Chapter 1: Born in the Dark.
"Huff, huff, huff."
"How… are they so… so fast?"
"I can't… keep going!"
A frail-looking kid was running through a crumbled city. His pale skin reflected the dim light glow of the stars above. Dark circles hung underneath his squinted, jet-black eyes; they shimmered with light, but beneath, they were troubled. Golden hair clung to his sweat-covered face, and a bone-white cloak trailed behind, connected only by a golden buckle around his collar. A black shirt and matching pants — a size too big for him- hung around his frail frame. Clothes that were uncommon within the Void.
His legs burned as he ran, but he didn't have time to rest. This was the best opportunity he ever got to escape! He was not going to give it up just because his legs hurt.
A giant star hung high in the sky, surrounded by batches of dimly lit stars. Their previous magnificent shine that illuminated the land during the day shone no more; rather, they emitted a dark, pale glow.
Around him, the ruins of a once-grand city lay in ruin, as if everyone had disappeared one day, and the structures withered away with the passage of time. The grey and dark atmosphere sent shivers down his spine. The cracked and destroyed street actively hindered his escape, and the rubble of fallen houses littered the street. 'This place is like a maze!'
He turned his head, his black eyes scanning behind him. Five men trailed behind him, their blurry figures gradually coming into view. Loud voices echoed for him to come back, with the occasional curse directed at him.
'Five? Weren't there six?'
But he didn't have time for small details like that; the sixth had probably looped around the crumbled city, looking to cut him off. He wouldn't fall for that. After running away for years… or at least trying to, he knew all of their tricks.
His gaze shot towards his left, and a run-down building, half-collapsed, stood out. From what he could see, the building's front and back doors connected the street he was on and the one over together. That was all he needed to see before deciding.
The boy quickly pivoted and ran through the building's door, or the spot where the door should have been. Instantly, he was plunged into darkness.
He shivered quietly. He did not like the darkness.
People often grow comfortable with what they are born into: a rich family in a mansion or a middle-class family in a cozy home, even a poorer family home might be better than what he was born into: the dark.
He was the only person ever to be born in the Void.
...
"The Void isn't just a part of Earth, it is its own world." He thought back to his teacher's words.
Three hundred years ago, during the middle of a raging war spanning multiple continents, a massive portal appeared. Well, not really a portal, but a rift. In the center of the Mediterranean Sea, a massive portion of the mass of water disappeared, and out came of circular structure of a deep pit. At the same time, people began to disappear, being sucked into the Rift. Below the Rift, there was a seemingly infinite expanse of land called the Void.
In the Void, there is a spell, the Darkness Hex, which affects Diver's entire being, body, soul, and Nexus. After going through their Trial, humans in the Void, known as Divers, gained miraculous abilities. Using those abilities, they conquered as much land as possible, fighting off monsters and, in turn, becoming more powerful.
Normally, humans could only descend to the Void by going through a Trial, but he was different; he was directly born from a human within the Void, something deemed impossible by all logic — not that logic was as absolute as before the Rift.
After his mother had died and his father, who was known only to her, never showed up. The government took him in and locked him away like a precious diamond in a vault. Not that they treated him like that, though; he was no better than a lab rat.
He had grown scared of the dark, a common fear for a kid of his age, but his fear was different. The scientists at the government ran tests on him, trying to discover anything different about him. Sometimes, they locked him in a pitch black room, leaving him until the verge of insanity. Other times, they would starve him or drown him.
...
'Come on, Starlight, it's only a broken-down house! You can go right through.' He encouraged himself as he ran forward, being swallowed by the dark every step of the way. The street up ahead glowed through cracks in the walls; he was almost there.
The right side of the building had collapsed, stone and rotten wood were scattered across the ground. To his left, the wall was still standing, hung across the walls were torn tapestries, their images washed out and worn down.
He brushed against the door frame, stumbling onto the street. After taking a moment to collect himself, the boy dashed off through the street. Light shone against his eyes, blinding him momentarily before he quickly adjusted.
Looking back, he could see five men rushing onto the street, a cloud of smoke and dust following behind. He quickly looked ahead, continuing his run.
Before they regained their pace and caught up to him, he made the quick decision to cross over to another street, hopefully losing them.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a dark figure of a man. His eyes opened in shock, and he was monetarily stunned. Shaking his head and turning around, he ignored the figure and continued to run. 'He's too far to catch up. By the time he gets to me now, I will already be long gone. Ha, I knew that they were going to do this.'
Only a few moments later, a narrow alleyway came into view, just large enough for a few people to fit through. It would be better if it were just enough for him to fit, but he couldn't be picky; later on, there would surely be more options.
Besides, the road ahead was covered in debris, much larger than what was normal. An entire building had collapsed on the street. If he chose to try and get through there, the people behind would have caught up already. His only option was the alleyway.
Although he didn't feel great about going back into the dark, it was his only option to escape. All of his chasers were already counted for, and even if the one guy went through to the other street, there would still be the same distance.
He pushed through the alley, buildings loomed over, blocking most light from reaching inside. It was dark again. Despite the lack of light and the constant burning pain in his legs, he continued.
"Perservere, come on, you got this!"
Just as he reached the street, the boy bumped right into a hard leather surface. His entire body fell backwards, and he felt his back hitting the hard stone ground. He was stunned speechless at the event that just happened.
"Shit," he gasped, regaining his senses. The worst possibility came true; he was tricked.
"Why didn't I think about that? It is one of their abilities to create a clone. How could I make that big of a mistake?
He had run into the real sixth pursuer whom he had previously brushed off.
He held his hand to his head and glanced up at the man before him. "Um… hi, sir." He stammered.
The middle-aged man looked down; his broad shoulders and towering figure loomed over him. Light shone over the man's scarred face, revealing a hint of disappointment, but mainly annoyance and anger.
"Nice try, Starlight, you got pretty far this time."
How ironic, Starlight, that was the name of the boy. The light of the Stars, the magnificent, beautiful balls of light that stood untouched, watching over the world, shared the same name as this boy. He couldn't even run away from some pursuers; how could he live up to what he was named after?
After a moment of silence and staring at the Starlight, the man bent over and picked him up by the shoulder, standing him back up on his feet.
The rest of the pursuers had just caught up and shuffled into the tight alleyway; some of their faces were red and flustered from all of the chasing, while the more experienced ones had a more indifferent look.
One of the more exhausted men slowly heaved out words as he tried to catch his breath.
"That was quite the game of cat and mouse you had us playing, you little brat."
Starlight turned around. These men were meant to protect him in his journey from stronghold to stronghold. Although he felt bad for them, they were the ones who chose to do this job, decided to spend their time protecting him — well, not exactly, they weren't strong enough to accept any other missions. But he will keep running away. Why would he care about their struggles when he had his own?
"Finally caught him, Geralt, you did great."
An older man from the back of the group said to the man standing behind Starlight. This was the man with the ability to create a clone. Despite his old looks, he was quite strong, the second strongest in this group.
"Hey, Starry, can you stop running now? These old bones won't be able to keep up for much longer."
The old man looked at him with his deep blue eyes, which seemed to have a sea of knowledge enveloped within them.
Starlight didn't reply. He looked up at the man he ran into.
"Can we go back to the cart now, Geralt?"
The man looked back at Starlight, then back at the others.
"Let's go," Geralt said in a stern voice.
"Why couldn't we do a better job than this? I would rather fight monsters than play babysitter for a kid who doesn't understand what we have to go through." One of the men whispered with no regard for Starlight's feelings.
Why would he? Divers were the pinnacle of humanity, mountains above even the peaks of the strongest mortal. Even unseasoned Divers could kill mortals like Starlight by the swing of their hand. It's not like Starlight could do or say anything about his comment; he was merely a payload they had to deliver.
Thankfully, Starlight had Geralt. Geralt owed his life to Starlight's mother; he vowed to keep Starlight safe. He was one of the only people Starlight knew who actually cared about him — in some capacity.
"I mean… we need to buy new gear, and this job pays well. Besides, we do fight a fair share of monsters and only have to chase him around once every few trips. It's not that bad." Another man said.
Hmmm!
As Starlight stepped out of the alley, he heard a soft hum of metal. The metallic sound stayed in his ear for a few seconds before ominously disappearing, stunning Starlight in place. Darkness started to form around him, but when he blinked, it disappeared.
Straight, still stunned, glanced around, looking for anything that could have made that sound, but to no success. He couldn't find where the sound came from, and by the reaction of the others — or lack of it, Starlight convinced himself he was just tired and was hearing and seeing things.
Noticing the kid looking around in a state of confusion, Geralt opened his mouth, about to say something, but stopped. A moment later, he turned around and looked forward, continuing to walk down the street.
...
As they walked, the crumpled ruins of buildings, rotting trees, gray grass, and cracked paths became less common. Instead, the grass became greener, more signs of life could be seen, the depressing, ruined landscape was fading into a lively grassland.
Starlight looked behind; the ruins could still be seen, pretty clearly at that. He wanted to run back there, try to lose the men, and escape with his freedom. But it was too late. He bit his lips, disappointed with himself that he couldn't escape when he had the chance. But, soon reassured himself, to calm his heart, his chance would come eventually, and he had a feeling it would be soon.
The group soon reached a campsite. Orange light shone against Starlight's body, showcasing his gray, dust-covered face to the fullest. A bonfire. Flames rose taller than him, fueled by slabs of wood and the magical powers of Divers. Around the fire were benches made of logs and bags of supplies. Blocking the wind was a wooden cart, covered with a white fabric canopy.
Two six-legged horse creatures were lying in front of the cart, because it is extremely hard to bring a living being from the Overworld to the Void through the Rift. Divers bred monsters until they listened to us. They were called Mounts.
Twenty meters away from the campsite, a scaly creature with four legs and sharp fangs layed dead. Blood leaked from its body through deep slashes, turning the grass around it red.
Starlight looked at it with a grim expression. These were some of the beings that inhabited the Void. These were monsters, the creatures Divers had to fight.
The monster they had slain was a Wraith, the third-lowest class, but by no means was that bastard weak. The higher the classified rank and class of a monster, the stronger it was. If a Fiend, the lowest-ranked monster, would be able to survive the attack of machine guns and explosives, then imagine fighting a Wretch, the second-lowest class, who could take down packs of Fiends. And finally, a Wraith, who could fight off tens of Wretches.
Starlight shuddered before he looked around again. He waited as the six men woke up the horses, packed up the crates, and put out the fire.
Luckily, the Hex gave humanity abilities to fight. After passing their trial, Divers gain a Nexus, the core of a Diver, which serves as a second heart; instead of providing blood, it gives essence. Essence was used to activate abilities gained from Relics and Runes — the power source of Divers.
He watched Geralt, the strongest of the six. Divers come in many ranks. People who were chosen by the Hex to go through their trial and complete it were called Descenders. Descenders who refined their Relic after cultivating it gained the next rank and became a Wanderer. After that were Travelers. If Descenders were lions among humans and Wanderers were lions among Divers, then Travelers would be dragons among Wanderers.
Geralt was a Traveler; unlike the rest, he had consumed enough Spirit from Monsters to cultivate, go through two rituals years apart, refining his Relic by two ranks.
The battle with the Wretch class monster had lasted long enough for Starlight to run to the ruins of the nearest city. Occupied by the raging fight, they hadn't noticed he was gone until the monster was defeated, and Starlight was deep into the city.
But Starlight was just a mundane human, and a child at that. How could he compare to the physically boosted Divers?
As the men put the last of the supplies into the cart, Geralt gestured for Starlight to climb in. He obliged and walked over; three of the men were already seated within the cart, and two were up front controlling the horses and acting as a lookout.
"Come on, little one," the old man said, grinning, "We won't bite."
Starlight stepped up onto the wooden platform and navigated around the crates and bags of supplies, finding his seat among the men. Geralt followed behind, sitting beside him.
Starlight's entire body jerked forward following the sound of hooves stomping into the dirt trail, but soon stabilized after the cart reached a steady speed.
All seven of them sat in silence — a normal occurrence when Starlight would run away, until a younger man spoke up.
"How long until the stronghold? That run killed me. I'm so ready to fall asleep."
The cart was in silence again, but another man who was sitting in the front responded to the question by holding up five fingers. Starlight guessed he meant five hours; they had been on the road for almost three days since they left the previous Stronghold.
Hmmmm!
The same ominous hum had entered his ear again; however, this time, Starlight felt increasingly uneasy, as darkness started to cover his vision. The hum continued as Starlight was being engulfed in a black mist. Deep within his body, he felt an immense pressure, as if his trembling soul was being torn away.
"Uhh... Geralt, what is this?" Starlight asked shakily with pain in his voice, as he groaned.
Geralt turned sharply, his eyes wide in shock. The rest of the men also turned their heads in his direction. A dark mist was forming around Starlight's body, consuming him whole.
In the time that it took for all of them to look over, Starlight was already half consumed by the mist, his legs and lower torso being distorted behind the smog, and it was growing, consuming him even more.
"What! This can't happen yet, you're still so young, they said it was only a possibility," Geralt worriedly cried out. "Quickly call to notify the government," he screamed to the people in front of the cart.
"Help me... please..." Starlight cried. Everything had become black, and his consciousness was leaving.
Before he could finish his sentence, Starlight's body had been fully engulfed in the dark mist, not even his pale skin and golden hair visible. But just as quickly as he had been consumed, the cloud of black fully disappeared, leaving his body leaning against Geralt's.