The hum of the armored transport was a low, vibrating growl that seemed to rattle Reed Blackwell's very teeth. It was a sterile, mechanical sound—the kind of sound that didn't exist in the Grey Wastes. Out there, the only noises were the screaming wind and the crunch of bone under the boots of things that shouldn't be.
Reed lay on the cold metal floor of the bay, his eyes half-closed. To the guards chatting near the cockpit, he was just a piece of "salvage." A Null they'd found clinging to life by a miracle.
But inside Reed, something was awake. He could feel it pulsing behind his ribs. It wasn't a warmth, like the fire-users. It felt like a steady, rhythmic thrum of nothingness. It was as if a tiny, silent whirlpool had opened up in his soul.
Is this the system? Reed thought. Is this what 'Non-Existence' feels like?
The transport jolted. The hydraulic doors hissed open, and a blindingly bright light flooded the bay.
"Move it, trash!" a voice barked.
A heavy boot collided with Reed's side. He rolled, pushed himself up, and stumbled out. The air hit him first—filtered, recycled, and smelling of ozone. He was standing before the Zenith Institute, a cathedral of glass and steel rising like a middle finger to the ruins of the old world.
"Keep your head down," the guard sneered, shoving Reed toward a massive obsidian archway. "A Null like you shouldn't even be breathing this air."
As they entered the main hall, a hush fell over the students in their white-and-gold uniforms. Their eyes landed on Reed—a stark contrast in his tattered rags and scarred skin.
"What is that?" a girl whispered.
"Worse," a tall boy replied, stepping forward. He had hair the color of embers and a smirk that felt like a slap. This was Kaelen Voss, the top-ranked recruit. "It's a Null. I can smell the lack of energy on him from here. Hey, trash! Did you crawl out of a sewer just to see what real humans look like?"
The hall erupted in laughter. Reed kept his gaze fixed on the floor, feeling the whirlpool in his chest spin faster.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: HOST EMOTIONAL TURBULENCE DETECTED]
[WARNING: VOID SIGNATURE IS CURRENTLY UNSTABLE]
The guards led him to the Aura Pillar, a towering crystal that measured a student's Core and Rank. Instructor Vane, a woman with a sharp, silver-striped uniform, looked at Reed with clinical disdain.
"Reed Blackwell," she said. "The boy with the Council Seal. Step forward."
Reed placed his hand on the cold surface of the crystal. For a heartbeat, the hall was silent. Then, the Pillar began to groan. A jagged, grinding sound filled the room. The light inside the crystal didn't turn blue or gold—it flickered violently, colors bleeding into a muddy grey, and then, with a sharp crack, the light went out entirely.
The massive holographic screen above the Pillar glitched, digital code scrolling at a blinding speed before slamming into three lines of blood-red text:
[CORE TYPE: ERROR]
[ENERGY CAPACITY: 0.00]
[RANK: TIER 4 - REJECT]
The silence was heavy. "Error?" someone whispered. "The Pillar never says Error."
Kaelen Voss laughed. "It's a glitch! He's so empty the machine broke. Look at the capacity—0.00! He's not an Error, he's a vacuum."
Instructor Vane tapped the crystal, her own energy flowing into it. The Pillar rejected her touch, the 'ERROR' text pulsing brighter. She looked at Reed, a flicker of genuine unease crossing her face.
"Enough!" Vane barked. "The machine has malfunctioned due to the candidate's total lack of internal energy. Get him out of my sight. Throw him into Sector 4. If the Council wants him here, fine—but they didn't say he had to be treated like a student."
As the guards grabbed Reed, the violet interface of the Void System flickered in his mind.
[LOCAL SCANNER ATTEMPTED TO QUANTIFY THE VOID...]
[RESULT: ERROR]
[SYSTEM MESSAGE: YOU CANNOT MEASURE WHAT DOES NOT EXIST.]
Reed was hauled down into the belly of the Institute, past the kitchens and laundry, into the damp sub-levels where sunlight never reached. The Sector 4 dorms were iron cages with thin mats on stone floors.
The guard threw Reed into a cell and slammed the door. "Dinner is at six. If you want to eat, you'll have to fight for it. A Null like you usually ends up in the scrap heap by Friday."
The guard's footsteps faded. Reed sat in the darkness, and the violet screen appeared again.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZATION: 100% COMPLETE]
[WELCOME, HOST REED BLACKWELL]
Reed whispered into the dark, "What... what are you?"
[I AM THE ABSENCE OF ALL THINGS. THE TRUTH BEYOND THE LIGHT.]
[MISSION TRIGGERED: THE FIRST SUBTRACTION]
Objective: Prove them right by 'erasing' the first threat to your existence.
Target: The bullies of Sector 4.
Reward: Unlock First Active Skill: [Grasp of Non-Existence].
Suddenly, he heard predatory steps. "New meat?" a raspy voice whispered. Three figures emerged from the shadows. The leader held a sharpened piece of rebar. "Give us the coin, Null, and maybe we won't break your legs."
Reed stood up. The whirlpool in his chest expanded, and the shadows in the corners of the cell began to stretch toward the bars.
[WARNING: VOID ENERGY SURGING]
[DO YOU WISH TO INITIATE THE FIRST SUBTRACTION?]
"Come and take it," Reed said, his voice echoing from a great distance.
The bullies lunged.