There lay the half-rotten corpse of a humanoid abomination at the bottom of the lightless pit, shrouded in darkness.
It was so abnormal.
It was so disgusting.
It was so…
uncanny.
And it was so…so…
‘So beautiful…’ Kuon could not take his eyes off no matter how much he wanted to.
No…
Why would he want to?
The corpse was…so beautiful, after all.
His lips curled into a soft smile and his eyes narrowed gently as he gazed upon the abominable carcass.
‘So…
so beautiful…
So…
majestic…
No…
I-I need to get a better look…I…I have to get closer…
So much closer…’ His smile widened, morphing into an almost eerie grin as he bent down and slid inside the ominous cage through the narrow gap.
However, almost immediately as he gazed into the darkness…
“ARRGHHH!” Blinding pain shot through his head with the force of a seige ram as his body was thrown to the ground in a cacophonous howl of agony and pain.
Countless…
Countless faint whispers fell on him like an endless avalanche, blinding his conscience with nothing except…pain…
terrible…
seering…
unstoppable…
absolute.
“Oh…
F*ck!” Kuon could be seen roling on the ground while holding his head in a tight grip, desperately trying to plug his ears in hopes of making the whispers stop…
However…
they did not.
Instead, they became louder, clearer and even more insidious.
As Kuon’s eyes landed on the abominable corpse…
wait…
Where is the corpse…..?
WHERE IS IT?
Then, as though a mountain had been lifted from his shoulders, the relentless barrage of whispers abruptly ceased.
The sudden silence struck him so forcefully that his ears rang.
In some ways, it was even worse.
His mind was empty…
And from that emptiness came a whisper.
Unlike the others however, it was not faint.
It was clear.
It was so clear.
It said…
“■■■■■■■■■■■■■” ‘Ah…’ The next instant, Kuon’s vision blurred.
Darkness swallowed him as the last traces of consciousness slipped away.
He collapsed into oblivion.
*** Kuon’s body drifted through a dark abyss.
He could not move.
Not even a finger.
He was completely paralysed.
An endless ocean of darkness stretched in every direction, so absolute that he could not tell whether anything else existed…
or whether he was truly alone.
Kuon felt…
strange.
If he had to describe the sensation, he doubted he could.
It was as though his entire being had become lighter, yet somehow more sensitive at the same time.
His senses felt sharper, his awareness clearer, and yet no matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn’t find the words to describe it.
Unable to move even a finger, he could only sigh inwardly.
Strange…
it was all so strange…
But the strangest thing of all…
‘Huh…’ Kuon realized…he was glowing.
Not metaphorically, nor as a trick of the eye.
His body emitted a soft, incandescent white light that should have illuminated the abyss around him.
Instead, the radiance simply disappeared into the endless darkness, as though the abyss swallowed every trace of it without leaving so much as a flicker behind.
Nothing but an endless dark ocean surrounded him, and within that darkness…
Kuon stiffened internally as something began to ripple and shift.
In the next moment, a small sphere of brilliant white light manifested a short distance away from Kuon, seemingly from nothingness itself.
Its diameter was no larger than a handball, its entire form shrouded in an ethereal radiance that felt profoundly out of place within the endless abyss.
Kuon watched in silence as the sphere began to expand.
No…
It wasn’t expanding.
It was as though the orb was tearing itself into reality, forcing open an invisible wound in the darkness.
The larger it became, the more its radiant shell thinned and stretched until it was roughly the same size as Kuon.
Then, the light began to fade.
The once brilliant sphere gradually turned translucent as its radiance collapsed inward, leaving behind what no longer resembled an orb at all.
Looking at it, Kuon suddenly felt a dreadful premonition.
It was as though his was caught in a trance and could not look away no matter how much he wanted to.
The brilliant sphere was no longer an orb.
It was a tear in reality itself.
And from that tear…
He watched helplessly as countless ethereal hands emerged from it and surged toward his radiant figure with terrible speed, their outstretched fingers threatening to engulf him in an inescapable embrace.
Yet, despite understanding the gravity of what was unfolding, he remained strangely calm.
Everything felt so distant, so dreamlike, that his instincts refused to acknowledge the danger before him.
Powerless to resist, Kuon could only watch as the spectral hands drew nearer and nearer until they touched his skin…
And shattered.
Incandescent shards of pure white radiance drifted around him and slowly dissipated into nothingness, their ethereal glow turning dim until eventually fading into the abyss.
*** Inside the colossal iron cage, the body of a young boy lay unconscious.
Golden rays of morning sunlight streamed through the countless breaches in the fortress walls, a few falling directly across his face.
His eyelids slowly fluttered open.
Still dazed, Kuon blinked repeatedly against the daylight before forcing himself into a sitting position.
Confusion lingered on his face for only a brief moment before it was replaced by something else entirely.
Shock.
Then terror.
His gaze flickered around the cage, finally landing on the pit just a few inches away from where he sat.
The colour drained from his face.
Acting instinctively, Kuon rolled out of the cage and ran backwards, keeping his eyes on the colossal artifact and the terrible pit within.
After making enough distance from it, he stopped.
His breathing was heavy as he pierced the cage with a grimaced expression.
Letting out a hoarse sigh, he coughed.
“What…
just…
huh?!” A whirlwind of emotions sturred in his head.
Fear, confusion, disbelief, he didn’t know what to feel.
His eyes suddenly fell on one of the missing chunks of the walls, at the rays of morning sunlight pouring into the fortress.
Suddenly, his expression changed as a new realisation took over his mind.
He had entered the iron fortress in the evening…
yesterday.
That means…
A dark fear consumed him.
‘No…
Steph…’ With a mad dash, Kuon darted across the ruined Great Hall.
It took him no less then a couple seconds to make it to the decayed titanic iron gates and exit its perimetres.
Fortunately, nothing eventful happened, but Kuon didn’t care.
He hadn’t gone home that night.
He had left Stephanie at the cottage all on her own.
Seeing the familiar, weathered black walls of his home, Kuon felt a flicker of relief.
That relief was short-lived, however.
Squinting into the distance, he noticed a crowd of Ruined gathered outside the cottage.
Murmurs drifted through the air, growing louder with every step until they merged into a near-cacophonous chorus of whispers and gasps.
The color drained from Kuon’s face.
His jaw clenched so tightly that he swore he heard a crack.
‘Damn it…
damnation…’ Moments later, he reached the cottage.
The Ruined outside turned toward him, their faces filled with worry and disbelief.
Several tried to stop him, calling out his name, but Kuon paid them no attention.
He shoved through the crowd, sending one unfortunate Ruined crashing into the wall.
‘Why are they inside my house?
Where is Steph?
I swear…
if these sons of bitches laid a finger on her…’ The moment he stepped inside, every head turned toward him.
Yet instead of fear or guilt…
They looked relieved.
“Kuon!
You’re finally back.
Where have you been?” “No matter how strong you are, kid, it’s still dangerous to be out at night.” “Did you run into the patrol officers?
Where the hell have you been?” The barrage of worried questions barely registered in Kuon’s ears.
The crowd instinctively parted, allowing him to force his way toward Stephanie’s room.
‘What’s going on…?
Why do they all look so…
happy?’ He threw the door open.
“Hey!
What the f*ck is…” The words died in his throat.
“Goodness, Kuon!
You’re finally here.
Just where have you been?” The voice belonged to an elderly man kneeling beside Stephanie’s bed.
He wore a scruffy crimson cloak, and his bright amber eyes reflected nothing but relief.
Still struggling to catch his breath, Kuon stared at him in confusion.
“E-Elder Nam…?
What are you doing here?
What happened?” The old man simply smiled.
By his side, Stephanie could be seen lying on the bed with her eyes closed.
Her breathing was a bit uneven, but stable nonetheless.
Lev sat beside her, squeezing her hand from time to time while murmuring something under his breath.
The moment his eyes met Kuon however, his expression grew strange.
“Kuon…” As Elder Nam stepped aside, Kuon knelt beside Steph’s bed and gently took her hand between his palms.
Upon doing so, he finally let himself relax.
A deep sigh escaped his lips.
Steph’s body was…
strangely warm…
A bit hot, in fact.
She was clearly burning up.
Lifting his gaze to Elder Nam, Kuon asked hesitantly, “What happened?
What’s wrong with her?” He paused before glancing at the others gathered in the room.
“And…
why are you all so happy?” Elder Nam let out a hoarse chuckle as he pointed at an area just below Stephanie’s heart and answered, “Oh!
What is there not to be happy about?” His smile widened.
“Your sister has become an Aspirant!”