Three days after the cube appeared, Viren activated it.
He hadn't touched it physically—he didn't need to. Even without fully awakened abilities, he could already feel the weave of energy around certain objects, especially those attuned to intent. The cube was one such object. It didn't respond to motion. It responded to presence.
The moment he focused on it, it clicked open—not with sound, but sensation. A shift in temperature. A tightening of space. As if the room was holding its breath.
A holographic projection unfolded above it: thin strands of light weaving together into shapes, diagrams, and symbols he didn't yet understand—but would. Each one pulsed with information locked behind layers of context. A puzzle meant for someone with patience. Curiosity.
He had both.
And more.
The cube didn't just teach. It tested.
---
The first test was sensory.
A simple illusion field, projected into his line of sight. Small creatures made of light flickered in and out of the air—hovering just outside his reach. Most babies would bat at them, laugh, or ignore them entirely.
Viren followed their movements.
Then altered them.
With nothing but thought.
The illusion bent. Shifted.
One of the creatures froze mid-air, twitching unnaturally.
> [Mental Interface Detected: Primitive Control Achieved]
The message wasn't visual—it was instinctual. The cube was observing him as much as he was observing it.
He had passed the first layer.
---
In the following weeks, more tests followed—embedded in toys, in environmental changes, in spell patterns laced into nursery music. Some were placed by the cube. Others… he wasn't so sure.
Not everything was friendly.
One afternoon, while Lysara had stepped away briefly, a mobile above his crib sparked to life on its own. A lullaby played—but it was off. The rhythm was laced with subliminal cues. Pulses meant to disrupt emotional stability. He recognized the manipulation almost immediately.
So did his instincts.
They responded with a spark of something deeper—something rooted in his very core.
Not a spell.
Not a conscious ability.
But hunger.
> [DEVOURFLUX: Awakened]
Target: Malformed Enchantment Threads
Result: Energy Assimilated | Disruption Neutralized
The mobile stopped.
So did the song.
By the time Lysara returned, the mobile was still spinning—but no longer dangerous.
She didn't notice.
But someone else did.
---
The very next morning, he was taken outside the estate for the first time.
The change surprised him. Not the act itself, but the timing. No warning. No buildup. One moment he was in his cradle, the next he was swaddled and handed off to a transport construct, riding in a levitation carriage lined with shielding spells and chromatic glass.
They were taking him to a place called the Cradle of Echoes—a ceremonial site tied to the family's heritage. On the surface, it was for traditional energy attunement rituals. Newborns were brought there to "commune" with ancestral ley-lines.
But Viren could feel the tension behind the words.
This wasn't about tradition.
It was about verification.
---
The Cradle of Echoes was carved into the heart of a dormant mountainside. The sky above shimmered with veils of light—ambient energy pools drifting in the atmosphere. Stone guardians stood silent at the entrance, runes etched into their skin glowing faintly as the carriage approached.
Inside, it was cold.
Not temperature cold—resonance cold.
The air here was stripped of unnecessary frequency. Every breath, every heartbeat, every movement could be felt by the walls.
It was a place that listened.
And it had been listening for centuries.
---
Viren was placed inside a cradle made of crystal and rootsteel. The base glowed softly beneath him, lines of silver and green tracing toward the chamber walls.
Aurex stood nearby, silent.
Lysara watched, tense.
Two Elders entered from the far hall. Virelle among them.
"You may begin," she said, her tone smooth, almost too calm.
The ritual started.
Waves of magical energy pressed against his body, testing for reaction. A normal child would absorb a little, reflect some, and show slight attunement to elemental strands.
Viren did none of that.
He consumed them.
Every thread.
Even the ones that weren't meant to be touched.
> [Devourflux: Efficiency Increased]
Energy Types Absorbed: Standard Elemental, Echo-Will, Bioresonance Residue
Result: Partial Integration | Core Bloom Initiated
The cradle shuddered.
Not from mechanical failure.
From adaptation.
It began feeding him more.
The ritual was spiraling.
Lysara stepped forward.
"Enough," she said.
But the cradle didn't stop.
Because Viren didn't stop.
He wasn't doing it consciously. His core was hungry—and now awake.
The Elders whispered among themselves, clearly alarmed.
Aurex stepped beside Lysara. "Let it continue," he said, watching Viren with a strange mix of pride and caution. "If he cannot withstand it now, then he never will."
---
The process lasted three minutes.
An eternity for a newborn.
When it ended, the cradle's runes had dimmed.
The air smelled faintly of burned ether.
And Viren… was still.
Not tired.
Not hurt.
Just… aware.
He could feel the air differently now. See pulses of life where others saw shadow. His senses had stretched.
And something else had awakened, deep within.
> [ARCANOFORGE: Inert Seed Detected]
Status: Dormant | Origin: Unknown
Awakening Threshold: 17%
A second ability.
Different from Devourflux.
Not hunger. Not consumption.
But potential. Construction. The power to reforge what he devoured.
He didn't understand it yet.
But he would.
---
On the way back from the Cradle, Lysara held him close.
"You're not like the others," she whispered. "Even the family can't predict you."
She hesitated.
Then added something under her breath, so softly it was almost a thought.
"Not even me."
He didn't respond.
But in his mind, patterns were already forming.
The cube's puzzles.
The mobile's poison.
The rituals.
The figures who watched from shadows.
Everything pointed to one truth.
He wasn't being raised.
He was being prepared.
And the world—this world, and perhaps others—was already testing him.
---