Live

The world didn't ask for the "Great Catalyst" of 1715. It happened because Louis XIV, the Sun King, died and somehow forced a world-wide evolution. In his wake, the Earth became a sponge of a sorts— a planet that heals its own wounds, growing back forests and cities as if they were skin. Along with it, humanity changed. We gained Divine Rights, powers born from our own internal will.
Three centuries later, those "Rights" are the only thing that matters.
I was 12 when I met Jeanne arc, I had been kicked out of a local library for loitering when she found me. She was dressed in the kind of silky white dress that would cost more than my parents made in a year, yet she was sitting on a curb with me eating a cheap popsicle. "You look bored" she said with a curious look on her face still licking her grape flavor popsicle while offering me the rest, I ignored her and said "sure, I'll try it". I opened my mouth and bit into it fucking disgusting so i threw it away "That’s a waste," she laughed. "I’m Jeanne. My family has a 'Right' to rule or whatever they say , but I think I’d rather just have the 'Right' to play soccer. Want to come to the estate and play?" looking at me intently like I was a new piece of jewelry "my parents should be fine with it!". That was the start of it. For years, the arc estate was my sanctuary. While the rest of the world was fracturing into three warring factions—the Crown, the Meridian, and the Hollow—I was in a backyard with Jeanne. She was the light to my shadow. She had a Tier 4 Divine Right called Output, which let her boost the energy of anything she touched. She used to use it to make our soccer ball fly like a comet.

I didn't have a right. I didn't deserve or want  one. I just liked the way the grass felt under my feet and the way Jeanne made the world feel less like a battlefield.

But the world doesn't want peace.

It happened on a Tuesday night, I was spending the night at the arc estate for spring break when suddenly I heard a snap, it wasn't like a twig or something fell no, it sounded like dozens of mirrors shattering. "Antares, get down!" Jeanne screamed.  The wall didn't fall, it was as if it wanted to escape its form, scattering into millions of shards. Standing in the dust was a man whose very presence made my skin crawl—the Fracturing Felon. He was a high-tier mercenary for the Bourbons, and his will was simple: everything he chose crumbled. "The arc lineage ends today," he said, his voice as dry as gravel.

In seconds, the room was a slaughterhouse. The estate guards, men I’d known for years, were reduced to red mist before they could even draw their weapons. My lungs felt like they were filled with water forgetting to breathe. I was paralyzed, a timid kid watching a god destroy my world. Jeanne grabbed my collar, dragging me toward a heavy, reinforced vault in the floor. Her side was soaked in blood, her brown hair matted and dark.

"Jeanne, we have to go, we have to—"
"Antares, listen to me," she gasped, her hands shaking as she pressed them against my chest. I felt a surge of heat—the most intense version of her Output she had ever used. It felt like my heart was being overclocked and on the brink of exploding, my veins turning into wires of fire. "The crate... inside the vault. It’s for you." "Live," she whispered, her eyes losing their focus as the ceiling began to fracture above us. "Please, Antares. Just live."

She shoved me into the dark hole just as the room collapsed. I fell into the cold, damp basement of the estate, the sound of the world ending above me. In the dim light, I saw it: a heavy, black metal crate marked with the arc family seal, a sword with a snake as the hilt. My hands were trembling so hard I could barely grip the latch. My fingernails tore as I wrenched it open. Inside sat a blade. It wasn't fancy like all the arc family belongings; it was a slab of matte-dark gray metal that seemed to suck the light out of the room. It hummed with a low, angry vibration that made my teeth ache.

Etched into the dark steel, in a raw, jagged script, was a single word:

LIVE.