In a world where the supernatural exists just beneath the surface, hidden from ordinary eyes, power flows through everything—an unseen force known by many names, but in truth, it's the Breath of the Universe.
Across the world, different cultures have learned to get in touch with this power in their own ways. Some align with it. Some refine it. Some control it. Others borrow it from the land or the ocean some even from blood. Each path has its own rules and restrictions.
Once you take the steps onto your path you can no longer turn back.
Mered Kokeb was never supposed to be part of any of it.
A 23-year-old living in the City of Boston, Mered's life is ordinary—until the night something in the sky stops, turns, and falls. After that, things begin to change. The space feels wrong. Coincidences stack too perfectly. Accidents don't touch him—but something breaks instead.
What he doesn't know is that he has already stepped into the world within the world.
What he doesn't understand is that he cannot follow any of its rules.
While others awaken and choose a path, Mered is rejected by all of them. Alignment fails. Cultivation collapses. Bonds break. Systems reject him entirely. Because the thing inside him—the thing they would call a curse—is not only blocking his power.
It is also the only reason he has it.
As hidden factions begin to notice him, from ancient traditions to modern experiments, Mered is forced into a reality where power has structure—and he has none. Where knowledge is inherited—and he has no teacher. Where survival depends on control—and he has none to speak of.
And as the world itself begins to shift in a declining age where old systems no longer hold, Mered's existence raises a terrifying question:
What happens when someone doesn't follow a path—
and instead becomes one themselves?