> Perspective: Omniscient
> Date: June 18, 2005
> Time:4:12 AM
> Location: Sub-Level 9 Containment Chamber — The Decaying Foundation
For 7,000 years, every race with magic hunted humans, enslaved them, and treated them as animals.
By 2005, the end of humanity was close.
So the Asura Empire built a weapon.
It raised 100 children in a sealed Foundation, pushed their minds until some died from the effort, and watched 1 boy climb past every limit it had planned for.
"Increase the sleep meds."
Director Vance kept his eyes on the glass. Behind him, 40 scientists watched a 5-year-old boy float in a cylinder of green liquid, an oxygen mask over his face and dozens of black cables running into his spine.
"He's at maximum already, sir," his assistant whispered.
"He finished the Level 20 curriculum before he turned 5... There's nothing left to teach him, and I heard he has 0 mana."
"You're looking at his physical body," Vance said. "Look at his mind."
"Then why keep him asleep?" a young researcher asked.
"Humanity is dying, Director. He could save us."
"He could end us faster." Vance tapped the glass with a scarred knuckle.
"He has read every book we own, every war we recorded, and every spell the other races use. Give him a rusty nail and a lab, and he builds a plague to end everything. He has 0 pride, 0 greed, 0 fear, and 0 mercy. He learned to laugh by copying the woman who raised him, and he learned to love and imitate emotions from fiction. Every smile he gives us is a performance, and it works every time."
"And the woman?"
"Cartethyia is gone." Vance lowered his voice.
"We wipe that from his memory every time he stirs. The day he remembers her, nothing in this facility will stop him from ending the world."
The young researcher stared at the boy. "So we keep him asleep...?"
"For 15 years, maybe 20. We'll manipulate his memories one by one, until he wants what we want him to want. We don't need him to feel alive. We need him to obey, and to believe every choice was his own. Nobody unplugs a single wire."
"Is he really humanity's last answer, sir?"
"I pray we never have to ask him that."
Thousands of miles away, across the sea, in a city of black stone, the Demons were executing 2 children.
That morning, they had beheaded an Elven spy in the square and started to drag her body away. Her 6-year-old daughter grabbed a knife she could barely hold, and a Demon captain named Varek died on the stones. An 8-year-old human girl ran in front of the child with her arms spread wide.
Now both of them knelt in chains on the platform below Demon Lord Malphas, and hundreds of Demons watched from the square.
"M-Mama..." the Elf girl whispered. She stared at the red stain where her mother's body had been. "W-Where's my M-Mama? She's j-just sleeping... Mama's j-just sleeping..."
"I-I know. I know." The human girl shook so hard her chains rattled. "L-Look at me, okay? J-Just look at me."
"Put the Elf on the block 1st," Malphas said from his throne.
"NO!" The human girl threw herself in front of the little girl.
"S-She's 6! She's a b-baby! She j-just wanted her M-Mama! P-Please! Take me! Hang me! D-Don't touch her!"
"Our law is equal for every race and every age," Malphas said, and he did not raise his voice.
"You took a soldier's life."
In Pandemonium, no Elf or human counted as a person.
They were workers when they were useful and pests when they were not, and a child's age changed nothing.
"Please!" She turned to the crowd, tears streaming down her face. "S-Somebody! P-Please, somebody help us! She's a CHILD!"
Nobody moved. A few Demons laughed.
2 guards ripped the little Elf out of her arms.
"B-Big sister!" The Elf girl clawed at the stones, and her voice broke into a scream. "B-Big sister, I'm s-scared! I want M-Mama! I w-want—BIG SISTER, HELP ME!"
"I'M HERE! I'M RIGHT HERE!" The human girl lunged, and a guard's boot slammed her flat onto the stones. A hand dragged her head up by the hair.
"D-Don't look at them! L-Look at me! I'm n-not leaving you, I'm n-not—"
The blade fell.
The scream cut off in the middle.
The human girl made a sound no 8-year-old should know how to make. Then she found words, and every 1 of them came out raw.
"Y-You b-bastards... S-SHE WAS 6! S-SHE WAS 6 YEARS OLD!" Blood ran from her split lip into her mouth.
"You k-killed her mother, and then you k-killed HER! You k-kept our village alive to work your f-fields, and you b-burned it when you got b-bored! DAMN YOU! DAMN ALL OF YOU!"
A Demon general leaned toward the throne. "The Guillotine costs mana, my lord. Shall we spend it on a human?"
"No, don't waste it on the worthless humans." Malphas said.
"Hang her."
They slipped the noose over her head. She kicked and spat at the guards until they pulled it tight.
"No human alive can make a Demon afraid," Malphas said.
"Y-You're wrong!" She choked on the rope and on her own tears.
"1 d-day, 1 of us w-won't hide behind your walls! 1 day you'll p-pay for every c-child you killed! ALL of you! Every s-single 1! It w-won't be the gods! It w-won't be the Elves! It'll be US! GO TO HELL, YOU M-MONSTERS!"
Her voice cracked. She looked up at the grey sky, and the tears ran down her face into the rope.
"I-If anyone up there is hearing me—p-please... open your eyes!"
"SAVE US!"
That was the end of her life.
Every monitor in Sub-Level 9 turned red.
"Director! His heart rate just jumped from 40 to 190!"
"The drugs aren't working! The memory lock just broke!"
"PUMP MORE ANESTHETIC! DON'T LET HIM—"
The green liquid began to boil. Across the sea, the trapdoor dropped, and the girl's small body jerked 1 time at the end of the rope.
Then it stopped.
Whatever heard her prayer was not an angel.
The boy's sapphire-blue eyes snapped open. He ignored the scientists, the cables, and the glass, and turned his head toward the voice that had just gone quiet.
I remember now.
The foundation trapped me...
My mother is waiting.
I promised her the world.
She isn't here...
He had woken 1 breath too late to answer the girl. He would not be late again.
It's time to wake up.
The glass exploded.
That was the end of the Decaying Foundation.
It never saw its own destruction coming.
----
Choose how you meet him.
Path 1: Read from Chapter 1 (the adventure).
The story begins with a cursed girl hunted through a forest, and a boy who walks in to save her. You meet Kaiser in Chapter 4. He jokes, he teases, he roasts fish, and he seems to have nothing in common with the boy in this tank. The Void arc waits at Chapter 144.
When you reach it, you will see where every peak of him came from.
Best for the full mystery and the biggest payoff.
Path 2: Start at Chapter 144 (VOID ARC).
The Void's Tale is a standalone arc of 31 chapters with no magic and no lore to learn. It follows a lab-born boy from his 1st night alive: a baby with an unnatural mind, a mother who loves him, a white room where children die from studying, and a boy who starts as the lowest.
When you finish, come back to Chapter 1 and watch him again.
Best for readers who want a cold, clever, character-driven mystery right now.
Both paths lead to the same story. Pick yours.
----
CONTINUE!
YEAR: 2017 - CELESTINE
[Perspective: A Strange Girl]
I have no name. No one to speak to. No place to call home.
I exist, but it feels like I've never truly lived. The memories of a family, even the love of my parents, were a lie.
I never asked to be born this way. I didn't choose this pain. But they don't care. All they see is a curse.
The wind brushes past me. It is just another endless night.
Was it senseless to look for a place to call home? A place where I'm loved, not just forgotten?
I press my palms together. My fingers tremble. It feels like the only thing keeping me from falling apart.
My breath hitches. The silence feels heavy.
Living is supposed to be a gift. The world has endless skies, colorful flowers, rivers sparkling in the light.
A small smile tugs at my lips as I imagine it.
Sometimes, I wonder what life as a normal person would be like. Even in the darkest nights, the stars shine.
I sit alone in the dark, reaching up toward the stars.
Maybe there's a way out of this life.
But the thought is fragile. It is too far for me to reach.
I can't keep lying to myself. For me, life is just an endless punishment. Sometimes, I wonder if they're right. If I really am a monster.
I look down at my palms. They are worn and marked with scars.
Why?
The question echoes in the silence. Why was I born to endure this torment alone?
I never hurt anyone. I never wanted to. But they always see me. Every single one of them hates me.
The weight of it presses down on me. I dig my fingers into the dirt.
Their eyes are dark and sharp. I close mine, but I still see them.
Every glance strips away what little hope I have left.
I curl tighter, wrapping my arms around my knees.
I wish I could disappear.
The cold wind whispers like the voices in my head. The darkness presses closer.
Maybe I deserve it. Maybe I'm meant to carry the vision of their disgust forever.
I want to scream at them.
I've begged them. I've told them I didn't want to hurt anyone.
But they are deaf. They never hear me. The certainty in their eyes is always the same. They think I'm guilty. Something to be erased.
I press my palms into my face to hold back the tears.
No one is coming to save me. No one ever will.
Every day is a battle to survive. They call me names. If I am close enough, they shout it at me.
"Monster."
They say it like it is my name. They tell me I bring misfortune. That I am the Queen of Curses.
Every time they say it, it feels like something inside me dies.
I look at my old white dress. The fabric is faded and torn from countless attacks. The short sleeves barely reach my hands. The hem brushes the ground. I feel like someone precious gave it to me, but the memory is faint.
The thin cloth does nothing to block the winter cold. I shiver.
But the worst part is my reflection.
My red eyes. They are a curse. They burn with a color that makes people see me as evil. I didn't ask for this. But they see the red, and they decide who I am.
I hate them. But I hate myself even more for not being able to escape them.
Instead of anger, I just feel empty. I don't have the strength to hate them back. I just want to escape. To leave this cruel existence.
I pull my legs closer to my chest. The cold air cuts through me. The emptiness in my heart spreads.
Is it even worth it? Maybe I am a curse. Maybe I am a monster.
"You're nothing but a curse! Go die, monster!"
Their words echo in my mind.
Maybe if I just gave up, they could finally rest. And so could I. I'm so tired.
Then, I hear it. Footsteps drawing closer. The crunch of boots on dry leaves.
Hunters.
I have faced them before. Searing fire magic. Sharp lightning. Swords flying through the air.
Unlike the villagers, these hunters find joy in it. They laugh when they torture me. They relish in breaking me.
I squeeze my eyes shut. I press my palms against them. The memories keep coming back. Twisted faces. The crack of a whip. The heat of fire on my skin.
They used to drag me back. They beat me until I could barely breathe. Leave me in a cell.
And then they tried to hang me.
I remember the rope burning into my neck. The crowd laughing as I struggled. I gave up and let the darkness close in.
But I woke up in the forest. My hands were covered in cuts. The rope was gone, but the pressure remained.
Why?
Then they tried to burn me alive. The flames tore at my skin. I waited for the end.
But I woke up near a river. The burns were there, but the fire was gone.
Why did I survive again...?
Why would someone want to save me?
I draw my knees up to my chest. The night feels colder.
I wish I hadn't survived. I wish the darkness had swallowed me. But no... I always survive.
What did I do to deserve this? Why am I the one who has to suffer?
I look up at the stars.
I wanted to live. I wanted to smile without it being a lie.
But there is no happiness out there. The stars are distant and cold. Just like me.
The tears come again. I bury my hands in my hair. For four years, I have been drowning in this misery.
I just want it to stop.
Everything feels far away. I kneel in the field. I try to stand, but a sharp pain shoots through my right leg.
"If anyone is listening," I whisper.
"I'm not asking to be saved... I just don't want to die with that word for a name."
A rock had hit me earlier. The villagers had chased me, desperate to make me leave.
I lean against a tree to steady myself. I just want someone to hear me. But I am alone.
For someone like me, life doesn't exist. The only escape is death.
Maybe then, this nightmare will finally end.
The fear gnaws at my veins. It never stops.
Then I hear them. Heavy, uneven footsteps.
My heart stops. The sickening feeling tightens my chest.
They are coming for me again.
This time, to finish the job.