Chapter 1 – The Summoning

He couldn’t breathe.

At first, there was nothing—no body, no gravity, no time. Just pain, hot and unrelenting, like his soul had been put through a furnace and hammered into shape. Then it stopped. All at once.

Riku hit the ground hard.

He landed on smooth marble, cold and unwelcoming. He gasped, curling onto his side, his hands scraping across the floor. Air rushed back into his lungs, but it was thick and too warm, laced with something metallic.

He coughed violently.

Then he looked up.

He wasn’t home.

He wasn’t anywhere he recognized.

The room stretched beyond reason. Pillars of obsidian twisted upward into a burning sky overhead. Flames hung suspended in the air like stars, casting flickering light across golden arches and crimson banners embroidered with runes that pulsed like heartbeats.

And at the far end—on a throne that looked carved from a dying sun—sat her.

A woman cloaked in fire.

Hair like flowing magma. Eyes the color of freshly spilled blood. Skin glowing with divine heat. She didn’t just look powerful—she was power, and she wore it like a crown.

The Flame Queen.

Riku had no idea how he knew that. But he did.

Beside him, someone else stirred.

A boy—maybe his age, maybe older—stood tall and regal. Blonde hair perfectly tousled. White robes with golden trim. A radiant aura clung to him like perfume.

He blinked once, then looked around with wide eyes.

“Whoa… this place is amazing.”

Riku dragged himself up onto his knees.

“What… is this?”

The Flame Queen stood.

Her voice echoed across the hall like thunder dressed in silk.

“Two souls. Two threads pulled into the loom of fate.”

She descended from her throne, each step leaving molten marks on the marble. Her eyes never left the golden boy.

“You. I felt your potential even across realms. Your soul shines with alignment. With devotion. With order.”

The boy stepped forward, practically glowing. “So… I was really chosen?”

“You were summoned,” she purred. “To bring balance. To cleanse this world of rot.”

He straightened. “I won’t let you down, my lady.”

She smiled.

Then her eyes flicked toward Riku.

And the heat in the room changed.

Her smile vanished.

“What is… that?”

Riku stiffened. “I’m sorry, what?”

The queen narrowed her eyes. “You… do not belong here.”

“Yeah, no kidding. One second I was at home eating instant ramen, and now I’m in some hell-drenched fire palace with a goddess giving me the stink-eye.”

The golden boy took a cautious step away from Riku.

The queen’s gaze turned razor-sharp.

“You were not summoned by my will. Your soul is tainted—touched by a power that is not mine.”

Riku stood fully now, shaky but defiant. “I didn’t ask to be here.”

“And I didn’t call you.”

She raised her hand. Flames curled around her fingers.

“You are an error. A parasite attached to the summoning. A splinter in divinity.”

The golden boy glanced nervously between them. “Maybe he could still—”

“I don’t need him,” she snapped. “He is weak. Ordinary. Contaminated.”

The flames in her hand surged.

“You are nothing.”

And then the floor beneath Riku’s feet vanished.

There was no time to scream.

Only light. And heat. And then—

He hit the ground again.

But this time, it wasn’t marble.

It was dirt.

Rough. Sharp. Unforgiving.

He rolled down a hill of gnarled roots and twisted thorns, smashing into rocks and dead branches. His shoulder cracked against a stump, and his world turned white with pain.

He stopped moving when he slammed into a tree.

For a moment, he couldn’t breathe.

Then the system activated.

[SYSTEM BOOTING…]
[ERROR – SOUL SYNC INTERFERENCE DETECTED]
[CALIBRATION OVERRIDE COMPLETE]
[WELCOME: RIKU KUROGANE]

A glowing red window appeared in front of his face. It flickered, warped, then stabilized.

LEVEL: 1
CLASS: NONE
TITLE: NONE
STATUS: WOUNDED – FRACTURED SHOULDER – INTERNAL BLEEDING – DISORIENTED
LOCATION: DEMON’S FOREST (BORDER ZONE)
SURVIVAL RATE: 14%

Riku blinked at the interface.

“...What the hell is this?”

A low snarl answered him.

He turned his head—and saw eyes.

Dozens of them.

Glowing red, clustered in the dark. Watching him from the trees. A beast slithered forward—twice the size of a lion, with matted fur, bone-plated limbs, and a mouth full of rotating teeth.

The interface pulsed.

[THREAT DETECTED – LEVEL 12 – HOSTILE]
[WARNING: COMBAT NOT RECOMMENDED]

“No kidding—!”

The beast lunged.

Riku rolled, pain screaming through his ribs. He grabbed a branch and swung it instinctively. The wood shattered against the monster’s face, barely slowing it.

He scrambled up and ran.

Branches tore at his clothes. Thorns bit into his legs. The HUD blinked over and over, tracking his stamina, HP, location.

The forest closed around him like a noose.

He ducked into a hollow beneath a rotting log, heart pounding. The beast thundered past, crashing through the underbrush, sniffing, howling.

And then it was gone.

Riku didn’t move.

Couldn’t.

He lay in the mud, shaking, bleeding, alone.

The interface shifted.

[You have been rejected.]
[You were not chosen.]
[You were discarded.]

[So rise. Or die forgotten.]

Riku stared up through the cracked canopy at the red-hued sky.

His shoulder ached. His mouth tasted like iron. But his hands curled into fists.

“I won’t die here,” he said aloud.

His voice didn’t shake.

[System Sync: 6%]
[Skill Unlock Threshold: Approaching]

He closed his eyes and forced himself to breathe.

The goddess had tried to erase him.

But she’d made one mistake.

She left him alive.