Darkness. Complete, utter darkness. I was floating, drifting in a sea of absolute darkness. There was nothing. Even my senses seemed to stop working, giving me a sense of peace and tranquility. I felt as if I was both infinite, yet irrelevant at the same time. I was a tiny cell in a vast, endless universe, and still nothing existed apart from me.
Time passed. I didn't know if it was a millennium or a mere fleeting moment. But the vast darkness began to shatter, golden light creeping through the cracks, until the darkness was completely consumed by the golden light. Only for the light to be drowned by a cloud of mist, the color of countless shades of grey from white all the way to black, veiling me from the golden light, like a protective mother.
Inside the vast veil of mist stood a fountain carved from white stone, shining faintly. The fountain had four basins stacked vertically, each one smaller than the one below. All of them were nearly empty, white sand-like particles flowing from the top to the bottom endlessly, and unchangingly.
My body started moving on its own, towards the fountain until I reached it. Stepping over the white stone, I stepped inside the first and largest basin. As soon as my leg touched the white particles, I felt agonizing, sobering pain spreading through my body like a swarm of burning ants entering my body from my legs towards the length of my spine. It felt as if someone took a burning sword and started etching runes along my spine, the side of my neck, all the way to my sternum.
Unable to bear the pain anymore, I fell to the ground on my knees and couldn't help but let out a primal and guttural scream that echoed through the grey mist, cutting through the silence inside my ether core.
The agonizing pain lasted for less than a second, but it felt like an eternity. When it finally passed and subsided, I couldn't help the smile from appearing on my face. It's not that I'm a masochist. It's just that with every ounce of pain, information, and knowledge flooded my mind.
[Chosen Mordret! Welcome to the Akashic records.]
[The seal of art had been broken.]
[You have ascended to the dormant rank.]
A voice boomed through the white mist.
I already expected to hear that; every chosen of the Akashic Records hears that once they enter the ether core. What I didn't expect was the next.
[You have been looked upon by Nobody, the Archon of Nothing.]
[He bestows upon you his blessing.]
[Spawn of Nothing, receive your boon.]
[Your art has evolved.]
[Art: Nothingness.]
[Art Rank: Refined.]
My eyes widened, and I instinctively took a step back, resulting in me tripping over the white stone.
"Re-Refined? The voice said Refined, right?"
Hearing that it was truly Refined, I couldn't help but feel excited, because the art rank is also one's potential, so having a Refined art means I could attain Refinement one day. But then I remembered my reality, and where I'll be in a few moments, and the excitement faded. Well, I don't exactly know where I'll be, but the nature of the place is what worried me.
Every year on the ninth of June, the people chosen by the Akashic Record are torn away from the sanctuaries, humanity's only escape from the creatures of defilement, and dropped in a random place on this Defiled world of ours. To return, they either have to travel on foot to a sanctuary or find a gateway, kill the guardian, and enter the gateway.
Last year, my twin brother was chosen and hasn't returned ever since. If he died out there, I would too, without a shadow of a doubt.
[You have arrived.]
[Exit your ether core.]
Without even doing anything, my consciousness was thrown out of the ether core, and light flooded my sight once more. I was lying on a bed of cold snow that felt as soft as a bed made of clouds.
Getting up, I looked around, around me, in all directions, was snow and trees that seemed to be cut out of pure onyx; even the leaves did not rattle with the cold wind. I don't recognize this zone. I realized. It didn't really matter anyway, since I don't know a lot about the zones, discovered or not.
Looking at the academy-issued ring I wore on my right thumb, and imbuing ether into it, the ring dissolved, and a long sword appeared, falling to the snowy ground. I picked it up and began walking, wandering aimlessly. As I walked through the onyx forest, I began thinking about the knowledge etched into my mind when the runes were being etched on my body.
The first thing that entered my mind was the innate and art abilities.
The innate ability [Veil of Nothing] was simple. It allowed me to summon the mist stored in my ether core. At first, it seemed to be useless. But paired with the dormant art ability, it would actually be kind of useful. The dormant art ability [Clad In Nothing] allowed me to augment myself using the mist of nothingness, which, now that I think about it, saying it feels weird, but I knew better.
Nothingness is not inherently the absence; it is something in and of itself, and there was even an Archon of Nothing. I knew that from the novels I used to read in my free time, which was every time. And also, I knew that from the fact that I received his blessing. I was still surprised till this moment.
I received a boon from an Archon.