The sky hung low with thick gray clouds, the kind that threatened rain but never delivered. The city around him was just as lifeless, humming with noise yet devoid of warmth. Cars rushed past. Footsteps echoed on wet sidewalks. People talked, laughed, argued, and stared into glowing phones. But not one of them noticed him.
Not that they ever did.
He kept his eyes on the ground as he walked, shoulders hunched against the cold. His coat was worn and too thin for the season—a faded brown thing that had once belonged to his father. The seams had started to unravel, and one pocket hung slightly lower than the other, as if weighed down by memories he no longer wanted to carry.
Brion wasn't old. Just seventeen. But his eyes were already tired in a way most people wouldn't understand. He carried no name that mattered, no home that felt like shelter, and no one left who truly cared if he came back.
He passed his former school without looking up. The gate was open, students in uniforms rushing out into the street, their laughter loud and sharp. He recognized some of them. Once, he had laughed with them too. Before things changed.
Before his parents died.
Before the relatives who took him in saw him as a burden.
Before his friends decided he was no longer worth their time.
He didn't hate them. Not really. He had run out of room for hate long ago. What replaced it was silence. A numbness that settled in his chest and refused to leave.
Today was no different.
He walked down a familiar alley, passing cracked walls sprayed with graffiti and the faint stench of old garbage. A stray cat darted past his feet. Even it didn't stop to look at him.
A breeze kicked up, rustling dead leaves along the street. He watched them dance in the wind, twisting and turning before settling back down. Like his life—brief moments of movement, only to end in stillness.
As he neared the intersection, the pedestrian signal began to blink red. He stepped onto the crosswalk without urgency. Cars lined up at the light, engines humming. A few people stood on the opposite corner, waiting, clutching bags or checking their phones.
And then he saw it.
A little boy, no older than five, had slipped free from his mother's hand. The boy darted into the street, chasing a red ball that rolled across the asphalt.
The light turned green.
A black car accelerated forward, its driver oblivious.
Time slowed.
People screamed.
But no one moved.
He did.
He ran.
His legs moved on instinct, heart pounding for the first time in years. The wind cut his face. The boy looked up, frozen in the path of the car.
He reached him.
He shoved the child hard, sending him tumbling to the sidewalk.
Then the world went white.
A blaring horn.
The crunch of metal.
And silence.
---
There was no pain. Just stillness.
He opened his eyes to darkness. But it wasn't the darkness of death. It felt... infinite. Like floating through space without a body. No weight. No time.
He thought maybe this was it. The end.
But then something stirred.
A voice, not from outside, but within his mind.
"Analyzing soul condition... Complete."
The voice was calm. Unfeeling. Mechanical, yet with a strange depth. It was neither male nor female.
"Selfless death confirmed. Unique criteria met." "Initiating Salvation Core Protocol."
He blinked. Or at least, he thought he did. Did he even have eyes here?
"User classification: Nameless. Rank: Undefined." "Assigning unique system interface..." "Initializing transfer. Please remain conscious."
He wanted to speak, to ask what was happening, but his thoughts had no voice.
"Transfer commencing in 3... 2... 1..."
The darkness cracked.
---
Wind.
Cold. Sharp. Real.
He gasped and opened his eyes.
He was lying on damp grass beneath a twilight sky. Trees stretched overhead, their dark silhouettes swaying gently in the wind. The air smelled of moss, earth, and something faintly sweet.
He sat up, blinking in confusion. His body felt... lighter. Stronger. Younger, even. He looked down at his hands. The scars he remembered—cuts from kitchen knives, burns from hot pans, scrapes from fights—were gone. His skin was smooth, unblemished.
He reached for his chest. No pain. No injury. No blood.
Just a faint warmth. A glowing mark over his heart, shaped like a faint silver circle, slowly fading.
He stumbled toward a still pool of water nearby, almost afraid to look. But he had to know.
The reflection that stared back at him was not his own—or at least, not the one he remembered.
It was not his tired face. Not his sunken eyes and unkempt hair. In their place was a boy of the same age, but with a new vitality, a quiet power in his gaze. His jawline was sharper, his skin pale but unmarked, and his white ish silver hair fell gently around his face in soft layers. His eyes—once dull and lifeless—now glowed faintly blue, like ocean.
He looked... beautiful. Ethereal. Like someone out of a storybook.
He stared in silence, struggling to believe what he saw. The face in the water blinked with him, breathed with him. It was his. Yet not.
"Is this... really me?"
The system answered.
"Soul-body reconstruction complete. The form reflects your soul's potential, unhindered by past trauma or environment."
[System Online]
A translucent screen appeared before him, hovering in the air like a hologram.
=================================
[SYSTEM INTERFACE ACTIVE]
=================================
User: Nameless
Class: Undefined
Rank: F
Title: The One Who Chose to Save
System Functions: Active
- Analyze [✓]
- Absorb [✓]
- Evolve [Locked]
- Mimic [Locked]
- Combine [Locked]
Would you like a tutorial?
[Yes / No]
---------------------------------------
He stared at it, heart racing.
"This is real..."
He reached out. His fingers passed through the screen, but his thoughts triggered it.
"Yes".
=================================
[SYSTEM INTERFACE ACTIVE]
=================================
[Tutorial Begin]
The Salvation Core is a unique system designed for souls who fulfilled the highest selfless condition: sacrificing their life to save another.
Your body has been reconstructed using your soul's imprint.
Your strength, evolution, and path will be determined by your actions, choices, and absorbed knowledge.
System Features:
- Analyze: Understand objects, skills, creatures
- Absorb: Take in usable materials or traits
- Locked Features will unlock with progression
Note: This system cannot be transferred, duplicated, or detected by others.
You are the sole bearer of the Salvation Core.
Good luck.
-----------------------------------
The screen faded.
He stood slowly. The forest stretched in every direction, thick and quiet. No sound of traffic. No buzzing city. No concrete.
Only nature.
A new world.
He felt the pull of it in his bones. Like something ancient had awakened within him.
He began walking slowly through the woods, his senses more alert than ever. Every rustle of leaves, every crackle of twigs underfoot felt amplified. He could hear the distant call of birds, the splash of water nearby, and even the whisper of the wind threading through the trees. It was peaceful—no smog, no engines, no crowds. The scent of pine and fresh earth filled his lungs, cleaner than anything he'd ever breathed in the city.
He paused by a cluster of glowing mushrooms nestled beside a tree. They shimmered faintly, casting soft blue light onto the bark. His breath caught. They weren't from Earth. He knew that now without a doubt.
He crouched beside them, reaching out with a hesitant finger.
"Analyzing". System said
The word echoed in his mind.
=================================
[SYSTEM INTERFACE ACTIVE]
=================================
[Flora Identified]
Name: Mooncap Mushrooms
Properties: Luminescent. Edible. Restorative.
Caution: Overconsumption causes dizziness.
-------------------------------------
He blinked, stunned. The system wasn't just some interface—it was knowledge. Pure, immediate, and precise.
He stood again, his gaze sweeping the clearing. Everything was new, but not frightening. The unknown stretched before him like a book he was meant to read.
"This world... it's real. And it's mine to discover."
He clenched his fists gently, feeling the power just under his skin, quiet but waiting.
And for the first time in his life, he didn't feel like a mistake.
He felt like he belonged.
The screen shimmered again, and new text appeared.
=================================
[SYSTEM INTERFACE ACTIVE]
=================================
Please confirm identity.
Would you like to retain your former name?
[Yes / No]
--------------------------------------
He stared at it for a long moment. That name—his old name—belonged to a world that had turned its back on him. A world that had never seen his worth. He took a slow breath.
"No"
Another prompt follow
=================================
[SYSTEM INTERFACE ACTIVE]
=================================
[Enter your new name:________ ]
------------------------------------
He looked down at his reflection, at the face that no longer bore the weight of that broken boy. This was his new beginning. A new world. A new self.
"Ikarion," he whispered.
The system responded:
=================================
[SYSTEM INTERFACE ACTIVE]
=================================
Name: Ikarion
Class: Unassigned
Rank: F
Title: The One Who Chose to Save
HP: 100/100 MP: 50/50
Level: 1 XP: 0%
Skills:
• Analyze [✓]
• Absorb [✓]
• Evolve [Locked]
• Mimic [Locked]
• Combine [Locked]
Status: Stable
------------------------------------
Far beyond the trees, in a throne room carved of black stone and gold, a robed figure stirred.
His eyes opened, glowing with red sigils.
"A Salvation Core has awakened... after all these years?" the figure whispered.
He rose slowly from his seat.
"Prepare them." "We must find him... before the truth wakes up inside him.