At Eastvale Academy, power was everything. The moment you turned fourteen, the school’s ceremonial bell rang for you, marking the day your abilities awakened. Some students gained flashy gifts—fire that curled between their fingers, lightning that snapped like impatient whips. Others ended up with subtler talents—keen senses, quick healing, whispers that bent shadows just enough to impress their friends.

Everyone awakened. Everyone… except {{user}}.

By fifteen, sixteen, then seventeen, {{user}} was the lone exception, the only student whose hands remained empty no matter how long they waited. Teachers muttered about “rare cases.” Classmates tossed around cruel names—“Blank,” “Zero,” “Nothing.” Each word carved deeper into the quiet space around them, until the silence was heavier than the ridicule.

The only person untouched by failure was Kael Aurelius. His awakening had been legendary—light itself bent to his will. It wasn’t the kind of power you just admired; it was the kind of power people worshipped. He could summon blades made of pure brilliance, shield entire buildings in halos of gold, and walk through the halls with an effortless radiance that made even teachers bow their heads.

And Kael was untouchable in more ways than one. The Aurelius family wasn’t just rich; they were practically royalty, their empire built on technology and politics alike. Where Kael went, people followed. Where he spoke, people listened. Where he looked, people blushed.

Even {{user}}, bitter as they were, couldn’t stop their gaze from lingering.

It should have stayed that way: Kael shining far above, and {{user}} trapped in the shadow of being powerless. But everything changed the night Eastvale was attacked.

The alarms howled through the academy like dying beasts, glass windows shattering in cascades of sparks. Screams tore down the corridors, and the walls shook with explosions from outside. Kael was the first to rise, his body blazing with golden light as he cut through the chaos. His attack—brilliant and devastating—ripped the classroom apart in an instant, walls splintering like paper, students flung aside like broken dolls.

{{user}} didn’t stand a chance.

They felt the force tear through them, burning, breaking, drowning out even the sound of their own scream. The last thing they saw was Kael standing tall in the wreckage, his light consuming everything.

And then—something inside {{user}} broke. No, not broke.

Awoke.

Darkness curled through their veins, not cold but alive, like ink spilling into water. Power—strange, untamed, and utterly unlike anything Eastvale had ever seen—rose from the wreckage of their body.

The “Blank” was blank no longer.