Chapter 4
The Dead World was silent.
Too silent.
Every step Kael took was met with the crunch of blackened stone beneath his boots and the lingering scent of decay in the air. The further he traveled into this cursed realm, the more he felt it — the cosmic energy that coiled around him like an unseen serpent, growing thicker and heavier with every mile.
And the monsters… they were changing.
No longer the E-rank creatures he had faced upon arrival. Now they were faster, stronger, and hungrier — A-ranks prowling in the shadows, their glowing eyes tracking his every move.
Kael's blade sang through the air, cleaving another beast in two. The corpse hit the ground with a wet thud, and yet… he felt nothing. No satisfaction. No fear. No joy.
His hands moved, his body fought, but his heart was silent.
A dangerous thought whispered in the back of his mind — Am I still human?
He needed to rest.
For the first time in days, he allowed his aching muscles to guide him off the path.
A cave stood ahead, its mouth yawning like the jaws of some ancient beast. Inside, the air was damp and cold. As Kael's eyes adjusted, something caught his attention — a skeleton slumped against the wall, brittle fingers gripping a worn, leather-bound book.
He pried it from the bony grasp. Dust swirled in the faint light as he opened it.
In the beginning, the Dead World was ruled by celestial beings and gods. Their power was beyond comprehension. But greed… greed was the death of this realm. They fought — brother against brother, god against god — until the land itself was torn apart.
The next pages were missing, ripped clean away. Only a few sentences remained on the final surviving page:
The deeper you go, the stronger the cosmic energy becomes. At the very heart of the Dead World lies something… something alive. If one can reach it, there may be a way out.
Kael closed the book, his eyes narrowing.
If there truly was a center to this place… then that's where he needed to go.
He stepped outside, ready to resume his journey — but then it came.
A voice.
Not a normal voice.
It wasn't sound… it was something deeper. A whisper that slithered straight into his mind.
Come to me…
Kael froze, scanning the wasteland around him. No one. Only that voice, pulling at his thoughts like invisible threads. Against all reason, he followed it.
The world around him grew darker with each step, until even the faint glow of the Dead World's horizon disappeared.
And then he saw it.
A woman.
Chained within a prison of glowing, shifting runes. Her beauty was otherworldly — black hair flowing like liquid light, eyes like the dark sky. But her aura… it was suffocating, raw, dangerous.
Kael's hand went to his sword. "What are you?"
Her gaze met his, steady and unblinking. "A prisoner… and perhaps your only ally in this place."
"I can feel your power," Kael said coldly. "If I free you, what stops you from killing me?"
Her lips curled into a faint smile, though there was pain in her voice. "Because you are the one I have been waiting for. Free me… and I will pledge myself to you."
The silence stretched. Kael's heart didn't race — it hadn't in a long time — but something in him shifted. Slowly, he raised his sword. The runes sparked as steel met magic, and with a final shattering crack, the chains fell away.
The woman stepped forward, her presence like the night sky itself pressing against him.
She knelt.
"I am Nyx," she said, her voice like the echo of a thousand midnight winds. "From this moment on, I am yours to command."
And for the first time in what felt like forever…
Kael almost smiled.