The Glitch Sovereign: Neural Forge

I stood on the crystal stage of the Aurelian Academy. Thousands of eyes watched me. The air smelled of ozone and expectation. This was the Awakening. The day the Soul-Code determined if you were a god or a slave.

"Next! Vaxien Valerost!" The Proctor shouted.

I walked to the center. My palms were wet. I touched the ancient Soul-Pillar. The cold stone hummed. A blue light climbed my arm. It felt like needles in my veins. My heart hammered against my ribs.

"Processing Soul-Code," the Proctor muttered.

The massive screen above the arena flickered. Names and ranks flashed by. Then, it stopped. The text turned a dull, sickly gray.

"Skill Manifested: Rhythmic Respiration. Rank: Trash," the Proctor announced.

The silence lasted only a second. Then the laughter started. It was a wave of noise that hit me like a physical blow.

"Breathing?" Someone yelled. "His power is breathing?"

"I do that in my sleep!" Another laughed.

"Look at him," a girl sneered. "He looks like he forgot how to use it already."

I stared at my hands. They were shaking. Rhythmic Respiration. It was a joke. A skill for infants.

"Step down, Glitch," the Proctor said. His voice was full of disgust. "You are a waste of academy resources."

"Wait!" A sharp voice cut through the noise.

Zeryth Solari stepped forward. He looked like a sun in human form. His golden hair glowed with residual energy. He had just manifested Solar Flare. He was the pride of the Solari Hegemony.

"Don't tell him to leave yet," Zeryth said. He smiled, but his eyes were cold. "The ceremony requires a demonstration. Isn't that right, Proctor?"

"There is nothing to demonstrate, Lord Zeryth," the Proctor replied.

"I disagree," Zeryth said. He walked toward me. He stopped inches from my face. "I want to see how well he breathes when I am crushing his throat. I challenge you, Vaxien. A duel. Right here."

"I accept nothing," I said. My voice was tight. "I am leaving."

"You don't have a choice," Zeryth laughed. "The code demands a test. Or are you too busy concentrating on your next inhale?"

"Leave him alone, Zeryth!" Someone shouted, but the crowd drowned them out. They wanted blood.

"Fight me!" Zeryth roared. "Or crawl out of here on your knees!"

"I have no combat skill, Zeryth," I said. "You know that."

"I know you are a stain on this academy," Zeryth spat. "You are a defect. A mistake in the system. Why should you even exist?"

"I earned my spot here," I said. "My grades were the highest."

"Grades don't matter in the Soul-Code world!" Zeryth yelled. "Power matters! Rare skills matter! You are nothing!"

He shoved me. I stumbled back. The crowd cheered.

"Get up, Breather!" Zeryth mocked. "Use your ultimate move! Take a deep breath! Maybe you can blow me away like a dandelion!"

"Stop this," I whispered.

"No," Zeryth said. He grabbed my collar. "You are a humiliation to everyone here. I am doing the world a favor."

"Let go of me," I said.

"What are you going to do?" Zeryth asked. "Sigh at me?"

The crowd went wild. Zeryth looked around, soaking in the worship. He turned back to me with a look of pure malice.

"You are a glitch, Vaxien," Zeryth hissed. "And glitches get deleted."

"The Proctor won't allow this," I said.

"The Proctor is watching a show," Zeryth replied. "Look at him. He hates you as much as I do."

I looked. The Proctor had his arms crossed. He wasn't moving. He wanted me gone.

"Is that it?" I asked. "The law doesn't matter anymore?"

"I am the law!" Zeryth shouted. He punched me in the gut.

The air left my lungs. I doubled over. I couldn't breathe. My own skill was failing me.

"Oh, look!" Zeryth laughed. "He forgot his only skill! He is choking!"

"You... bastard," I wheezed.

"What was that?" Zeryth asked. He kicked me in the ribs. I rolled across the crystal floor. "Speak up, Loser!"

"I said you are a coward," I gasped.

Zeryth stopped laughing. His face turned red. A heat wave rolled off his body. His hands began to glow with a blinding white light.

"A coward?" Zeryth asked. "I am a Sovereign-in-waiting. You are dirt."

"You are a bully with a shiny toy," I said. I struggled to my feet. My side burned.

"I will kill you!" Zeryth screamed.

"Do it then!" I yelled back. "Show everyone how brave you are by killing a person with a breathing skill!"

Zeryth raised his hand. A ball of fire formed in his palm. The heat singed my eyebrows.

"Zeryth, enough!" A voice called out.

It was Archon Malakor. He stood on the high balcony. He looked down at us with eyes like ice.

"The boy is a failure," Malakor said. "But we do not murder failures on the stage. It is messy."

"He insulted me, Archon!" Zeryth shouted.

"Then dispose of him properly," Malakor said. "He is no longer a student. He is a trespasser. Treat him as such."

Zeryth’s grin returned. It was wider and more terrifying than before.

"You heard the Archon," Zeryth said.

He grabbed my arm. His grip burned my skin. He dragged me toward the edge of the floating platform. We were miles above the ground. Below us lay the Shadow-Wastes. It was a land of monsters and toxic fog. No one survived there.

"You can't do this!" I screamed.

"Watch me," Zeryth said.

"This is murder!" I cried.

"No," Zeryth whispered in my ear. "This is trash day."

He pushed me. I hit the railing. He kicked my legs out from under me. I slipped. My fingers clawed at the edge of the crystal platform.

"Help me!" I shouted at the crowd.

They just watched. Some were filming with their devices. Others were laughing.

"Goodbye, Vaxien," Zeryth said. He stepped on my fingers.

I screamed as my bones cracked. I let go.

I was falling. The wind roared in my ears. The academy became a small dot in the sky. The clouds rushed past me. I was going to die. I was a failure who died for the crime of breathing.

"I hate you all!" I screamed into the void. "I hate this world!"

Suddenly, my vision blurred. The wind seemed to quiet down. A sound like a static discharge echoed in my brain.

A glowing green box appeared in the air before my eyes. It stayed fixed in my field of vision, even as I plummeted toward the jagged rocks below.

[System Initialized: Component Detected.]

"What?" I gasped.

[Scanning Soul-Code...]

[Error: Rhythmic Respiration is not a skill.]

"I know that!" I yelled.

[Correction: Rhythmic Respiration is a Base-Level Operating Code.]

[Nexus-Forge Awakening...]

[Fusion Menu Unlocked.]

[Immediate Threat Detected: Terminal Velocity.]

[Synthesize 'Respiration' with 'Will to Live'?]

"Yes!" I screamed. "Do it! Now!"

[Synthesis in progress...]

The world turned white. My lungs expanded until I thought they would burst. A surge of raw, violent energy exploded from my chest.