The ruins of the forgotten city were silent that night the kind of silence that pressed into the bones and made even the smallest breath feel too loud the air was heavy with smoke and dust though no fires burned anymore only ashes remained scattered across the streets like the final memories of a world that had once dreamed of greatness shattered towers reached into the sky like broken fingers clawing at a heaven that had abandoned them long ago and in those ruins walked a boy whose name carried no weight in history Koda
He was thin his frame sharpened by hunger his eyes dim but steady as he picked his way through collapsed stone and twisted steel each step slow but determined he carried no weapon no armor no token of protection only the ragged clothes that hung from his body yet he walked on for there was nowhere else to go survival was not a choice it was simply the curse that chained him to each passing day
Koda paused before what had once been a fountain its basin cracked dry the statue at its center toppled and broken his reflection wavered faintly in the shallow pool of rainwater that had gathered there he looked at himself a stranger in his own eyes
Koda : Why am I still here why am I the one left standing when everything else has fallen
The question lingered in the air unanswered only the sigh of wind through the hollow streets replied he turned away pulling his tattered cloak tighter against the cold and began to walk again the night deepened shadows thickened and the broken city seemed to stretch endlessly before him
Then the world changed
It began as a whisper in the air so faint he thought it might be a dream but it grew louder deeper until the very stones beneath his feet trembled the sky above cracked open a wound of light and shadow spilling across the stars Koda froze his breath caught in his throat as the heavens bled chaos
From the rift descended the Abyssborn their forms ever shifting claws like storms eyes like voids each step they took bent reality itself as if the laws of the world had no power over them they did not simply destroy they consumed matter memories even the air seemed to vanish wherever they walked the forgotten city that had endured for centuries began to dissolve into nothingness
Koda stumbled back heart racing his hands trembling he could not run there was nowhere to run he could not fight he had nothing but his frail body and the will that had carried him this far and when the nearest creature turned its gaze upon him he felt his very soul being torn apart
Koda : This is the end
The Abyssborn lunged claws reaching for his chest and in that instant time stopped the world froze every sound cut away every motion locked in stillness all except for Koda a voice older than stars resonated in the hollow of his soul neither male nor female neither gentle nor harsh
Voice : You have been chosen bearer of the Nexus rise or be erased
Light seared through his chest carving symbols into his skin his breath caught as power unlike anything he had ever known coursed through his veins his shadow ignited with fire his lungs roared with thunder and in his hands formed a blade not forged of steel but of fractured stars shards of forgotten suns bound by the gravity of eternity
Koda stared at it his reflection burning in its surface the Abyssborn still frozen before him waiting for time to resume
Koda : Chosen me but I am nothing I cannot be this
Voice : Endure that is all destiny asks
Time returned the Abyssborn struck its claw like a storm breaking upon him Koda raised the blade without thought and swung there was no scream no wound no trace the creature was not slain it was erased wiped clean as though it had never been written into existence the space where it had stood was empty pure and silent
Koda fell to his knees his heart pounding his arms shaking the blade hummed with quiet power its fractured light burning against the night he looked at his hands at the glowing mark upon his chest
Koda : What have I become
The city around him shuddered the rift in the sky widened more Abyssborn poured through countless shapes countless hungers their eyes fixed upon him yet mingled with their hunger was something else fear they recognized the power he carried the Nexus and they wanted it
Koda forced himself to stand legs unsteady the blade heavy in his grip he was powerless once but not now not anymore even if he did not understand what he was even if he doubted himself he could not kneel before them he would rise
The night became chaos Koda swung the blade arcs of starlight tearing through the shadows each strike burned away the Abyssborn yet for every one erased ten more descended he fought desperately his breath ragged his arms aching but the Nexus fed him power driving him onward
Between strikes he heard them whisper not with voices but with the echo of thought words carried from a depth beyond creation
Abyssborn : Nexus bearer devour him chain him erase him before he awakens
Koda staggered back surrounded his cloak torn his skin marked with shallow wounds though none bled like mortal wounds they were burns of reality itself his chest burned with every heartbeat the Nexus pulsing like a second soul inside him
Koda : I cannot win not like this
And yet he raised the blade again unwilling to bow unwilling to surrender as the creatures closed in the rift in the sky trembled once more and from its depths a shadow fell not like the Abyssborn but something greater a presence vast and consuming it descended with wings of broken constellations its gaze heavy enough to crush mountains
Voice : Bearer of the Nexus your trial begins
Koda staggered his knees nearly buckling as the immense figure touched the ground reality warping around its form unlike the others it did not rush to devour him it simply stood watching testing waiting
Koda tightened his grip on the blade his breath sharp his fear overwhelming and yet beneath it all a spark of defiance
Koda : If this is the trial then I will not fall I will endure
The battle of his life was only beginning and the ruins of the forgotten city would soon become the stage where destiny itself decided if Koda was meant to rise or vanish with the ashes of the world