The darkness enveloping the sky was not still, as Leo had imagined. It pulsed like a living entity, writhing slowly, as though the breaths of the abyss itself were exhaling above him. The sky in this continent—if it could even be called a sky—held no sun or moon, yet it was not entirely dark. A dim glow seeped through the cracks in the blood-colored clouds, casting a pallid light that bathed the earth in the color of ash.
He stepped forward hesitantly over the muddy ground. Each step made a sticky sound, as though the earth beneath his feet did not welcome him but was slowly swallowing him. The trees surrounding him were not trees in the true sense, but twisted black veins rising from the depths of the earth, like the remnants of some colossal creature buried for eons, its bones now regrowing.
*"Where am I?"* he asked himself for the thousandth time, but no answer came. No sound, save for the cold wind that resembled the grating of broken teeth, and distant screams—screams he wasn't even sure were human.
As he tried to make sense of his direction, the system screen appeared before him again, this time more stable, as though the world around him was beginning to acknowledge his existence.
**[The "Black Lotus" system has been activated.]**
**User:** Nul Fier
**Age:** 16
**Race:** Human
**Location:** Shadow Continent – Edge of the Abyss
**[Stats]**
Strength: F-
Endurance: F-
Speed: F-
Flexibility: F-
Intelligence: F-
Perception: F-
Magic Sense: F-
Resistance: F-
Prestige: F-
**[Energy]:** Undiscovered
**[Abilities]:** None
**[Blessings]:** None
**[Curses]:** None
**[Skills]:** None
The interface vanished as suddenly as it had appeared, leaving a trail of shivers down his spine. Everything about him was weak—no strength, no abilities, not even anything to prove he was alive. Like a ghost... no, worse than a ghost. A ghost at least had memories, had sensations.
*"F-... F-... F-..."* The letters echoed in his mind, and shame coiled around his throat like a rusted chain.
Leo couldn't stand any longer. He curled up behind one of the strange rock formations, wrapping his arms around himself. He wasn't crying—his body was just trembling on its own. Hunger? Cold? Or just sheer terror? He didn't know. Time dissolved, and with it, any sense of reality.
Hours passed... or maybe days. Then, suddenly, the silence was broken.
The sound of footsteps.
Heavy, inhuman footsteps. As though mounds of flesh were being dragged through the mud. And something was groaning—not in pain, but in... hunger.
Leo slowly raised his head and peered out from behind the rock. What he saw froze the blood in his veins.
A creature moved between the blackened trees. A monstrous being, its body misshapen, composed of heaps of flesh and bones, as though someone had stitched together multiple corpses into a single form. Its face was featureless, save for a single slit in the center that opened and closed like a hinged mouth, dripping with a thick, dark fluid.
*"Mmm... mmm..."*
The creature let out a guttural sound, like the bellowing of a slaughtered cow underwater. And it was getting closer.
Leo didn't think. There was no choice. He dropped to the ground and sprinted between the rocks with what little strength his exhausted body had left. His heart pounded violently, his muscles screamed, but fear was stronger than any pain.
He ran... then stumbled. A sharp branch jutting from the ground tore into his thigh, but the pain didn't stop him. He forced himself up and kept running—until suddenly, a strange circular void opened before him. A burned-out circle on the ground, surrounded by symbols carved in dried blood.
But he didn't stop. He didn't realize what he had just stepped on was a summoning seal.
The moment his foot crossed the boundary, the earth began to shake.
**[Warning: Forced synchronization initiated.]**
**[Warning: No registered summoner detected.]**
**[Warning: Gateway unstable.]**
The ground beneath him cracked, and the ancient symbols ignited with a dark blue light. Leo tried to leap away, but tendrils of shadow lashed out and seized him.
He screamed.
His body lifted into the air, encircled by a ring of blue mist.
**[Reverse linking in progress...]**
**[Loading host file...]**
**[Failure.]**
**[Loading alternate identity...]**
**[Partial success.]**
**[Warning: Signature of Nul Fier incompatible with the ancient system.]**
**[Reconfiguring...]**
His screams faded within the blue flash. Everything around him dissolved. The abomination that had been chasing him halted at the edge, watching with hollow eyes.
Then, just as it had begun... the circle stopped.
Leo fell to the ground. His body convulsed, his breaths came in ragged gasps, and the symbols around him had vanished.
He slowly opened his eyes, hot tears spilling down his face—though he didn't know if they were tears of pain... or realization.
In the silence that followed the storm, there was only Leo, lying in a scorched circle, surrounded by a dead forest... and a creature of flesh, watching him from afar.