Chapter 1 – The Ghost That Laughs
[Neutral Zone 5 – Outer District, 07:14 AM]
The city always looked better upside down.
Jun Kael realized this as he dangled thirty feet above the ground, one arm twisted in a fraying cable, the other pressed against his ribs—either bruised or broken. Probably both. Beneath him, soldiers barked orders through cracked megaphones, their voices distorted by wind and static. Drones hovered in formation like vultures waiting for the fall.
"Neutral Sector trespasser identified! Subject is unlicensed and unauthorized—capture alive if possible!"
If possible. Nice touch.
Jun coughed, spat blood onto the rusting banner wrapped around his legs, and winced. The slogan screamed back at him in bright, peeling paint:
> "ESSENCE TRIALS: ASCEND OR BE FORGOTTEN."
He snorted.
"Too dramatic," he muttered to himself. "Seven out of ten."
The cable creaked above. Dust and flakes of metal dropped like dead snow. Jun's body ached. His vision swam. The relic in his hoodie pulsed again—an itch beneath his skin, a whisper behind his thoughts.
He looked down at the crowd forming below. Ten soldiers. Three drones. One angry patrol commander with a bullhorn the size of his ego.
Jun smiled.
"Welp. Time to make some bad decisions."
---
[Twelve Hours Earlier – Neutral Zone 5, Inactive Checkpoint Tower]
It had started, like most of Jun's misadventures, with boredom and a stupid dare.
The checkpoint was supposed to be decommissioned. No power. No guards. Just rot and silence. The dare was simple: sneak in, tag the command wall, sneak out. Easy money, easy bragging rights.
Jun hadn't expected to find a relic still active.
A cube, no larger than his palm, floating three inches off the ground. Metallic. Pulsing gently with a violet glow. Ancient, untouched by time. Like it had waited just for him.
He should've left it. Walked away.
Instead, he touched it.
The cube hummed—and the world changed.
A blinding pulse of heat and light tore through the tower. Screens flashed red. Sirens screamed. Every sensor on the grid went active. Jun barely managed to rip the cube from its dock and run before the first patrol bots closed in.
Now, hours later, that same relic was still humming against his chest, fused to him like a heartbeat he couldn't shut off.
---
[Back to Present – Skytrain Platform, Hanging by a Thread]
The metal above groaned. One more minute and gravity would win.
Jun sucked in air, teeth gritted. His fingers reached into his hoodie, curling around the cube now embedded in his skin. The relic was no longer cold. It throbbed—warm and alive. It wasn't technology. It was something older. Something wrong.
And it was whispering.
Say yes.
Jun frowned. "Yes to what?"
Let go.
He looked down again.
Thirty feet. Broken legs at best. Dead at worst. But below, soldiers were arming stun rounds. One guy had a rail-pike aimed directly at Jun's temple.
"Guess it's time to roll the dice," Jun muttered.
And he let go.
---
[One Second Later]
He should've hit the ground. Bones should've shattered. But instead—he floated.
Jun hung mid-air, weightless, wrapped in a halo of black static. The relic in his chest flared with light—pure violet, unnatural. The ground rippled like a stone tossed into still water. Wind screamed. Energy exploded outward in a circular wave, throwing soldiers off their feet and scrambling drones like fireflies in a hurricane.
The commander shouted, "He's using Essence—Neutral doesn't do that! Stand down, stand down!"
But they were too late.
Jun opened his eyes.
They weren't his anymore.
---
[Inner World – The Echo Chamber]
For a heartbeat, everything went quiet.
Jun stood in darkness. No air. No sound. Just the hum of pressure and silence.
In front of him, a figure appeared—mirror-image. Same face. Same scars. But the eyes were hollow sockets, and the smile was carved too wide.
The echo spoke.
"You're not just Neutral. You're the faultline. The crack between truths."
"What the hell are you?" Jun asked.
"I'm your end. Or your beginning. If you're stupid enough to say yes."
Jun scowled. "And if I say no?"
"You die. Forgotten. A joke on the wind."
Jun hesitated.
Then smirked.
"Well... I've always liked bad endings."
He reached out and touched the echo's chest.
The world shattered.
---
[Back to Reality – Platform Ground, Chaos]
Jun dropped from the sky like a meteor. His boots hit the ground with enough force to crater the steel beneath him.
Soldiers staggered back.
The relic had changed him. Lines of glowing silver traced up his arms and neck like veins of light. His right eye flickered violet, twitching unnaturally. His aura—the one Neutrals weren't supposed to have—burned like wildfire.
One soldier raised a gun.
Jun snapped his fingers.
The weapon disassembled itself—nuts and bolts pulling apart midair before the soldier even realized what was happening.
The others ran.
Jun stood alone.
And laughed.
---
[Meanwhile – The Pure Capitol, Observation Chamber]
Far to the north, in a glass tower of white steel and logic, Elaine Virelle lowered her spyglass.
She had watched it all. The relic ignition. The essence flare. The echo signature. Everything pointed to one thing:
"The Catalyst has awakened," she said coldly.
Behind her, a tall man in ivory robes nodded.
Her father. Lord Ceylan Virelle, Commander of the Pure Order.
"It's him," he said. "The Ghost we lost twenty years ago."
Elaine didn't react. She didn't need to. Emotion was weakness. Hesitation was death.
She turned, cloak billowing behind her.
"I will end him before he unravels the balance."
Her father smiled, wicked and proud.
"Yes, daughter. Begin the purge. The Trials have begun."