Chapter 1 : Breathing Glass

  The gravity on Planet Suru was meant for growing wheat, not forging monsters.

  ?Aric lay flat on his back in the suffocating midnight dirt, his lungs screaming. He didn’t breathe the humid farm air; he tried to breathe the ambient Aether of the planet. It felt like inhaling pulverized glass.

  ?Push, he told himself. Widen the veins.

  ?Every muscle fiber in his sixteen-year-old body spasmed as the microscopic particles of cosmic energy—the Initiate’s Dust Stage—forced their way into his empty Core Space. He held the agony in his chest for three brutal seconds before exhaling a ragged, bloody cough. He wiped his mouth, leaving a smear of red across his cheek, and let out a goofy, breathless laugh.

  ?"You're going to pop your heart like a water balloon, Aric," a polite voice noted from the fence line.

  ?Valerius sat perched on the wooden rail, his posture perfectly straight despite the rusted wood. Even in dirt-stained orphanage clothes, Val looked like he was wearing silk. He had a naturally aristocratic air, a bright, naive smile, and an honesty that made it impossible to hate him. "The First City Lord's automated harvesters make less noise than you do dying in the mud."

  ?"Shut... up, Val," Aric wheezed, forcing himself onto his hands and knees. He flashed a wide, carefree grin that reached his ears. "If I don't widen the channels now, I'll never condense a Core. And then how am I supposed to protect your royal behind out there?"

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  ?A loud, rhythmic thwack echoed from the nearby barn. Boran was currently using a monolithic slab of petrified wood to repeatedly smash a tractor tire into the earth. The massive, heavily scarred boy paused, wiping his forehead with a calloused forearm. He had been asleep standing up just ten minutes ago.

  ?"Let him bleed," Boran grunted, his eyes narrowing as if the tire had personally insulted his honor. "Better to bleed in the dirt here than die when we finally face real knights. Though, with his luck, he'll trip over his own feet before we even find a ship."

  ?Aric laughed out loud, standing up and dusting his knees. But as he looked at Boran, the goofy smile remained on his mouth, while his eyes did something entirely different. Aric’s eyes were heavy, dark, and utterly unimpressed. It wasn't intentional. He wasn't trying to look down on his friends. But whenever Aric rested his gaze on someone, it felt like a king staring at a peasant. It was a terrifying, suffocating gaze that completely contradicted his cheerful personality or maybe he had a monster inside of him sleeping .

  ?Boran flinched slightly, his grip tightening on the petrified wood. Even Val shifted uncomfortably on the fence.

  ?"What?" Aric asked, blinking. The heavy pressure vanished instantly, replaced by his usual, slightly dumbfounded expression. "Do I have dirt on my face?"

  ?Before either could answer, a lantern flared to life on the orphanage porch. The Caretaker stepped out, a frail man with deeply lined eyes and a heart too big for the brutal Imperium.

  ?"Inside. All of you," the Caretaker commanded, his voice trembling slightly. He looked up at the sky, where the massive, shimmering line of the Imperium's Spherical Barrier cut across the stars. "The galaxy is a meat grinder, boys. As long as I draw breath, you stay on Suru. You stay safe."

  ?Aric’s smile softened. He didn't argue. He just looked at the stars, the heavy, unimpressed look returning to his eyes. Safe, Aric thought, is just another word for trapped.