Eryndor City, Thrynn Ward.
Raleigh Drake slumped on the curb, his phone trembling slightly in his hand. He stared at it blankly, as though staring could somehow make sense of the chaos that had just unfolded.
He had transmigrated.
Not long ago, he had been on a bus, heading to a friend's newly opened board game café. He had intended to help boost the atmosphere, maybe even play a few rounds with some customers. It had been an ordinary, mundane day. Ordinary… until the Abyss arrived.
A massive, deathly pale creature had lunged out from the roadside without warning. Over two meters tall, six vicious claws gleaming, and eyes that seemed to pierce into one's soul, it smashed into the bus with terrifying force. The vehicle flipped onto its side with a deafening crash, windows shattering like fragile ice.
Raleigh was thrown from his seat, slamming against the bottom window. Pain shot through his shoulder, but there was no time to think.
The monster leapt inside, claws ripping through metal and glass. A passenger nearby screamed as claws impaled him, hooking him against the twisted wreckage. The metallic scent of blood and ozone filled Raleigh's nostrils, mingling with the acrid stench of burning rubber and shattered glass.
Fear clenched his heart. For the first time, he truly smelled the Aura of Death. It wasn't something one could rationalize,it was cold, heavy, oppressive, and inescapable.
Then, as though the world had paused for a heartbeat, a sharp explosion rang out. The pale monster's head split open, a sickly yellow fluid spraying the air. Its body crumpled lifelessly.
From the sky, a silver-blue mech descended, sleek and imposing, like a machine forged from the dreams of science fiction. It moved with precision, pulling the monster's corpse aside, spraying antiseptic over the injured passenger, and righting the overturned bus as if it were no more than a toy. Within moments, the scene transformed from chaos to order.
The other passengers' terror melted into relief. Faces that had twisted in fear now glowed with gratitude, voices overlapping in thanks as they gathered around the Mech.
Only Raleigh remained rooted to the spot, his mind racing.
"You… you're calm already?" he whispered to himself, incredulous. "That was an Abyssal Monster! When did these things even exist on Earth? And… what is a Mech? Did science fiction just step into reality? Was there a secret patch update to Earth that I missed?"
He snatched his phone, scrolling through the latest news. Headlines screamed about Abyssal Monsters, mechs, and the Abyss itself. Videos, images, reports,all painting a picture far beyond his comprehension.
It dawned on him: this world was not the Earth he had known.
The encyclopedia explained it all. This was Veltrion,a world similar, yet fundamentally different. The Abyss existed here: a strange, untouchable void, fragments of a past interwoven with the present. Rifts appeared only occasionally, small and fleeting, yet deadly to anyone who fell in.
Twenty years ago, a man had returned from the Abyss,not only alive but also marked with the [Abyssal Mark].
This power allowed him to traverse the Abyss freely, summon Abyssal Mechs, and wield abilities far beyond ordinary humans. From then on, the Abyssal Mark spread like a wildfire, awakening more and more people, granting them command over extraordinary power.
Rifts became increasingly frequent, and monsters that should have remained in the Abyss now stalked the world, leaving devastation in their wake. Entire cities had fallen before these creatures. Even nations with advanced weapons struggled to contain them.
To counter this, the Mech Alliance had been formed. Those with the Abyssal Mark were trained as Mech Warriors, given legal status and official titles, and tasked with defending the world from these incursions.
Raleigh absorbed it all. Without the Abyss, Veltrion might as well have been Earth. Friends, family, even his chat with the café owner,nothing had changed. But when factoring in the Abyss, mechs, and monsters, the difference was staggering.
The pale monster he had encountered was only a minor threat. Reports from abroad told of Godzilla-sized Abyssal Monsters, towering over skyscrapers, brimming with destructive power. Cities had been reduced to ruins before colossal mechs dragged the creatures to the sea, ending the carnage.
Raleigh shuddered as memories of the claws piercing a passenger's chest resurfaced. His gaze lingered on the silver-blue Mech in the distance.
"In this world, ordinary people are too fragile," he thought, a fire igniting in his chest. "Once an Abyssal Monster appears, they can only die or flee. Escape isn't even guaranteed if it's a powerful one… I must become a Mech Warrior. Only then can I control my fate; only then can I decide life and death for myself."
Becoming a Mech Warrior wasn't safe. Training meant entering the Abyss, facing monsters that could end one's life in an instant. Many who survived the initial trials refused to return, terrified of the Abyss and its horrors.
Raleigh didn't care. Living in fear was far worse than dying in pursuit of strength. If the Abyss claimed him, it would be on his terms.
He was already dangerously close to Awakening. Research from the Mech Alliance showed survivors of Abyssal attacks had a higher chance of gaining the Abyssal Mark within an hour of exposure.
The Mech Warrior hadn't left immediately after the attack. He had gathered the survivors, waiting for the Awakening to manifest.
Now, half an hour had passed. The rescue team tended to the wounded passenger, while Raleigh felt a strange heat in his right palm. Opening it, a black-patterned eye appeared, staring back at him.
Information flickered before his eyes:
[Time until trial begins: 59:59]
A shiver ran down his spine. His journey into the Abyss, into power, and into the unknown was about to begin.