The smell of rot was the first thing I noticed.
Not the cold stone beneath my back, not the copper tang of blood on my tongue, not the jagged rhythm of my breath trying to remember life—but the rot. Human, mostly. A few beasts. Bones cracked beneath me when I shifted. Something soft and wet squelched under my elbow.
So this was the end.
This was what they meant when they whispered "failures go to the pit."
I laughed, or tried to. It came out as a wheeze. My throat was raw, like I'd been screaming for hours. Maybe I had. There were gaps in my memory after I stepped onto the Ascension Circle. I remembered the blue light, the hum of the System scanning my soul, the heat… and then—
Nothing.
No awakening.
No power.
No interface.
Just pain. And then darkness.
They had dragged me from the circle like trash. A few villagers even spat at me, I think. "Born cursed," someone muttered. "Knew he wouldn't make it. Mother was a heretic." And so they dumped me here—in this grave of unworthy souls, where the System's failures came to rot.
I clenched my jaw and forced my body to move. Everything screamed. Bones, tendons, lungs. But I wasn't dead. Not yet.
That was the first betrayal.
The second came a moment later.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZING…]
[ERROR: CORE CONNECTION FAILURE]
[INTERFACE BOOTING IN SAFE MODE]
[WARNING: CORRUPTED DATA SIGNATURE DETECTED]
[DO YOU ACCEPT CORRUPTION?]
What?
I blinked. The words weren't in front of me—not really. They hovered in the air, etched into my mind like blood on glass.
[ACCEPT CORRUPTION?]
RUNE
I hesitated. Every sane part of me screamed no. The stories were clear: corruption twisted your soul, devoured your humanity. Accepting it meant death or worse.
But I wasn't sane anymore. Not after what they did.
And I had nothing left to lose.
I grinned, lips splitting open with dried blood.
"Yes."
> [CORRUPTION ACCEPTED]
[INTERFACE BOOTSTRAPPED: WRAITH SEED DETECTED]
[NEW CLASS: ———— UNREADABLE]
[USER: CAELUM VIRE]
[LEVEL: 1]
[TITLE GAINED: THE FORGOTTEN]
[SOUL STATUS: FRACTURED]
[SKILL ACQUIRED: "Echo Pulse (Glitched)"]
[CORRUPTION METER: 4%]
The interface flickered like a dying flame. Red script bled over white. There were holes in the HUD. Static lines. And behind it—shadows. Shapes I didn't recognize, watching.
My breath caught.
This isn't right.
But it was power. My own. Even in its twisted form, it was mine.
I sat up, gagging as my ribs shrieked in protest. My fingers brushed over bone, slick with old blood. The pit wasn't empty. Far from it.
A corpse stirred beside me. Not a living one. Just a twitch from some leftover nervous system decay.
Still, I scrambled back until my spine hit the stone wall.
[PASSIVE ABILITY ACTIVATED: Echo Pulse]
[Scanning nearby remnants…]
[SOUL REMNANT DETECTED: Rank F | Spear Proficiency I]
[ABSORB?]
My fingers tingled. The pit had gifts after all.
"Do it," I whispered.
[Soul Fragment Absorbed]
[Skill Learned: Spear Proficiency I]
[WARNING: GAINED FROM DEAD HOST]
[MIND STABILITY -1%]
A jolt of knowledge slammed into me. My arms remembered movements they never learned. Muscle memory I'd never earned. My heart raced—and somewhere in the dark, something laughed.
Not a voice. Not really.
Just pressure. Cold and ancient. Watching me.
And for the first time since the Ascension Circle rejected me, I felt something bloom inside my chest.
It wasn't hope. It wasn't rage.
It was hunger.
I stood, using a broken spear haft for balance. Around me, the pit breathed. Every pile of bones was a memory waiting to be stolen. Every corpse, a key. And above me, the surface world went on, forgetting I ever existed.
Let them.
Let them believe I died here, nameless.
I'd carve a name in blood if I had to.
And when I returned, I wouldn't be asking for justice.
Only payment.
With interest.