The world ended quietly at first.
There were no alarms, no sirens, no warnings written across the sky. Just a sound—deep, hollow, and wrong—like the earth itself had exhaled after holding its breath for too long.
Kai Veyron was fifteen years old when the ground split open.
He stood at the edge of the market street, a paper bag of bread tucked under his arm, sunlight warming his face. It was supposed to be a normal day. His mother had sent him out early, smiling as she always did, reminding him not to forget the honey cakes if they were fresh.
Kai never forgot the honey cakes.
The sound came again.
This time, people heard it.
The stone road trembled beneath his feet. Birds scattered from rooftops. Somewhere nearby, glass shattered. Conversations died mid-sentence as everyone turned toward the center of the plaza.
Then the ground cracked.
A jagged line tore through the stone like a wound, glowing faintly with a sickly violet light. The air warped above it, bending as if reality itself was being pulled inward.
Someone screamed.
The crack widened, stone collapsing into darkness as a massive circular pit formed, descending far deeper than should have been possible. From within it came a presence—heavy, oppressive, ancient.
And then… something climbed out.
It wasn't human. It wasn't anything Kai had words for. Its body was twisted muscle and blackened bone, eyes glowing like dying embers. Clawed hands gripped the edge of the dungeon entrance as it pulled itself free, releasing a low, guttural growl that vibrated through Kai's chest.
Monsters.
That was the word people would use later.
At that moment, all Kai knew was fear.
The creature lunged.
The plaza erupted into chaos. People ran, shouting, knocking each other down in their panic. The monster tore through the crowd with terrifying ease, its claws ripping stone as if it were cloth.
Kai dropped the bread.
His heart hammered in his ears as he turned and ran.
"Kai!"
His mother's voice.
He spun around.
She was standing at the far end of the street, his father beside her, both frozen in place as another shape emerged from the dungeon—taller, broader, worse.
"Kai, run!" his father shouted.
But Kai couldn't move.
The monster moved instead.
What followed wasn't something Kai could ever fully remember—only fragments burned into his mind. The sound of his mother screaming his name. His father charging forward with nothing but a broken stall pole. The flash of claws. The smell of blood in the air.
Then silence.
The world didn't end with fire or light.
It ended with Kai on his knees, hands shaking, staring at bodies that didn't move.
That was the day dungeons appeared.
And it was the day Kai Veyron lost everything.
Years passed.
Dungeons spread across the world like scars that never healed. Cities built walls. Nations collapsed. New laws were written in blood and desperation.
And people discovered something else.
When monsters died, something was left behind.
Aura.
An invisible energy that flowed into the one who struck the killing blow—strengthening the body, sharpening the mind, hardening the soul. Those who gained enough Aura became something more than human.
They became Hunters.
Kai was not one of them.
Not yet.
At fifteen, he lived on the outskirts of the city, in a cramped shelter built from salvaged metal and cracked stone. The walls were thin, the nights cold, but he survived.
Survival was something Kai had become very good at.
He worked odd jobs during the day—hauling supplies, repairing barriers, cleaning dungeon refuse. At night, he trained alone in abandoned lots, swinging a dull blade until his arms screamed.
He had no teacher.
No talent.
No Aura.
But he had a promise.
"I'll kill them," he whispered every night, staring at the faint glow of distant dungeon entrances. "All of them. Even the god that commands them."
The God of Monsters.
A name spoken only in fear and rumor. The being said to have opened the first dungeon. The one responsible for everything Kai had lost.
Hatred kept him moving when exhaustion tried to drag him down.
The notification came the night everything changed.
Kai had just finished another failed attempt at dungeon entry. The guards laughed as they shoved him back, mocking his lack of clearance, his empty Aura signature.
"Come back when you're worth something," one of them sneered.
Kai walked away without a word.
He was halfway home when the air shifted.
The world seemed to pause—just for a heartbeat.
Then a translucent screen appeared before his eyes.
[DUNGEON BREACH — UNREGISTERED]
[LOCATION: SECTOR E-7]
[RESPONSE REQUIRED]
Kai froze.
Unregistered breaches were death sentences. No guards. No Hunters. Just monsters spilling into civilian zones.
Sector E-7.
That was… close.
Too close.
People screamed in the distance.
Kai didn't think.
He ran.
The breach was smaller than the one that had taken his family—but no less terrifying. A narrow dungeon gate pulsed with unstable Aura, its edges flickering violently.
Three monsters had already emerged.
They were wolf-like, with elongated limbs and glowing eyes, snapping at anything that moved. A fallen streetlight sparked nearby, casting wild shadows across the alley.
A man lay against the wall, bleeding, unable to stand.
Kai swallowed hard.
Every instinct told him to run.
But another voice—older, colder—rose inside him.
If you run now, you'll always run.
Kai gripped his blade.
It was cheap. Rusted. Barely balanced.
But it was all he had.
He stepped forward.
The nearest monster noticed him instantly.
It lunged.
Kai barely rolled out of the way as claws tore through the ground where he'd been standing. He slashed wildly, the blade biting into dark flesh.
The monster howled.
Pain flared across Kai's arm as he was thrown into the wall. His breath left him in a sharp gasp. The world spun.
The monster charged again.
Kai screamed—not in fear, but in fury—and drove the blade forward with everything he had.
The weapon pierced the creature's skull.
For a moment, everything went silent.
Then something surged through Kai's body.
Heat.
Power.
A force like lightning racing through his veins.
A new screen appeared.
[MONSTER DEFEATED]
[AURA ACQUIRED]
[STATUS: AWAKENING]
Kai collapsed to his knees, gasping.
His hands glowed faintly.
He stared at them in disbelief.
Aura.
He had finally crossed the line.
From nothing… to something.
As the remaining monsters turned toward him, eyes blazing with hunger, Kai slowly rose to his feet.
Tears streamed down his face—not from fear, but from something dangerously close to hope.
"Come on," he whispered, gripping his blade tighter.
"Try me."
And deep within the dungeon gate, something ancient stirred.