Kaien Aros died with a controller in one hand and lightning in his chest.
The storm struck without warning, splitting the sky in a blinding blaze that turned his cheap apartment into a silhouette of shadows. One moment, he was grinding a late-game dungeon in Soulforge Online. The next, he was weightless, adrift in a sea of colorless stars.
Was this death? A server error? A final hallucination?
No pain. No body. Just… falling.
Then came the voice.
[Initializing Soulbound Protocol…]
[Anchor detected.]
[Class: Ascendant of Harmony.]
[Primary Core: Incompatible. Soul reshaping in progress…]
A burning pulled through his chest—not physical, but deep. Spiritual. His very essence unraveled, like code rewritten at runtime.
[Soulforge Detected: Voiddrift Multiverse. Version 0.000…]
"What the hell is this?" Kaien gasped, but his voice echoed inward, more thought than sound.
Suddenly, gravity.
He slammed into something solid, a floating platform suspended in the void. Above him, a broken sky. Below, a swirling sea of stars, like shattered mirrors reflecting memories not his own.
[Welcome, Kaien Aros.]
[You have been chosen by the Soulbound System.]
[Objective: Ascend through Soul Resonance.]
[Method: Bind with designated Soulmaidens.]
[Warning: Emotional, Spiritual, and Physical compatibility required.]
A symbol etched itself into the air before him: a star-shaped web with twelve nodes, one flickering faintly.
[First Star: Detected.]
[Status: Fading. Immediate synchronization advised.]
A body appeared, barely conscious, floating toward him from the abyss. A woman wrapped in silver and blood, eyes shut, aura trembling. Kaien's breath caught.
Her soul... it was calling to his.
Without thinking, he reached for her.
The moment their hands touched, light erupted between them. He saw glimpses, memories that weren't his. A moonlit temple. A war. A kiss that never happened. Her name: Lirae.
[Soulbond Initiated. Emotional Sync: 2%. Physical Sync: 0%.]
[Constellation node unlocked: MOONVEIL ORACLE]
The platform beneath them cracked.
Voidspawn shrieked from the edges of unreality, hungry things drawn to new life.
Kaien pulled her close, heart racing, fear boiling. He had no idea how to fight. No idea what any of this meant.
But in that moment, he made a decision.
"I don't know where I am. I don't know who you are. But if I have to fight the void with nothing but a spark of a soul… I'll do it."
Her fingers twitched. Her lips parted.
"You… found me," she whispered.
Then the light swallowed them both.