Chapter 5 – Abandoned
Dannie awoke with her whole body aching, as though she had been crushed under an unseen weight all night. Her muscles screamed with every movement, her chest felt tight, and the air itself carried a biting chill.
She blinked rapidly, trying to shake the haze from her mind. At first glance, it was her room—but something felt terribly wrong.
The place was a mess. Objects that had been neatly arranged the night before now lay scattered across the floor. Her desk was overturned. And her clock—her trusted clock that ticked faithfully every day—was broken. Its hands were frozen in place, refusing to move.
A shadow passed over her heart.
The room was dim, almost unnaturally so. For a moment she thought of simply pulling the blanket over her head and going back to sleep. But her unease gnawed at her, louder than her exhaustion.
And then she remembered.
The night before. The cold air. The shadows that seemed to swallow her whole. The sensation of her body dissolving into nothing.
Her hands trembled as she hugged herself.
"It felt so real… even if it was only a dream."
But deep down, she wasn't sure it had been a dream at all.
Slowly, she forced herself to the balcony. Pulling the curtain aside, she stepped forward—and froze.
Her breath hitched.
It was still their building, yes. But the world beyond… was ruined.
The streets were cracked and broken, as though an earthquake had torn the earth apart. Lamp posts lay collapsed across the road, their wires coiling like dead serpents. Cars were overturned and abandoned, rust spreading across their twisted frames. No lights shone. No hum of electricity. No sign of life.
The entire city looked like a ghost town.
Dannie's heart thundered as she stumbled back. She yanked the curtains closed, slammed the balcony door shut, and ran to her bed. Her hands shook violently as she clutched the sheets, her whole body trembling.
What happened?
The thought spun in her head like a scream she couldn't voice.
The silence pressed in on her ears, louder than any sound. She couldn't bear to stay alone in this ruined room. If she stayed here, she would break.
Forcing her legs to move, she rose and headed for the door. She needed to find someone—anyone. Perhaps in the servants' quarters. Surely one of them would be there. Someone had to be there.
Her footsteps echoed unnaturally as she moved through the hallway. The deeper she went, the worse it became—fallen picture frames, shattered vases, furniture split and overturned. The building itself felt… abandoned.
Her fear grew with every step.
At last she reached the servants' quarters. The door was already ajar. Slowly, she pushed it open.
"Cristine?" her voice wavered. "Elly? Anyone…?"
Silence.
She stepped inside. The beds were in disarray, sheets torn and twisted as though someone had left in a rush. But there was no one. Not a single trace of life.
Well—literally no trace of life. Except her.
She shivered. Insects scuttled in the corners, ants trailing across the walls as though reclaiming the place for themselves. The sight made her stomach twist.
Her lips parted in disbelief, her breath shallow. She began to shake.
Next, she ran to her siblings' rooms—Dhrea, Damien, Dustin. Even her father's chamber.
Empty.
Every room was the same: overturned belongings, broken furniture, signs of lives interrupted—yet not a soul to be found.
The great Silve mansion, once full of footsteps and voices, now stood hollow.
Only the wreckage remained.
Dannie clutched her chest, her knees buckling as she sank against the wall.
"Gosh… did you all abandon me?" Her voice cracked into a whisper, breaking into sobs.
"Why would you leave me behind…?"
Her tears slid silently down her cheeks.
She didn't know what to do. Didn't know where to go.
And worst of all—deep in her bones, she felt it.
This wasn't the same world anymore.
There was a creeping weight in her chest, an undeniable sensation that she no longer belonged to the world she once knew.
How would she ever go back?
Dannie shook her head violently and slapped her own cheeks, flinching at the sting. The pain only deepened her despair.
"Lord… if this is just a dream, please wake me up. Please…"
Her voice broke as she whispered into the silence.
With trembling hands, she returned to her room. She began picking up a few of her scattered belongings, as though putting things back in order could somehow make everything normal again. Then, exhausted, she collapsed onto her bed.
Pulling the blanket tightly over her head, she lay there in the suffocating quiet—her mind a storm of fear, questions, and a single desperate wish.
And then she felt it.
A sting in her left hand. Not sharp enough to make her scream, but persistent—digging, burning, refusing to fade.
Something was happening to her hand.
Dannie shot upright and stared. Slowly, painfully, lines began to etch themselves into her skin—dark strokes weaving together like ink, like fire carving into flesh. A mark was forming. A tattoo that hadn't been there before.
She hardly noticed the pain anymore. Her wide eyes were locked on the strange symbol emerging on her hand. It wasn't random. It wasn't meaningless. It looked deliberate—like a crest, an insignia. Something tied to the soul itself.
And then, as the pain ebbed, the mark settled. Finished.
Her throat went dry. Hesitantly, she brushed her fingers across the design.
The moment her skin touched it—
A flash.
A screen of light burst into view before her eyes. Not real, yet undeniable.
Text appeared across its glowing surface, words she shouldn't have been able to understand—but somehow did.
⸻
Name: Dannie Silve
Alias: N/A
Race: Human (100%)
Age: 16 years old
Sex: Female
Level: 1
Progress: 0%
Division: Soul / Spirit
Rank: B
Specialty: Beast Domination
Talent: Bee Evolution
Element: N/A
Attributes
Strength: 2
Agility: 3
Intelligence: 5
Constitution: 2
Points: 0
Core Skills
Bond Offering: 1
Obtained Skills
Weapon Mastery: 2
Observe: 1
⸻
Dannie's breath caught.
Her heart pounded so loudly she could hear the blood rushing in her ears. The glowing words floated in front of her, hanging in the air as if the room itself had conjured them.
"No… no, this isn't real." She shook her head violently. "This is a dream. This has to be a dream."
But the letters didn't vanish. They stayed—shimmering, shifting slightly as though responding to her thoughts.
Her gaze darted over the text. Name. Race. Age. Level. Attributes. Skills.
It was impossible. Completely absurd. Like something out of Dexter's storybooks, or the games she'd seen the servants play when they thought no one was looking.
She pressed her palm against her forehead, trembling.
"I've gone insane. That's it. I've lost it."
Yet her eyes betrayed her. They kept coming back to the words.
Division: Soul/Spirit. Specialty: Beast Domination. Talent: Bee Evolution.
Bee… Evolution?
Her throat went dry. Of all things, why bees? What did that even mean?
The insignia on her hand throbbed faintly in response, as though reminding her that it was real—that it was part of her now.
She curled her fingers into a fist, desperate to steady herself, but the mark only pulsed harder, glowing faintly with a golden hue before dimming again.
The blanket slipped from her shoulders. Her room felt colder, darker, the silence pressing even heavier than before.
"What are you trying to do to me…?" Her voice cracked as she whispered at the empty air. "What's happening to me?"
The screen flickered once, then stabilized. The words glowed with eerie finality, as though carved into her fate.
Her sobs had dried into shallow breaths. Somewhere inside the fear, a seed of something else stirred. Not comfort, not relief. But… possibility.
If this wasn't madness—if it was real—then maybe she wasn't abandoned after all.
Maybe this… whatever it was… had chosen her.
The thought sent a shiver racing down her spine. She clenched her hand into a fist, the mark burning faintly against her skin, a reminder that she was no longer ordinary.
And yet, the silence of the empty mansion pressed down heavier than ever. Her heart ached for her family, for answers, for the world she had lost.
When she wished the screen away, it obeyed instantly—vanishing in a blink. The room dimmed once more, as though swallowing the last trace of light.
Dannie lay back on her bed, eyes wide and unblinking, staring at the cracked ceiling above. Her thoughts churned like a storm.
"What do I do now…? Where should I even go?" she whispered into the darkness.
No one answered.
Only the distant creak of the ruined mansion kept her company, as if the house itself was breathing.
And as sleep refused to come, Dannie realized one thing with absolute certainty—
her life was no longer her own.