the void itself, came to him.
"You are weak." The voice echoed in his mind. "But I can give you what you want… power."
Liam's eyes widened. The shadow appeared to warp, winding around his body like a snake. It was not something you felt with your body, but it seemed to curl itself around his heart, his soul. The words struck him deep to his very core.
"Do you want power?" "Who did you set your heart on?"160Inky voice behind himThe black shadow said, slightly altering its shape in air as if it is a dark figure, a…
Liam's heart raced. Power? Strength that would no longer make him a target, a punch line? The knowledge pulsed through his blood, and the agony of his everyday life burned in his heart.
"I…" No was what he wanted to say, except the words tasted too weird. Too hollow. He was tired. He was tired of being weak, of being nothing.
"Yes," Liam exhaled, before he could think better of it.
The shadow's figure coalesced, its spectral corporeal form now standing erect and looming over him. Noctis — the word rolled around in his mind like a whispered secret.
"Very good, vessel," Noctis's voice echoed in his ears. "I will give you the power you desire. But beware, there is always a price.'
A rush of power coursed through Liam, power that made all others he had felt palsy in comparison. It ran through his body like fire and ice, filling him, altering him. His heart jolted as something started stir in him, something alien and malignant and sprouting like a vine.
At that point, his surroundings appeared to warp. The shadows bent, and the air around me turned of bitter chill. It was like a shockwave — Liam reeled back, clutching his head, his vision turning to static. It felt like something in him was shattering but something else was flourishing, too, something ethereal.
"I am Noctis, and you are now bound to me," the shadow whispered, its words adding to the undertow of thought and noise in his mind, twisting like a storm behind his eyes. "You will become stronger, but beware… the road you travel shall not be an easy one."
And for him, the world came crashing back. He gazed down at his hands, trembling now — not out of fear, but from the raw power coursing through him. He was alive, as alive as he had never been.
"You are mine," Noctis's voice resounded once more, firm.
And so, it began. The journey that would alter Liam's fate forever. The road he would tread beside the shadow that would make him strong, but there would be a price.