Rey stumbled forward, clutching his injured side. Blood had long dried and crusted over the torn fabric of his ripped t-shirt, but the pain hadn't dulled. It reminded him he was still alive. Barely. Every step echoed across the cold, stone floor of the chamber he had entered.
It was unlike anything he had seen before.
The room was vast—massive, ancient, and bathed in a dim, reddish glow. The flickering crimson light didn't come from any torches or sun above, but from the walls themselves. Glowing minerals were embedded across the chamber like veins, pulsing softly as if the structure itself was breathing.
At the far end, something called to him. Not with a voice, not with movement—but with presence. Rey's tired eyes widened as he approached the massive wall carved directly into the mountain's interior.
It was… a mural. No—more than that. A structure. A history. A message.
Nine enormous rectangular sections had been etched into the stone, one above the other, each layered like steps reaching toward some invisible heaven. Each section, or class as he first assumed, was far larger than the one beneath it. The deeper his eyes moved upward, the more impossible the scale became.
In the first section at the bottom, carvings depicted monsters—twisted, grotesque, animalistic. Their bodies were chaotic, their forms incomplete or corrupted. Fangs, horns, jagged limbs. Beasts that looked barely sentient.
The second section was double in height—and instantly recognizable.
His breath hitched.
He saw it—the monster he had killed, or at least one just like it. Half-human in shape but far more intelligent and deadly than the ones below. Their eyes burned with awareness. They weren't mindless.
And then the third.
Rey's eyes followed the wall upward, and the monsters changed again. Larger, cleaner in shape, almost regal in their brutality. Some floated. Others wielded strange weapons or magic. By the fifth layer, Rey's stomach twisted. These things were nothing like the beast that had dragged him here. They were something far worse.
The ninth was so tall that its top disappeared into darkness. Yet… it was blank. No creatures carved. Just swirling patterns like storms or voids.
A mystery.
But then… Rey saw it.
Near the edge of the second section—a symbol glowed. A simple red arrow, etched with eerie precision.
It pointed at the second realm.
Right where he stood.
His knees felt weak. He stumbled back a step.
"What...?"
Realization hit him like a cold slap. He hadn't climbed his way here. He hadn't fought up the ladder of this nightmarish place.
He'd been thrown into the second realm.
By that demon.
He never passed through the first.
He was never supposed to be here.
And now, surrounded by creatures smarter, stronger, and far deadlier than anything he had faced… he understood the truth:
He didn't belong here.
And he wouldn't survive long if he stayed.
Rey looked again at the first section—the bottom floor. The monsters there were terrifying, yes. But not impossible. Not like the ones above.
"If I have any chance to live…"
He turned away from the mural and clenched his jaw.
"...I have to go down."
Not up.
Not forward.
This place—The Abyss—wasn't a test to climb. It was a pit. A trial of survival through descent.
He had to find the path to the First Realm.
He had to become stronger—by going back.
Only then could he begin to fight his way forward.
And maybe… one day… climb.
But first, he had to descend into the darkness.
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