Ethan Gray had always known he didn't belong.
Not at school, not at home not even in quiet
corners of the world where people like him
we're supposed to feel safe.
He was the third child of an average family
living in a crowded city where noise never
slept and people rarely noticed anything
beyond themselves his family wasn't poor,
nor were they rich.
They lived in a small apartment paid their bills on time, and smiled in pubic like a perfect family.
But perfection was selective.
His brother, Daniel, was everything parents loved athletic, confident, popular.
Teachers paised him, reletive compared him
to others and strangers smiled when he spoke.
His sister, Lily, was cheerful, cute,and endlessly adored, she laughed easily cried
and was always forgiven
And then there was Ethan
quiet, introvert, always reading, always thinking.
A nead, they called him
At home, his parents spoke warmly to Daniel
and Lily. They attented Daniels games, celebrated Lilys smallest achievements. and
filled the house with laughter-laughter that somehow never reached to Ethan.
"Why can't you be more like your brother?"
"You should talk more ," his mother insisted people won't like you if you are always silent.
They never noticed that Ethan did talk-just
not to them.
He talked to books to stories of god's, heros
monsters, and world
where power answered efforts instead of favoritism.
In those pages, even the weakest could rise
in reality, Ethan learned early that didn't,t guarantee love.
At school, he sat near the window, watching
clouds drifts by while teachers leatured.
He wasn't bullied openly, he was ignored.
forgotten, the kind of existence that hurt more than cruelty.
During lunch, he ate alone after school, he walked home alone , and he liked that way because loneliness is familiar.
The evening rainfell softly over the city,
blurring the lights into hazy reflections on the the asphalt.
Ethan walked home with his backpack sling over one shoulder his head filled with thoughts about a novels he'd been reading
If only power was real, he thought lf only the world was fair.
The pedestrian siginal turned green Ethan stepped forword, he never heard the truck
the impact was sudden violent , pain exploded through his body for a fraction of a second then nothing
no sound, no light, on fear
Just silences
When Ethan opened his eyes, there was no sky above him.
No ground beneath him
He floated in vast endless darkness not cold, not warm, not empty it felt like being inside a breath that never ended.
Am I... dead?
The thought came without panic without emotion.
He tried to move, but he had no body he tried to breathe, but he didn't need to
Then —
Light
A gentle, silver-blue glow appeared before him, forming into a vast formless presence it wasn't frightening it wasn't comforting either.
It simply was
[ "Ethan"]
The voice echoed directly inside his soul
[ "Your life has ended."]
Ethan stared at the presences " so... this is it?"
[ "yes"]
He laughed softly- an almost amused sound
"figure."
The presence paused
[ "You show no regret."]
Ethan thought for a moment. " l don't think anyone would miss me. so what there to regret?
Silence followed.
Then the presence spoke again, this time differently.
[ "That is not true"]
The darkness shifted, and image appeared moments from Ethan's life he had never noticed. a librarian who smiled when he returned books a teacher who quietly corrected his papers with care a classmate who once wanted to talk to him but lost courage.
Small things, invisible things
[" Your soul is quiet," the presence said ,"but it is not empty."]
Ethan clenched what should have been fists
"if you're here to judge me, just get over with."
The presence's light pulsed softly
[" I am not a judge"
" I am the God of Souls."]
The name carried weight-not divine thunder but inevitability.
[" countless souls pass before me," he continued
"most burn brightly and vanish other rot before they die."]
The light focused on Ethan.
["You endured"]
Ethan frowned "Eudured what? Being ignored?"
[" being unchosen"]
The word struck deeper than any insult he had ever heard.
The God of Souls continued calmly.
[" There exists another world - Eldros."
" A world ao monsters, dungeons, god's, and abyss"
" It stands on the brink of destruction."]
Image flooded Ethan's mind : towering drangons endless undead armies, god's clashing with abyssal horrors.
[" One God sleeps in the abyss regaining strength"
" When it awaken, Eldros will burn."]
Ethan swallowed " And... what does that have to do with me?"
The God of Souls' Light sharpened.
[" I need a soul that can grow, a soul untouched by arrogance, a soul that understands loneliness... and still moves forward."]
The presence leaned closer
[ " I have chosen you."]
Ethan's heart- if he still had one - pounded
" Why?" he whispered
[" Because power should not belong only those born with it."]
Silence stretched between them then the God asked:
[ " Will you be reborn?" ]
Ethan looked back at his old world - his quiet room, his unread books, his empty place at the dinner table.
" No one will miss me, he said softly.
Then he lifted his gaze. but if I get another life..."
His voice hardened - not with anger, but with resolve
" I want to protect something, someone
I don't want to be meaningless again."
The God of Souls smiled - for the first time.
[" Then walk a different path."
" Be reborn."]
The darkness shattered into light
And Ethan's Soul began it's descents towards a world that would one day tremble at his name.
END OF PROLOGUE – EARTH