The rain fell like broken glass over the city of Aetheron. Towers of steel and stone stood half-swallowed by the fog, their lights flickering like dying stars. What was once the capital of innovation was now a graveyard of forgotten experiments — machines rusted into silence, streets cracked open by roots that pulsed faintly with blue light.
And somewhere in that maze of ruins, a boy was running.
Arin Vale's breath came out in sharp bursts as he darted through an alleyway, clutching a small metal cube to his chest. The cube hummed — faint, alive, and warm, like a heartbeat. Behind him, boots splashed through puddles, voices shouting his name.
"Stop him! The Zero's got the core!"
Zero. That's what they called him.
The boy who had no family, no lineage, no registered DNA in the central archives. In a world where power was measured by the energy flowing through one's blood — the Aether Index — Arin's score was zero. He wasn't supposed to exist.
He turned a corner and slid behind a collapsed wall, pressing his back against the damp concrete. The cube pulsed faster, matching the rhythm of his heart. He didn't understand why he stole it — only that something inside him had told him to.
He peeked around the edge. Three men in black armor scanned the area, their visors glowing white. The insignia on their shoulders marked them as Wardens of Solis, protectors of the last research sanctum.
"Spread out," one said. "That relic's unstable. If it bonds with him, we'll have another anomaly on our hands."
Another voice crackled through a comm link:
"Orders are clear. Retrieve or terminate."
Arin bit his lip. Terminate. That word always found him.
He glanced at the cube again. Its glow had changed — no longer pale blue but now a deep, living gold. A whisper filled his head, faint but unmistakable.
Do not fear, child of nothing.
His eyes widened. "Who's there?"
The voice didn't answer. The cube's light flared — a flash that rippled through the air like a wave. The Wardens turned too late. A surge of invisible energy exploded outward, throwing them to the ground.
Arin stumbled back, his hand burning. The cube was gone. In its place floated a faint ring of light — suspended before him, humming with impossible energy.
You have awakened the First Gate, the voice said again, calm and ancient. Infinity begins with Zero.
Then everything went white.
When Arin opened his eyes, he wasn't in the alley anymore.
He stood in a field of stars. A vast, endless horizon of shifting light and shadow stretched in every direction. He couldn't feel his body — only thought, floating in a dream of creation.
Before him appeared a figure. Tall, faceless, robed in silver flame.
"What… what is this place?" Arin whispered.
"The space between," the figure replied. "Where all beginnings sleep."
"Am I dead?"
"Not yet. You have touched the Aether — the infinite thread of all things. Few have ever done so without being consumed."
The boy's mind raced. "Why me? I'm nothing. I don't even have power."
The figure tilted its head.
"You misunderstand. Zero is not nothing. Zero is the start of everything."
The light around Arin flared, wrapping around him like a storm. Visions flooded his mind — cities rising and falling, stars being born, beings of light and shadow clashing across dimensions. And at the center of it all… a symbol. Two circles intertwined, glowing like fire and void.
"What is that?"
"Infinity."
The word echoed until it broke apart. The light imploded.
He woke to the sound of rain again.
The field of stars was gone. The alley was silent, except for the hum of broken street lamps. His clothes were soaked, and his right hand still glowed faintly with golden markings — like veins of light crawling under his skin.
He stared at them, half terrified, half in awe. "What happened to me…"
A voice answered from above.
"You're lucky to be alive."
Arin looked up. A girl stood on the edge of a broken balcony, hood drawn, eyes reflecting the golden glow from his hand. She dropped lightly to the ground, landing soundlessly.
"Who are you?"
"Lira," she said simply. "And that thing you touched? You weren't supposed to."
Arin frowned. "You were watching me?"
"Not just you. Everyone who's ever come near that cube ends up dead. Except you."
She stepped closer, her gaze sharp but curious.
"Do you even know what you've done?"
"I… I didn't mean to steal it. I just—"
"It called you," she finished. "That's how it begins."
Arin's pulse quickened. "What begins?"
Lira glanced at the distant skyline, where the storm clouds flickered with strange lightning.
"The end of silence. The last Infinity Bearer has awakened."
That night, the sky over Aetheron split in two.
From the clouds descended a ring of light — vast, spinning, ancient. Energy waves rippled across the city, making every power grid and AI core flicker uncontrollably. The world's sensors picked it up instantly.
In the Central Tower of Solis, alarms blared.
Kael Drayden, the Chief Engineer of the Aether Division, stared at the monitors. The data was impossible — an energy signature that hadn't been seen for two thousand years.
"Impossible," he muttered. "The Aether Core can't be active. It was sealed before the Collapse."
A technician turned. "Sir, the source came from the ruins district."
Kael's eyes narrowed. "Send retrieval units. And find the boy who triggered it."
Meanwhile, Arin followed Lira through the abandoned metro tunnels beneath the city. They were dark but alive — the walls glowing faintly with residual Aether currents.
"You live down here?" he asked.
"We all do," she said. "Everyone the world erased."
They entered a chamber where flickering lamps illuminated old symbols carved into the concrete — a circle of runes that pulsed with quiet power.
"This is where it all began," she said softly. "Before your world forgot."
Arin touched the nearest symbol. It burned gold beneath his fingertips, like it recognized him.
Lira turned sharply. "Don't touch that!"
But the runes were already reacting. The entire chamber trembled, and streams of light shot up the walls. Arin fell to his knees as energy surged through his veins, the markings on his hand flaring brighter.
"Make it stop!" he shouted.
Lira grabbed his shoulders. "Listen to me! You have to control it!"
"I don't know how!"
"Then feel it! Don't fight the Aether — guide it!"
He shut his eyes. The power inside him roared like a living storm. His heartbeat synced with the pulse of the light, the chaos shaping itself into rhythm. Slowly, the glow around him steadied.
When he opened his eyes again, the chamber was calm. The runes dimmed.
Lira stared at him — awe replacing fear.
"You just stabilized an open conduit… without training."
"What does that mean?"
"It means," she whispered, "you're not just chosen. You're the key."
Above them, in the towers of Solis, Kael watched a live feed of the Aether surge map. Every sensor pointed to one location — deep beneath the city.
He smiled faintly. "So… the prophecy was true after all."
He turned to his assistant.
"Prepare the hunters. Bring me the boy called Zero."
Arin didn't sleep that night. The glow in his hand faded slowly, but the weight of what he'd felt — that infinite presence — lingered like a whisper. He looked at his reflection in a cracked mirror. For the first time, he didn't see a worthless orphan.
He saw something else.
Something vast.
The rain outside eased, and the first light of dawn broke through the ruined skyline. Lira sat across from him, sharpening a blade that shimmered faintly with energy.
"Get some rest," she said. "Tomorrow, we leave the city."
"Why?"
"Because once they find out what you are, they won't stop coming."
Arin looked at the light marking on his hand, tracing the faint symbol of infinity that now rested in his palm.
"Then I'll stop running."
Lira paused. "You don't even know what you're fighting yet."
He met her eyes — tired but certain.
"Doesn't matter. I started this. I'll see it through."
Outside, thunder rumbled in the distance. Somewhere far above the clouds, something ancient stirred — a presence watching him, waiting.
The journey of Zero had begun.
And the universe would never be the same again.
End of Chapter 1 – "The Boy Called Zero"