The Clexus humd softly as it descended toward the Academy grounds, its anti-grav thrusters casting a blue glow across the manicured lawn of the Year One boys' dormitory. Sophie piloted it with the casual expertise of soone who'd grown up around advanced tech, while Noah sat beside her, lost in thought.
"You're awfully quiet," Sophie noted, glancing at him as she guided the vehicle into a smooth landing. "Still thinking about dinner with the Minister of Defense?"
Noah shook his head, coming back to the present. "Just... got a lot on my mind."
Sophie cut the engines and turned to face him fully. In the dim light of the dashboard, her eyes seed to search his face for answers he wasn't ready to give.
"Whatever you're planning," she said softly, reaching out to touch his cheek, "just be careful, okay?"
Noah leaned into her touch for a mont. "When am I not careful?"
Sophie's laughter filled the cabin. "Do you want the list chronologically or alphabetically?"
He grinned despite himself. "Fair point."
They sat in comfortable silence for a mont, the academy's night lights casting long shadows across the grounds.
"I should go," Noah finally said, though he made no move to leave.
Sophie nodded, then leaned across the console to kiss him—a gentle press of lips that quickly deepened into sothing more desperate, as if both sensed sothing was about to change.
When they finally broke apart, Noah rested his forehead against hers. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"You better," she whispered.
Noah climbed out of the Clexus, closed the door, and stepped back. Sophie gave him a small wave through the window before the vehicle humd back to life, rising smoothly into the night sky. He watched until its lights were just pinpricks in the distance, then turned toward the dormitory, squaring his shoulders.
It was ti.
---
The door to his room opened with a soft hiss. Noah stepped inside, expecting to find Kelvin hunched over his workstation as usual, surrounded by holographic displays and disassembled tech. Instead, his roommate was sprawled across his bed, staring at the ceiling, one arm flung dramatically over his eyes.
"Hey," Noah said, dropping his bag by the door.
Kelvin bolted upright so fast he nearly fell off the bed. "THE GOAT RETURNS!" he bellowed, arms spread wide as if announcing royalty. "Absolute legend! The chosen one! The—"
"What are you talking about?" Noah interrupted, unable to help the small smile tugging at his lips.
Kelvin bounced to his feet, practically vibrating with excitent. "Oh, co on! Like you don't know? Selection results for the interschool competition dropped while you were out. Guess who's sitting pretty at the top of Year One?"
Noah froze. "What?"
"Check your comm, man!" Kelvin grabbed his own, flicking through screens with blinding speed before thrusting it in Noah's face. "Look! You topped the rankings! Even after Gigarose wiped the floor with you last week. You bounced back in reality. That's my roomie!"
Noah stared at the screen, his na indeed sitting at the top of the list. Not like he didn't know. Just that he didn't see it as too big of a deal. He still needed to win two more matches.
Kelvin was still going, pacing the room now. "When everyone finds out you're living with , my social capital is gonna go through the roof! I'm just joking. But seriously, I might even get a date! Can you imagine? ! On a date!"
Normally, Noah would have laughed at Kelvin's antics, but tonight, the weight of what he was about to do pressed heavily on his chest. He looked at his friend—his genuinely good friend—bouncing around their room like an excited puppy, completely unaware of what was coming.
"Kelvin," Noah said, his voice cutting through the chatter. "I need to tell you sothing."
Sothing in his tone made Kelvin stop mid-sentence. The technopath tilted his head, his usual manic energy dimming as he studied Noah's face.
"Whoa. What happened? Did our wife break up with you?" Kelvin's eyes widened in genuine distress. "I an, Sophie. Did Sophie dump you? Did her dad threaten to have you disappeared? What's with the funeral face?"
Noah sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Rember our first expedition? A few months back?"
Kelvin dropped onto his bed, nodding slowly. "Yeah? The one where you single-handedly killed two category three beasts and saved Lila's ass?" His eyes narrowed. "What about it?"
"And Cannadah," Noah continued, watching Kelvin carefully. "The Harbinger fight. Do you rember that?"
A visible shudder ran through Kelvin's body. His usual hyperactive deanor faltered, replaced by sothing more somber. "Who doesn't? You gave that comms chip Miss Brooks snuck to you so I could call for help." He shook his head, genuine awe in his voice. "I still don't know how you survived that. Those things were..."
"That's what I need to show you," Noah interrupted softly.
Kelvin fell silent, watching as Noah closed his eyes.
"Void Storage," Noah whispered.
The air in front of him shimred, darkened, then seed to tear open—not in a violent way, but as if reality itself was gently parting like curtains. Noah reached into the darkness and pulled out a sleek black tablet.
Kelvin's jaw dropped. The Raven tablet. The very one they'd torn their room apart looking for weeks ago. The one Kelvin had been forced to replace, spending nearly two months' worth of credits to avoid Raven's legendary wrath or as it used to be.
"What... how..." Kelvin's hands opened and closed, his brain visibly struggling to process what he was seeing. For once, the technopath was completely speechless.
Noah didn't give him ti to recover. "Domain," he said simply.
Instantly, a swirl of dark purplish energy enveloped him. The sensation was familiar now—like being unmade and remade in the span of a heartbeat. The room around him dissolved and he was gone.
Three seconds later, Noah stood back in their dorm room. Kelvin sat frozen on the bed, arms crossed tightly over his chest as if holding himself together.
"Shit," Kelvin whispered. Then louder: "Shit!" And finally, almost a scream: "SHIT!"
He jumped to his feet, hands clutching his hair. "Albright was right? All this ti? You DO have powers! I an, you've always had powers. Just this ti you ditched the choir one and what? You—" His eyes widened further. "You have a POCKET DINSION? Do you know what this ans? The spatial manipulation alone would require—the energy requirents would be—the quantum implications—"
"Kelvin," Noah interrupted again, dropping onto his own bed. "I died."
That stopped Kelvin's spiral. "What?"
"In the cave, with the category three beasts. They killed ." Noah's voice was calm, matter-of-fact. "I died there."
Kelvin slowly sat back down, his face pale beneath his dark complexion. "That's... not possible. You're here. You're talking to ."
"I awakened sothing when I died. A system."
"A system," Kelvin repeated blankly.
"The Void System," Noah confird. "It... brought back. Gave powers. The void storage you just saw is one of them. Domain is another—it lets enter my own pocket dinsion. There are others."
Kelvin stared at him for a long mont. Then, to Noah's complete surprise, he began to chuckle. The chuckle grew into a laugh, and soon he was doubled over, tears streaming down his face.
"Kelvin?" Noah frowned, concerned. This was not the reaction he'd expected.
Kelvin held up a hand, trying to catch his breath. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he wheezed. "It's just—do you have ANY idea what you're saying? A SYSTEM? Like in those ancient gas? Like in the stories?" He wiped his eyes. "You're telling you DIED, and then so cosmic... what, AI? Interface? Just decided, 'Hey, this random academy student seems cool, let's give him godlike powers'?"
Put that way, it did sound ridiculous. Noah opened his mouth to defend himself, but Kelvin wasn't finished.
"And the best part? The ABSOLUTE best part?" Kelvin was grinning now, his eyes alight with a manic gleam that Noah recognized well—it was the look Kelvin got when faced with technology so advanced it might as well be magic. "It's that I BELIEVE you. Because there is no way—NO WAY—you could have produced that tablet from thin air otherwise. Unless you've got an unstable wormhole generator shoved up your—"
"I get it," Noah cut in, a smile finally breaking through his serious expression. "I know how it sounds."
"Batshit insane is how it sounds," Kelvin agreed cheerfully. He leaned forward, eyes suddenly intense. "So what else can you do? Can you summon weapons? Craft items? Do you have stats? XP? Skill trees? Can I access the interface? Can I help you build it? Do you have quests? What about—"
"Slow down," Noah laughed, relieved by his friend's acceptance, even if it ca with an avalanche of questions. "It's complicated. And yes, there are... quests, in a way. And skills. And stats."
Kelvin flopped back on his bed, staring at the ceiling with wonder. "My roommate is the protagonist of a cosmic RPG," he breathed. "This is the greatest day of my LIFE."
Noah watched him, the knot in his chest loosening slightly. He'd been terrified of this mont—of revealing his secret. But he should have known better. This was Kelvin, after all. If anyone would embrace the impossible with open arms, it was the brilliant, hyperactive technopath who'd beco his closest friend at the academy.
"So," Kelvin said, sitting up again, suddenly serious. "Why tell now? What's changed?"
Noah's smile faded. This was the hard part.
"Because," he said quietly, "I don't wanna lie to you anymore,"
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