Two hundred years ago, the world changed.
Relics fell like stars—shards of alien ships, bones of forgotten gods, no one agreed which. But they pulsed with power. People touched them and became something else. Some grew strong enough to split steel. Some burned out, bodies ruined, minds gone.
From those relics, humanity carved its new laws.
Three Pathways: Body, Mind, Tech. Scriptures to guide strength. Doors to walk through, if you survived the first step. Governments rose on Pathwalkers. Corporations fattened on relics. The rest of us stayed in shadows, hoping not to be noticed.
I was one of those shadows.
My name is Adrian Gray. Eighteen. Ordinary. Invisible.
Until the day I decided to die.
---
The city barrier hummed silver in the distance, keeping monsters out, keeping us in.
My parents had been buried a week ago. A fight between Pathwalkers had spilled into the streets. Collateral damage, the officials said. Wrong place, wrong time.
I had stayed home, bent over cheap paper, scratching out equations. They had gone for food.
A sound like thunder. A building collapsing.
Gone.
The corps sent a letter stamped red: Compensation Denied.
I kept it folded in my pocket as I walked through the alleys. The streets stank of oil and rot. People slumped in doorways, half-asleep, too hungry for deep rest. A gang laughed somewhere close, knives clinking. I didn't look.
Every step brought me closer to the wall.
---
The barrier shimmered like glass turned liquid. Drones floated above, their red eyes watching. Beyond it stretched the wild zones—ruins twisted by relics and time. No one came back.
Perfect.
I pressed a hand to the barrier. Cool, humming. Then I stepped through.
The world bent around me. For a moment I felt resistance, like a river pressing against my chest. Then it broke, and I stumbled into air that tasted of iron.
The ground outside was cracked, weeds curling sharp as blades. A ruin loomed nearby, its steel frame twisted like bones.
I walked further. The glow of the city dimmed behind me. Shadows stretched long.
And then I saw it.
Half-buried in dirt, glowing faintly blue.
A shard.
Jagged, crystal, pulsing like a heart.
A relic.
I almost laughed. "Figures. The one time I try to die, the world hands me a reason to live."
I should have walked away. But my hands moved first.
I touched it.
---
Pain.
Fire ripped through me, burning veins and marrow. My lungs locked, vision blinding white.
And then—pages.
Endless. Blank, yet alive. A book without a cover, its sheets turning faster and faster, words whispering just out of reach.
The shard melted into my chest.
The Lexicon.
Its hum sank into my ribs, heavy, steady. Not a voice. Not words. But presence.
I staggered, gasping. The shard was gone, the glow now inside me.
A snarl split the air.
I turned.
Something crawled from the ruins. Skin blistered, limbs twisted, eyes milky. Once human, maybe. Now a beast.
It lunged.
I threw myself aside, claws scraping stone. My body screamed. Weak. Too slow.
The Lexicon pulsed.
My feet shifted without thought. A broken beam shoved between us. The beast's jaw clamped down, splintering wood instead of bone.
I ran.
The barrier shimmered ahead, too far. The beast crashed after me, claws tearing dirt. My lungs burned, heart tearing itself apart.
The Lexicon pulsed again. Left through rubble. Right past weeds. Forward, always forward.
The silver wall flared. I dove through.
The world bent. Then snapped.
I collapsed on the city side, chest heaving. The beast slammed against the barrier, shrieking, barred from crossing.
I lay staring at the stars.
I hadn't died.
I had survived.
Because of the shard. Because of the Lexicon.
I laughed once, bitter. "Fine. I'll live. But not for nothing."
The Lexicon hummed like a page turning.
And the first step of the path was written.
---
Author's Note:
Worldbuilding Introduced: Relics, Pathways (Body, Mind, Tech), governments, corporations, wild zones.
Relic Introduced: The Lexicon — a growth-type relic binding to Adrian.
Skill Glimpse: Early instinctual guidance from the Lexicon (later clarified as Soul Sense).
Theme Set: Adrian chooses to live not just to survive, but to change the world.