The With-God's Devotion System

Chapter 4

It was freezing. Not the normal kind of cold that came with winter snow. This was a deep, unnatural cold that sank straight into the bones. It smelled like burning ozone, like a lightning storm mixed with the sour scent of rotten eggs and melted plastic.

Julian Blake was falling through the Miasma Rift. The wind roared in his ears like a screaming beast. All around him, the thick, sickly green fog rolled and bubbled. It was not just smoke; it was raw, toxic magic.

As he fell deeper into the abyss, the green fog wrapped tightly around his broken body. It started to eat him alive. His clothes burned away into ash. 

The skin on his arms and face began to change. Tiny, sharp crystals formed over his flesh. The magical radiation of the Miasma was slowly turning his human body into a brittle, icy rock.

He could not scream. His jaw was broken. His lungs were crushed.

Crash!

Julian slammed into something thick and rubbery. It was a giant, fleshy vine stretching across the dark canyon. 

The heavy impact snapped the vine, slowing his fall just a little bit. He crashed through another vine, then another, flipping violently in the air.

Finally, he hit the bottom.

Thud.

He landed hard in a pool of thick, black mud. Mud splashed up, covering his crystallized skin.

Julian lay there on his back, staring up at the dark green sky he had just fallen from. He was completely paralyzed. He could not move his arms. He could not move his legs. 

Every single nerve in his body was screaming in absolute agony. He could feel three broken ribs pressing dangerously close to his heart. His nose was shattered. His right hand still throbbed with a hot, sharp pain where Darius had driven the cheap silver ring into his bone.

He was going to die here. Alone. In the dark.

For a few minutes, there was only silence, broken by the wet sound of his own shallow, gurgling breathing. Then, the tears came.

Hot, salty tears leaked from his swollen eyes. They rolled down his cheeks, melting the tiny green crystals forming on his skin. He wept. He did not cry because of the physical pain. He had endured terrible pain in the mana-mines for three years. He cried because of the crushing, suffocating weight of his humiliation.

He remembered the sound of the rich elites laughing at him. He remembered the look of pure disgust on Susanna’s beautiful face.

“You are a parasite, Julian. You attached yourself to me so you could pretend you belonged in this world.”

Her cruel words echoed in his dying mind over and over again.

"Why?" Julian whispered to the empty, dark canyon. His broken jaw made the word sound like a wet gasp. "Why did I do it?"

He had given her everything. He had traded his health, his future, and his dignity just to see her smile. He had skipped meals so she could buy magical textbooks. He had worn rags so she could wear silk. And in the end, she had looked at him like he was a piece of garbage sticking to her expensive shoe.

He hated her. God, he hated her so much it felt like poison in his veins.

But even more than he hated Susanna, he hated himself. He hated his own weakness. He hated the fact that he was born a Null in a world where magic was the only thing that mattered. 

If he had magic, Darius could not have forced him to his knees. If he had magic, he could have fought back. If he had magic, he would not be dying in a muddy hole.

"Maya," Julian choked out.

The thought of his little sister hit him harder than the fall. Maya was only fourteen. She was sick with a lung disease caused by the city's dirty lower levels. He was the only one paying for her medicine. With him dead, Maya would be thrown out of their terrible apartment. She would die on the streets.

"I can't... die," Julian gasped, trying to force his fingers to move. "Please... anybody. Help me."

But the heavens did not answer. The only sound was the bubbling of the toxic green fog.

The Miasma was working its way into his bloodstream now. The cold crept from his fingers and toes, moving slowly toward his chest. His heart, which had been beating so fast, started to slow down.

Thump... thump.

His vision grew dark at the edges. The green fog faded into black.

Thump......... thump.

He felt so tired. The pain was starting to go away, replaced by a heavy, numb feeling. He knew what this meant. This was the end. He closed his eyes, letting out one final, shaky breath.

Thump........................

His heart stopped.

Julian Blake was dead. 

But then, something impossible happened.

In the pitch-black darkness of his mind, a sharp, loud noise rang out. It sounded like a piece of glass breaking inside his brain.

BEEP!

Julian’s eyes snapped wide open. He gasped, sucking in a huge breath of toxic air, but it did not burn his lungs anymore.

Right in front of his eyes, floating in the dark air, was a bright blue glowing screen. It looked like a magical projection, but it was so clear and sharp. It cast a soft blue light on the black mud around him.

Words began to type themselves out on the screen in bright white letters. At the same time, a voice spoke directly inside his head. It was not a human voice. It sounded like a computer, but it had a strange, ancient echo to it, like a ghost speaking through a machine.

[Warning! Fatal anomaly detected!] the voice announced.

Julian stared at the screen, completely terrified. Was he hallucinating? Was this what happened to a brain when it died?

"Who... who is there?" Julian tried to say, but his broken jaw only let out a weak moan.