CHAPTER 1
The night was dark. A car had stopped at the edge of the forest. The young man inside was exhausted and silent. He checked his phone it had no signal. Taking a deep breath, he began walking into the woods.
The forest was quiet. It was as if there was no sign of life within.
After a while, he noticed something strange buried in the soil. As he got closer, he realized it was a mask or a seal made of stone and bone. The ancient symbols on it glowed faintly.
He couldn't take his eyes off it. His body moved on its own, as if it were calling to him. He couldn't resist. He had to touch it. His hand reached out and made contact with the seal.
Everything stopped.
Darkness fell.
When he woke, he found himself in a place empty and starless. There was no sky, no direction. The ground was dry and crumbled like ash beneath his feet.
This was neither heaven nor hell. It was a place in between. "Limbo."
Shadows gathered around him. They were neither human nor beast. They had no eyes, yet they whispered. They reminded him of his past: the mother he never knew, the orphanage, the screams no one heard…
One of them approached him. This wasn't a fight it was a breaking. The man fell to his knees, breathless. He was facing his own darkness.
Just when he thought it was over, a voice echoed:
"You… are our chosen one."
The earth split open. A crimson seal rose from the ground. The Shadow Seal had emerged.
The man hadn't chosen.
He had been chosen.
But this was no reward. It was a curse. Because the Shadow Seal chose the good…
To break them.
When he opened his eyes, he was lying on a wet, stony ground. His body was covered in cuts, his clothes torn. But the strangest thing… was the weight on his face. Something like a mask but it was alive. It breathed with him. It thought with him.
He stood up. His body was his, but his mind now belonged to something else. In the distance, he saw the lights of a town and began walking.
When he reached the edge of the town, a couple out for a night walk crossed his path. The woman smiled at first, then flinched. The man lifted his flashlight. The young man's eyes glowed but not like a human's.
The woman screamed. The whole town awoke. Doors opened, guns were drawn, people gathered.
The man said nothing.
But the voice inside him did:
"There is no more running. No more defense. You are the judge. Now judge."
And in that moment… his eyes went dark.
The next thing he remembered was a town covered in blood.
Bodies were torn apart. Screams had faded. Only silence remained. He hadn't been in control.
But it was too late.
The town was gone.
The people were gone.
Only a massacre remained.
And one more thing:
The first mission was complete.
The bearer suddenly collapsed to his knees. When he opened his eyes, he was in an unfamiliar place.
"This is Hell," said a voice something he couldn't see.
"You will return here after every mission," it added, followed by a sinister laugh.
Then, the bearer awoke.
A few kilometers from the destroyed town, deep within the forest, two young men were hiding in an abandoned cabin. They had been there for days. They didn't trust the system, and they stayed away from people.
But tonight felt different.
One of them, watching through the window, saw smoke rising in the distance. Then came the overwhelming silence… Something was approaching.
And then, from the shadows someone emerged.
He looked human, but felt like something entirely different.
Blood covered his body. Smoke still rose from his skin.
One of the two stepped forward, wanting to approach him.
But at that moment, the mission had already begun.
The Shadow Seal stirred inside.
"Those who witness…
Become either servant…
Or seal."