Prologue - An External Force

It was pitch black, silent and without scent. There was nothing to touch, there was nothing to stir, it was just black. A silent void that They found themselves in. Despite the impossible situation, their mind felt very much awake and active. Thoughts came to Them as they pleased raising the question in the world that blurred between reality and dreams, or perhaps even something else.

Where am I?

Perhaps at one point in time, They would have asked more, yet their current state left them unaware of their lack of ability to think to themselves more, to entertain more than one question such as "What, Where, Why and How".

Time. It was impossible to tell if it even existed, never mind how much of it had passed. Did it even matter in such a world as the void? It at least didn't feel like it held any importance at all anymore, not with the distinct lack of ability to feel it passing by whilst they remained in the silent, still void.

It's why it was both abrupt yet also long-awaited when streaks of golden light managed to make it into that dark world, resulting in a vaguely humanoid silhouette in its light that was seemingly looking directly at Them. Despite being formless, They could still the golden light shining onto them with its faint whilst at the same time the sound of booming, resonating laughter could be heard behind him.

"You will feel lost. Confused. Troubled. I apologise for this accident, but whilst you are not one born of this world, ensure you pursue the path you desire." A heavy voice filled the area, being almost enough to block out the ever-present laughter that accompanied it.

It was all that THEY said, but for whatever reason their mind couldn't handle it, thought somehow seemed beyond them as they were little more than simple-minded individuals. They said no more, instead the golden light that emitted from Them began to shine out across the void, quickly getting brighter and brighter until it was blinding whilst the sound of laughter steadily faded away alongside the sudden heavy, resounding sound of a Clang and Thud…

When the light began to settle down, multiple faces came into view, each one of them looking down at him with a loving smile. He could finally feel, smell and move, the sensation of someone's arms wrapped around him, holding onto his whole body in a way that wouldn't be possible to do to any adult. Despite the unnerve caused by such a reality, it simultaneously brought about a wave of reassurance at the return of their senses that they hadn't even noticed, or perhaps couldn't even feel the dread from before.

'Huh? What is going on… who are these people?' He thought to himself in confusion whilst powerless to do anything but look on, dumbstruck at the giant faces that loomed above him. They looked back with joy on their faces but it only continued to further his concern until tears began to leak from his eyes resulting in the surrounding people trying to cheer him up.

His memories were fuzzy and faint but ultimately, they were there. 'I was walking home, in a storm and then… and then… everything went white and burned so much. Then everything went dark and the pain… just left… and that void, I could barely think to myself…'

Did he die? Had he been… reborn?

As he struggled to lift his hand to try and inspect at least some of his current body, the woman cradling him reached out with a smile as he managed to grab hold of her finger. His current vision was terrible, but he didn't even need it to confirm his circumstances, as his whole hand still couldn't wrap around her finger, something that clearly shouldn't have been. Yet all he could do was linger in stunned silence as horror and dread set in whilst he remained powerless to do anything but cry.

"You best have a name ready." A gruff voice spoke from the background, their words likely aimed at the new mother.

"Mm, we've been thinking about it." She calmly replied despite the person's attitude, her attention never leaving her child. "Considering how his Core behaved before his awakening, how does Nova sound?" she asked as if she were talking to her new child…

Years had passed as a lone boy walked down the quiet streets of what seemed to be a ghost town, his hands in the pockets of his baggy trousers that were held up by a pair of belts. The appearance of the streets and buildings portrayed the image of an abandoned town, but it wasn't like he needed anyone to tell him that. It wasn't like he lived that far away after all.

Yet the sheer silence of the town wasn't unexpected. It was how everything was most days and would likely continue to be for hundreds of years to come.

Nova could only sigh to himself in exhaustion as he felt the impact of the reason why people remained indoors most of their lives. "But who would have thought that despite all the disaster that it causes, it's still managing to bring more peace than harm…" Nova thought aloud with a heavy sigh as he looked up into the sky where the shining, harmful light of a Stellaron remained above the world like a star of death.

As a strong wind stirred up by an invisible energy wave from a surge of the Stellaron rolled across the world, Nova couldn't help but bring a hand out of his pocket and hold it over the shimmering crystal in his chest as he felt a sense of pain steadily creeping through his body stemming from it.

"I've been out too long, I'm going to get something horrible sooner or later at this rate," Nova said to himself as the wind settled down, allowing his overcoat and the chains attached to his trousers to settle down. "But I should be able to cope with this much, although it might take me some time to process it."

A Stellaron, a seed of destruction and cancer of worlds, yet they weren't all quite the same. Always seemingly slightly different wherever they ended up yet they all still managed to bring death and destruction to whatever planet they resided on, and this Stellaron wasn't any different. Yet despite its harmful effects, it wasn't like it wasn't without its uses against things that managed to eclipse it somehow…

As the energy wave settled so did the spiking pain, the surging corruption that was breaking his body down, settled in turn allowing him to remove his hand from the crystal in his chest. Yet the pain never fully left him, and it never would. Whilst he remained in a place unprotected from the Stellaron's deadly radiance whilst its corrupt energy coursing through him didn't help. Nova could already see jagged lines stretching out from his Core showing the corruption and damage that he was already suffering from the power of Destruction.

Feeling himself stabilizing enough Nova made up his mind to turn around and hurry home. It was certain that his family would be waiting for him and ready to chew him out once more for choosing to pointlessly wander around outside, and they had every reason to. After all, by the mere act of being outside he was risking his life, yet being cooped up all day every day was something that he just couldn't stand.

He could already hear what his great-great-great-grandfather would say to him, "What do you think you are doing boy?! How many times do we have to tell you?! Do you wish to be driven into madness, or are carried away on your usual tenacity?! Sooner or later you will reach your limit, even you can't keep bouncing back from the fragmentum corruption endlessly!"

Of course, neither claim was true, but he was thankful for whatever blessing he seemingly carried. From having manifested for the first time almost two months early, to constantly recovering from the corruption of the Stellaron and even having the unique ability to break down its Destructive energy and convert it to add to his own, it wasn't clear just how it was possible but it was clear that he was different to the rest of his kind.

It wasn't that long however until Nova heard the sound of movement beside his own, making him hastily look around to spot whoever, or whatever, was nearby.

Eventually, the source of the sound revealed itself as Fragmentum monsters came into sight, emerging from a nearby ally. As a large black crystal ball with crimson cracks that had golden energy swirling around it like in orbit alongside a bulky crystal knight that had each of its limbs floating and held to its body by thick steams of energy, the pair made it hard to tell where exactly their eyes and attention was.

Yet despite this, it was clear that they had all noticed one another as they immediately gave off a quick surge of energy as they turned towards Nova. Whilst the Knight began rushing towards him, raising a large fist above its head, the Crystal was quick to gather the swirl of energy around it above itself as it focused before firing a shot straight at Nova.

He was quick to avoid the initial shot, merely pivoting his body to the side to allow the shot to harmlessly pass by him whilst a brilliant, sparkling blue energy began to gather in his hand as he watched the Knight come in closer before it finally swung a fist at him. With a flash, he quickly blocked the attack with an extravagant greatsword that surged with a thin veil of energy protruding from its edges to serve as its blade. Successfully stopping the punch with his mostly crystal-looking blade he quickly formed another large blade that looked like the missing half of his original sword. Yet he didn't hesitate to swing it up landing a clean horizontal cut on the fragmentum being.

Another shot from the ranged fragmentum creature was also easily stopped with another swing of Nova's first sword as he spun around, yet he also released his sword from his grip. The blade continued to spin rapidly as it flew through the air before quickly colliding and rapidly cutting into the monster until it finally died and faded away before the sword was recalled back into Nova's hand.

And yet, upon hearing the clanking sound of the remaining creature behind him, he quickly jumped into the air whilst rapidly rotating his body, quickly boring into the knight with both his greatswords like a spinning blade as he came down before finishing it with a hard slam as he struck the ground, having cleaved it in half and ending its existence.

"And you're done." Nova couldn't help but say to himself as his blades began to shimmer before losing their form, seeping back into his Core as streaks of energy. "Good thing it was only small-" Nova said until something caught his attention in the corner of his eye, but it was already too late to react.

Immediately after, something slammed into his back before exploding, resulting in him smashing into a nearby wall, causing large cracks whilst bits of the wall crumbled away as Nova crumpled to the ground. "Where the hell did that come from?" He groaned as he picked himself up off the ground, his various cuts producing faint streams of precious fading energy before they healed over in a matter of moments but what precious strength and resources he had were reduced.

By the time he pulled himself together, it was only just in time to notice another barrage of attacks coming his way like seeking missiles, locked in and honing in. Just in the nick of time and with a flash of light from his Core, he managed to erect a barrier that took the bumbling of attacks yet left him pinned as he struggled to maintain his defences that were being chipped away bit by bit, costing him precious energy.

'Shoot! I lower my guard for a moment and this happens. I don't have the strength for another fight, I'm at my limit here…' He screamed in his mind as he tried to look around his barrier only to no avail. 'I'll just have to find a window and hope to dodge some.'

Even mere moments felt like forever in the struggle for his life as he blocked out his stress for deadly serene calmness despite the situation, his mind having instantly shifted to tactical thinking as he had so long gotten 'used' to. And yet, as if to crush any hopes, he heard the sound of more movement.

He had to move. He had to run. Immediately. He would have to drop the barrier and risk a few scrapes despite his corruption, or else he likely wouldn't have a chance.

But before he could, the jarring almost glitched-sounding screech of the monster was heard first at the barrage suddenly relented to his confusion and relief, feeling that quickly turned to dread. "Go on, someone support him!" One of his saviours ordered as they and three others continued to engage the beast of a Fragmentum creature, allowing two more people to rush over to Nova's side, hurriedly checking him out.

"You're alright now, please leave this much to us! We shan't allow any life of our land to be squandered by the beasts of Destruction!" The woman said with a soothing smile.

"By Yaoshi! How much corruption have you suffered already?! How long have you been out here? You must learn the value of your life!" A man said as he stretched out a hand over Nova, causing a green glow that soothed him whilst the Fragmentum Corruption plaguing him began to regress, but only slightly.

'Oh no… they're even the Abundance…' Nova groaned internally as urgency began to grow inside him. 'I NEED to leave! Aeon's why is all of this happening today?!'

"Clariso! Please make sure to take him to the nearest cover for us. While his tenacity against the Stellaron is impressive his state is beyond our power lest Lady Viata grace us!" The man said as he stood up again, turning to face the Fragmentum creature that the rest of their allies were in the middle of handling, each making use of their own fighting styles whilst a single one made sure to hang back and keep up the strength of the fighters.

"Very well, once I have assured this life's survival then I shall return." 'Clarisa' replied as she quickly tried to help Nova onto his feet before putting a hand behind his back to help support him. "Please come with me-" She began to tell him until everyone was interrupted by a sudden ginormous spear composed of a deep purple crystal that flew down from the heavens before striking the Fragmentum beast straight through the chest, killing it almost instantly.

"Oh… fuck…" Nova said under his breath as everyone froze to admire the attack before slowly turning to its source.

There were even more people now. It was only a small band of three compared to the five followers of Abundance, but their attire made it only too clear what group they belonged to. "Followers of the Abundance!" The leader of the three shouted out in fury whilst the Abundance Pathstriders quickly began to scowl.

"Traitors of Yaoshi! Turncoats of the Hunt!" One of the Abundance shouted back with equal scorn. "Do you return in the effort to stamp out life once more?!"

"The only thing we aim to stamp out is the eternal damnation that you spread! Do you wish to keep everyone subjected to this hell forevermore?!" The Hunt followers declared as two of them had already prepared themselves for a fight as they raised their hands into the air, causing it to be filled with countless small crystal daggers of either green or navy blue that rained down without mercy.

"Defensive positions!" One of the Abundance yelled as they all pooled together to create a barrier between them and the onslaught.

The fighting only continued to intensify and develop as the leader of the Hunt group shot down at incredible speed, using his power to enhance a kick that nearly shattered the barrier on his own, allowing his teammate's attack to penetrate through resulting in the two sides clashing with one another head-on.

Explosions and eruptions, the sound of countless collisions, large pieces of rubble accompanied by the sound of countless charging footsteps and shouts as more people made their way out to join the fight resulting in the fight growing into a size that only an Emanator or the Stellaron could stop…

'Just get away, just get away!' Nova kept telling himself as he separated from Clarisa, throwing himself towards some nearby rubble for cover as he made haste in distancing himself from the fighting as quickly as possible. He did not want to become the victim of a civil war from his weakened state, and he certainly didn't want to risk being so much as a witness if the fighting managed to attract the attention of the recent Annihilation Gang as well…

All he could do, all he would do, was run. Even if he was in his prime, there was no chance that he would take the risk of getting involved in the conflicts of the three major factions, no matter how much his family insisted that they needed to triumph.

The pursuit of war was never what he wanted. So why was this the second life that he was born into? Why would he get another life to begin with? What was Life supposed to be about? Surely not war… right?

Yet it was this mindset and life that began to pave his Path when the door onwards finally showed opportunity at the slight, brief opening that occurred in the form of a spaceship descending on their planet in the distance, much to the bewilderment and disbelief of Nova.

And it also marked the unknowing interference and alteration to "Destiny"…

Welp, I'm back on this site after a break and starting with a new story because Star Rail's story really chose to step it up when I first considered this story which admittedly was a few months ago, only that I couldn't decide how I wanted my plot to go. But I have an idea now, and I'll continue to work through it.

If I had to give a hint as to how this story is going to go, more and more changes will appear and as a result, this story will become something that takes its own path. (At least that's the plan). Please give honest opinions and constructive criticism, it wouldn't be the first time I have gone back a chapter or two to begin rewriting things for the better. (But I am aware that I can't please everyone as well!)