The transition from non-existence to "being" didn't happen with a white light or a choir of angels. It happened with the smell of ozone, the sterile bite of antiseptic, and a pain so sharp it felt like his soul was being threaded through the eye of a needle.
He tried to scream, but his lungs were filled with fluid—thick, viscous, and tasting of copper.Where am I?The thought was a jagged glass shard in a mind that felt simultaneously too large and too small for its current container.
Memories of a life lived—commutes, flickering screens, the mundane warmth of a coffee cup—clashed with the sensory overload of the now.
Through the murky amber fluid of the glass tank, the world was a blur of harsh fluorescent lights and silhouettes in white coats. He felt a rhythmic thumping in his chest—two hearts? No, one heart beating with the frantic intensity of a hummingbird.Then came the voices, muffled by the glass but vibrating through his very bones.
"Subject 0-Alpha is stabilizing. The X-Gene expression is... unprecedented. We're seeing cellular regeneration rates that shouldn't be physically possible without an external energy source.
""And the field readings?""Erratic. The localized reality index is fluctuating. It's as if the laws of probability are bending just to keep him alive.
"The occupant of the tank didn't know it yet, but he was the bridge between two impossible worlds.
He was a mutant anomaly in a world of heroes, and a catalyst for a Magus association that shouldn't exist in the same breath as the Avengers.
The Collapse of Sector 7The facility didn't have a name, only a designation: The Weaving Room. It was a joint venture, a black-site collaboration between a splinter cell of HYDRA and a desperate faction of the Atlas Academy. They wanted to create a "Living Singularity"—someone who could survive the harsh mana-void of the Modern Age while possessing the raw, chaotic power of the "X" factor.
For the boy inside the tank, time lost all meaning. He drifted between the memories of his past life—a man named Arthur who died in a car wreck—and the agonizing sensations of the present.
Every time they harvested his tissue, it grew back before the blade left his skin. Every time the stress of the experiments threatened to shut his brain down, the air around him would shimmer, and the "impossible" would happen: the equipment would malfunction, the power would surge, or a scientist would trip, accidentally hitting the "sedate" button instead of the "stimulate" one.He was a master of luck he couldn't control.
Then, the world turned blue.A crack of thunder echoed not from the sky, but from the center of the laboratory
. A swirling vortex of sapphire light tore through the sterile environment."Rayshift interference!" a technician screamed. "The coordinates are being hijacked! We aren't in 2012 anymore!"The boy opened his eyes—truly opened them—for the first time. He saw the probability lines of the universe.
They looked like glowing golden threads, trillions of them, vibrating with potential. He reached out a small, pale hand and tugged.
The glass of his tank didn't just break; it ceased to be a solid. It turned into a fine mist of harmless vapor.The alarms were a symphony of chaos. Figures in high-tech tactical gear rushed in, but they weren't HYDRA.
They wore white and blue uniforms with a distinct, circular crest: a stylized globe under a compass.Chaldea.The Meeting of Anomalies"Director, the readings were correct. We've detected a massive Spiritron surge, but it's... it's biological," a voice called out through the smoke.A woman stepped forward. She had long, flowing lavender hair and eyes that carried the weight of several timelines. Beside her stood a young girl with a shield larger than her body, her eyes wide with concern.
"Mash, stay back," Leonardo da Vinci—the female incarnation of the universal genius—warned, her hand resting on her staff. "The probability density in this room is thick enough to choke a Servant.
Someone is subconsciously rewriting the outcome of every second."The boy sat amidst the wreckage of his prison. He looked no older than seven. His hair was a shock of snowy white, and his eyes shifted colors like a prism catching the sun.
He looked at them, and for a moment, the "Arthur" inside him recognized the icons of a fiction he once enjoyed.
But this wasn't a game. He could smell the burnt ozone and feel the cold draft on his skin."You... you're real," the boy croaked. His voice was raspy, unused.
Mash Kyrielight stepped past Da Vinci, her shield lowered. She saw not a threat, but a child shivering on a cold floor, surrounded by men who had treated him like a battery."It's okay," she said, her voice a soothing balm.
"We're here to help. My name is Mash. What's yours?"The boy looked at his hands. He felt the "threads" of probability dancing between his fingers. He could make her trip.
He could make the ceiling cave in. He could make her heart stop. Or, he could choose the thread where he was safe.
"I don't... I don't have one," he whispered.Da Vinci scanned him with her gauntlet. "Fascinating. His cellular structure is in a constant state of death and rebirth—a perfect healing factor. But more than that... he's a living Reality Marble.
He isn't just lucky; he's a 'Winner' by nature. The world simply refuses to let him lose."She looked at the tactical monitors of the facility, which were now showing Avengers-level threats approaching the building. SHIELD was coming.
The Winter Soldier was likely in the vents."We can't leave him here," Da Vinci decided, a sharp glint in her eyes. "If the Mages' Association or the people of this 'Marvel' era get their hands on him, he'll be a weapon that resets the world. We're taking him back to Chaldea.
"The Choice and the ChangeThe boy looked at Mash's outstretched hand. In his mind, he saw two futures.In one, he stayed. He was found by Nick Fury. He became a soldier, a "New Avenger," a tool of geopolitical stability. He lived a life of combat and secrecy, forever a freak among heroes.In the other, he stepped into the blue light. He went to a place outside of time. A place where "impossible" was the daily routine.
He reached out and took Mash's hand.The moment their skin touched, a surge of golden energy erupted. The probability of their escape shifted from 45% to 100%."He's stabilizing the Rayshift!" Da Vinci laughed, delighted. "My, my, little one. You're going to be quite the handful.
"As the blue light consumed them, the boy felt the heavy burden of his past life finally slip away. Arthur was dead. The "Subject" was gone."Call me... Julian," he whispered as the world dissolved. It was the name he had always wanted.
The New Status Quo: Chaldea Medical BayWhen Julian woke up, he wasn't in a tank. He was in a bed with soft sheets that smelled like lavender.The room was filled with the hum of advanced technology.
A monitor next to him displayed his vitals. Even as he watched, a small scratch on his arm from the glass shards disappeared in a blink of an eye."Awake already? Your metabolism is truly terrifying," a man said, sitting in a chair by the window. He had messy orange hair and looked like he hadn't slept in three years. Romani Archaman."Where am I?" Julian asked, though he already knew."Chaldea. We're at the South Pole, technically 'outside' the normal flow of the world," Romani explained, leaning forward.
"We've run some tests, Julian. You're... unique. You have a genetic mutation we've never seen, combined with a Magic Circuit quality that rivals the Age of Gods."Julian sat up, feeling the strange, buzzing energy in his blood.
"The people who held me... they wanted to use me to 'fix' the world."Romani's expression softened into something pained. "A lot of people want to fix the world. Usually, they just end up breaking it more. Here, we're just trying to keep it from disappearing."He stood up and offered a small, friendly smile. "You have a choice. You're a child, and we aren't monsters.
We can find a way to suppress your abilities and find you a home when the current crisis is over. Or...""Or?""Or you can help us. Mash tells me that when you touched her, she felt... 'lucky.' Like the world was cheering for her. We're going into some very dangerous places, Julian. Having a 'Lucky Charm' who can heal from anything? That's a miracle we can't ignore.
"Julian looked out the window at the swirling white tundra of Antarctica. He thought about the Marvel world he had left behind—a world of gods, aliens, and prejudice against his kind. Then he thought about the Servants, the legends, and the chance to actually belong.
"I'm not a charm," Julian said, his eyes glowing with a faint, prismatic light.
"I'm the one who decides how the dice land."Romani chuckled.
"I think you and Mr. Sherlock Holmes are going to get along famously. Or he's going to hate how you ruin his deductions with your luck.
"Summary of Abilities (Internal Monologue)As Julian rested, he took stock of his new "self." This wasn't a video game, but the information seemed to settle into his brain naturally
:Hyper-Regeneration: His body was in a constant state of "becoming." Wounds closed instantly, and he was immune to toxins and diseases. It felt like a warm, constant hum under his skin.
Probability Manipulation (The "Winner's" Field): He could see the "threads" of cause and effect. By concentrating, he could nudge events. A gun jamming, a critical hit landing, a rare item dropping. It cost him mental energy, but the more he used it, the clearer the threads became.
The Bridge: Being part Mutant and part Magus, he could interact with both "Science" and "Mystery." He was an anomaly that the universe didn't know how to categorize.
The First StepA knock came at the door. Mash entered, followed by a small, white squirrel-like creature that hopped onto Julian's bed.
"Fou! Kyu!" the creature chirped."He likes you," Mash said, smiling. "Director Olga Marie wants to see you. We're preparing for the first dive into Singularity F. She thinks... she thinks you should come with us.
"Julian stood up. He felt small, but for the first time in two lives, he felt powerful.
"Lead the way, Mash."The journey through the multiverse was just beginning.
In a world where heroes died and legends faded, the boy who couldn't lose had just entered the game.