VOLUME I —
CHAPTER 1 — When the Sky Went Silent
The sky did not crack. It did not burn.It simply…
stopped behaving like a sky.
Aren Veylric noticed it first because the wind died.
Not slowed—died.As if the world itself had taken a breath and forgotten how to release it.He stood on the rooftop of a half-finished apartment block, the city sprawled beneath him in dull evening light. Horns blared somewhere far below. Traffic had frozen mid-motion, headlights glowing like confused eyes.Aren frowned.Silence followed.Not the peaceful kind.
The wrong kind.Birds dropped out of the air.They didn't spiral.They didn't struggle.They simply fell, like forgotten objects.One hit the road below with a wet sound.
A woman screamed.Aren's phone vibrated violently in his hand.
EMERGENCY ALERTUnidentified atmospheric phenomenon detected.
All citizens are advised to remain indoors—The message cut off.The signal bars vanished.Then the sky darkened—not with clouds, but with something deeper, like ink spreading through water.
Aren felt it then.
Pressure.Not on his body—but inside his skull.
He staggered back, grabbing the rusted railing as a low vibration rolled through the air. Buildings groaned.
Windows shattered in waves. Somewhere, a transformer exploded, bathing the streets in blue fire.People ran.They always ran.But this time, there was nowhere to go.The first sound came next.Not thunder.Not an explosion.A tone.Low. Endless. Mechanical—yet alive.The sky rippled.And something opened.
The World Ended in LayersIt wasn't meteors.
That was the lie that spread later, when people still believed lies mattered.What tore through the atmosphere were structures—vast, impossible shapes that ignored physics. Rings. Spires. Floating geometries that rotated slowly, as if observing.Red light spilled from them like blood.Aren dropped to one knee as the pressure doubled.Around the city, people screamed—then screamed louder—as symbols burned themselves into the air.They hovered above streets, buildings, human heads.Not everyone got one.Those who did collapsed.Those who didn't…ran.Aren felt fire crawl up his spine.
Something inside him answered.A presence he had never known—yet somehow recognized.
The pain peaked.
Then—
Darkness.SYSTEM INITIALIZATION
Aren woke lying on cold concrete.
The sky was still wrong.Smoke filled the air, mixed with the coppery scent of blood and ozone.
The city he knew was gone—not destroyed, but rearranged, as if reality had been carelessly rewritten.Cars lay upside down, crushed by debris that hadn't existed an hour ago.Screams echoed in the distance.Aren pushed himself up, chest heaving.
That's when the light appeared.A translucent blue screen hovered inches from his eyes.It did not flicker.It did not glitch.It simply was.
SYSTEM ONLINE
Subject: Aren Veylric
Status: Compatible World
Phase: Cataclysm Initiation
Role Assignment: PENDING
Aren froze."…What the hell?"
The screen responded instantly.
WARNING
Global survival probability: 3.1%
Civilization collapse: CONFIRMED
Aren's mouth went dry.
This wasn't a hallucination.
Hallucinations didn't come with clarity.Another scream cut through the air—closer this time.
Aren turned.Across the street, something crawled out from the shadow of a collapsed building.It was once human.Now it was wrong.Its limbs bent at impossible angles. Its skin pulsed, veins glowing faint red. Its mouth opened too wide, jaw splitting as it shrieked.
The thing's eyes locked onto Aren.
The blue screen shifted.
HOSTILE ENTITY DETECTED
Threat Level: E
Recommendation: EVASION
Aren's heart slammed against his ribs.Run.
He turned—And tripped over a body.A man. Dead. Eyes burned out from the inside.The creature lunged.Time slowed.Aren felt that presence again—the one from before—coil inside his chest like a sleeping beast opening one eye.
The screen flashed.
ROLE ASSIGNMENT AVAILABLE
Condition: Life-or-Death
TriggerAccept?
Aren didn't think.He didn't pray.
He didn't hesitate."YES."AWAKENING
The world dropped.Sound vanished.The creature froze mid-air, limbs twitching.Aren felt something tear loose inside him—not painfully, but decisively, like a lock breaking.
Darkness rushed in.Not empty darkness.Commanding darkness.The blue screen shattered and reassembled—this time in black.
ROLE CONFIRMED
Title: Sovereign of the Black AbyssAuthority
Level: Sealed
Demon Core: Dormant
The creature's body imploded.
Not exploded.
Imploded—folding inward as if crushed by an invisible hand.
Blood did not splatter.It simply… ceased to exist.Aren stood there, breathing hard, hands shaking.Around him, the city burned.Above him, the sky watched.And somewhere deep within, something ancient smiled.
End of Chapter 1
The world had ended.
And in its place—Something far more dangrous .