Chapter 3: The Quiet Throne
The lecture hall echoed with the soft hum of Soul Energy.
A thousand glowing glyphs pulsed along the marble walls—tracing the rise and fall of Soulborne legends, their domains etched in silver flame and black glass. Karen sat among a sea of first-year students, her back straight, her eyes alert. The scent of incense and old stone filled the air.
At the front of the class stood Instructor Vaelor, a bald, bronze-skinned man whose voice was deep enough to make the floor rumble.
"Welcome," he said, pacing slowly, "to your first lesson in Domain Fundamentals. The soul is not just energy. It is territory. It is identity. And when honed, it becomes a space—your Proto-Domain."
The hall quieted. Even the air felt heavier.
Vaelor raised a hand, and behind him, an illusion bloomed into being: a black void, split open by violet lightning. In its center floated a silver throne, pulsing with life.
"This… is my Proto-Domain," he said. "It is called the Court of Silence. Here, my soul reigns. My will is law. Inside, I am more than I am out here. This is the goal of all Soulborne."
He turned to face them, his gaze hardening. "But before you can walk in your Domain, you must find the door."
The class murmured, some intrigued, others daunted.
"Most of you," he continued, "will not form one until your third or fourth year—if at all. The Proto-Domain is the embryonic form of a true Soul Domain. It is more instinct than intellect, more feeling than form. It cannot be copied. It cannot be stolen."
He walked between the rows now, pausing beside Karen. She didn't move, but her fingers twitched slightly on the bench.
"It is born," he said, "only when the soul asserts itself completely."
After the lecture, the students were led to a private meditation chamber. The white floors were ringed with floating Soul Crystals that cast a gentle azure glow. Instructor Vaelor stood at the center.
"You will now attempt contact with your Proto-Domain," he said. "Do not force it. Let the soul show you who you are."
Karen sat cross-legged on a black mat, flanked by Leslie and Jim. She closed her eyes and slowed her breathing. Around the room, low vibrations rose—students trying, failing, flaring with effort.
She reached inward, toward the dark tendrils of power coiled within her.
And then—
A shift.
A click, like a key turning in a long-forgotten lock.
Her body tensed.
Something opened.
And the world—fell away.
---
She stood in a vast, moonlit field.
The sky above her was layered with indigo clouds, moving like breath. Around her were spires of obsidian stone rising in slow pulses from the ground like living monuments. The wind whispered words she couldn't understand, but the feeling behind them struck her heart like a bell.
Welcome.
At the center of the field, a throne hovered above a pool of black water—sleek, alien, and veined with violet. Darkness coiled beneath the surface like waiting serpents.
Karen took a step forward. The water did not ripple.
She wasn't dreaming.
She wasn't imagining.
She was within something.
Her Proto-Domain.
The realization hit her all at once. This place… it was her. It matched the storm inside her chest. It matched the scythe.
As she moved toward the throne, the shadows responded, rising in delicate arches, folding around her shoulders like wings. She felt no fear. Only the weight of truth.
She had always been different.
She just hadn't known how much.
---
She gasped awake.
The room spun, and the air felt heavier than before. All eyes turned to her as Instructor Vaelor's footsteps approached.
Karen's face was pale, her breath shallow, but her eyes glowed faintly violet. Around her, the soul crystals flickered as though drawn to something unseen.
Vaelor knelt beside her. "What did you see?"
She blinked. "A throne," she said quietly. "Dark water. Whispering wind. It felt… like it knew me."
The room fell deathly silent.
Vaelor stared at her a long time before speaking. "Describe the feeling. The energy."
"Deep," she whispered. "Heavy. Endless."
He stood up slowly.
"That is not the echo of a Proto-Domain," he said gravely. "That is a Proto-Domain."
Murmurs erupted through the chamber.
"She already has one?"
"Impossible!"
"She's only First Spirit Cycle…"
Karen sat motionless.
Leslie's hand touched her shoulder, reassuring but hesitant. Even Jim looked stunned.
Vaelor turned to the class. "This is unprecedented," he said. "Only Fourth Cycle students have ever—"
He cut himself off, his eyes narrowing. "You. Lockwood. Stay after."
The others dispersed slowly, glancing back with wary respect and curiosity.
Karen stood, facing the instructor.
"You've touched something ancient," Vaelor said. "That Proto-Domain... it is not new. It was waiting."
Karen looked at her hands. "I didn't create it. I… remembered it."
Vaelor's face darkened slightly. "You need to be careful. There are forces in this Academy that would love to own a soul like yours."
Karen said nothing.
"But for now…" he turned away, his coat swirling like smoke, "welcome to the war, Miss Lockwood. Whether you know it or not, you've already chosen a side."
....