The clouds barely veiled the upper floors of the Control Tower, yet no one looked up anymore. On Zeraph, such sights had long become normal.
Once a desert world on the fringe of obscurity, Zeraph was now the central governing planet of humankind — the throne world of an empire that had clawed its way into the stars.
Eight centuries ago, the skies tore open.
The arrival of alien life — a moment carved into history as Point Zero — changed everything.
Back than, the governments of Earth were consumed by resource wars. Alliances collapsed, power changed hands constantly — humanity was fragmented, driven by greed, desperation, and the hunger for survival. Nations no longer acted as guardians of their people, but as warlords hoarding water, metals, and kowlage. Wars over mining belts, orbital platforms, and atmospheric zones became routine. The skies were scarred with smoke trails from burned-out satellites, and cities were swallowed by droughts and riots.
And then the Behime came.
A massive interstellar transport ship, crewed by various alien species, crashed in the deserts of Zeraph. It belonged to a roaming trade or pirate consortium — specialized in capturing and selling rare lifeforms they called Exotics.
These Exotics — wild creatures, some tamed, some mutated or controlled through technology — were held in high-security energy cages. Some were intelligent. Others were pure killing machines. They came from countless worlds: swamp beasts with acidic breath, feathered shadows that could mimic any sound, crystalline serpents that fed on electromagnetic fields.
At that time, the planet wasn't marked on any known interstellar chart — a blind spot in the universe, likely hidden by a cosmic anomaly or some form of energy shielding. The Behime crew became stranded, unaware of their exact location. It's possible they thought they had found a secret frontier — a chance to rebuild or refuel in peace.
Their advanced technology outclassed all of Zeraphs scanning systems, allowing them to remain undetected — until they tried to send a signal, announcing their discovery of an uncharted planet. That signal gave them away. Humanity intercepted it. And for the first time in generations, the fractured species acted as one.
The governments reacted immediately. A coalition of black-ops units, rogue military cells, and privat military converged on the crash site. Official records claim a diplomatic exchange. Unofficially, it was a purge. The crew vanished. What happened next is buried under layers of secrecy. Officially, it was a peaceful first contact. Unofficially, it was a silent extermination. The Behime crew disappeared.
What remained were their technologies. And their Exotics.
Reverse-engineering the alien tech began immediately. Human scientists unlocked compact fusion cores, neural synchronizers, and genetic stabilizers. Weapons evolved overnight. Medicine advanced decades in weeks. And the Exotics... were studied. Tested. In some cases, weaponized.
This marked the beginning of a new era — a war for knowledge and power.
Over the following decades, everything changed. Around 650 years ago, only three major governments remained, having absorbed the rest through violence or strategic compromise. At the same time, powerful Houses emerged — founded by entrepreneurs and visionaries who exploited captured alien technology and genetics. Some of these Houses operated like corporations, others like dynasties. They built their own fleets, funded private armies, and established colonies.
Some even began trying to tame Exotics.
But the alien presence brought even deeper consequences.
Through the so-called Worldbreak Event, Zeraph became visible on a galactic scale — and foreign energies began to alter human biology. The barrier that had once cloaked our planet vanished. We were now part of something bigger — and more dangerous.
400 years ago, human life expectancy increased to an average of 150 years. Some individuals developed the first psychic abilities: precognition, empathy, kinetic distortion. Others discovered something far stranger — what some called "magic," a chaotic fusion of willpower and ambient energy. And then there were the anomalies. Children who glowed in the dark. Teenagers who could walk through walls. Adults who remembered past lives.
Humanity was mutating. Rapidly.
300 years ago, we succeeded in building interstellar ships. The expansion into space began — and with it, a new era of exploration and conflict. Colonies were established on habitable moons and terraformable planets. Trade routes were opened.
Power struggles between the Houses and the planetary authorities escalated. A series of proxy wars erupted, culminating in the downfall of the Cryus Federation — one of the last stabilizing forces in the outer sectors. With its fall, an entire political era ended. Countless noble families vanished, absorbed or destroyed in the chaos.
But where there's war, there are always winners.
From the ruins of the old system, new names rose — powerful, ruthless, and hungrier than ever.
Today, five planets are claimed by humans:
Zeraph, Ragnet, Alpha, Beta, Gamma
A key role in this rise was played by a small group of humans who, through the Worldbreak and the influx of alien energy, developed extraordinary abilities. They became commanders, scientists, assassins, icons. The Houses sought them. The governments feared them. The people worshipped them.
Within just half a millennium, humanity adapted to this new reality — and managed to stabilize the surrounding regions through strength, diplomacy, and fear.
Zeraph is now the central planet. Two surviving supergovernments have formed a nominally democratic planetary alliance — fractured into factions, puppeteered by the Houses who truly rule from the shadows.
Ragnet, the first colonized world, was originally uninhabited. It now houses the high castes and major Houses. Then come Alpha, Beta, and Gamma:
Alpha and Beta are mixed-class worlds, though Beta is largely seen as a slum planet — overcrowded, underfunded, and raw.
Gamma stands apart. A military and academic world, forged for one purpose: discipline through fire. It is where every child — regardless of birth or blood — is sent at the age of fourteen.
Not to study. To survive.
And now… that age has arrived.
In the crowded urban layers beneath Zeraph's skyshield, a boy stood in silence, his eyes tracing the tower's silhouette.
His name was Kyron Kael.Tomorrow, he would turn fourteen.And nothing would ever be the same again.