Malakai felt his body dissolve into weightlessness — breath stripped away, sight swallowed by darkness.
Then light.
A sudden stillness.
He stood barefoot on white marble, cold beneath his feet. The floor stretched infinitely in all directions, cracked and ancient, glowing faintly with unseen glyphs. The air was silent — no wind, no hum — just a weight, like the world was holding its breath.
He was wearing a black combat suit that was created by Sovereign for dream trials
Above him: a black sky without stars. A void so dense it felt alive.
Then came the voice. Not spoken, not heard — but placed directly in his mind.
[Welcome, Malakai Apolix.]
[Soulprint initializing...]
[Resonance status: Dormant.]
[Trial terrain selected.]
[Would you like to continue?]
[Yes]
[No]
My breath hitches in my throat and I reply
"Yes"
The ground shuddered.
Massive slabs of white marble split and twisted, lifting, folding, rearranging. In seconds, the still expanse reformed into a colosseum — impossibly vast, silent stone seats climbing high into the shadows, as if built for giants that no longer watched.
A single beam of light descended from above, illuminating the center of the arena.
Malakai stood within it.
Then, from across the colosseum, a figure stepped out of the darkness.
His heart skipped.
It was him.
Or — it looked like him.
Same face. Same frame. But the aura was wrong.
The other Malakai's eyes were empty, colorless. His skin was paler. His movements too smooth, too calculated — like someone pretending to be human.
He wore a coat of black thread, seamless and glinting with faint light. And when he moved, the ground beneath his feet responded — like it knew him.
Behind the figure stood something else — not quite visible, but undeniably real.
A ripple in space. A warping of light.
Then it clarified — like a mirage snapping into focus.
A towering spiritual guardian, draped in shadowy translucence. Its form was maluble, constantly shifting between shapes — humanoid one moment, ethereal mist the next. Twelve long arms unfurled like silk ribbons in water, and three glowing eyes blinked one after another, stacked vertically on what might have been a face.
It radiated purpose. Not rage. Not power.
Design.
Malakai froze.
A shiver crawled up his spine, cold as steel — not from fear, but from something deeper. Primal. Familiar.
That thing wasn't just part of the doppelgänger.
It was watching him too.
'Is that what it's like to fight someone's spirit guardian?'
'Gods, I am so dead. I'm going to be an Empty. I can feel it.'
Malakai swallowed hard, heart hammering as the monstrous Guardian shifted behind his projected self — its arms weaving silently through the air like threads of fate.
Then the voice returned.
Not loud. Not emotional.
Just absolute.
[Choose your weapon.]
The floor before him cracked open in three narrow lines.
From the marble rose three objects, floating inches above the ground, lit by a soft white glow:
A small black dagger, sleek and curved, obsidian-like, humming faintly with resonance.
A 9mm pistol, modern, utilitarian — the kind you'd find in the quarantine zone.
A katana, long and elegant, the steel darkened with age but perfectly balanced, its hilt wrapped in worn black leather.
I reluctantly grabbed the pistol, the cold metal humming faintly against my palm. Not ideal.
I thumbed the magazine release.
Click.
Twelve bullets. That was it.
"Damn," I muttered under my breath.
Across from me, my doppelgänger stood tall — expressionless, wielding a long, curved sword etched with faint symbols. It looked ancient, yet impossibly sharp.
I slammed the magazine back in, racked the slide, and fired twice.
Bang. Bang.
But the figure was already gone.
Gone from sight — gone from space.
A heartbeat passed, and I felt it:
Presence. Behind me.
"I'm dead."
The thought didn't even finish before I felt the wind shift.
The blade was already swinging toward my neck.
I turned my head just enough to see it.
A gleam of steel.
Perfect form.
Unstoppable momentum.
But then—
CRACK.
The sword stopped, inches from my throat — shaking in the air like it had hit something unseen.
Fractures webbed across the blade.
It trembled… and split.
A faint pulse echoed behind me — no light, no form. Just… presence.
Something stood with me.
Or rather — over me.
The formless Guardian behind my doppelgänger twitched, its middle eye flaring briefly as if surprised.
So was I.
Something had protected me.
And it wasn't the gun.
I leapt back, feet skidding across the marble as my heart slammed against my ribs. The pistol felt like a toy in my hands — but it was all I had.
I raised it fast.
Bang.
The shot clipped his shoulder — a flicker of black mist erupted from the wound.
He didn't flinch.
I fired again. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.
Two more hit — the others went wide, ricocheting off marble and distant statues that hadn't been there a moment ago.
He vanished.
I twisted mid-step — too late.
A gash bloomed across my ribs as his blade grazed me. Not deep. But hot. Sharp. Precise.
I dove and rolled behind a pillar that hadn't existed before.
The terrain was changing. Sovereign was watching.
'This place shifts to his will. But maybe… it responds to me too.'
A faint tremor beneath my boots.
I turned and fired the last bullet — point-blank as he emerged from the other side.
It hit.
Not enough to stop him — but enough to make him pause.
And that pause?
That was my opening.
I lunged forward, discarding the useless pistol as I crossed the distance in a heartbeat. No time to think — just move. Just survive.
My shoulder slammed into his chest, knocking him off balance.
Then the fists came.
He punched me — a clean hook to the jaw. Crack.
Pain exploded in my skull,
I twisted into him.
Fought back.
We traded blows — elbows, knees, wild grapples.
Each hit felt like it could break stone.
And above us, in the invisible sky—
Our Guardians clashed.
His — the monstrous twelve-armed being — swung with thunderous precision. Every blow a storm.
Mine — still formless, still unknown — parried instinctively. A whisper deflecting rage.
They circled, clashed, vanished, reappeared — dancing like titans behind us, their blows shaking the fabric of the Nynx marble.
But here, on the ground, it was just me and him.
Flesh. Breath. Pain.
He swept my legs.
A crack echoed — my ankle snapped mid-fall.
I screamed, catching myself with one elbow before my skull hit stone.
We both hit the ground. Bleeding. Breathless.
But I moved first.
I dragged myself behind him, pain flashing white-hot through my leg.
Locked my arm around his throat like a chain forged in hell.
"Don't think. Just squeeze."
I squeezed.
My bicep hardened like rebar.
He thrashed — elbows to my ribs, fists to my face — but I held on like death.
I didn't care who he was.
Didn't care if he was me.
Didn't care if this was a loop I was meant to lose.
He stabbed me.
A short blade — summoned from soulprint or shadow — punched into my chest.
Fire tore through me.
And still — I squeezed.
I struggled and struggled.
"Die!" I screamed — a final roar, driven by pain, fury, and the refusal to vanish.
There was a sickening sound — like snapping bone wrapped in gravity, like fate being rewritten by force.
Snap.
Silence.
[You have slain: Predicted Human —Malakai]
[Soul Injuries Repaired.]
[Physical Condition Stabilized.]
My lungs seized for a moment, then filled with air like it was the first time I'd ever breathed.
I collapsed on my back, heart thundering, soul burning.
Then I stood.
Slowly.
Wounds gone. But the weight remained.
Before me, the two spiritual guardians still fought — colossal, elegant, monstrous.
But they had stopped.
Both turned.
And they looked at me.
Eyes that weren't eyes. Forms that weren't flesh. But somehow… they understood.
I didn't raise my voice. I didn't need to.
"You've lost your master," I said, calm but cold. "You have two choices..."
I let the pause hang — heavy and sharp.
"...Merge."
My aura flared. The resonance shifted.
"Or die."
Malakai blinked, breath ragged, confused by what he was witnessing.
The enemy guardian — the twelve-armed, three-eyed phantom of force — knelt before his own.
Not in defeat.
In surrender.
Before Malakai could even react, his formless guardian surged forward.
Silent.
Absolute.
It struck, cleaving through the other in a single, blinding motion.
No roar.
No celebration.
Just stillness.
And then — merging.
The specter did not change shape. It remained formless, ungraspable… but something in its presence twisted. Denser. Hungrier.
It now carried something else. Someone else. And it moved like a god that refused to be seen.
[Dream Trial Completed.]
[You have received: Soul Item ]
[You have received: Boon ]
[You have received: Boon ]
[Alias Unlocked: Fateless Sloth]
The Nynx realm began to dissolve.
The white marble shimmered, fractured like a mirror dropped from nowhere. Light pulled away from the edges of reality, and Malakai felt his body plummet—
—into breath.
He gasped.
Eyes flew open. Cold air flooded his lungs. A hiss of hydraulics whispered around him as the pod's lid lifted.
He was back.
Reality, steel, hums, gravity.
Alive.
Across from him sat a woman — young, but sharpened by experience. She leaned over a short one-handed sword, dragging a whetstone across its edge with perfect rhythm. Sparks danced from the steel.
She didn't look up.
"Another one back from the brink," she muttered. "How'd it feel?" the woman had long black hair and had a silver hair pin piercing through the bun of the hair
"Umm… yeah, felt great " Malakai muttered, rubbing the back of his head as he sat up in the capsule. "I had to fight my future self. Not exactly my idea of fun."
He let out a small laugh. "Wouldn't have made it without my guardian."
He blinked, still adjusting to reality, and turned toward the woman.
"So… who are you?"
She finally looked up from the blade, her eyes sharp and expression unreadable.
"I'm a government recruiter," she said simply. "I was stationed here in case you failed."
Malakai raised an eyebrow.
"Failed?"
She nodded, her tone flat. "If you became an Empty."
A chill ran through him.
"See," she continued, "when someone fails a dream trial, their memories fracture. Identity? Gone. Personality? Rewritten, if it ever returns. Most just wander. But if an Empty has a spiritual guardian..."
She tapped the blade gently on the bench. Clink.
"...things get dangerous. The guardian stays, even if the person they're meant to protect doesn't. They act on instinct. That usually means killing anything that gets close."
Malakai swallowed.
The woman gave him a once-over, then nodded slightly.
"Anyway — I'm glad you made it. Looks like I don't have to kill your soul."
She stood and sheathed the sword.
"If you want to check your soulprint," she added, "just say status or properties. Should drop you right in. It's… weird at first, but you'll get used to it." She pauses brushing some hair out of her face " oh and the names Tera nice to meet you Malakai"
"Likewise.."
"Well I'll leave you be, however if you're interested in taking back territory from demons or looking for under the table jobs I'm your girl" she pauses for a second a strange emotion on her face " oh and I'm meant to give new resonants these items.
A rift sealer and a transponder."
"Okay thank you" Malakai sighs
Tera leaves the room satisfied.
'I really did it. I'm a initiate resonant!!'
Malakai just solidified his future, possibly a dark future but still, he was homeless it's not like the nynxreach academy has dorms.
"status" Malakai said, as soon as the words came out his mouth the world suddenly got enveloped in a soft white marble, like his soul got transported.
[Name: Malakai Apolix]
[Alias: Fateless Sloth]
[Description:]
Fate fears you… but you choose not to act.
You are the pause between consequence and chaos — Fate refuses to include you in fear.
And when you finally move, the world learns why it should have begged you to stay still.
[Brand: None]
[Burden: Can't ask for help]
---
[Boons:]
– Vicarious Shell
Redirects physical damage to Voltix, his spirit guardian. When wounded, the pain silently bypasses Malakai's body and is redirected .
– Residual Step
Allows Malakai to short-range teleport behind an entity, leaving behind a shimmering afterimage that distracts and confuses foes
Activate by clicking your fingers with your thumb.
---
[Soul Item:]
– ever-lasting Smoke
A small pack of cigarettes that never runs out. unknown if they are magical or not
---
[Spirit Guardian:]
– Velnix
A spiraled, mist-born entity resembling an obsidian wraith with a formless body that can manifest limps, eyes and ears. Looks like a black moving cloud behind Malakai, Silent, elegant, and protective to the point of cruelty.
Guardian Boon – Burden Mirage:
Pain transferred to Velnix is stored and redirected toward others.
– Emotional pain manifests as dread, confusion, or despair.
– Physical pain becomes equivalent physical injury projected onto targets.
Can also be used for healing — but if Velnix does not release the pain into another entity, Malakai will absorb the stored suffering himself.
Velnix can extract pain from others and store it — deploying it with precision or fury, at its own will.
***
Malakai stared at the glowing interface floating in his soulprint — breath caught somewhere between a laugh and a breakdown.
He blinked.
"…Fateless Sloth? Seriously?" he muttered. "That's what Sovereign thinks of me?"
Then his eyes locked on the guardian's name.
Voltix.
Something stirred behind him. The faint swirl of black mist… coiling gently, like smoke that never chose a direction.
His breath grew cold.
"Wait… You can take my pain and redirect it?"
The Guardian didn't respond.
Guardian Boon: Burden Mirage.
Stored pain. Emotional or physical.
Redirected at will — or sent back into Malakai himself.
Malakai took a shaky step back from the screen.
"…Oh."
Then, quietly — like realizing your best friend might also be a killer:
"…You're not just watching over me. You're watching everything I feel."
The mist pulsed — slow and smooth — as if to say Yes.
"…Shit."
He sat down on the nearest stone and lit one of the cigarettes.
It hissed gently, like steam curling off truth.
"I've got a ghost cloud that hoards my trauma and shoots it at people like a weapon… and a box of stress sticks that never run out."
He took a drag.
"This might be the most accurate character sheet I've ever seen."
I exit my soulprint, still reeling from the experience, and glance at the items Tera left for me on the table.
A rift sealer — compact, heavy — and a transponder, the standard model. I notice her number already preloaded in it.
I ignore it.
Grabbing the schedule tablet, I flick through the academy listings.
> [Time: 3:00 PM]
[Next Class: Realm History — 4:00 PM]
Nynxreach Academy.
Nothing here is mandatory. No roll calls. No detentions.
If you don't want to learn, Sovereign lets you fail in silence.
I had a choice now: wander the campus… or see what kind of history they thought was worth teaching in a world like this.
Alright..
Let's tackle history.