The air in the Sanctum of Thorns was still and rotten.
Prince Alaric von Drakenhoff was kneeling on the cold obsidian floor. Celestial iron bound his hands. The metal hissed against his skin, and the smell was like burnt ozone mixed with desperation. Above him stood his father, the Golden King, holding a scepter that glowed with a sickening, holy light. Next to the King was Alaric's brother, Crown Prince Elian—the Sun-Child, the Savior, the one the stars were supposed to sing for.
Don't look at us like that, Alaric, the King whispered. His voice echoed in the big, empty room. A spare prince's job is to support the real heir. Your blood isn't great, and your spirit is dark, but your soul... your soul is the right fuel to get the Great System going.
Alaric didn't scream or beg. His throat was scarred from the lessons the Royal Inquisitors gave him over the years. Instead, he watched Elian. His brother, the hero of the story, looked away. He wore a fake look of pity that felt worse than a knife in the ribs.
The System needs a tragedy to start, the High Priest chanted as he stepped out of the shadows. A betrayal by family. An innocent person sacrificed. To give the Hero the 'Shared Inventory' and the 'Path of Light,' the shadow must be thrown into the Void.
The floor opened beneath Alaric.
It wasn't a hole, but a mouth. A rip in reality that went to the Inventory Void—the space between dimensions where the System's items would be stored. In there, time didn't exist, air was just a memory, and things went to be erased.
Go, my son, the King said, kicking Alaric in the chest. Become the nothing that helps your brother be glorious.
Alaric fell.
It didn't feel like falling through air, but like being dissolved in acid. The light from the Sanctum shrank to a tiny dot and then disappeared. He was in the dark. A dark so thick it filled his lungs, replaced his blood, and started to eat his memories.
I hate them, Alaric thought. That was the only thing the void couldn't dissolve. I hate the father who had me just to kill me. I hate the brother who's stealing my life. I hate the gods who made this world.
[CRITICAL ERROR DETECTED]
A blood-red screen flickered in the darkness like a dying heart.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZATION INTERRUPTED] [SACRIFICE WON'T ERASE] [ANOMALY DETECTED: SOUL COMPRESSING... GROWING...]
Alaric felt his bones break and then heal. His heart stopped, then started again with a heavy, slow beat. His teeth grew longer, his skin turned the color of moonlight on a grave, and a deep, huge, screaming hunger opened in his stomach.
[RACE CHANGED: ABYSSAL VAMPIRE (FLEDGLING)] [UNIQUE CLASS OPENED: SYSTEM PREDATOR] [YOU ARE NOW THE 'LIVING VOID' OF THE SHARED INVENTORY.]
A cold, crazy smile spread across Alaric's pale face. He was no longer a prince or human. He was the monster hiding under the world's bed.
[FIRST ITEM IN SHARED INVENTORY: 'HOLY BREAD OF THE SUN-CHILD'] [EAT IT?]
Yes, Alaric hissed into the silence. I'll eat everything he owns. I'll eat his world. I'll eat his soul.