The silence was terrifying.
Liam stared at his hands.
Nothing.
No golden interface.
No Energy Points.
No Health percentage.
No attributes.
No skills.
For the first time since Syra had entered his life, there was no System telling him what to do.
The First Void floated before him, its enormous body shifting like smoke trapped inside the shape of a human.
"You look frightened," it said.
Liam swallowed.
"I'm not."
"You should be."
The creature raised one hand.
Space itself bent.
Liam was thrown backward.
He crashed into a floating stone platform and rolled across its surface.
BOOM!
"Liam!"
Ava ran toward him.
But before she could reach him, a wall of darkness appeared between them.
"Ava!"
She slammed both hands against it.
"I can't get through!"
Kafi immediately fired a concentrated plasma beam.
The beam struck the darkness and disappeared.
"Barrier cannot be penetrated."
The First Void turned toward Kafi.
"You are an imitation."
Kafi's mechanical eyes brightened.
"I am Kafi."
"You are a machine pretending to have purpose."
Kafi paused.
Then its weapons unfolded.
"Purpose is irrelevant."
It aimed every cannon at the creature.
"My friends require protection."
The cannons fired.
The universe exploded with light.
For several seconds, the darkness vanished beneath an enormous storm of plasma.
Liam watched.
Then the smoke cleared.
The First Void was still standing.
Untouched.
Kafi's weapons slowly lowered.
"Impossible."
The First Void raised one finger.
Kafi disappeared.
"KAFI!"
Liam sprinted forward.
Ava screamed his name.
But the First Void moved faster.
A black tendril wrapped around Liam's leg and lifted him into the air.
"You continue to depend on others."
Liam struggled.
"Let them go!"
"Why?"
"Because they're my friends!"
The First Void tilted its head.
"Friendship."
It sounded almost confused.
"Another invention of living creatures."
Liam pulled himself upward.
"You wouldn't understand."
"No."
The creature moved closer.
"I understand perfectly."
Its face came inches from Liam.
"I simply discovered that everything you love eventually becomes a weakness."
The darkness tightened around him.
Pain shot through his body.
Liam gritted his teeth.
Then he remembered something.
Something Syra had told him long ago.
Knowledge is an adventure. Every question takes you somewhere new.
He stopped struggling.
The First Void noticed.
"What are you doing?"
Liam looked directly into its empty face.
"Thinking."
"Thinking?"
"Yes."
The creature tightened its grip.
"Without your System, you have nothing."
Liam smiled.
"That isn't true."
The Void paused.
"What do you have?"
Liam looked toward Ava.
Then toward Kafi's empty position.
"I have memories."
The darkness suddenly flickered.
Liam remembered every challenge.
Every riddle.
Every lesson.
Every mistake.
Every time he had failed and tried again.
The System had never truly given him knowledge.
It had only shown him where to look.
Liam closed his eyes.
And began asking questions.
What was the First Void?
Why had it appeared before the System?
Why did it fear the Origin Seed?
Why had the creators hidden Liam's memories?
Why could the Void manipulate the ancient system?
And most importantly—
Why had the Void allowed Liam to enter the Origin Tree?
His eyes opened.
"You wanted me here."
The First Void became still.
Liam continued.
"You didn't attack us because you wanted to destroy us."
Silence.
"You wanted me to lose the System."
The creature's form shifted.
"You wanted me to discover something."
For the first time, the First Void looked angry.
Liam smiled.
"I don't know what it is yet."
The darkness around his body began weakening.
"But now I know one thing."
The First Void moved toward him.
"What?"
Liam pulled himself free.
"You need me."
The creature roared.
The entire universe shook.
Far away, beyond the Origin Tree, Veyron watched the battle through a black crystal.
His expression was no longer confident.
"He figured it out."
A figure appeared behind him.
"You said the boy would break."
Veyron turned.
A hooded woman stood in the darkness.
"He was supposed to."
She looked toward the crystal.
"But he didn't."
Veyron clenched his fist.
"Liam isn't awakening the Origin Seed."
"Then what is he awakening?"
Veyron stared at the image.
"Something much older."
Inside the Origin Tree, Liam floated through a storm of memories.
The First Void attacked repeatedly.
Each strike tore apart pieces of the universe.
Liam dodged.
Not because he was faster.
Not because he had enhanced Agility.
He simply watched.
He studied.
The Void always attacked from the same angle after opening a dimensional tear.
Three seconds.
Every time.
Liam counted.
One.
Two.
Three.
He jumped.
A black spear passed beneath him.
He landed on a floating fragment of the ancient world.
The First Void attacked again.
Liam jumped.
Another spear missed.
Again.
Three seconds.
Another attack.
Liam moved before it appeared.
The creature stopped.
"How?"
Liam smiled.
"You repeat yourself."
The First Void's body expanded.
"Then I will stop repeating."
The entire universe went black.
Liam couldn't see.
Couldn't hear.
Couldn't feel the ground.
Nothing existed.
Then a whisper appeared in his mind.
"Question your existence."
Liam froze.
His memories began disappearing.
Technoville.
His home.
The attic.
The old computer.
Ava.
Kafi.
Syra.
One by one, they vanished.
Liam panicked.
"No!"
He reached for them.
But there was nothing.
He was alone.
A voice whispered again.
"Who are you without your memories?"
Liam looked around.
"I don't know."
"Who are you without your System?"
"I don't know."
"Who are you without your friends?"
Liam lowered his head.
Silence.
Then he smiled.
"I don't need to know."
The voice stopped.
Liam looked upward.
"I don't need a label to exist."
A faint golden light appeared in his chest.
"I don't need a System to learn."
The light grew brighter.
"And I don't need memories to choose who I become."
The darkness cracked.
The First Void appeared.
For the first time—
It looked afraid.
Liam's golden light exploded outward.
CRACK!
The void shattered.
Liam fell through space.
Then someone caught him.
Ava.
"You took long enough."
Liam stared at her.
"How did you—?"
She smiled.
"Kafi."
A mechanical hand grabbed Liam's shoulder.
"Recovery successful."
Liam laughed.
"You're alive!"
Kafi's eyes flashed.
"Obviously."
Behind them, the First Void screamed.
The Origin Tree began collapsing.
Syra appeared again.
But her form was different.
Golden symbols covered her body.
"Liam."
He looked at her.
"You're back."
"Yes."
"Where were you?"
Syra looked toward the First Void.
"I was remembering."
"What?"
Her eyes dimmed.
"The truth."
Liam stepped closer.
"What truth?"
Syra looked directly at him.
"The First Void isn't your enemy."
Ava frowned.
"Then what is it?"
Syra hesitated.
Then she spoke.
"It's your origin."
Liam's heart stopped.
"What?"
The First Void suddenly went silent.
Its enormous body began shrinking.
The darkness peeled away.
And beneath it—
Was a boy.
He looked about Liam's age.
Same eyes.
Same face.
Same golden mark on his chest.
Liam stared at him.
The boy stared back.
Then he whispered:
"I am the Liam who existed before you."