(Arc 1: The Heaven's Cry)
— The Whisper Beneath Creation
Silence.
Not the silence of sleep, but the kind that existed before sound was ever born.
Vaen floated in it, neither alive nor dead. Around him, fragments of light drifted like dying stars. Each shimmer carried an echo — a voice that wasn't a voice.
> "We await your command..."
He didn't answer. He simply watched the motes drift past, their glow bending away from his gaze as if afraid to touch him.
He raised his hand. The air around his fingers twisted — and for a moment, he saw countless worlds forming and collapsing within his palm.
> "This... is creation?" he murmured.
No emotion. No wonder. Just observation.
The world responded.
The rivers reversed their flow. The trees grew downward, into the void. Every creature that had been born within the Seed trembled — the law of reality itself waited for his choice.
He lowered his hand. Instantly, everything obeyed.
Balance restored.
But deep within that balance, something spoke again. This time, closer.
> [System Activation Detected...]
[Analyzing Core Entity...]
[Error. Entity cannot be classified.]
[Designation proposed: "The Origin."]
A faint smile curved his lips — not amusement, but the quiet acknowledgment of inevitability.
> "So even the system cannot name me," he said softly. "Then perhaps I was never meant to be known."
The space before him cracked — not physically, but conceptually. Out of the tear, a shadow formed, crawling on four legs, its eyes glowing white.
A familiar.
It knelt before him without being asked, voice trembling in awe.
> "My Lord… We have waited through the endless stillness. What is your will?"
Vaen looked down at it. His reflection shimmered in its eyes — infinite, calm, detached.
> "I have no will," he said. "Only curiosity."
He extended his finger. The familiar turned to ash — and from that ash, a thousand more creatures were born, bowing instinctively.
The void trembled again. The System's voice returned — this time uncertain.
> [Warning: Reality Stability Compromised.]
[Containment Suggested.]
Vaen tilted his head slightly.
> "Containment?" he whispered. "By whom?"
The void answered only with static — the sound of divine panic bleeding through realms.
He closed his eyes.
For the first time since his birth, a faint pulse of emotion flickered through him — not rage, not sorrow… something older. Recognition.
He saw it in his mind — a flash of light, a woman's tears, a man's burning hand over his heart.
Then nothing.
When his eyes opened again, they burned like collapsing stars.
> "There are memories missing," he said.
"Someone took them."
The system tried to respond, but all that came was a single distorted phrase:
> [Access Denied by— Heavenly Protocol]
The word "Heaven" made him pause.
Then he whispered the same word back, and the entire Seed trembled — as if the universe itself had flinched.
> "Then I'll learn what Heaven fears."
He raised his hand again — and the Seed began to expand, bending light and law, preparing for something the gods had long forgotten.
The Origin had begun to remember.