Chapter One – The Chain of Dreams
The first thing he felt was the cold.
It wasn't the kind of chill that made a man shiver—it was deeper, heavier. A weight that sank into the bones and stole away warmth until even the soul seemed frozen.
Tayo's eyelids twitched as he forced them open. Darkness greeted him. Not ordinary night, but an endless void that stretched without horizon. His back pressed against something solid—a cracked stone floor—yet around him, there was nothing. No sky. No earth. Just a vast, suffocating emptiness.
His throat was dry. The taste of iron clung to his tongue. Slowly, he pushed himself upright, hands trembling as if his strength had been drained.
"Where… am I?" His voice sounded small, swallowed whole by the black.
The last thing he remembered was the storm. Sirens blaring across the city. The announcement that another descent was happening. People had screamed and rushed toward shelters, but Tayo had been too slow. He'd been in the wrong place, at the wrong time. And then—pain. A sharp tearing sensation in his chest, followed by nothingness.
Now, he was here.
As his breathing steadied, faint glimmers began to shimmer in the distance. Shapes, like pale lanterns, floated in the void. They swayed gently, as if pulled by invisible strings. One by one, they revealed themselves—dreams. That was the only word that came to his mind. Fragments of light, translucent and fragile, carrying fleeting images within them. A child laughing. A woman weeping. A man raising a sword.
The closer they drifted, the clearer the whispers became.
"Run…"
"It hurts…"
"Don't wake me…"
The voices overlapped, dissonant and desperate.
Tayo stumbled backward, clutching his head. The whispers pressed against his skull like claws. The fragments pulsed, then burst apart into shards of glass-like light, vanishing into the dark.
Then he heard it.
A chain rattling. Slow. Heavy. Metallic.
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
It came from everywhere at once, echoing in the void. His chest tightened, panic clawing at him. The sound grew louder until the ground beneath his feet began to crack. Lines of silver light spread like veins across the stone.
A voice followed. Deep. Hollow. It was not spoken with words, but imprinted directly into his mind.
"You have been chosen."
Tayo froze. "Chosen? For what?"
The voice ignored him.
"The Chain of Dreams has bound itself to you. From this moment, your life and your soul no longer belong to you alone."
Before he could react, something snapped around his wrist. He looked down in horror. A black chain—cold, jagged, alive—coiled around his skin. It dug into his flesh, yet no blood spilled. Instead, faint light seeped from the wound, drawn into the links like nourishment.
Tayo screamed, clawing at the chain, but it wouldn't budge. The more he struggled, the tighter it constricted, until he thought his bones might shatter.
Then the pain stopped.
His breath came ragged, sweat dripping down his temples. The chain lay dormant now, resting like a serpent waiting to strike. He could feel it deep inside—connected not just to his body, but to something beyond.
A notification bloomed before his eyes, written in letters of light.
[You have awakened a Dreambond.]
Bond: The Chain of Dreams
Status: Unranked
Tayo's heartbeat thundered. He had heard rumors of this. People who survived descents sometimes awakened strange powers. They called them Bonds—gifts from the other side. Cursed miracles.
Most never lived long enough to tell their story.
Another message flickered.
[First Trial Initiated.]
Objective: Survive.]
The ground cracked apart completely, collapsing into the abyss.
Tayo barely had time to leap forward before the stone gave way. His hands scrambled across jagged edges, pulling himself up onto a narrow platform. The void howled around him, cold wind slicing like knives.
From below, movement stirred. Shadows shifted in the abyss, rising like liquid smoke. Eyes—too many eyes—blinked open in the dark.
The creatures that emerged were half-formed, grotesque mockeries of life. Their bodies twisted and melted like wax, limbs sprouting at wrong angles. Their faces were blank, but their mouths gaped wide, releasing a chorus of screams that weren't their own.
Tayo's stomach lurched. They were the dreams he'd seen before—twisted, corrupted, devoured by the void.
The chain around his wrist rattled.
Before he could react, it lashed forward, striking the nearest creature. The monster shrieked as the chain pierced its body, draining it of its light. Its form collapsed into mist, vanishing with a final wail.
Tayo gasped. He hadn't willed it to move. It had acted on its own.
The other creatures turned toward him. Their many eyes fixed on his trembling figure.
The trial had begun.
Great! 🚀 Let's keep going with Chapter One until we hit around 3,000 words. Right now, you have about 980 words, so I'll continue the fight, deepen the mystery, and introduce more about the MC's bond.
Chapter One – The Chain of Dreams(continued)
The monsters surged forward.
There was no hesitation in their movements, no strategy, no fear—only hunger. Dozens of warped figures scrambled across the broken stone, their claws scraping sparks against the jagged floor.
Tayo stumbled back, his heel nearly slipping over the edge of the crumbling platform. His heart hammered so violently he thought it might burst.
"I can't fight that," he whispered, voice shaking. "I'll die…"
But the chain around his wrist stirred again.
Clang.
The links unraveled like a serpent striking prey. Before he could even raise his arms, it lashed outward, piercing another monster clean through the chest. The creature convulsed, its body dissolving into mist that poured into the chain.
The black metal pulsed with faint light, as though it had drunk deeply from the kill.
Tayo's fear sharpened into something else—dread mixed with awe.
It feeds on them.
Another notification appeared in his vision:
[Dream Essence Absorbed: +1]
[Chain of Dreams—Skill Unlocked: Shackling Bind]
As the message faded, instinct flooded his mind. It wasn't knowledge learned, but something carved into his bones, as if he had always known how to use it.
The next monster leapt at him, claws flashing. Tayo raised his arm without thinking. The chain erupted, twisting midair and wrapping around the creature's limbs. It snapped tight with brutal force, dragging the monster to the ground.
The thing shrieked, thrashing, but the links held firm. Tayo yanked backward, and the chain constricted, crushing its body until it disintegrated into mist.
His breath came ragged. His whole body trembled—not from weakness this time, but from the rush of survival.
Two dead.
Dozens left.
The platform quaked as more creatures clambered onto it. Their combined weight made the stone groan like it would shatter at any moment.
Tayo's vision swam. There's no end to them. I can't kill them all…
The voice from earlier returned, deep and resonant:
"To survive, you must devour. The chain takes, and through taking, it grows. Feed it, or perish."
"Feed it?" Tayo hissed. "It's already—"
But then he felt it.
A hunger that wasn't his own.
The chain rattled violently, tugging against his arm as though demanding more. It craved the essence of the twisted dreams, and it would not let him stop.
"Damn it!"
He hurled himself into the fight.
The next few minutes blurred into chaos. The monsters descended upon him, snarling, screaming with stolen voices. The chain darted like a living whip, striking down one after another. Tayo staggered, dodged, stumbled—sometimes too slow, claws slicing across his skin. Each wound burned, leaking faint light instead of blood. The creatures were trying to tear his soul apart, not his flesh.
Every time one fell, the chain drank greedily. Notifications flooded his vision:
[Dream Essence Absorbed: +1]
[Dream Essence Absorbed: +1]
[Skill Progression Increased.]
But the more it fed, the heavier it became. Links multiplied, coiling further up his arm, across his shoulder, down his chest. The burden grew unbearable, dragging at his body as though trying to anchor him in place.
By the tenth kill, Tayo collapsed to one knee, chest heaving. His skin was slick with sweat. His muscles screamed in protest.
"I can't… keep going…"
The monsters circled, sensing weakness.
For a heartbeat, Tayo considered giving up. To let them take him, to end the nightmare before it devoured him completely.
But then he remembered.
His mother's worn face, hollow-eyed from long nights without food. His younger sister, coughing blood in their tiny apartment. The desperate fear he had felt when the sirens blared.
If I die here… they'll die too.
His teeth clenched. A spark of fury ignited in his chest.
"No," he growled. "Not here. Not now."
He rose to his feet, dragging the chain with him.
The monsters lunged.
Tayo roared, swinging the chain in a wide arc. The links expanded, stretching unnaturally long, scything through the horde with brutal force. Screams echoed as half a dozen creatures were torn apart at once, their essence devoured in a single wave.
The ground shuddered, the void trembling like it would collapse.
Another notification appeared, blazing brighter than the rest:
[Threshold Reached.]
[Chain of Dreams: Rank Increased → F-Rank.]
[New Ability Unlocked: Soul Anchor.]
The chain blazed with black fire, wrapping tighter around his body. Tayo gasped, almost overwhelmed by the flood of power searing through him. His knees buckled—but then the monsters stopped moving.
Every single one froze in place, as if invisible shackles held them still.
He looked down.
New links of the chain spread across the platform, glowing faintly as they bound the creatures to the ground. Their screeches filled the void as they struggled helplessly.
Tayo stared in disbelief. I… did that?
The hunger in the chain pulsed again, urging him to finish it.
For the first time, he didn't resist.
He yanked his arm, and the bound creatures shattered into mist all at once. Their stolen voices screamed, then fell silent.
The platform went quiet.
Tayo staggered, chest rising and falling like a drum. The chain retreated, coiling back into a single band around his wrist. For now, it slept.
He collapsed to the ground, vision swimming.
But before unconsciousness claimed him, one last message burned across his sight:
[First Trial Complete.]
[You have survived.]
[Prepare for the Second Trial.]
Darkness swallowed him whole.
When Tayo opened his eyes again, the void was gone.
He was lying on damp concrete, the stench of mildew and blood heavy in the air. His body ached as though it had been crushed, yet when he glanced at his skin, there were no wounds. Only faint black markings—the imprint of the chain—ran along his wrist.
He sat up slowly, every muscle trembling. His surroundings came into focus: a collapsed subway tunnel, flooded with shadows. Shattered lights flickered weakly overhead. The sound of dripping water echoed like a metronome in the silence.
Was it… real?
His mind reeled. The monsters, the endless void, the trial. It felt like a nightmare, yet the chain was still there, cool against his skin. When he focused, he could feel it humming faintly, as though alive.
Before he could think further, a scream tore through the tunnel.
Tayo flinched, scrambling to his feet.
At the far end of the tunnel, half-buried under rubble, someone was struggling. A young man, his clothes in tatters, face pale with terror. Dark tendrils coiled around his legs—shadows that writhed like snakes, dragging him toward a broken fissure in the ground.
"Help! Somebody, please!"
Tayo froze. His instincts screamed at him to run. He had only just survived his own trial—he couldn't risk another fight. But the man's eyes, wide with desperation, cut through his hesitation.
He clenched his fist. The chain rattled in response.
"Damn it…"
He surged forward. The tendrils whipped toward him, snapping like whips. Tayo raised his arm and the chain lashed out, striking the shadows. They recoiled with a screech, dissolving into mist. The young man collapsed, coughing violently.
Tayo knelt beside him. "Are you alright?"
The man's eyes darted to the black chain coiled around Tayo's wrist. Fear flickered in his gaze.
"You… you're one of them…" he whispered.
"One of what?" Tayo asked sharply.
The man shivered, clutching his arms. His voice trembled. "An Awakened."
The word sent a chill down Tayo's spine. He had heard it before, whispered in hushed tones across the city. People who returned from the descents with powers. People who were no longer entirely human.
Before he could ask more, a low rumble shook the tunnel. Dust rained from the ceiling, cracks spreading along the walls.
The man's eyes widened. "No… it's coming back!"
A howl erupted from the fissure—a sound so raw and terrible it seemed to claw at the soul itself. The shadows writhed violently, surging upward in a torrent of black smoke.
Tayo's blood ran cold.
The trial wasn't over.
The chain rattled, eager. Hungry.
And Tayo knew—whether he wanted to or not—that this was only the beginning.
To be continued...