Chapter 1- The Price Of Ascension

🌑 Chains of Eternity

They said the Spell had no mercy.

It fell upon the world like a plague, etching sigils into flesh, rewriting destiny with a whisper that was neither divine nor human. Cities crumbled, nations fell into silence, and from the ashes rose a single, unbreakable law: Ascend, or be devoured.

For every human chosen, a brand was burned into the soul. The brand opened the way to the Dream Abyss, a realm of horrors and miracles where only strength meant survival. The lucky ones crawled back with power. The unlucky became bones in the dark.

But even among the Awakened, whispers carried a deeper truth—every gift from the Spell carried a cost. The stronger you grew, the deeper the chain around your throat. The more light you seized, the darker the shadow that followed.

And so, the world bled. Not from the monsters beyond the veil, but from the greed, betrayal, and madness of men chasing the illusions of eternity.

The Spell was a curse disguised as salvation.

And I—its latest victim—was about to learn its true price.

The rain tasted like rust. Kael stood on the crumbling edge of a rooftop, staring down at the alleys where the neon glow of broken signs flickered like dying fireflies. Somewhere below, a siren wailed, not the cry of police—those had long since disbanded—but of another family being dragged into the Abyss.

Kael was hungry. Not the sort of hunger you fix with bread, but the kind that clawed at your spine and made your vision blur. Days without proper food left me hollow. The orphanage had burned years ago; the streets were my only teacher since.

And tonight, the streets had decided to kill me.

“Run, rat!”

The shout came from behind. Heavy boots pounded on wet pavement, splashing water in furious rhythm. Three of them. Gutter thugs—bigger, stronger, armed with iron pipes.

Kael leapt from the roof, landing hard on the fire escape. The metal groaned beneath my weight, but I didn’t stop. I scrambled down, breath ragged, heart pounding.

By the time I hit the ground, they were already closing in.

“Corner him!”

Shadows stretched long across the alley as the thugs formed a circle. Their leader, a scarred brute with a grin missing half his teeth, swung the pipe lazily.

“You know the rules, rat. No coin, no life.”

Kael spat blood onto the pavement. “What if I told you I’m broke?”

“Then I’ll take what’s left of you instead.”

The pipe came down.

Kael moved before thinking, ducking low, scraping skin on brick as I rolled past him. My fingers closed around a broken bottle half-buried in trash. Not much of a weapon, but better than nothing.

The fight was short, brutal. My ribs screamed under every blow, but adrenaline blurred the pain. Kael slashed, kicked, bit like a cornered dog. When it ended, two were writhing on the ground, the third choking on his own blood.

My hands trembled. The bottle slipped from my fingers, shattering.

I’d killed before—rats, stray dogs, even once a man who tried to strangle me in my sleep. But every time, the weight pressed heavier.

And then, it happened.

The world froze.

The rain stopped mid-fall, droplets suspended in air like shards of glass. The neon lights flickered once, then dimmed into nothing. A voice, cold and merciless, filled the silence:

[You have been Chosen.]

Pain tore through me. My vision fractured into shards of darkness.

[The Spell has marked your soul.]

[You are Bound.]

Chains erupted from the ground, wrapping around my limbs, chest, throat. They burned like molten iron. I screamed, falling to my knees as the voice dripped like oil into my skull.

[Welcome to the Abyss.]

The world shattered.

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When I opened my eyes, the alley was gone.

I stood on cracked black stone beneath a sky torn by scars of crimson light. The air stank of ash and decay. Mountains of bones stretched into the horizon.

And in the distance, something moved.

A beast—its body twisted, six-legged, faceless—dragged itself across the wasteland. Each step left pools of ink that hissed and ate into the stone.

My chains rattled, pulling me forward.

[Trial One: Survive the Wastes.]

[Duration: Until dawn.]

My stomach dropped. Survive? Against that?

Kael looked down at his trembling hands. No weapons. No food. Just a tattered jacket and bruises from the fight.

But there, in the corner of my vision, something glowed. Words, written not in ink but fire:

[New Ability: Echo Fragment.]

[Type: Curse.]

I touched it instinctively. The world shifted. My shadow stirred.

It rose, blacker than the abyss itself, writhing like a living thing. And when the beast roared in the distance, my shadow smiled.

For the first time, so did kael.

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☠️ End of Chapter 1.