Darkness.
Not merely the absence of light—this was a primordial void, existing before the very concept of time. Within this endless Nothingness floated rare clots of fading energy, the last remnants of a great war that had erased entire worlds.
Among them drifted a stone.
No ordinary rock—this was a shard of an ancient weapon, forged in an era when space itself was young. Its surface, webbed with cracks, bore the scars of unfathomable collisions. Inside, a faint spark flickered—the last echo of a consciousness, nearly extinguished but still alive.
It was being watched.
By Konmara.
Once, she had been the Mistress of War, a being capable of erasing realities with a mere thought. Now, only fragments of her consciousness remained, clinging to the last vestiges of her power. Her body had long since crumbled, but her will still burned—dimly, like the embers of a dying fire.
She could not disappear.
Not now.
Not like this.
"You..."
Her "voice" did not sound—it carved itself into the very fabric of reality, making the void tremble.
The stone did not answer. It could not.
"You will be my continuation."
Her essence coiled around the shard. Threads of energy, finer than spider silk but stronger than steel cables, stretched toward it. They pulsed with a ghostly light, illuminating the darkness for fleeting moments before dissolving once more.
"I will give you the last of what I have..."
And then, power surged into the stone.
Not mere energy—but a system. Order. A structure capable of defying chaos.
The stone shuddered.
Something inside it clicked.
And the world changed.
The darkness contracted.
The stone sensed something new—presence.
Not Konmara. Not the void.
Itself.
[SYSTEM ACTIVATED.]
The voice was clear, emotionless, yet brimming with authority. It did not come from outside but from within, as if the stone had suddenly gained a mind.
The stone did not understand the words, but their meaning seeped into its core.
[GREETING: YOU ARE A SHARD OF WILL. NOW, YOU ARE THE BEARER OF THE SYSTEM.]
System.
The word echoed through its fractured core. It meant something vast.
[PRIMARY ACTIVATION OBJECTIVE: SURVIVAL.]
Survival.
The stone did not know what that was, but it felt—if it did nothing, it would vanish. Forever.
[THREAT DETECTED: THE WIND OF CHAOS.]
And then, the darkness stirred.
Not mere emptiness—something moved within it. Something hungry.
The stone tried to recoil but could not—it was just a shard, adrift in infinity.
[QUEST ACCEPTED: "ENDURE THE WIND OF CHAOS."]
[REWARD: UNLOCK BASIC FUNCTIONS.]
Functions?!
The stone did not understand, but it felt an impulse—a need to fulfill the condition.
The Wind of Chaos approached.
It had no form, made no sound, yet the stone felt it—a pressure, gnawing at its boundaries.
[WARNING: INTEGRITY BREACHED. 0.3% MATTER LOST.]
Pain.
It should not have been able to feel pain, yet it did.
The stone tried to compress itself, to grow denser, but the Wind coiled around it, leaching away particles.
[RECOMMENDATION: ACTIVATE ENERGY BARRIER.]
But there was not enough energy.
The stone frantically searched its surroundings—debris, sparks, any traces of matter.
[DETECTED: REMNANTS OF AN ANCIENT SHIELD WITHIN 0.7 METERS.]
It lunged for them, stretching its essence.
The Wind intensified its assault, tearing chunks from its body.
[1.2% MATTER LOST.]
The stone convulsed in agony but did not stop.
[ABSORPTION... 23%... 47%...]
The fragments of the ancient artifact slowly seeped into it.
[2.8% MATTER LOST. CRITICAL LEVEL.]
The Wind howled (though no sound existed), sensing victory.
The stone trembled. It was running out of strength.
But it could not surrender.
A desperate gamble.
[EMERGENCY MODE: CORE FRAGMENTATION.]
Something inside it ruptured.
[70% ENERGY RESERVES RELEASED.]
A flash.
For a moment, the Wind recoiled.
The stone seized the respite:
[ABSORPTION COMPLETE. STABILITY +15%.]
But the Wind was already returning, fiercer than before.
[ANOMALY DETECTED: FRAGMENT OF KONMARA'S WILL.]
The stone froze.
This was its chance.
It reached for the flickering shard—but the Wind was faster, severing the connection.
[CONNECTION LOST. ABSORPTION INTERRUPTED.]
Despair.
A single, silent scream tore through the core of the being called the Stone. Not physical pain, but a mental collapse—the shattering of its nascent consciousness. The world, which had until now been a sequence of signals and imperatives, dissolved into chaotic fragments. The link to its source, to the original plan, was severed.
It was alone.
Cut off.
In the void.
Until this moment, the process had been flawless. The Stone, not yet fully self-aware, had been given a task—consume. Consume the shard of Will, an entity of immense energy and chaotic nature. Consume it and adapt. Grow stronger. Become... something more.
But now, everything hung by a thread.
The interruption meant not just failure—but annihilation.
The Wind, a ravenous force, sensed its weakness. It hungered to tear it apart, scatter it into the void, reclaim the stolen energy.
And in that darkest moment, deep within its forming mind, a spark ignited.
Instinct.
Self-preservation.
A logic both simple and merciless: survive.
At any cost.
[EMERGENCY PROTOCOL ACTIVATED.]
This was no mere algorithm—it was a deeply embedded program, a final line of defense.
The Stone, acting on instinct, lunged forward with unnatural speed. It sacrificed part of itself, shedding mass like ballast, creating a decoy for the ravenous Wind.
A gamble.
A sacrifice.
[5% MATTER SACRIFICED.]
The severed fragment spun into the void, radiating a faint aura. A meager offering—but enough to distract.
The Wind, intoxicated by the scent of energy, pounced upon it with insatiable greed. It tore, shredded, ground it into dust, reveling in its momentary feast.
And in that stolen moment, the Stone moved.
It hurled itself at the shard of Will.
It knew time was short. The Wind, once sated, would realize the deception and unleash its full fury.
But it had to succeed.
This was its only chance.
The Stone—onto the shard of Will.
It enveloped the unstable energy, encasing it within its rocky shell.
It was like trying to hold the sun in its grasp.
The shard of Will writhed, resisted, fighting to break free. Energy lashed out like whips, scorching and deforming the Stone.
But it held on.
It used everything—every resource, every lesson learned in its brief existence—to keep the unruly force contained.
[ABSORPTION... 89%... 100%.]
With each percentage, the shard's resistance weakened. Its chaotic, untamed energy slowly integrated into the Stone's structure, changing it. Transforming it.
By the end, it was no longer mere absorption—but symbiosis.
The Stone and the Will became one.
When the counter hit 100%, silence fell.
The storm still raged outside, but within the Stone, there was calm. Not absolute—but hopeful.
[STABILITY +300%. CHAOS ADAPTATION +200%.]
The results were staggering. Its resistance to external forces had multiplied, and its ability to adapt to chaotic energies became its greatest strength.
It was no longer just a Stone.
It was something more.
Something that could endure this hostile realm.
The Wind roared in fury, sensing the deception. It unleashed its full might upon the Stone—but now, its attacks slid off, unable to harm it. Its energy was absorbed, dispersed, neutralized.
The Stone had adapted.
It had endured.
It stood, unshaken, amidst the raging storm.
It had survived.
It had won.
[QUEST COMPLETE.]
A triumphant chime confirmed its victory.
The task was done.
The shard of Will had been consumed.
[REWARD: BASIC FUNCTIONS UNLOCKED.]
New possibilities unfolded before it—knowledge, capabilities, horizons expanding. Its consciousness grew, allowing it to perceive the world in greater depth.
It understood more.
Felt more.
But the cost had been high.
Victory had come at a price.
[TOTAL LOSSES: 9.3% MATTER, 85% ENERGY.]
It had sacrificed much of its mass and nearly all its energy. Recovery would take time—time it could not afford to waste.
Slowly, the Stone reformed itself, drawing scattered energy from the void. A painful, arduous process—but it knew it must continue.
It had to regain its strength.
Prepare for the next stage.
Because now, it knew—this was only the beginning.
The first battle in a long, grueling war.
[SYSTEM READY.]
The announcement marked the end of its recovery.
It was ready once more.
[NEXT PHASE: EVOLUTION.]
A new goal loomed on the horizon.
Evolution.
Transformation.
To become something greater.
Something that could not just survive—but thrive in this merciless void.
Somewhere in the depths of the endless dark, like an echo of a distant memory, the last whisper of Konmara brushed against it. Faint, barely audible—yet it filled the Stone with a strange sense of recognition.
"Now... you are not alone."
The words carried sorrow and hope, touching the depths of its emerging soul.
The Stone did not know who Konmara was—but it felt the connection.
Felt that this whisper was part of itself.
Part of its purpose.
And the darkness shuddered.
Not in fear—but in anticipation.
In understanding that something had changed.
That something new had been born in this world of darkness and chaos.
For within it now dwelled a being with power.
With will.
And perhaps—hope.
A being ready to fight for its existence.
For its future.
No longer just a discarded fragment—but something more.
It was ready.
Ready to evolve.
To become.
And it was not alone.
Konmara's echo lingered, a guiding star in the endless void.
It moved forward—into the unknown.
And the darkness shuddered, knowing that within it now lived something capable of change.
Something that might, one day, bring light to this world.