THE AWAKENING
AUTHOR
GUSTAVO OLIVEIRA VISITA
PRESENTS
.:ECHOES:.
OF THE
.:ABYSS:.
The house was small, old, and always smelled of alcohol.
Ailon was a neglected child. He had no relatives left, his teachers didn't care, and his mother was the only one who truly did.
But she was abused by her husband.
From an early age, Ailon learned to recognize the sound of his father's footsteps before even seeing him. The heavy dragging down the hallway. The door slamming too hard. The raised voice.
When that sound started, he knew: it was better to stay quiet.
His mother tried to smile.
"It's going to be okay…" she would say, even when her hands were trembling.
But it never was.
That night, Ailon was lying in bed, counting the cracks in the wall.
The noise came louder than usual. Screams. Something breaking. Then silence.
A silence that was too heavy.
He slowly left his room.
The kitchen was destroyed. The table overturned. Bottles scattered everywhere.
And his mother lying on the floor, motionless.
Her eyes were open, but empty — as if they were staring at something that had shattered his soul.
His father stood there, breathing heavily, eyes red — not from regret, but from someone who no longer understood what he had done.
"It was an accident…" he muttered. "She provoked me…"
Ailon stared at his mother's body.
"M… M… MOM!"
He screamed desperately.
His father looked at him.
And in that look, there was only fear.
He advanced.
Ailon's body moved before his mind could think.
A shove. A stumble.
A dry impact.
His father fell, hit his head… and never got up again.
Silence returned.
Ailon stood there, staring at both bodies on the floor.
He grabbed his shirt tightly, as if squeezing his own heart.
He closed his eyes.
Then he ran to the kitchen window, climbed onto the cabinet, and jumped out.
That night, Ailon ran away.
He cried as he ran.
He just wanted to forget. To escape this life. To stop suffering.
But… that was only what he thought.
The following days were nothing but suffering and loneliness — something an eight-year-old child should never have to endure.
Ailon slept wherever he could. Ate whenever he managed.
Two twins from his school would pass by the alley where he slept, every day, just to beat and mistreat him.
He never fought back.
Not because he couldn't.
But because he saw no point.
One day, a man passing through the alley saw the horrific scene and ordered the boys to stop.
After that day, he kept showing up.
One day he left food beside the boy.
The next, a blanket.
Then, words.
"Do you want to get out of this street?" the man asked one night, sitting beside him.
Ailon turned his head, suspicious.
But didn't answer.
Over time, he began to accept his presence.
They talked about strange things — other worlds, different laws of reality. The man never said everything. He always left something unsaid.
"Why are you helping me?" Ailon asked one day.
"Because no one deserves to suffer that much in life," the man replied. "And because you'll need to understand certain things in the future."
"What's your name?" the man asked.
"Ailon…"
"Mine is Tsukihara. Nice to meet you."
Eventually, Ailon accepted going with him.
He was taken to a simple but safe house.
For the first time in years, he slept without fear.
Ailon grew up going to parks and restaurants. He experienced happy moments.
Later, the police found the bodies of his parents — barely recognizable.
Ailon felt resentment, but never told Tsukihara what had really happened.
Ten Years Later
It was an important day — his graduation.
But something tragic happened.
Tsukihara suddenly fell ill.
Ailon received a call from the hospital and abandoned the ceremony.
Tsukihara had a terminal illness.
It seemed mild at first, and he could return home, but frequent hospital visits would be necessary.
Ailon brought him home.
Placed him in bed.
Went to make tea.
But then—
The sound of shattering glass.
Ailon grabbed a knife and walked slowly toward the living room.
The lights were off.
And suddenly, the knife was no longer in his hand.
The lights turned on.
The same twins from his childhood stood there.
"Good evening, Ailon."
"What do you want?" he asked coldly.
They smiled.
"You've been living pretty comfortably, huh?"
"GET OUT."
"Ailon, Ailon…" one said, stepping closer.
"You'll always be my punching bag."
A punch.
"Money?" Ailon threw his wallet. "Take it."
"Tch. Do you think we're pigs who just eat and stay quiet?"
One of them smirked.
"We never leave witnesses."
Suddenly—
A stab.
Pain exploded in his abdomen.
Tsukihara came out of the room after hearing the scream. Even sick, he tried to fight.
He was stabbed in the chest.
Rage consumed Ailon.
He charged at them.
But they beat him.
Stabbed him.
Again.
And again.
Blood.
Pain.
Darkness.
The last thing he saw was the faces of his killers.
When he opened his eyes—
There was no pain.
He stood in a place that was neither heaven nor hell.
Tsukihara stood there — healthy.
"Where is this?" Ailon asked.
"A place where souls are not meant to go. The space between heaven and hell."
"I'm not human," Tsukihara said.
"I am a god from another world. The world I told you about. The one with other gods."
"They desire death. Blood. Suffering."
"They killed me because I refused."
"They are interfering with universal laws. Every death. Every suffering. It was because of them."
He grabbed Ailon's shoulders.
"Your parents. Your life. It was all because of them."
"And now?" Ailon asked.
"Now you will be reborn."
"In another world."
"You will be reborn in my place."
"There's only one way."
"Eliminate them all."
"Your objective—"
"Kill every god."
Tsukihara's body began dissolving into light.
"You will inherit my personality. I'm not as cheerful as you knew me. But find a reason to be happy… like I did when I adopted you."
"Why me?"
Tsukihara smiled.
"Because you are—"
Light consumed everything.
And Ailon fell into the void.
Rebirth
Total darkness.
Neutral sensation.
Then… heartbeats.
Ailon slowly opened his eyes.
He had been reborn.
He remembered everything.
Pain. Blood. Suffering. Hatred.
"What a beautiful boy," someone said.
He had new parents.
A new life.
But it didn't last long.
His biological family was poor.
"We have no choice…"
"It's sad…"
"But he needs a better life."
On a rainy night, they left him at the gates of a noble mansion.
The Goto Clan.
He was adopted.
Now his name was Yuri.
His new parents were kind, but distant. Always on dangerous missions.
Yuri learned quickly.
"That boy is a prodigy," a maid whispered.
Years passed.
His adoptive parents died during a mission.
The clan mourned deeply.
Yuri just lowered his head.
That night, alone in his enormous room, he thought:
"No matter the world… the ending is always the same."
Something inside him faded again.
Years later.
Yuri walked to school.
He bumped into a charismatic boy.
"Sorry, I didn't see you."
"It's fine. It was my fault," Yuri replied calmly.
A girl beside the boy glared at him.
"Stay away from him," she whispered.
Yuri looked at her.
She froze at the emptiness in his eyes.
He walked away.
In an alley—
Something moved.
"…Again?" he muttered.
A monster emerged. Long limbs. Unblinking eyes.
"Human—"
It didn't finish.
Yuri moved.
One strike.
The creature dissolved into dark fragments.
Silence.
"These things appear all the time…"
"Good question."
A man stepped from the shadows.
"You just killed a Superior-Scale Kyobokag in one strike."
"And?" Yuri replied.
"That's not normal. Only 1% of humanity can see these things."
"We call them the Awakened."
"People who manipulate vital energy. Who keep the world standing."
"I am part of the Order."
"Exterminators of Kyobokags."
"And after what you just did… it would be a waste to leave you alone."
"I'm not interested in saving anyone."
The man smiled.
"I didn't ask you to."
"I'm offering you a place where you can grow stronger."
Silence.
Yuri looked at the fading remains of the creature.
At the street.
At the unaware people.
"…Where is it?"
The man's smile widened.
"Follow me."
He turned.
Yuri followed.