0 reviews
Chapters
6
Language
English
Genre
Published
October 16, 2025
In the holy kingdom of Islashia, every child is tested before the divine artifact known as the Button. The relic decides their social rank—Red for the elite, Orange for servants, Blue for outcasts—and claims to weigh the worth of every soul. For centuries, the Church has ruled through this hierarchy, preaching that obedience to the gods determines one’s place in life. When Choucette “Chou” Everhart, the mute son of a powerful noble family, steps before the Button, the sacred glow flickers a forbidden color: mauve, the mark of the vanished “Purple Class.” The priests panic and falsify his result, branding him safely Red. But in that moment, something awakens inside him—the uncanny ability to copy the Aether powers of others. He hides his gift, fearing the Church’s wrath and his family’s obsession with reputation. At court, Chou meets Zain Crescent, a brooding mercenary adviser hired by the crown. Zain’s defiant refusal to kneel before nobles intrigues Chou, while his quiet respect for Chou’s silence begins to thaw the boy’s isolation. As unrest brews across the city, the two are drawn together through shared curiosity and dangerous secrets. What begins as cautious trust deepens into something neither expected—an intense, forbidden connection in a world that measures souls like currency. Together they uncover a web of corruption linking the Church and a powerful crime syndicate called the Scarlet Veil. When they break into an apothecary that once tested Chou’s blood, they discover identical results on dozens of children—proof that the Button’s “divine judgment” is a fabrication. Hunted by priests and betrayed by Chou’s own family, they flee into the ruins beneath the city. There, Zain reveals the truth: he is the Immortal Child from legend—the one who vanished centuries ago when the Button first turned mauve. His immortality is not a blessing, but a curse that feeds the artifact itself. Haunted by the lives he’s watched die, Zain has lived too long to believe in love. But Chou’s wordless loyalty rekindles something he thought lost. In the shadows of war, they share moments of fleeting warmth—laughter by candlelight, fingertips brushing, promises whispered against the threat of death. When the Church declares martial law and begins executing anyone with “impure Aether,” their bond becomes both rebellion and salvation. As the kingdom prepares for a mass Re-Weighing, Zain and Chou infiltrate the sacred Chamber to expose the truth. But their ally, the cunning Bunny Carlston, betrays them to the High Priestess. Zain is captured and tortured as a heretic, and Chou faces an impossible choice: save the man he loves or destroy the relic that sustains the entire social order. In a storm of blood and light, Chou merges his copied powers—fire, wind, void—and shatters the Button. The explosion unleashes the souls it consumed, collapsing the hierarchy and flooding the world with untamed Aether. When the dust settles, Zain awakes mortal for the first time. The divine order is broken, the nobles reduced to equals, and the gods’ control finally undone. Chou is gone—his body dissolved into the freed energy—but Zain feels his presence in every pulse of magic, in every warm breath of wind. The boy who could not speak has become the voice of a new world. Now, as Islashia rebuilds from the ashes, Zain tends a garden where the temple once stood, listening to the soft hum in the air. The Button’s heartbeat has become the rhythm of the earth itself—gentle, human, and free. And somewhere in the silence, Chou’s whisper lingers: “You weighed my soul and found it infinite.”
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Start Writing NowSnooze Button is an aspiring author who brings a fresh perspective to the fantasy genre. With a passion for storytelling and a keen eye for character development, Snooze Button aims to create immersive worlds and compelling narratives.