Lyte of Utopia
Arc III.5: “Zero”
Chapter I: “Before the Fall”
Episode III: “Ryoda”
A young man sat cross-legged in the shrine’s inner chamber, breath slow, Flow quiet—listening for something deeper than silence.
The air smelled of incense and old cedar. Above him, carved panels depicted Utopia’s history—not as dates, but as resonance.
Can you hear me? Utopia…
For a heartbeat, the carved panels seemed to hum—then the sound slipped away like a dream.
A wooden staff snapped down—clean, precise—right on Ryoda’s head.
“Ow!!” Ryoda quickly opened his eyes to see his master standing before him. “Master Grom—what was that for?!”
The old Utopian was wearing ancient robes and carrying a beautiful wooden staff etched with Elandarian glyph-work—old-world carvings that looked like music frozen into wood.
“You still lack focus,” Grom scolded. “You keep reaching for the Spirit… instead of resonating with it. The Spirit isn’t a door you kick open, Ryoda. It’s a Song you learn to hear.”
“I’m working on it… jeez.” This old man… Ryoda thought as he rubbed his forehead.
Grom planted the staff into the shrine floor.
The wood rang—not as sound, but as resonance—soft and low, like a chord pressed into the room.
The carved panels answered with a faint hum. Ryoda’s skin prickled. He swallowed. For a second, he swore he could feel the hum behind his ribs—like the shrine was listening back.
“That,” Grom said, “is listening. Don’t tell me you forgot. There is a great responsibility on your shoulders.”
“Yes, I remember, Master.”
“There is a great history with the God of Utopia…”
Damn, he’s about to tell the story again…
“Thousands of years ago, the First God of Utopia rose—brilliant, hungry, and reckless. The First’s Craft could draw ambient aether like breath… and he didn’t stop at the air. With advanced aether manipulation, he extracted and consolidated power from the environment—then from the people around him. He stockpiled Utopian resonance and even the planet’s own breath, hoarding it until it became something else. Over generations, something answered him—the Spirit of Utopia, a will woven from planet and people.”
Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
“How long do Utopians normally live?”
“Most Utopians keep their youth for a century—some push past two. The First… they say he lived three centuries. Towards the later stages of his life, he passed the Spirit of Utopia on to his successor, the Second God of Utopia, who limited the absorption powers so that it no longer drained the planet, and hardly drained power from our people. In doing so, its growth rate decreased, but our planet and our people were able to maintain their strength.”
“What would have happened if the Second didn’t do that?”
“Well, then, we probably would not have such a beautiful planet to live on. We’re lucky to have such a bountiful world; many planets are just barren wastelands.”
“Wait a minute… if the First directly passed the Spirit of Utopia to the Second… then how’d I end up with the Spirit if the Fifth died in the war?”
“I was just getting there. I don’t believe I’ve ever told you this much about the previous Gods. Getting curious, are we?”
“Y-yeah, sure.” Ryoda blushed—he was usually annoyed rather than intrigued by Grom’s stories.
“The Third God of Utopia created a Harmonic Covenant, allowing the Spirit of Utopia to be inherited indirectly, in case a God of Utopia died before passing it on. He linked every newborn soul to the Spirit—so its resonance could be inherited even without a direct handoff. Some inherited faint echoes—what you now call Blessings.”
“So that’s why I can use the Blessing… also, what’s a Harmonic Covenant? Is that something I can do?”
“A Harmonic Covenant is not simply a contract—it’s a binding resonance. A vow spoken so truly that the very aether of the cosmos keeps it.”
“Making a vow… with raw energy? How does that work?”
“Old scripture says all aether returns to one origin. If that’s true… then every Covenant is a vow made in the presence of that origin—whether you understand it or not. And some vows,” Grom added, “are strong enough that the Song remembers them.”
“Then, what vow was made for Utopians?”
“I’m afraid not even I know that…”
“Oh… then, what comes next in your story?”
“Hmm, you’re trying to slack off, aren’t you, brat? You’ve never been this interested in my stories before.”
“No, no! I swear I’m not…” Ryoda put his hands up in protest. “It’s just… I think learning more about my predecessors would help me connect with the Spirit. You know—hear it instead of chasing it.”
“Hmph, so be it. The Fourth God of Utopia… in their time, enough power had been cultivated to reach the ‘God of Utopia’ state.”
“‘God of Utopia’ state?”
“Utopic Pressure is the Spirit’s aether circulated through the meridians—a presence that hardens the body and amplifies Yield. But when your Flow and the Spirit’s resonance truly overlap… Pressure becomes Force. This is a power so great that it was what gave birth to the title ‘God of Utopia’. Beforehand, the previous Gods were known more formally as ‘Kings’. By mastering the different forms of aether that exist, the true potential of a God of Utopia can be unleashed.”
“Whoa…”
“This power was actually achieved during the last Galactic War. Some call it the Third Cosmic War. Others say ‘Galactic’ because the Milky Way swallowed most of the fighting. Either way, there were still many Divine beings involved.”
“Really…? What kind of Divine beings?”
“I’ll save that for another day. This is the part of the story where I get involved. In the midst of the war, the Fourth—my master—passed the Spirit to my fellow disciple.”
“You were both the Fourth’s disciples?”
“Yes.” Grom’s voice softened. “She was my classmate… my rival… and—”
He exhaled through his nose, like the word still hurt. “—the only person I ever truly loved. She was brilliant. She invented countless techniques—Utopic Convergence among them.”
Grom’s hand drifted to her portrait. His thumb paused at the edge of the frame—where the wood had been worn smooth, as if he’d stopped there before.
Many times.
“But she wasn’t made for war. She belonged in temples and classrooms… not under screaming skies.”
“…”
“That woman became the Fifth God of Utopia… and the one who held the Spirit before you.”
“So, if she didn’t die… then you—”
“No.”
“But—”
“There is a reason for everything, Ryoda. And ask yourself—why did the title sit empty for more than twenty years? Because inheritance isn’t just blood. It’s resonance… and resonance chooses. You were chosen, Ryoda. It isn’t by chance that you were born with her power.”
Ryoda grimaced—then closed his eyes and forced his breath back into rhythm.
[Next Time on Lyte of Utopia]: “Red String”
[Yield Levels]:
Ryoda: 50,000
Old Master Grom: 2z