Spirit Meridian

For a second, a hush descended upon the classroom, an unseen pressure suffusing the air. Then a teen from the front rows raised his hand, willing to answer.

He too was just like the other spectacles, another rich rat, clad in silks finer than any Sezel had seen, his voice a melody sweet to the ears. Raelion gestured for him to stand up.

The boy rose, brushing his collar with practiced grace. "The Spirit Meridian is a space that exists within the soul of an Awakened being."

Sezel tuned out, slumping at his desk. He didn't bother listening to the long ranting of the privileged child. He must have been trained from childhood about being an Awakened. Inheritance also played an important role in the awakening of a person.

For instance, children of Awakened parents boasted a 90% chance of joining their ranks. On the other hand, for someone like Sezel, who had no such background, the chances were almost zero.

But leave that all behind. Sezel had awakened, however so. His mind wandered, snagging on a question buried in the chaos.

'Who was that girl and why did she help me?' Sezel was bitterly aware that in this world, altruism was a myth. Every favor came with a price. Help without expectation? Almost impossible. But he had no way of finding out who she was or any way of knowing anything related to the girl.

The teen concluded his oration and sat, and Raelion's voice cut through the silence, this time not with an explanation but with a command.

"Close your eyes and sit straight."

Everyone obeyed his command. Sezel hesitated, the translating device humming in his ear, then followed, his crimson eyes shuttering. The room stilled, the clock's tick-tock a relentless voice.

"Focus," Raelion's voice cut through, deep and commanding. "Access your Spirit Meridian."

Sezel frowned. 'What? Damnit, I should have listened to the bastard's ranting.' He was dumbfounded. What even was a Spirit Meridian?

'A personal space inside my soul.'

"Think of it in terms of a small fly trying to go inside a big cave. Imagine yourself as the fly and your soul as the cave," Raelion intoned.

'It isn't so simple,' Sezel struggled to focus. 'I need to stop thinking.'

Sezel exhaled, his mind a turbulent sea. He stole a glance at the class, catching glimpses of glowing auras around some students—those who'd already entered their Meridians. Others grimaced, struggling. He sealed his eyes, his heartbeat a solitary drum in the darkness.

Darkness enveloped him, vast and eternal. A scintilla of light flickered, like a distant star. He drifted toward it, weightless, through nothingness.

The light grew, and he stepped into a surreal expanse. He was standing inside a small yet infinitely large place. A boundless plain encircled by obsidian mountains, their jagged spires clawing at a lightless sky. Sezel remembered the Spirit Realm's starless sky.

He spun around heretically. 'Is this my Spirit Meridian?' he questioned himself.

Sezel froze as he looked up at the sky.

'What in the hell is that?' he could only wonder.

Above, a black mass swirled, nearly indistinguishable from the void, but the fact that the darkness swirled made it look spectacular. Light erupted from its edges. It looked like a black hole, devouring, yet radiant. It dominated the sky.

Sezel gulped hard. It must be his Spirit Core, at least that's what he had heard they called something, and looking at the thing, he couldn't deduce any other name.

Then he saw a thread, shimmering with prismatic colors, forming an arc in the sky like a rainbow. The thread came from beyond the mountains and fed into the black mass, as if falling into oblivion.

Sezel's gaze snagged on something else orbiting the core like a planet around a star, its surface glinting with a surreal glow. A card floated in a perfectly orbital motion. Sezel frowned. "A card?"

Only those Awakened with a Fable received a card, and that also meant that the Awakened must be above or equal to Rank 3—but Sezel was not. He was a Rank 0. Then where did the card come from?

Sezel trembled, the oppressive surroundings making his deepest encounters with death flood back like fresh memories, but he didn't waver.

"How do I call that thing here now?" he pondered, looking at the card floating in front of him. He raised his hand and imagined the card coming to him on its own, and it was a success. The card did float toward his hand.

Sezel caught it, its surface hard as steel yet warm, vibrating with power. He could feel it brushing against his skin. The card glowed brighter than anything else in the dark void, a golden glow filling the darkness with light.

His heart roared, ribs straining as if to shatter. This was his truth. The linchpin of his fate. He finally held it in his hands. The answer to most of his questions… and maybe the start of new ones. Whatever the card held would decide his future.

The card's back was silver, its edges embroidered with gold, a masterpiece of otherworldly craftsmanship. Sezel hesitated, dread and awe warring within. He turned it over. The front was breathtaking.

The card dazzled, coated in golden brilliance framing the silver field, a crowned figure carved at its center, etched in radiant splendor—silent yet commanding.

Sezel's breath hitched. There was nothing written on it, not a clue.

"Show," he whispered, the word escaping as if guided by instinct, as if he knew it was the right thing to do. The card dissolved, shimmering into motes of light, leaving Sezel's hand empty. He squinted his eyes, looking around.

A window materialized before him, translucent, his name, Sezel, written at its top in glowing script.

What… what is this? He stumbled back, gasping.