The great bell of Solaria rang out across the city, its deep tone reverberating through the golden towers and cobbled streets. Today was the Selection the day every youth of the kingdom awaited with breathless anticipation. It was a sacred ceremony, a moment where fate revealed itself and the Divine System chose one's path warrior, mage, ruler, or servant.
The plaza was alive with excitement. Banners of the Three Divine Houses fluttered in the breeze. Priests in silver robes marched forward, their steps in rhythm with the chants that filled the air. Families dressed in their finest stood behind their children, faces alight with hope and pride.
And among them, at the very edge of the plaza, stood a boy alone, unnoticed.
Kael Ardyn kept his head low, the coarse fabric of his worn cloak scratching his skin. His dark hair was unkempt, his boots scuffed and cracked. Unlike the others, no family surrounded him. No hopeful whispers. Only the heavy weight of expectation and the deeper weight of fear.
He had no one left.
The priests called the names one by one. Each youth stepped forward onto the Sacred Altar, a circle etched with divine runes. Upon touching the center sigil, the Divine System would manifest a glowing emblem above their heads, marking their destiny.
"Joren Valcroft!"
A boy with blonde hair strode confidently onto the altar. The runes shone brightly under his feet, and a golden emblem appeared crossed swords and a radiant shield.
"Warrior Class!" the High Priest announced. Cheers erupted.
"Selene Marrowind!"
A girl in a flowing dress stepped forward. The altar glowed with blue light, forming a staff entwined with vines.
"Mage Class!" Again, cheers and applause.
One after another, the names were called, and one after another, destinies were forged.
Kael's hands were clammy. He could feel the stares not of admiration, but of disdain. Whispers floated around him.
"That's the orphan... from the gutters."
"I heard the system won't even look at him."
"He's cursed."
Kael clenched his fists. He refused to believe it. He had waited eighteen years for this. Eighteen years of surviving on scraps, of watching nobles sneer at him, of enduring endless humiliation. Today would be different.
It had to be.
Finally, his name echoed across the plaza.
"Kael Ardyn!"
Silence fell like a blade.
Every eye turned toward him some curious, many hostile.
Kael swallowed hard and stepped forward. His legs felt heavy, but he forced himself to climb the steps to the altar. The priests exchanged glances but said nothing.
He placed his hand on the center sigil.
The runes flickered.
A breathless moment passed.
Then... nothing.
No light. No emblem. No glow.
The Divine System had rejected him.
Gasps rippled through the crowd. A few people laughed. Others muttered prayers, as if warding off his bad luck.
The High Priest cleared his throat awkwardly. "The System... finds him unworthy."
A sentence more devastating than any sword.
Kael stood frozen, unable to move, unable to breathe.
Unworthy.
The word pounded in his skull, louder than the bells, louder than the jeers that followed.
He stumbled back down the altar, his vision blurring. No one reached out to comfort him. No one offered a kind word. He was less than nothing now an outcast in a world ruled by the Divine System.
The plaza returned to its festivities, eager to erase his existence from memory.
Kael walked away, each step heavier than the last. He wandered through the alleyways of Solaria, past the bright market stalls and shining towers he would never belong to. Past the laughing nobles and their blessed children.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, painting the sky in blood and fire, Kael found himself standing at the edge of the city.
Beyond lay the Wastes a land abandoned after the Great Collapse centuries ago. Dangerous. Cursed, some said. A place where only the foolish or the desperate would dare to tread.
Kael looked back once at the city that had never welcomed him.
And then he stepped into the darkness.
The Wastes were silent.
The ruins of ancient temples and shattered statues jutted from the cracked earth like bones. Strange glyphs glowed faintly along the broken stones, whispering secrets in a language forgotten by time.
Kael stumbled forward, exhaustion gnawing at his limbs. His stomach growled, but he ignored it. Pain was familiar. Hunger was an old friend.
He didn't know why he kept moving. Maybe he was searching for a place to die. Somewhere the world couldn't mock him anymore.
A soft, cold wind brushed against him.
He followed it.
Through crumbling archways and collapsed corridors, until he found a chamber deep underground, hidden beneath the wreckage.
At its center was a pedestal, ancient and cracked, covered in vines. Upon it rested a shard of crystal, black as midnight, pulsing faintly.
Kael approached it, drawn by something he couldn't explain.
As his hand brushed the crystal, the world exploded into light.
Not the warm, golden light of the Divine System but a cold, silver fire that seared his soul.
[SYSTEM DETECTED: THE FORSAKEN SYSTEM.]
[INITIALIZING HOST CONNECTION...]
Kael staggered back, clutching his chest as pain lanced through him. But it was not a pain of rejection it was awakening. He could feel it: raw power, ancient and feral, older than the Divine System, older than the gods themselves.
Memories that were not his own flickered through his mind battles fought under broken skies, gods cast down by unseen forces, a world before order.
[YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN.]
The words rang inside his head, louder than the jeers, louder than the priest's cold verdict.
Chosen.
For the first time in his life, something had chosen him.
Tears burned Kael's eyes not from sorrow, but from a fierce, trembling rage.
He was not worthless.
He was not broken.
The world had lied.
And now... now it would pay the price.