The Inheritance of Dust
The rain on Planet Korthos didn't fall; it burned. It was a caustic, chemical drizzle that hissed against the rusted hull of the downed star-freighter Jax used for cover.
Jax huddled in the shadows, his breath hitching as a blue searchlight swept across the scrap-heap just inches from his boots. The Paladin Enforcers were close. He could hear the heavy, rhythmic thud-clank of their Mk. IV Power Armor—the sound of the "Holy Crusade" that had turned his father's kingdom into a graveyard.
"Scan the sector," a metallic voice boomed, distorted by a helmet comms unit. "The King's whelp is close. I can smell the rot on him."
Jax clutched his father's cracked skull-pendant until the jagged bone bit into his palm. He wasn't a king. He wasn't even a mage. In a world where your "Mana-Count" determined your worth, Jax was a 'Null'—a genetic zero. His father had been the Necromancer King, a man who could command armies of the dead with a snap of his fingers, but Jax couldn't even raise a housefly.
Click.
The sound of a mag-lock disengaging echoed right behind him. Jax froze. A Paladin stood atop the freighter, his glowing white visor cutting through the smog.
"Found you, little rat," the Paladin said, raising a plasma-claymore.
Jax shut his eyes, waiting for the white heat of the blade. But instead of death, a sharp, electric sting pierced the back of his neck. It felt like a needle made of ice.
A translucent screen flickered into existence against the darkness of his eyelids. It wasn't the golden, holy interface of the Paladins. It was flickering, violet, and jagged—like a corrupted video file.
[CRITICAL EVENT DETECTED: TERMINAL THREAT]
[BIO-METRIC MATCH CONFIRMED: ROYAL BLOODLINE DETECTED]
[INITIALIZING LEGACY SYSTEM... 1%]
[WARNING: HARDWARE (BODY) INSUFFICIENT. ATTEMPTING EMERGENCY OVERCLOCK.]
"What...?" Jax whispered.
The Paladin leaped, the plasma-claymore screaming as it carved the air.
Jax didn't move—his body moved for him. His vision turned into a tactical overlay of wireframes and heat signatures. Time didn't slow down; Jax just started processing it faster.
[SKILL UNLOCKED: BONE-SHAPING (TIER 0)]
[RESOURCE DETECTED: CALCIUM-RICH DEBRIS (AREA OF EFFECT)]
Jax's hand shot out. He didn't grab the blade. He grabbed the ground.
The rusted metal beneath the freighter erupted. Not with sparks, but with jagged, ivory spikes—calcified remains of some ancient, long-dead beast buried in the scrap. They shot upward like a forest of spears, impaling the Paladin mid-air. The Power Armor groaned, its ceramic plates shattering under the impossible pressure of the bone-growth.
The Paladin gasped, coughing blood into his visor. He looked down at the spike through his chest, then at the boy.
Jax stood up, his eyes now glowing with a cold, digital violet. The screen in front of him finally reached 100%.
[WELCOME, HEIR JAXON.]
[THE KING IS DEAD. THE SYSTEM IS ONLINE.]
[CURRENT ARMY: 0/10]
[FIRST SOAL DETECTED. WOULD YOU LIKE TO EXTRACT?]
Jax looked at the dying Paladin, then at the smoking ruins of his home. He reached out his hand, his fingers twitching like he was typing on an invisible keyboard.
"Extract," Jax whispered. "And l
et's see if your soul burns as bright as your armor."