Sovereign Beyond Creation

Chapter 2

Adam stood there, dripping. The wine smelled like fermented berries and humiliation. It stung his eyes. It soaked into his shirt, making it cling to his thin frame. He looked like a drowned rat in the middle of a golden palace.

"Oh, look," Julian mocked. "The Null is crying red tears."

"Leave," Emily said, her voice filled with disgust. "Just leave, Adam. You don't belong here."

Adam wiped the wine from his eyes. His vision was blurry, but he could see the faces of his classmates. They weren't just laughing; they were enjoying this. To them, he was a bug being crushed.

"I won't bow to you, Julian," Adam spat, his voice shaking with rage.

Julian’s eyes narrowed. "Is that so? I think you will."

Julian raised a hand. He didn't touch Adam. He didn't have to. "Gravity Well," he whispered.

Suddenly, the world became ten times heavier. Adam felt a massive, invisible hand slam onto his shoulders. His knees buckled instantly. He hit the marble floor with a loud crack.

"Ugh!" Adam gasped. The air was forced out of his lungs.

He tried to push himself up, but the weight was too much. It felt like he was carrying a boulder on his back. His bones groaned under the pressure. His face was pressed against the cold, wine-stained marble.

"Bow," Julian commanded, his voice booming through the hall. "Bow to your betters, Null. Bow to the man who will take everything you ever wanted."

Adam gritted his teeth. He pushed with all his might. His muscles screamed. He managed to lift his head a few inches. He saw Julian’s polished boots. He saw Emily standing there, not saying a word to stop it. She wasn't even looking at him with pity. She was looking at him with boredom.

"That's enough, Julian," a voice called out. It was a teacher, but they didn't sound angry at Julian. They sounded annoyed at the mess. "Get the boy out of here. He’s ruining the floor."

Two heavy-set guards, both low-level mages, stepped forward. They didn't help Adam up. They grabbed him by his collar and his arms. Julian released the gravity spell, and Adam went limp.

The guards dragged him across the ballroom floor. His shoes left streaks in the spilled wine. The laughter followed him all the way to the doors.

"And don't come back!" one of the girls shouted. 

"Go back to the gutters where you belong!" another yelled.

The great silver-inlaid doors swung open. The guards didn't stop at the stairs. They carried him all the way to the edge of the Academy grounds, near the service gate.

"A word of advice, kid," one of the guards said, not unkindly. "Stay away from the high-bloods. You're just asking for a beating."

They tossed him out.

Adam landed hard on the wet cobblestones of the street. A moment later, his velvet box was thrown out after him. It hit a puddle and popped open, the Star-Drop Pendant falling into the muddy water.

The gates slammed shut with a heavy metallic ring.

Adam lay there for a long time. The sky above Bourbon was no longer clear. A sudden, violent summer storm had rolled in. The floating magical lights of the Academy were hidden by thick, black clouds.

Rain began to fall. It was cold and heavy. It washed the wine off his face, but it couldn't wash away the stinging shame.

He crawled through the mud to reach the pendant. He picked it up. The starlight inside the quartz was gone. The magic had flickered out. It was just a piece of gray rock now.

"I hate them," Adam whispered. He gripped the rock so hard his knuckles turned white. "I hate all of them."

He stood up, his legs shaking. He began to walk. He didn't have a home to go to—he lived in a tiny cramped room in the servants' quarters, and he knew he couldn't go back there now. Julian would have him kicked out by morning.

He walked toward the lower districts, the "Old City." This was where the non-magical people lived. It was a place of narrow alleys, crumbling stone, and shadows. The storm grew worse. Thunder rolled across the sky like the sound of gods fighting. Lightning flashed, turning the world white for a split second.

Adam turned into a dark alleyway, a shortcut he often took. He was shivering. The cold was deep, settling into his bones. He felt a strange sensation in his chest—not just sadness, but a hollow, empty feeling. Like a hole was opening up inside him.

He reached the middle of the alley, near an old, ruined building that had once been a temple. On the roof, a stone gargoyle sat, its face twisted into a permanent scream.

Adam stopped. He looked up at the sky.

"Why?" he screamed into the wind. "Why was I born like this? Why do they get everything? Why is the world so cruel?"

The only answer was a roar of thunder.

Then, the sky didn't turn white. It turned black.

A bolt of lightning, darker than the night itself, ripped through the clouds. It didn't look like electricity. It looked like a crack in the universe. It was a jagged line of obsidian light that hummed with a sound that made Adam’s ears bleed.

The black lightning struck the gargoyle.

The stone creature didn't just break; it vanished. It was unmade. The explosion threw Adam backward. He hit the wall of the alley, his head slamming against the brick.

He slumped to the ground, his vision fading. Through the haze, he saw something floating in the air where the lightning had struck.

It was a shard. It was about six inches long, jagged and glowing with a deep, pulsing purple and black light. It didn't fall to the ground. It hummed, spinning slowly in the air.

Adam felt a pull. A magnetic force was tugging at his very soul.

The shard turned. It pointed directly at Adam’s chest.

"No" Adam choked out. He tried to move, but his body was paralyzed.

The shard hissed. It shot forward with the speed of an arrow.

Adam didn't have time to scream. The shard pierced his chest, right over his heart. There was no blood. Instead, there was a feeling of infinite cold followed by a heat so intense it felt like his veins were being filled with molten lead.

His eyes snapped open, turning from brown to a piercing, glowing violet for a single heartbeat.

In the silence of his mind, a voice spoke. It wasn't human. It sounded like the grinding of gears and the whispering of ghosts.

[Host Detected]

[Mana Circuit: Null Perfect Vessel Found]

[Initializing the Eternal Sovereign System]

[1% 5% 12%]

Adam’s body jerked. He felt a strange power, dark and heavy, beginning to flood into the empty "hole" in his chest. It felt like the shadows of the alley were moving, crawling toward him, entering his skin.

[Warning: Compatibility at Critical Levels]

[Beginning Soul-Binding]

Adam’s hand clutched at the mud. He felt stronger. He felt faster. But he also felt like he was losing his mind.

"Who's there?" he groaned.

The black rain continued to fall, but as it touched Adam’s skin, it didn't soak him. The water seemed to sizzle and evaporate, turning into a faint black mist that swirled around his body.

He looked down at his chest. There was no wound. But beneath his skin, right where the shard had entered, a faint, glowing tattoo was forming. It looked like a crown made of thorns and shadows.

[70% 90% 100%]

[System Fully Uploaded]

The voice in his head grew clearer. It was cold, sharp, and feminine.

[Welcome, Adam Cook. You have been chosen to inherit the Void.]

Adam gasped for air. He pushed himself up. He felt different. The "weight" he had felt his whole life—the weight of being a Null, the weight of Julian’s gravity spell—it was gone. He felt light. He felt dangerous.

[First Objective Initialized]

[The world has humiliated you. The world has broken you. Now, you shall own the world.]

Adam stood up in the center of the dark alley. The rain was pouring, the wind was howling, and he was alone. But as he looked at his hands, he saw wisps of black smoke dancing between his fingers.

[Mission: The Heart of the Frost.]

[Target: Catherine Cook.]

[Time Remaining: 72 Hours.]

"Catherine?" Adam whispered. "The Ice Witch? Are you crazy? She’ll kill me."

The system did not answer with words. Instead, a screen of light appeared in front of his eyes—a screen only he could see.

[Reward for Completion: The First Gate of the Void.]

[Penalty for Failure: Soul Eradication.]

Adam looked back toward the distant, glowing towers of Bourbon Academy. He could still hear the faint sound of music and laughter carried on the wind.

He touched his chest. The pain was gone, replaced by a cold, calculating hunger. He wasn't the boy who had walked into that ballroom with a cheap pendant. That boy had died in the mud.

"Julian Emily" Adam said, his voice sounding deeper, echoing with a power he didn't understand. "I’m coming back. And this time, you'll be the ones on your knees."

He turned and walked deeper into the shadows, and for the first time in his life, the shadows didn't hide him. They followed him.