The sound of the explosion echoed like thunder inside the giant silver dome of the Awakening Hall.
BOOM!
Dust, small pieces of white stone, and gray smoke filled the air. The heavy glass windows rattled and shook. Students screamed and covered their heads with their hands. Parents in the back row stood up in pure terror, pushing and shoving each other as they tried to run toward the heavy wooden doors.
"Run! The pillar is exploding!" someone shouted at the top of their lungs.
"Mom! Where are you?!" a young girl cried, crying as she was pushed by the rushing crowd.
On the raised stone stage, the thick obsidian pillar was shaking so hard that deep cracks spread across its base like spider legs. The white crystal sphere at the top was gone, completely shattered into a million tiny glowing dust particles that floated in the air like floating stars.
In the center of it all stood Arthur.
His feet were lifted off the ground, floating a few inches in the air. A ring of crackling dark purple lightning wrapped tightly around his arms and chest. His black shirt fluttered wildly in the sudden, freezing wind. He could not breathe. His chest felt tight, and his ears rang with a loud, high-pitched hum.
"Arthur!"
Far down in the crowd, Leo and Sam stared with wide, terrified eyes. Their mouths hung open. The smug smiles they had worn just minutes ago were completely gone, replaced by pale, sweaty skin.
"Is... is he dying?" Sam whispered, his voice shaking like a leaf in the wind. "What kind of class is that? That’s not a normal awakening... that’s a monster!"
Leo swallowed hard, his hands trembling. "I don’t know... I don’t know anything! Look at the Chief Examiner!"
On the stage, the old Chief Examiner with the golden robes was on his hands and knees. His glasses had fallen off and broken into pieces on the stone floor. He pointed a shaking finger at Arthur, his face drained of all color.
"Stop him..." the old man whispered, his voice hoarse and weak. "That... that is not a Global Lord of this world. That is... that is an ancient disaster..."
Before the guards could raise their heavy iron shields or shoot their magic arrows, the ring of purple lightning flashed with a blinding brilliance. A giant circle of black light opened right beneath Arthur’s feet, spinning like a deep whirlpool in the dark ocean.
Whoosh!
The whirlpool pulled Arthur down with terrifying speed. In less than a second, the light vanished, the wind stopped, and the broken obsidian pillar stood dead and silent in the center of the ruined stage.
The hall fell into a heavy, suffocating silence. Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. The only sound was the heavy breathing of hundreds of terrified people staring at the empty space where the orphan boy had just disappeared.
Thud.
Arthur hit the ground hard.
"Ow!" he groaned, rolling onto his side. He coughed as a cloud of dry, gray dust filled his nose and mouth.
He slowly pushed himself up with his hands and shook his head to clear the dizzy feeling. He expected to find himself lying on the cold stone stage of the Awakening Hall, surrounded by angry guards and terrified students.
Instead, when he opened his eyes, he saw nothing he recognized.
The sky above him was not the bright steel-gray sky of Neo-Veridia. It was a deep, midnight-purple expanse, dotted with millions of strange, swirling stars that looked like glowing eyes watching him from far away. There was no sun, no clouds, and no city noise.
Arthur looked down at where he was sitting. He was on a small, square piece of gray stone ground. It was only about thirty feet wide in every direction. Beyond the edge of the stone platform, there was no ground at all—only an endless, bottomless ocean of dark purple fog that swirled and rolled like heavy smoke.
"Where... where am I?" Arthur whispered to himself. His voice sounded small and weak in the giant, empty space.
He stood up slowly on shaking legs. He checked his arms and legs. He was not hurt, except for a small scratch on his left palm. His worn-out black shirt was dusty, and his old leather jacket was scuffed, but he was still in one piece.
He was a true orphan. He had zero family, zero money, and zero power just a few minutes ago. And now, he was standing on a floating rock in the middle of nowhere.
Am I dead? Is this what happens when you fail the awakening? he thought, a cold shiver running down his spine.
Suddenly, a low, deep vibration shook the ground beneath his boots.
Hummmmm...
The sound started softly, like the purr of a giant sleeping cat, and then grew louder until it vibrated right through Arthur’s bones.
Right in front of him, in the empty air above the stone platform, the purple fog began to twist and turn. It spun around in a circle, gathering into a bright ball of silver light. The light grew bigger and brighter until it formed a flat, glowing window floating in the air.
It was not a complicated system screen with flashing bars and numbers like people talked about in adventure books. It was simple. It was just a clear, glowing surface of silver light, showing words written in plain, clear letters that even a young child could read.
Arthur stepped closer, his eyes wide. He squinted and read the words out loud.
[ Territory Name: None ] [ Owner: Arthur ] [ Rank: Zero ] [ Territory Size: Thirty steps by thirty steps ] [ Building: One broken stone well ] [ Universal Connection: Infinite Gate (Locked) ]
Arthur stared at the words for a long time. His brain tried to understand what it meant.
"A territory?" he whispered. "I... I am a Global Lord?"
He remembered the stories he had read in old books at the city library. Global Lords were people who received their own piece of land and the power to connect to other universes. They could build armies, trade with other worlds, and rule over vast lands. But the books always said that a Global Lord started with a big castle, a squad of loyal guards, and a chest full of gold coins to help them begin.
Look at his territory!
Thirty steps by thirty steps. That was smaller than his old bedroom in the orphanage! There was no castle. There were no guards. There was no gold.
He turned around and looked across his tiny piece of land. Near the back edge, half-buried under gray dirt and dry weeds, sat an old stone well. It was round, made of cracked gray stones, and covered with a rotting wooden lid.
Arthur walked over to the well. He knelt down and pulled the heavy wooden lid off with both hands. It made a loud, scraping sound—creeeak.
He peered down into the dark hole. He expected to see dry dirt at the bottom. Instead, when he looked down, he saw water—pure, glowing blue water that sparkled like liquid diamonds. A soft, sweet smell came up from the well, smelling like fresh rain and sweet spring flowers.
He dipped his hand into the water and scooped up a small handful. The water felt cool and wonderful against his skin. Without thinking, he brought his hand to his mouth and took a sip.
As the water slid down his throat, a warm, pleasant feeling spread through his whole body. His tiredness vanished in an instant. His muscles felt strong, and his mind felt sharp and clear.
"This water... it’s magic," Arthur said, his eyes widening with surprise.
He stood up and looked around his tiny floating island again. He was completely alone. No mother to help him. No friends to protect him. If he wanted to survive in this strange, terrifying place, he had to figure out what to do next. He couldn’t just stand here and wait.
Suddenly, the silver glowing window in front of him changed. The words shifted, and a new sentence appeared at the bottom:
[ Warning: The first dimensional tide is arriving in five minutes. Prepare your defenses. ]
Arthur’s heart skipped a beat.
Defenses? What defenses?! he thought, panic rising in his chest. I don’t even have a stick to hit anything with!
Before he could even take a breath, the dark purple fog at the edge of his tiny stone platform began to bubble and boil. Loud, ugly growls echoed out of the smoke—sounds like hungry animals scratching on hard metal.
From the dark fog, two glowing red eyes appeared, followed by a sharp, jagged claw grabbing the edge of the stone.
Arthur stepped back, his boots scraping against the dirt, as a terrifying creature began to pull itself up onto his territory.