1 / 9A damp, mossy chill pressed against Sin’s cheek as his eyes fluttered open. For a moment, all he saw was darkness and flickering shadows. His body screamed with pain, every breath stabbing his ribs. Blood matted his bangs to his forehead.He lay on cold stone, half-buried in damp moss and fallen leaves. The forest’s thin light barely reached him here. Above, twisted roots snaked through broken stone walls, their ends dripping with cold water that pattered onto his spine. The air was thick with rot and mould, mixing with the metallic tang of blood still sweeping from his cuts.His leg burned with sharp, electric agony. Breathing shallowly, he tried to move. The pain nearly made him black out again. He swallowed against the rising nausea in his throat.
Where... am I...?
Fragments of memory returned – the serpent, the glowing glyph burning it to ash, the whisper that wasn’t a voice but an2 / 9echo inside his skull. He clenched his teeth, feeling his chest tighten with confusion and dread.
What… was that power…? Did… did it come from me…?No… that’s impossible… I don’t have any blessing.
He lay still for a long moment, listening to the quiet dripping of water. The ruin around him was silent., heavy with age and rot. Faint glyph markings glowed along cracked stone walls, their red light pulsing like dying embers. Moss crawled up every pillar, swallowing ancient carvings. Broken pottery lay scattered near collapsed doorways. The air smelled damp and stable, tinged with something burnt and bitter, as if old incenses still clung to the stones.
Summoning his remaining strength, Shin dragged himself forward, his fingernails scraping dirt and moss. Each movement sent shocks of pain through his leg, but he gritted his teeth and kept crawling. Cold mud smeared across his school uniform, mixing with dried blood. His breath came in ragged gasps, each inhale burning his throat.
The corridor narrowed into a low stone archway. Beyond it, the dim red glow revealed an open chamber carved into bedrock. Strange symbols covered the walls – twisted letters and pictographs that rippled faintly, as if alive. 3 / 9Flickering shadows twisted across the glyphs, forming shapes he couldn’t fully comprehend – beasts with horns and wings, humans kneeling in chains, swirling vortexes of darkness.
He forced himself upright against a pillar. His breath came ragged and harsh. On the chamber floor lay scattered bones, rusted weapons, and cracked pottery. Old corpses rested in corners, wrapped in rotting robes with faded gold embroidery. Some skeletal hands were still clasped together as if in prayer, others clawed at invisible enemies in death.
He squinted at the wall closest to him. Among the glyphs, he saw lines etched in old script:
> “Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Light, Darkness – the six essences that bind this world.”Another line, almost hidden beneath moss, read:
> “But beyond them lies the Abyss – the origin and the end. Forbidden, devouring, eternal.”His chest tightened as he traced the letters with trembling fingers.
Abyss…?4 / 9Further below, scratched hastily as if by a dying hand, was another phrase:
> “Those who wield the Abyss lose their name, their mind, their soul. Its power consumes all.
Shin swallowed hard, nausea rising in his throat. His vision blurred as tears welled at the corners of his eyes, unbidden. What… is this place…? Why does it talk about… forbidden essences…?
Another inscription, cracked in half but still legible, whispered a deeper truth:> “The Abyss is not magic. It is oblivion given form.”
His mind pulsed with a headache, throbbing deep behind his eyes. As he read the word Abyss again, an unplaceable fear rose in his chest. A flickering image – black claws, crimson eyes, and an obsidian thrown looming beneath shattered skies – burned behind his eyelids before fading just as quickly.
He pressed a trembling hand to his chest. His heart was beating out of rhythm, echoing the pulsing glow of the glyphs around him. For a moment, it felt as if the ruin itself was alive, its dim red light breathing in sync with him.5 / 9“No… I’m just… hallucinating…”
His vision swam. Darkness tugged at the edges of his mind, heavy and thick. He slumped back against the pillar, chest heaving with exhaustion and fear. Tears prickled at the corners of his eyes, but he forced them back.
Airi… mom… I have to go back… I promised…
His vision blurred with tears as another memory burned through the fog of pain – their apartment’s small kitchen bathed in yellow morning light. His mother stood by the stove, her thin shoulders shaking with a cough she tried to hide behind her sleeve. The smell of miso soup mixed with bitter medicine that lined the counter behind her.> “Don’t worry, Shin… It’s just a cold again…”She’d said, her voice warm but trembling.
But later that night he heard her crying in the bathroom, muffling sobs with her towel as harsh coughs wracked her lungs. The next day, he’d seen her pale face under hospital fluorescents as burses adjusted her IV lines, and she smiled weakly at him, eyes rimmed with exhaustion.
“It’s okay… you focus on your studies… my smart boy will become a doctor, right?6 / 9
His chest tightened until he could barely breathe.I promised… I promised I’d save you… not be trapped in this nightmare…What if I die here…? Who will feed Airi tomorrow…? Will she… will she wait for me forever…?
A sob choked his throat. He pressed a shaking hand against his chest, feeling his thundering heartbeat echo through his ribs.No, not here… not like this…His thoughts drifted to the training manuals in his school’s library – sword stances, breathing techniques, martial kata diagrams he studied between cram sessions. Not for fighting, but to strengthen his posture and endurance during long study nights.
Maybe… just maybe…He glanced at a rusted sword lying among scattered bones. Its blade was chipped and blackened with decay, but its hilt remained intact. Reaching out with shaking fingers, he dragged it toward himself. The metal was ice-cold against his palm.If I can’t use magic… then I’ll survive with this,
7 / 9His grip tightened around the cold hilt. Pain shot through his shoulders, but he ignored it.Step by step… if I can’t rely on anything else… I’ll rely on myself.
Slowly, he pushed himself to his feet, leaning heavily on the blade like a cane. His injured leg screamed in protest, but he grits his teeth until copper filled his mouth.He took a shaky step forward. Then another. The glyphs along the walls seemed to pulse brighter with each step he took, their red light reflecting in his dark eyes. For a fleeting instant, he felt… warmth from them. As if they were welcoming him home.
No… that’s… not possible…
Far above the ruin’s collapsed ceiling, beyond the curling mist drifting between skeletal tree branches, a figure stood watching.Veiled in tattered black, with a hood casting her face in shadows, she gazed down at the faint red glow rising from the hidden ruin below. Moonlight brushed against her silhouette, revealing only pale lips curled into a faint, cruel smile.She remained silent, motionless, the forest winds bending around her as if unwilling to touch her form.
8 / 9Beside her, perched upon a twisted branch, sat a massive crow with feathers black as spilled ink, its eyes burned crimson as it tilted its head, watching the ruin’s depths intently.The figure extended a gloved hand, stroking its beak lightly.
Still clinging to hope… even in rot and darkness…She tilted her head slightly. The crow shifted its talons on the branch, feathers rustling with anticipation.
How many times will you break before you accept what you truly are…?The crow cawed softly, its wings trembling in the moonlit silence.A faint sound reached his ears. Footsteps – soft, deliberate, echoing faintly down the ruined hall. His breath caught in his throat. Panic surged through his chest. He pressed his back against the damp stone wall, clutching the broken sword in trembling hands.
Someone’s here…The footsteps grew louder. A shadow flickered between the glyph-lit pillars. From the far darkness emerged a figure. At first, all he saw were glowing red eyes, gleaming like coals in the gloom. Then the creature stepped into the dim light.
9 / 9A massive wolf, its fur black as shadow and eyes burning with unnatural hunger. Its claws scraped the stone as it stalked forward, lips curling back to reveal rows of jagged fangs dripping black saliva. Dark veins pulsed beneath its skin, glowing faint violet with each heartbeat. Shin’s heart pounded so hard he felt his ribs shake. His hands trembled around the sword hilt.
I… I can’t run… my leg…
The wolf growled low, rumbling like distant thunder. Its red eyes locked onto his, unblinking.
Shin raised the sword, voice shaking as he whispered:
“Stay… back… please…”
The wolf lunged.
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