It began on a rainy Thursday.
Not the kind of storm that screams with thunder or rages with fury. No — this was the quiet kind, the kind that weeps silently onto windows, as if the sky were mourning something it could never explain.
Aiden Virel sat alone in the back corner of the school library, a worn copy of The Book of Lost Names open before him. He'd read it a dozen times. The ink had begun to fade on the margins where his fingers lingered too often. Yet he wasn't really reading. He just liked the weight of the book in his hands. The stillness. The quiet.
He didn't belong in this world — not in the grand, poetic sense. No. He didn't belong in this high school, in this life. He was invisible. A shadow that drifted through the corridors, unspoken and unnoticed. Teachers forgot his name. Students forgot his face. Even the vending machine once ignored his coin.
But Aiden had never resented it. Solitude, to him, was not a curse. It was clarity.
He turned the page slowly. The final sentence on the chapter read:
"And in the end, he was remembered not for what he changed… but for what he refused to lose."
Aiden closed the book. That line always stuck with him. It was one of those rare truths that felt like it was meant for him — not for a character, not for the plot. Just… him.
He stood to return the book, stretching his back as thunder rumbled distantly. The lights flickered once. Twice. Then the world broke.
It was subtle, at first — like a glitch in a video game.
The floor trembled. Shelves trembled. The glass of the library windows shimmered… not from light, but from some strange, rippling distortion. The air itself began to fracture, like a mirror under pressure.
Aiden blinked. His vision doubled. Then tripled. The sound in the room dropped into silence — not absence, but void. Everything was muted. Colors drained.
And then, he saw her.
A girl stood at the center of the library, where the rows of ancient books met in a silent crossroads. She hadn't been there before. Her uniform was soaked, though there had been no rain inside. Her eyes were wide, terrified. In her arms, she held a glowing orb — pulsing, cracking, like a heart trying to escape its cage.
She turned toward him.
"You're not supposed to see this," she whispered.
And then the world screamed.
The orb exploded in a flash of light so blinding it swallowed reality. Every color inverted. The library was shredded into floating shards of glass, paper, and space. Aiden felt his body ripped upward — not pulled, not launched, but unwritten.
Like a page being torn from the book of the universe.
There was no pain. Just… letting go.
He awoke in the sky.
Not falling. Not flying. Just suspended — as if the air itself refused to let him go. Below him was an ocean of stars, infinite and unfamiliar. Above him, a structure unlike anything Earth could imagine: an enormous floating citadel of silver and crystal, shaped like an open book with its pages fanned to the void.
The words ACADEMIA NEXUS burned across the sky.
"Where the hell…?" he muttered.
A voice answered, not with words, but with presence — like a thought that wasn't his.
System initializing…
Codex: Unbound detected.
Host: Aiden Virel.
Warning: No compatibility match found. Classification: Unknown.
Rewriting protocol engaged.
Aiden's breath hitched. The stars around him began to burn with glyphs — unreadable, shifting symbols — and the air vibrated with something ancient. Something alive.
Welcome, Last Scholar.
Prepare to enter the Infinite Codex.
And then, he fell.
He crashed not onto ground — but onto pages.
The floor of the citadel was made of books, scrolls, tablets. Knowledge bound into every inch of architecture. Each step echoed with whispers of forgotten worlds. He was in a library the size of a continent — floating in a dimension that defied time and physics.
Figures approached him.
Students? Warriors? Both.
They wore robes of glowing data, armor inscribed with runes that pulsed like veins. Their eyes glowed with the same light as the orb that girl held.
One of them stepped forward. A tall figure with silver hair and mechanical eyes.
"Another unranked?" he scoffed. "No mark. No crest. This one won't last an hour."
Another, a girl with short blue hair and violet eyes, looked at Aiden with something else — curiosity.
"Don't be so sure," she said. "He's not registered. That means he wasn't summoned. He fell. And the Codex spoke."
Her voice lowered. "He might be one of them."
Aiden tried to speak. His mouth felt dry. His voice cracked. "Where… am I?"
The girl smiled faintly.
"You're in the Nexus," she said. "Where scholars become gods. And failures are erased."
Then a bell rang — not sound, but sensation. Like gravity shifting sideways.
The initiation had begun.
"Step forward."
The command echoed across the vast hall like thunder across glass. Aiden stood motionless, staring up at the towering woman who had spoken — a figure clad in obsidian robes that shimmered with constellations. Her eyes glowed faintly violet, and every word she spoke carried a weight that bent the air around it.
He didn't move. Not from fear. Not entirely. But because his legs simply wouldn't obey him.
His name pulsed at the edge of his mind, followed by a strange presence still lingering from earlier:
Codex… silent…
System core: latent. Access denied.
He wasn't sure what that meant. No one had explained anything.
Around him, dozens of other students — if you could call them that — stood on individual platforms of glowing light, arranged in a great spiral descending toward a glowing central chamber. Some looked human. Others… didn't. Horns. Wings. Silver skin. Eyes made of fire. And each one bore a distinct emblem glowing at their chest — symbols pulsing with energy.
Aiden's chest held nothing.
"Step forward," the voice repeated, sharper now. "Unranked."
He took one hesitant step.
The platform reacted instantly. Light surged beneath his feet, scanning his presence. A floating sigil emerged before him, rotating slowly in the air.
Initializing scan…
No system found.
Classification: Null Candidate.
Recommendation: Rejection.
Murmurs rippled through the crowd. Laughter, snickers, whispers of dismissal.
"Null?" someone muttered. "They actually let a null into Nexus?"
"Did he bribe the summoner?"
"Another charity case. Probably dead before midterm."
Aiden clenched his fists. He didn't know who these people were — or what the rules were — but something in him stirred. Not anger. Not pride. Something… sharper.
Conviction.
He looked up. "I didn't ask to be here," he said, his voice quiet, but steady. "But I'm not leaving."
The woman in obsidian narrowed her gaze. She extended a hand — and a glowing quill of light appeared between her fingers.
"A Null Candidate claiming perseverance," she said. "Curious. Very well."
She touched the air before her, and a scroll of flame unfurled between them. Names inscribed in gold, floating midair.
"Per tradition, you are hereby granted provisional entry into Nexus under the Observation Clause. You will attend orientation. You will be tested. And when you fail—"
She let the words hang.
Aiden didn't blink.
"I won't."
✦ ✦ ✦
The dormitory wasn't what he expected.
It wasn't a room — it was a library.
Dozens of floating bookcases formed the walls. Glyph-lit orbs hovered above, casting soft golden light. Aiden stepped inside and immediately sensed it: this place was alive with knowledge. Every book whispered. Every page hummed.
On the central desk sat a single tome, blank and leather-bound, titled:
"Codex: Inheritance"
He opened it.
Blank.
Until one word appeared, etched by invisible ink:
"Write."
And then the voice returned. The presence.
Codex link stabilizing…
Warning: Unauthorized host. Identity mismatch.
Rewriting system protocols…
Synchronizing core…
Welcome, Observer Aiden Virel.
Codex Rank: Zero.
Abilities: None.
Potential: Infinite.
Aiden exhaled slowly.
So it was real.
He was inside some kind of system. A codex. A living library that spoke in glyphs and stars. And he was apparently its first unbound host.
But what did that mean?
He turned to the next page of the book.
Words appeared as he read:
The Codex does not give power. It gives possibility.
You will not be chosen. You must choose.
Each truth you learn, each system you witness, may be added… if you understand it.
Knowledge is your weapon. Memory your price.
Do you accept?
Aiden didn't hesitate.
Yes.
The book glowed.
A single glyph appeared at the top of the page — foreign, elegant, alive.
Aiden watched as it burned itself into the air, then into his skin — a faint mark on his palm. It hurt for a second. Not sharp pain. More like being tattooed by light.
The Codex whispered again.
First Entry: Codex Initiate
Path: Scholar
Attribute: Insight
Skill Unlocked: "Trace – Observe system architecture in proximity."
The room dimmed. Every book around him pulsed with faint outlines — systems embedded in their structure. He could feel them. Like algorithms. Like veins of knowledge waiting to be read.
He wasn't powerless. He was just… starting differently.
And deep down, he knew: this was only the first page.
The following morning, Nexus Academy shimmered like a myth caught in a dream.
Aiden stepped out of his dorm and paused on the marble bridge that overlooked the central campus. He could barely believe what he saw. Towers that floated mid-air. Classrooms suspended in shifting dimensions. A sun that wasn't a sun, but a radiant archive — casting warmth from countless stories recorded in light.
Every student walked with purpose. Some wore robes pulsing with magic. Others bore weapons sealed in code. And on each chest: a glowing sigil — a System Crest — pulsing like a second heartbeat.
Except his.
Aiden's chest was still bare.
He tightened his grip on the book tucked under his arm: the Codex. It didn't glow. It didn't float. It didn't even talk this morning. But he knew it was alive. Waiting.
A voice startled him.
"You're the one with no system, right?"
He turned.
She stood under the shadow of a hanging garden, arms crossed, posture proud. Her uniform was crisp, but modified — a dark-blue jacket with silver trim, long boots, and gloves that shimmered with cosmic dust. A blade rested across her back — long, elegant, etched with constellations.
But it was her eyes that held him. Pale like starlight, with rings of glowing violet.
"Lyra," she said, without offering her hand. "Third-year. Division Alpha. Duelist Rank S."
Aiden blinked. "I'm… Aiden."
"I know," she replied.
She stepped closer, studying him. "The Codex responded to you yesterday. That's not normal. It hasn't chosen a host since the Fall of Axis."
"I didn't ask for it."
"No one ever asks the Codex for anything," she said. "It only takes what it needs."
He frowned. "What do you mean?"
Lyra tilted her head. "You'll understand soon enough. But first—"
She drew her sword.
A glyph formed mid-air. It shimmered like starlight stitched into steel.
Duel Request Initiated
Opponent: Lyra Cael'Serin
System: Astra – Path of Celestial Convergence
Challenge: Demonstration Match – Observation Rights
"Wait, what?"
She smiled faintly. "We're in Nexus. Everything's earned. If you want to survive, you need to fight. Even if it's just to learn."
Aiden took a step back. "I don't even know how to use my system."
"Then you better learn fast."
The glyph spun. A ring of light surrounded them — isolating the platform they stood on. The sounds of the academy faded. Students nearby stepped back, watching with interest. Someone whispered, "She's testing him herself?"
Aiden looked down. The Codex in his hand began to glow — softly at first, then with rising intensity.
Trace activated.
System: Astra detected.
Structure: Celestial Sequence – 7 Stars, 3 Paths.
Reading pattern… incomplete.
Warning: Execution not possible.
Suggestion: Reactive Defense Mode.
Aiden's mind spun. It wasn't a traditional system. It was… a language. A living script that interpreted and rewrote what it understood. If he could read Lyra's patterns — he might adapt.
The duel began.
Lyra vanished.
She reappeared mid-air, sword drawn, leaving trails of stardust as she rotated through a strike.
Aiden raised the Codex instinctively.
The book expanded — not into a shield, but into a mirror of light, absorbing the arc of her blade and redirecting its momentum into a harmless burst of force.
Lyra landed lightly. Her expression didn't change, but her eyes narrowed.
"So the Codex reacts," she murmured.
Aiden exhaled. His arms trembled. But he was still standing.
"I'm not a fighter," he said. "But I learn fast."
Lyra nodded slowly. Then she snapped her fingers — and a second glyph formed behind her, this one brighter. Larger.
Celestial Form: Polaris Awakening
Starline Active: Gravitic Bind – 17%
Trajectory: Closed Orbit.
The ground shifted.
Aiden was pulled forward by invisible force — gravity not of the earth, but of Lyra's system. It bent physics. Warped light. Every star in her pattern obeyed her will.
And yet…
The Codex responded.
Recording sequence… analyzing core mechanics…
Mimicry: not yet available
Insight skill unlocked: "Break Pattern"
Aiden's eyes widened.
He whispered the words. "Break Pattern."
In an instant, the gravitational path wavered. He sidestepped the orbit, falling outside her predicted arc. It wasn't strength. It wasn't power. It was understanding.
Lyra halted her second strike. She stared at him.
"Impossible," she said. "No Null can read that fast."
Aiden didn't reply. He couldn't. He was still catching his breath, heart hammering, legs unsteady. The Codex closed on its own, glowing briefly.
Observation complete.
Trial ended.
Ranking: Pending.
Compatibility detected: 4.3%
Note: Subject is… adapting.
Lyra sheathed her sword.
"You're not useless," she said.
"Thanks, I think."
"But you're also not ready. You can trace systems — that makes you dangerous. But you don't own anything yet. You're a reader. Not a player."
She turned.
"But I'll be watching you."
And with that, she walked away.
Leaving Aiden standing in the middle of the arena, the Codex pulsing faintly in his hand — and a dozen questions burning in his mind.