Ren closed his eyes. He was in dreams. In dreams…
Inside of his body, a voice stirred.
"A Ruler is awakened. It's time to show the world the true power of the Ruler."
Ren's body stiffened. He woke up, but not fully. It felt as though someone else had seized control, moving his limbs without permission.
He forced his mind downward into himself.
What he found was not the spiritual sea others spoke of. No calm water, no glowing tide of mana. Instead, an endless darkness stretched before him, swallowing everything. His voice, when he tried to speak, vanished without echo, as though even sound could not survive here.
Then, from the dark, a figure emerged.
The sea shifted, deepened. What had been void transformed into an eternal black ocean. Waves rippled without end. The abyss was alive.
Ren stared.
The figure bowed.
"Welcome to the world of darkness. Welcome, my master. A Ruler of Beyonders. Welcome to the one who is unborn, and who never dies. The Abyss offers you gratitude. Please, accept it."
The figure's form was tall, cloaked in shadows. Crimson eyes gleamed from an empty face. Chains of silver coiled around its arms, and tendrils drifted like smoke behind it. A spiral symbol burned faintly upon its chest.
Ren's thoughts wavered. He was both confused and strangely calm, as though his mind could not keep pace with what he was witnessing.
Then, the shadow changed.
Chains dissolved. Darkness peeled away. What remained was not a monster, but a maiden. Her hair was silver as the moonlight itself, her eyes two galaxies in motion. Then normal into green. Her presence carried stillness… so alien, yet undeniable.
She knelt.
"Welcome back, my master."
Ren staggered back a step.
"I... I don't understand. I don't remember you. Why are you calling me that?"
She looked up at him, her face calm.
"I know everything. But I cannot answer everything. I am bound. I am only the first to kneel."
Ren's voice dropped. "Bound by who?"
Her smile thinned. "By you."
He froze. He forced himself to speak. "Where am I? Who are you? Why do you call me Ruler? And who are the Beyonders?"
The girl lifted her head. Her smile did not answer. Shadows fell away from her face, leaving only mystery.
Her form shimmered. Her words came slowly, each like a drop falling into a bottomless well.
"This place is the Soul Abyss. It is not memory, not dream, but deeper than both. It is your core. Most possess a mana sea. You do not. Your soul is not a vessel. It is an abyss. It devours. It rewrites. It swallows all it touches."
Ren looked around again. The darkness rippled like water now, stretching endlessly, filled with stars far beyond reach.
"A world inside me?"
"Yes. It is where your real self sleeps. Where your power was born. Most people have a mana sea. A place where their energy rests, shaped by thoughts and emotions. But you... you don't have a sea. You have an abyss."
Ren frowned. "What does that mean?"
"It means your soul does not rest. It devours. It rewrites. It swallows what it touches and makes it part of itself."
She turned slowly, raising her hand toward the sky. In the distance, a massive whirlpool of stars formed above the dark ocean. It spun quietly, slowly, with a spiral that looked like the mark on her forehead.
"This abyss is you. Your true core. Your soul has no surface, no floor, no walls. Only depth."
Ren took a step toward the edge. The surface below his feet shifted, and he saw his own reflection staring up at him, faint and uncertain.
"And the Beyonders?" he asked.
She looked back.
"They are the ones like you. Those who do not belong to the world as it is. Born outside the chains of gods, fate, and time. Each of them touched the Abyss in their own way. But only one can become the Ruler."
She stepped closer, her voice dropping.
"Only one can awaken the Soul Abyss fully."
Her voice softened as she stepped closer.
"That one is you."
Ren's hands trembled. The more he heard, the less sense the world made. And yet, deep inside, a part of him accepted it. An instinct that defied logic.
"Then tell me," Ren said quietly. "Why does it feel like everything is connected? My dreams… this place… you."
The girl's eyes glimmered.
"Because it is. Your dreams are fragments of truth. I cannot answer them. Not now. If you learn too soon, it will break you."
"You are right, Master," she said softly. "Everything is connected. Your dreams, your life, your power… even me. But I can't tell you everything now."
"Why not?" Ren asked. "Why keep secrets?"
She stopped in front of him and looked into his eyes.
"Because you're not ready yet. To understand the truth of this universe, you need strength. Real strength. Only when you become powerful enough, when you see this world from above, will your questions have answers."
Ren looked down, his fists clenched. "So I have to fight? Just to understand myself?"
She nodded. "Yes. The truth is not given. It must be earned."
Ren looked up again. "Then at least tell me who you are."
She smiled gently.
"My name is Nyxa. I am the Abyss shaped into form. A guide. A shadow. A memory. And maybe something more. I was born from darkness… but I am also part of your story."
Ren blinked. "What do you mean?"
Nyxa turned, facing the swirling sky above.
"Your dreams," she said. "The visions you see when you sleep… they are not dreams. They are pieces. Clues. Memories, maybe… or warnings. I am in them because your path and mine are tied together."
"Then why won't you explain them?" Ren asked, frustrated.
"Because if I do," Nyxa said, turning back to him, "you will lose the strength to walk your path. Some answers destroy people before they are ready. You must reach the end yourself."
Ren stayed quiet. A strange sadness filled his chest.
Nyxa stepped closer and reached out. Her fingers touched his chest, right over his heart.
"You can become something greater than anyone has seen. But it comes with a price."
Ren's breath caught.
"You must give up your past. Your doubt. Your fear. Your emotions."
He looked at her in disbelief. "All of them?"
"All," she said. "Except one."
She smiled again, calm, beautiful, and sad.
"In your heart, only one person will remain. Me."
Ren felt a cold wind pass through him, even though no wind blew in this place.
"Why only you?"
"Because I am the only part of you that won't fade when everything else is gone."
Ren took a step back.
"And if I say no?"
Nyxa tilted her head. "Then you will live in confusion. The world will break you. And you will never understand who you are… or why you were born."
Ren looked down at his hands. He remembered the faces of the people he had met. Their voices. Their warmth. His dreams. His pain.
Then he looked back at Nyxa.
She was the only thing in this place that felt real.
His voice was quiet, but steady.
"Then help me become that person. Even if it means losing everything.But I have one condition that is before I be that person you told me earlier, I want that you don't take my feelings at least. When the time comes I will sacrifice everything that I need."
Nyxa looked towards Ren and smiled like something is repeated in the same way....
Then she spoke...
"As your wish my master."
Then Nyxa placed her hand over his heart again. This time, her touch felt warm.
"I will. From this moment, your path begins."
The Soul Abyss around them began to ripple. The stars above moved. The darkness beneath his feet felt alive.
Ren closed his eyes.
And took the first step.
When Nyxa touched Ren's chest, a strange warmth spread through his body.
And then everything went dark.
He lost all sense of time.
The endless Soul Abyss vanished like smoke.
Ren's eyes opened slowly.
He was back.
Back in the real world.