The morning was gray, like every other morning Adrian Vale could remember.
Rain slicked the streets of downtown New Haven, streaking the cracked windows of the old orphanage where he'd grown up. The scent of ozone hung in the air, heavy and sharp. Somewhere above the clouds, thunder murmured — too distant to be real thunder, too deliberate to be chance.
Adrian pulled his hood tighter as he stepped onto the street. Twenty years old, an orphan with no past, no family, and no reason anyone would remember his name.
Except, lately, he wasn't even sure it was his name.
He'd found it carved into the inside of his baby blanket years ago — Adrian Vale — but no records existed, no birth certificates, no digital footprint. He had spent the last two years tracing dead ends through public registries and black-market archives. Vale wasn't a family name anywhere on Earth.
Just another ghost in a world too busy to notice.
---
The first tremor hit at 10:37 a.m.
It wasn't an earthquake. The ground rippled, like something beneath the surface had shifted, pushing reality upward for a breath.
People stumbled. Car alarms screamed. For a heartbeat, Adrian thought it was just his imagination — then every digital screen on the street went black.
Billboards. Phones. The huge LED display over the subway entrance — all of them flickered, then lit up with the same crimson text:
> [GLOBAL ALERT: UNKNOWN ANOMALY DETECTED]
[MAINTAIN SHELTER — DO NOT LOOK AT THE SKY]
Adrian froze. Around him, dozens of people looked up anyway.
And the world ended.
---
The clouds didn't part — they tore. A rift of burning light split the sky, stretching from horizon to horizon like a wound across heaven itself. The light wasn't sunlight. It pulsed, alive, twisting, opening, until it revealed something behind the clouds.
An endless void of stars.
And eyes.
Massive, golden eyes that blinked once — and vanished.
Then the screaming started.
---
From the rift fell shapes — hundreds of them. Winged beasts, serpents wreathed in flame, humanoid figures wrapped in shadows. They crashed into buildings, into streets, into people. The air itself warped, filled with static and the metallic scent of blood.
Adrian stumbled backward, his heart hammering. "What the hell—"
> [System Synchronization in Progress…]
A voice echoed inside his head.
He spun, searching for the source, but there was nothing — just chaos, people running, monsters roaring, the sky bleeding light.
> [User Identified: Adrian… Vale?]
[Warning: System Mismatch Detected]
[Initialization Failed: Clearance Level Insufficient]
[Physique: ??? — Access Denied]
A sharp pain seared behind his eyes. He dropped to his knees, clutching his head as his vision flooded with symbols — glowing runes, spinning circles, lines of alien code that rearranged themselves too fast to read.
> [System Fragment Detected]
[Attempting Recovery…]
[ERROR: Host Origin — Unknown]
The voice glitched — digital static mixed with something older, deeper. For a moment, it wasn't just a system speaking. It was… something else. Something aware.
> "You shouldn't be here."
The voice wasn't in his mind anymore — it was behind him.
Adrian turned.
In the middle of the ruined street stood a woman. Barefoot. Pale skin streaked with blood. Her eyes glowed faintly gold, like molten metal. The air around her shimmered as if the laws of gravity weren't sure what to do.
"You—" Adrian started, but she raised a trembling hand.
Her gaze locked onto him, wide with recognition… and fear.
"It's you," she whispered. "The Vessel. I thought they erased you."
He didn't have time to respond.
A massive, horned creature crashed into the street beside them, its claws digging furrows into the asphalt. The woman's form flickered like smoke — and vanished.
Adrian barely dove aside as the monster's tail smashed into the ground where he'd been standing.
> [Combat Protocol Engaged]
[Synchronization: 4%]
[Warning: Power Output Unstable]
Something ignited in his chest. Blue light raced through his veins, his skin burning with energy that wasn't his. His vision shifted — every movement of the creature slowed, every breath of wind sharp and vivid.
He moved on instinct.
When the creature lunged, he met it halfway — a rusted pipe in his hand, swinging with enough force to tear muscle from bone. The impact sent both of them crashing through a wall.
Adrian gasped, blinking through dust. His heart thundered, but he was alive. Stronger. Faster.
> [Synchronization: 7%]
The creature shrieked, rising again — but before it could strike, its body convulsed. The runes that had appeared around Adrian flickered around it now, burning into its flesh like chains.
Then, it disintegrated.
Particles of light swirled into Adrian's chest.
> [First Kill Confirmed]
[Experience Acquired]
[Hidden Trait: Devourer of Systems — Unlocked (Fragmented)]
And then, silence.
The world burned. Sirens howled. The sky bled gold.
And Adrian Vale stood in the center of it all, trembling, staring at his hands — glowing faintly blue, humming with energy that wasn't supposed to exist.
On the cracked glass of a nearby window, his reflection flickered — and for a second, it wasn't his face looking back.
> [Welcome back, Veilborn.]