The Trial of Origin had begun. Each student was led into a room devoid of light, sound, or anything at all—a space of utter emptiness. Here, only one thing mattered: the self.
---
At first, Gary was calm. He had spent his life mastering his emotions, controlling his breath, standing firm as a noble should. But as the void consumed him, stripping away his senses one by one, unease crept into his heart.
He thought of his lineage, the Amberson name—a noble house renowned fortheir accomplishments, the celestial embodiment of the empire. His father's words echoed in his mind: You were born with privilege. That is both a gift and a duty.
A duty. Always a duty. His path had been carved before he had even taken his first breath. Expectations dictated his every move, and his success was not his own—it belonged to his family, his house, his name. But what of himself?
Doubt wormed into his soul. Who was Gary Amberson beyond the weight of his bloodline? If he was stripped of nobility, of status, of his celestial affinity, what remained?
He clenched his fists, feeling the strain in his fingers even as his mind screamed that there was nothing to feel. "No," he whispered to himself. "I am not just a puppet of fate. I am not bound by the chains of expectation. I am Gary Amberson, I am a noble. I am.....a .....
I...am....."
His breath hitched at that moment, unsure if he really was a noble. His mind replayed everything in his memory at that moment. It felt like an eternity has passed or maybe just a moment.
Gary had confronted himself in a way that left him without direction, he couldn't ask anyone to guide him, so he sought warmth, or maybe he sought Fire.
In the next moment, a golden radiance erupted from within him. A Primal Origin Light, fierce and unwavering, surged forth, illuminating the void. His voice, now tinhed with an unrefutable confidence and his eyes were blazing balls of golden flame.
"I am Gary Amberson and I shall shine as bright as Solara"
---
For Luna, the void was terrifying. Not because of its emptiness, but because it left her with nothing—no duty, no people, no purpose. Just herself.
And she didn't know who that was.
She had spent her life as a symbol, a transcendent heir to the moon's legacy. Every action, every word, every breath was for her people. For their expectations. Their needs. Never her own.
The absence of everything forced memories to surface. Memories from childhood, fleeting moments before responsibility had consumed her. Running through the fields, climbing trees, staring at the stars and dreaming of a world beyond the academy's rigid walls.
She had never forgotten those dreams. She had, instead suppressed them. She had buried her dreams and herself in the process.
A single tear fell, though in this void, there was no way to know if it truly existed. But it didn't matter. Because for the first time in years, she felt real. She let go of duty, of expectations, and embraced herself—not as a transcendent heir, but as Luna Ashborne, the girl who once dreamed just like any ordinary girl, dreamed of a beautiful sky, of greenery and of ....romance.
And in that acceptance, an overwhelming silver light burst from her core. The void was no longer empty; it was filled with a radiance unlike any seen before.
---
Dawn had spent his life running. Running from his past. From the truth. From himself.
But here, in this void, there was nowhere left to run. He was alone with his thoughts, his memories—the ones he had buried deep within, the ones that clawed at the edges of his mind every night but were never allowed to surface.
A memory, buried deep in his mind, stirred awake. He saw a child, wild and free, running through fields bathed in the light of a vast sky. That child was him—before everything shattered.
And then, the memory shifted. Fire. Screams. A city reduced to ruins. The sky, once vast and beautiful, blackened by smoke and war.
He remembered the faces—faces he loved, twisted in agony before they were erased from existence. His world had been reduced to ashes in a single night, and he had been powerless to stop it.
No. That wasn't true.
He had ended it.
A beast had awakened within him that day. A monstrous force that had not merely survived the war, but ended it and ended everyone else responsible for it.
The battlefield had fallen silent, not because peace was restored, but because there was nothing left. All life was extinguished except the boy holding a beoken shard of unknown metal.
His breath hitched. He had buried this truth, caged it within his soul, refused to acknowledge it. But now, faced with nothing but himself, he could no longer deny what he was.
The void remained dark. No light came forth. And deep within him, something ancient stirred.
---
The Academy's Observation Room
The instructors watched as one by one, golden and silver lights emerged within the vast testing chamber. Hushed murmurs filled the air as results were recorded.
Gary Amberson—resplendent golden light, reaching high into the void.
Luna Ashborne—radiance that defied all known records, her silver glow unfathomably vast.
Cedric Vaughn, Elite tier Origin but no unique trait shown yet
Ingrid Lorne, Elite tier Origin with a hint of something unique
And then there was Dawn.
There was a dim light surrounding him. But the light didn't extend past his skin. Others, even the least impressive ones had a Primal Origin Light of 1 feet at least. But his Primal Origin Light didn't even extend beyond him, if that existed at all.
The instructors barely spared him a glance. A cripple was a cripple, after all.
Yet in the farthest shadows of the chamber, a lone figure watched intently. His gaze never left Dawn.
And he....he smiled.
---
End of Chapter 7