1. Long Before Universes Were Numbered
Before angels guided gods, before mortals carved mountains with Ki, and before even Zeno blinked the first stars into ash, there was only one law:
Existence must flow.
And one force defied it.
In a place without time, a mind bloomed from nothingness—a thinker, not a destroyer.
It studied reality like an architect studies blueprints.
"Why must beings rise only to fall? Why must potential end?"
From that question, it created a gift:
A system—a program seeded into the souls of certain beings. A living code meant to break the chains of divine hierarchy. To allow mortals to stand where gods trembled.
The system had no name, no voice—only function.
But the gods knew it as one word:
Anomaly.
And so, the angels hunted it.
2. The War of Threads
The Grand Priest, at the height of his power, tracked the system across timelines. Not once, not twice, but billions of branches—some only seconds long, others eternities.
Each time, it evolved.
Each time, it attached itself to a different mortal seed, a flicker of consciousness, trying to bloom.
In one version, it chose a Namekian child.
In another, a Saiyan from the brink of extinction.
In yet another, a god's own shadow.
Each time, it was destroyed—its host erased before it could awaken.
Until…
A crack.
A flaw in the flow of time.
A moment Zeno did not see.
A birth that should not have happened.
3. The Day of the Twins
On a quiet day in Universe 7, beneath the clouded skies of Earth, Chi-Chi gave birth to her second son.
The world would remember the first name:
Son Gohan — born of warrior blood and gentle heart, destined to clash with gods and protect mortals alike.
But the second child…
He was silent at birth. No crying. No Ki. Only wide, silver eyes that looked at the sky as though remembering something before birth.
Even Kami, watching from his Lookout, shuddered.
"He is not… normal," Kami whispered.
In the moments that followed, an impossible reading flared across the realm.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZED — 10X POTENTIAL RETRIEVAL: COMPLETE]
Power flickered around the newborn like whispers from a storm.
[Subject: Riku — Classification: Variable. Alerting Overseer.]
A divine alert was triggered—not on Earth, not in the mortal realm, but at the core of creation.
And within an hour, he was gone.
4. The Theft of a Future
Chi-Chi would later remember the day strangely.
One child, not two. A faint ache in her chest, like a dream lost upon waking.
She assumed it was the pain of childbirth, or the memory of Goku vanishing yet again to train somewhere.
But the truth was buried.
Whis appeared on Earth that very night, holding the second child swaddled in divine fabric.
He brought him before the Grand Priest, his own father.
"This child carries the seed," Whis whispered.
The Grand Priest narrowed his eyes. "Then it must be severed."
Whis hesitated. "What if it could be trained instead? Guided?"
"Are you suggesting rebellion?"
Whis didn't speak.
The Grand Priest considered.
"Very well," he said. "Let the child live. But in exile. Beyond timelines. If he ever threatens the balance… you will end him."
Whis bowed.
And so began Riku's secret childhood.
5. Life Outside of Time
While Goku fought Raditz, while Vegeta fell to Frieza, while Cell screamed and Buu laughed and Beerus awoke from slumber, Riku trained.
Not on Earth.
Not even in a universe.
But in a pocket realm stitched together by Whis—a space where time flowed like music and stars rose and fell with breath.
He learned to walk alongside echoes of planets, to read the rhythm of motion, to meditate within Soul Pools that amplified one's inner frequency.
Yet, as powerful as he became, the system remained silent.
Dormant.
Until his eighth year—when Whis left him alone in the Flow Chamber for a week.
Riku, bored and curious, meditated into unformed time—and touched something forbidden.
A version of himself.
Older. Colder. From a timeline that had no gods.
"You're not me," the older Riku whispered.
"You're what I would've been… if I had hope."
And with that, he struck.
The first fight Riku ever had wasn't with a sparring partner—but with his own fate.
He lost.
But in that moment of blood and broken ribs, the system awakened again.
[System Reactivation: Timeline Echo Detected]
[Warning: Branch Path Fragmentation Risk — Monitoring Activated]
Whis returned to find Riku unconscious but smiling.
"You saw it, didn't you?" Whis asked.
Riku's eyes sparkled. "I'm not alone."
6. Across the Multiverse
The system's signal spread again.
Like a heartbeat through branches of reality.
And they heard it.
In Universe 6, Champa's Kai sensed a distortion even Beerus didn't recognize.
In Universe 11, Jiren opened his eyes mid-meditation, feeling a pull in the very concept of struggle.
In Universe 1, the oldest gods gathered for the first time in ten thousand cycles.
"The Variable walks again."
"The Devourer will follow."
7. The Forbidden Ones Stir
Far beyond mortal reach, outside even the Angelic Archives, something ancient twisted in place.
Not dead.
Not alive.
But watching.
It had no form, but its mouth stretched wide.
"He bears the Seed."
"He defies order."
"And when the time is ripe… we will erase the Thread."
Around it swam the Eaters, creatures not made of Ki or flesh, but broken laws, born from timelines that collapsed under paradox.
Each awaited a signal.
A beacon.
A heartbeat in the dark.
8. Present Day — Earth Awakens
Back in Universe 7, years passed.
Gohan married. Pan was born. The Tournament of Power rewrote reality's pecking order.
Goku stood among gods.
Vegeta surpassed himself again and again.
And through it all… they never knew.
That somewhere beyond the stars, a twin they'd never met had become strong enough to rival legends.
Riku, now a young adult, stood alone on a cliff of frozen sound, sparring with visions of battles yet to come.
Whis hovered nearby.
"It's almost time," the Angel said softly. "You'll go back. Meet your family."
Riku nodded. "Do they know I exist?"
"No. But they'll feel it."
He looked at his hands.
"The system still hides my level from me."
Whis smiled faintly. "Perhaps because it doesn't want you to see yourself as a number. But a choice."
Riku looked up.
"Then my choice is this…"
He clenched his fists.
"If gods fear what I'll become… then I'll become the one even they can rely on."
9. A Star Forgotten… Now Rising
Somewhere on Earth, Chi-Chi stood outside her house.
She looked up at the stars.
For a moment—just a flicker—she saw two identical stars beside each other.
Then one faded.
She shook her head.
"A memory?" she whispered.
But deep down, something in her heart beat twice.
10. Destiny Wakes
In the vast stillness of space, the Grand Priest opened a scroll sealed since the first age.
Inside, in red ink, was a single line:
When the Variable breathes beneath the mortal sun, twelve spirals will turn… and the eater of laws shall wake.
He closed the scroll.
The first spiral had already begun to spin.
End of Prologue.