Richard's Pov
They say every life changes at eighteen.
That's when you stand in front of the world and either become someone or be branded a weak Hollowborn.
Tomorrow is my ceremony. But I already know the outcome. I've known it since the day I watched my parents die.
"Get moving, Richard. This floor ain't gonna scrub itself."
The mop in my hand squeaked across marble tiles stained with the same mud people dragged in with their boots and the same contempt they carried in their eyes. The voice belonged to Mr. Tim, the head janitor. A man whose power barely flickered above F- Rank but walked around the place like he ruled it.
"Yes, sir," I muttered, my voice low enough that it might not register as disrespect.
He was behind me before I could blink.
A hand gripped the back of my neck and smashed my face into the floor.
Crack.
Stars burst behind my eyes as the floor rushed up to meet me again and again. I didn't scream. Screaming only made him angrier. I curled my fingers into a fist, gripping nothing but dirty mop strings.
"You Hollowborn piece of shit," he growled, punching my ribs, knuckles bruising flesh like he was trying to teach a lesson written in blood. "You think I gave you this job out of charity? You should be licking the dirt off my boots."
I lost count of how many times he hit me.
Eventually, he stood over me, panting. "Make sure to clean that blood, too," he spat. "Maybe next time you'll remember your place."
I didn't answer.
He wanted me to beg. Hollowborns always begged. That's how we survived.
But I didn't have survival in mind today.
After he walked off grumbling something inaudibly, I picked myself off the ground like a drunk climbing out of a bar fight. My lip throbbed. I could feel swelling around my eye. One of my molars was loose.
I left the mop behind and walked out.
I passed him again near the entrance, where he was futile in trying to charm a receptionist who was clearly disgusted. I didn't look at him. Didn't even breathe in his direction.
"Where the hell do you think you're going, brat? You finish the task?"
His voice chased me, but I didn't stop.
I ran. Down the concrete steps, past the training yards, past the Awakening Statue of the First Lawbearer. Past everything I hated.
I ran until I reached the edge of the city, where the neon towers turned into forgotten forests, and the sky was more than just something to block out with drones and class rankings. I ran until every breath tore through my chest, and my legs screamed for release.
The cliff was still there.
My place. Our place.
Mom used to bring me here when the world got too cruel. She'd point to the stars and say, "The Laws are watching, baby. One day, they'll answer."
But they never did.
I collapsed at the edge, panting. The moon bathed the trees below in silver shadows. My blood dried in a crust around my cheek. My hands trembled.
Tomorrow, I'd be lined up like the others, stripped of dignity, and forced to reach for something I never had.
And when nothing happened, they'd brand me: Hollowborn, Confirmed.
That title would follow me to my grave.
I could already hear the whispers.
"No talent. Trash. Should've been aborted."
I stared at the drop. Wind whipped at my coat. My fingers curled around the edge of the rock.
"Mom… Dad…" My voice cracked.
"I'm sorry."
I stood. Closed my eyes. Felt the cliff beneath my boots, solid and final.
Just when I was about to jump, something changed.
The wind shifted, sharp, unnatural.
I opened my eyes.
A red light, thin at first, cut across the sky like a crack forming in the heavens.
It grew bigger as it approached my location.
It expanded like a blade, humming with pressure.
Then, the hum became a roar.
I stumbled back, shielding my eyes. The cliff shook from the impact.
"What the hell is this?"
I don't remember running down the hill. I just remember the heat, the smell of ozone, and something deeper, like rotting stars. Trees were scorched in a perfect circle. And in the center…
A corpse. No, something still alive. Barely.
It pulsed, as if its skin was stitched from the abyss. Tentacles? Wings? I couldn't tell where the body ended and the space around it began.
"Astral Beast.", my mind screamed at me.
I inched closer with curiosity and fear.
A closer look made the creature seem like an abyssal demon, too.
It looked at me.
Not with eyes. With a feeling. Like something crawled into my mind and sat there.
"Kill it." Every instinct screamed at me.
But I couldn't dare move.
Then it whispered something.
My body instantly moved closer without my permission.
Fear gripped me instantly as its blood that glowed like liquid darkness floated toward me.
It entered my chest like a ghost, and pain exploded through my nerves.
I fell to my knees as my consciousness could not take it.
Memories. Voices. Laws. Concepts too large for my mind flooded in.
Inside the darkness, something opened.
A door. A self. A second voice.
"You wanted power," it said inside me calmly.
"Now pay the price."