[Your body is not like the others, Rudra.]
"Now I am 100 percent sure you are scamming me," Rudra declared, crossing his arms. "Wherever I go, anyone I ask says the same thing: I don't have mana and I can't use it. Now you're saying I have a 'different' body? Yeah, I know it's different and it's weak! Whenever I try to channel mana, it feels like my veins are being shredded. I've lived with that pain so long it's become a phobia. I stopped even trying to touch mana and just focused on training my physical body."
The voice remained calm, almost dismissive. "I know your body is different. And I can fix it."
"What are you even saying?" Rudra scoffed. "I've asked everyone. Even Aunty Naina said there are no herbs or medicines in this world that can fix my condition."
"Of course she said that. The ability to repair the veins of a being like you is a power that exists only within someone like me. I possess vast experience and knowledge regarding the flow of mana that your world hasn't even dreamed of. Only I can heal you."
Rudra squinted at the blue nebula, unimpressed by the arrogance dripping from the voice. "How can you be so sure? Why should I even believe you? I don't even know your name! Who are you, and why are you only showing up now? Where was this 'vast knowledge' when I was getting my teeth kicked earlier? You waited until I was half-dead to start your sales pitch?"
"It is a long story," the voice replied, its tone turning cold and disinterested. "But right now, you have no other choice. If you say no, you can go back to your daily life. Go back to being beaten and humiliated by people who don't train half as hard as you do. You can remain exactly as you are: nothing."
The weight of those words hit Rudra hard. He looked at his glowing, translucent hands. "Fine. I'll believe you. What do I have to do?"
"You don't have to do anything complicated," the voice said. "When you wake up, you only have to swallow the Pendant that is around your neck."
Rudra froze.
'Finally, proof,' Rudra thought. 'The voice definitely has a loose screw in its brain. Who eats a Pendant? Does he want to finish the job those six boys started and just choke me to death?'
"What an annoying brat," the voice whispered, clearly able to hear his every thought.
"Who are you calling annoying?" Rudra snapped, looking around the blue nebula.
"I'm calling you the annoying ," the voice retorted instantly.
"I'm not the annoying one! You're the one who wants to 'build trust' by telling me to eat metal! Do you think humans are made of magnets and my stomach is made up of iron?"
"I am well aware humans cannot digest metal," the voice said, sounding like it was rubbing its temples. "But do you truly believe the pendant left behind by your mother was meant to kill you?"
The anger drained out of Rudra instantly, replaced by a sharp, emotional ache. "My mother? How... how do you know that gift was left by her?"
"It is a long story. One I will tell you in the future."
"There you go again!" Rudra groaned, throwing his hands up. "It's always 'long story' this and 'future' that. How am I supposed to trust you if you won't tell me anything? At the very least, tell me your name."
The nebula pulsed slowly, as if the voice was considering the request. "When I was created, I was not given a name. If you have a preference, you may give one to me."
'Wait, no name?' Rudra thought, his mischievous side suddenly waking up. 'It would be pretty cool if the voice in my head sounded like a girl, then maybe it wouldn't be so annoying when it yells at me...'
"Hey, do you have a gender?" Rudra asked.
"No. I am neutral. I do not have a gender."
"Can you... I don't know, talk in a more girly voice?"
"Absolutely not."
"Man, you can't do this, you can't do that," Rudra teased, a small smirk forming on his face. "Fine. If you won't change your voice, I'll at least give you a name that has a bit of a feminine ring to it. From now on, your name is Genesis."
"Genesis?" the voice repeated, sounding as if it were testing the weight of the name.
"But... I've never felt you inside me before," Rudra said, his confusion returning. "How could you suddenly just-"
"Rudra, I was never inside you," Genesis interrupted gently. "I was around your neck."
Rudra froze.
"The pendant you wear day and night," Genesis continued. "That pendant is me."
Shock rippled through Rudra's mind. "But… it never spoke before. It's just been a piece of metal this whole time."
"That is because I could only awaken when enough blood from one of the Three Supreme Beings reached me."
Rudra frowned, the name sounding heavier than anything he had ever heard. "The Three Supreme Beings? Who are they? Some kind of gods?"
"That is not something you need to know yet."
'Great, another secret,' Rudra thought with a sigh. 'My head is becoming a library of "I can't tell you yet."'
A brief, heavy silence followed before Genesis spoke again, its tone turning clinical. "Your mana veins are extremely weak. It is likely that at the moment of your birth, your body was struck by the energy of a gate opening from another dimension."
Rudra's chest tightened, a cold sweat breaking out on his mental form. "Another dimension? What are you talking about? What does that have to do with me being an orphan?"
"Leave that for now," Genesis replied calmly, dismissing his panic. "I know you want to become stronger. I will make you stronger than you were ever meant to be. I will turn your weakness into a power this world cannot comprehend."
Rudra inhaled deeply, trying to steady his racing thoughts.
"Okay, fine," he said, trying to regain some sense of control. "Since you're stuck in my head or my necklace , whatever, let me ask you a question. Are you my servant?"
"Yes," Genesis replied calmly. "In a manner of speaking, you could say that."
"Then why don't you answer my questions immediately?" Rudra shot back. "If you're my servant, you should be telling me everything I want to know!"
"Answering your nonsense questions is not a necessity for the time being," Genesis retorted, its voice dripping with that same cold logic. "I prioritize your survival and growth over your curiosity."
Rudra grabbed his head with both hands, his face twisting in annoyance. "I'm already frustrated with you! Fine! Don't tell me anything else unless you're ready to share the whole truth. I'm done with these half-answers."
Despite his irritation, a small spark of fire lit up in his chest. The idea of finally being strong and of not being the "abandoned" kid anymore like it was almost too much to hope for.
"One thing you must remember," Genesis added, the voice echoing with a sense of finality. "As soon as you awaken, consume the pendant immediately. Do not hesitate."
A Shift in the Shadows
Deep within the heart of a dense, shadowed forest, the air itself screamed with the force of an impossible battle. A young man stood locked in a brutal struggle against the Dragon King, Akura.
Steel clashed violently against obsidian scales, sending sparks. Fire roared through the air, scorching trees into pillars of ash, while the earth cracked under the sheer pressure of their power.
Suddenly, the man froze.
"What… what is this?" he whispered, his grip loosening on his weapon.
His eyes widened in disbelief as a sensation he hadn't felt in years washed over him a resonance, a pull at his very soul.
'That system has awakened?' he thought, his heart hammering against his ribs. 'That means-'
His voice broke, raw emotion flooding his face. "My daughter is alive… but where?"
Without a second thought, he turned his back on the battlefield.
"Hey, you brat! Stop right there!" the Dragon King Akura roared, his voice shaking the forest. "Don't you dare run! You foolish human, you woke me from my slumber for this I will definitely kill you!"
The dragon exhaled a massive, spiraling fireball that tore through the air, hurtling directly toward the man's back. Sensing the heat closing in, the man didn't flinch. Now having the clear purpose the young man said "I am sorry, my fighting buddy," the man murmured, a faint, desperate smile touching his lips. "But I finally have something more important to care about."
With a sudden burst of speed, he vanished. He rushed toward the direction of the energy he had sensed, moving faster than light itself, leaving the Dragon King's fury behind in a cloud of dust and flame.
Back at the hospital
Rudra's eyes snapped open. The room was quiet, filled only with the rhythmic humming of the machines strapped to his chest and arms. He carefully peeled away the sensors, moving slowly to avoid damaging the equipment.
As he sat up, his gaze fell on the pendant resting against his chest. It was pulsing with a golden light far more intense than anything he had seen before. He remembered Genesis's command.
'What's the worst that could happen?' he thought, his hand trembling as he reached for the metal. 'Either I die, or I finally change. If I start choking, I'll just crawl to the door and hope someone finds me.'
As he brought the Pendant to his lips, his life flashed before his eyes, the bruises, the insults, and the cold reality of being "abandoned." With a final surge of conviction, he swallowed the pendant.
Instantly, his entire body erupted in white-hot heat. His veins bulged beneath his skin, glowing with a searing golden light. His breathing turned chaotic, his lungs struggling to keep pace as a flood of raw, uneven power surged through him. The sheer force of it was too much; the world turned black, and he collapsed back into unconsciousness.
Above Ashfall Hospital
High in the sky above the hospital, the fabric of reality tore open. A rift formed, and the young man from the forest stepped through, his presence heavy with power. He immediately stretched out his senses, scanning the area for the familiar resonance of the necklace.
Suddenly, the signal vanished.
'How can this be?' he thought, his heart sinking. 'The signature... it's gone.' He expanded his senses first he searched for 10 km but no response then he expanded it to 100 km nothing, even further still nothing, desperately searching every inch of the village below, but the result was the same. Disappointment and a sharp, stinging pain filled his eyes.
"Where are you, my daughter?" he muttered to the wind. With no trace left to follow, he stepped back into the rift, vanishing as quickly as he had arrived.
Inside the Hospital
A few moments later, Aarav walked into the room to check on his friend. His heart skipped a beat when he saw Rudra lying limp on the floor, the medical monitors lying scattered and disconnected.
"Rudra!" he panicked, rushing to lift him back onto the bed.
He scrambled out of the room and found Naina talking to another patient. "Aunty! Rudra is fallen on the floor! He's unconscious, and he's ripped off all his medical supplies!"
Naina's face went pale. She excused herself immediately and hurried back to the room with Aarav. She checked Rudra's pulse and scanned his body for any new injuries from the fall. Finding none, she let out a long, shaky sigh of relief.
'He woke up, yet he's unconscious again,' she thought, her brow furrowed in confusion. 'What could have happened?'
While Naina was still lost in thought, wondering why Rudra had suddenly lost consciousness again, his eyes fluttered open. He saw her familiar, worried face leaning over him and offered a weak, tired smile.
"Aunty-"
Before he could get another word out, Naina cut him off, her voice sharp with a mixture of fear and frustration. "Don't talk right now! You've just woken up after collapsing again. You have to start taking care of yourself, Rudra!"
She straightened up, crossing her arms as she began her lecture. "From now on, you are banned from leaving the orphanage walls. You are not allowed to go outside unless you have explicit permission first. You knew the risks, yet you went out alone. Why don't you listen? Why don't you take Aarav or one of the other boys with you?"
Her voice trembled slightly as she continued. "Even if you don't care what happens to you, there are people like me and Aarav who do! Don't you think about how we feel seeing you in such a state? If I ever see you this hurt again, I'll ban you from even leaving the orphanage building, let alone the gates!"
Rudra listened quietly, seeing the deep concern and the hidden tears of worry etched into her face. He didn't argue. Instead, he slowly sat up, swung his legs over the side of the bed, and walked over to Naina. He wrapped his arms around her in a gentle hug.
"Don't worry, Aunty," he said softly, his voice steady and soothing. "I promise, from this moment on, nothing like this will happen to me again. I'll change how I do things. I'm going to start training more rigorously, so I never have to be this injured ever again."
Naina felt the sincerity in his voice and the strange, new strength in his posture. She let out a long breath, her anger melting away. "Fine," she whispered, patting his hand. "I have other patients to check on now, so I must go. Aarav is waiting for you outside; go talk to him."
As she walked toward the door, she paused and turned back, a softer smile returning to her face. "And don't worry... I'll be discharging you soon."
As Naina left the room, she gave Aarav a reassuring nod. "Rudra's condition is stable now. You can go in."
Aarav didn't waste a second. He burst into the room and stopped short. He expected to see a pale, trembling Rudra, but instead, his friend was sitting upright on the edge of the bed. There was no trace of fear or trauma in his gaze; instead, his eyes burned with a new, quiet resolve.
While Aarav was musing over this sudden change, Rudra was busy having a silent argument in his head. 'That annoying Genesis didn't even offer a single word of advice after I woke up. I really was scammed into eating that Pendant for nothing,' he thought bitterly.
Suddenly, a voice echoed with a weight that made his soul tremble.
[Impossible. The Samrat Veins...]