----
Noir floated through the infinite void.
His body tumbled slowly in a dance that obeyed no gravity. No stars nearby, no ships, no planets. Just him, the cold silence of space, and a sharp ache in his chest where hope had been carved out and left behind.
His white hair shifted like a comet's tail. Black eyes stared ahead, unblinking. In the past, floating in space unprotected would've meant instant death. But humans were different now. The mutation that had once rewritten their DNA had further evolved. They could survive the vacuum. Their skin could seal under pressure. Their blood oxygenated itself through internal systems. Life had adapted to the impossible.
But even that miracle didn't comfort Noir.
He had been betrayed.
Exiled from the only home he had ever known.
And it wasn't random. It wasn't fate.
He clenched his fists just as something knocked against his forehead.
THUNK.
He blinked and turned his head.
A small wooden box, aged and worn, floated in front of him. Not metal. Not synthetic. Wood. Real, Earth-grown wood.
Curious and cautious, he grabbed it.
There was no lock. It opened with a soft creak.
Inside, a note.
Neatly folded. Inked in elegant handwriting.
His heartbeat, despite the vacuum, thundered in his ears.
He unfolded the note and read:
---
"To my dear brother, Noir,
If you're reading this, you've been successfully yeeted into the abyss. Good.
You always had that noble, brooding look like the universe owed you an apology. I couldn't stand it.
You had nothing, yet everyone loved you. I had power, and all they did was compare me to you.
The sad little powerless twin. That's what they saw me as. That's what you made me.
So I fixed it.
I framed you.
That's right. I killed Elder Jarn. And I made sure the entire town saw your face doing it. Illusions are tricky, aren't they? Especially when no one suspects the "good" brother.
Oh, and here's the fun part:
I never had super speed.
That was a trick.
My real power is stasis manipulation. I can freeze matter, sensation, thought—not with ice, no, something more elegant.
When I ran around the house, pretending to blur past you?
I wasn't moving fast. I was freezing you, dad, and Aria. Your perception. Your senses. The room.
So it looked like I was fast. But I just made the world slow.
Clever, right?
Anyway, you've always been so perfect. So I had to break you. You can't imagine how satisfying it was to see your face when they changed your name. Noir Zelion. It even sounds pathetic.
Do you like your box? I sent it with a little telepathic tug. Didn't want you to feel too alone. Just enough.
I'll take good care of our family. I'll even cry at your memorial.
Assuming, of course, you survive wherever you land. Not that I care.
Your better half, Dvyne Vermillion
P.S. Smile for me. You're a star now."
---
Noir stared at the letter.
His fingers shook.
A laugh echoed in his head.
Cruel. Mocking. Familiar.
Dvyne's laughter. Not recorded. Live. Telepathic.
"I can still talk to you, Noir," Dvyne's voice whispered into his mind, venom dripping from every word. "Isn't that wonderful? Now you'll know how little you ever mattered."
Noir crushed the letter in his hand.
His eyes did not water. They burned.
And in the silence of space, surrounded by stars that did not care, a fire ignited within him.
He would survive.
And he would make Dvyne regret every word.
That something that burned in Noir wasn't rage. It wasn't grief. It wasn't even vengeance.
It was something else.
Something new.
Something unnamed.
Something waiting to be awakened.
The stars around him began to shift.
Noir, drifting gently in the current of a gravity pulse, passed by dozens of planets. Each one was more breathtaking than the last. A sapphire orb veined with glowing clouds. A golden world with rings that shimmered like woven glass. A vast sphere covered in sprawling forests, each leaf reflecting prism colors. Oceans of crystal, deserts of violet flame, moons orbiting suns that sang through space in unheard harmonies.
It was beautiful.
And then…
He closed his eyes.
His descent began.
The heat of entry licked at his skin, but it didn't burn him. Not anymore.
He landed.
Hard.
Dust kicked up. Smoke rose.
He opened his eyes slowly.
The world was ruined.
Cracked and dry. Trees gnarled and black. The sky a toxic grey-orange. The land beneath him groaned like it had been choking for centuries.
But just beyond the jagged ridge before him…
A glimmer.
A dome. No, a wall.
A massive border of metal and energy, stretching into the sky like a barrier against oblivion.
And inside it—a city. Towering, alive. Advanced.
Futuristic.
Hope.
(To be continued...)