At first, there was only silence.
Not the kind that soothes—but the kind that weighs. Like gravity on the soul.
Caleb floated, eyes open, body limp.
He couldn't scream.
Not because he was afraid—but because sound simply… didn't exist here.
The world around him was made of black glass and shimmering veils.
Shapes moved, but left no trail.
He saw no stars, no floor, no ceiling—only endless twilight.
Then, a voice—not heard, but felt.
"You are not broken. You are becoming."
A figure emerged.
Not a being, not a shadow. More like a ripple—a memory echoing through glass.
It resembled Caleb. But older.
Hollow-eyed.
A version of him who had seen too much.
"This is the Abyssal Reflection," the figure said. "Your mind tore the veil.
Your body is the key."
Caleb struggled to understand.
Data scrolled across the black sky in foreign runes.
Every breath he took rewrote the space around him.
"Am I dead?"
"You were," the figure replied, "until you chose to see beyond the light."
The air split like pages turning.
From the space between glass folds, something floated toward him: a black book wrapped in mirrored chains.
The Book of the Abyss.
It pulsed with thought. Not power—intention.
Caleb reached toward it. It resisted. Spikes of shadow erupted to push him back. He bled from the palm.
"You must understand the silence," the voice said. "Only then will it open."
Then, the world cracked again.
Explosion.
Caleb's eyes shot open.
He was back in the lab—everything destroyed. Glass, smoke, alarms.
But his body... changed.
His left eye glowed faintly.
His shadow pulsed unnaturally.
The book was gone—but the sigil from its cover now burned faintly across his wrist.
He heard footsteps.
Security mages coming.
He whispered, "No one must see this yet."
The light flickered.
His shadow bent unnaturally.
And just like that—Caleb Noir vanished from the scene.
Only the legend was born..