In the unimaginable depths of an abyss, where tears, despair, and blood ruled, there existed a world of darkness that felt alive. It was a place of complete hopelessness, where life seemed impossible except for a few unlucky slaves. For generations, hundreds of lost souls had been trapped there. Some said it had been 500 years, others said 1,000 years. No one knew for sure, but it was definitely centuries.
The slaves lived deep in the abyss, surrounded by damp, rough walls that seemed to close in on them. Their skin was stretched tight over their bones, their hair was wild and unkempt, and their eyes were sunken with suffering. Most died of hunger, while others took their own lives by smashing their heads against the stone walls or even eating parts of themselves to escape the misery.
Supplies arrived once every two weeks, brought down by guards using a strange machine no one understood. The journey to the bottom took about two weeks, and the same for the ascent. Keos, a young man with black hair, had carefully observed the supplies and calculated that the descent into the abyss took about two weeks.
"Yes, I'm sure it takes two weeks to get to the bottom of this abyss," Keos murmured as he watched the supply crates being lowered from the dark sky, attached to a thick rope with guards sitting on top of them. There were several crates of provisions and at least twenty soldiers. They seemed strong, but Keos wondered why they needed to be. For 13 years, he had been asking himself many questions, trying to understand his desperate situation.
The slaves, starving, groaned like wild animals. The supplies, meant to last two weeks, usually only lasted five days, leaving them to suffer from hunger and thirst for the rest of the time.
The head guard, who wore a diamond-shaped emblem on his armor, seemed stronger than the others. He was also the cruelest, the one who killed and tortured the most slaves when the quotas of spiritual stones, blood crystals, or darkness crystals weren't met. Apart from delivering supplies or punishing the slaves, the guards never came down into the abyss. They didn't even bother to watch the slaves or chain them up, confident that escape was impossible. The abyss, with its vertical, rough, and damp walls, was nearly 20,000 meters deep. Descending with the machine took two weeks; climbing it by hand would take over a month, and even then, the first thirty meters had already claimed the lives of many slaves, their bodies crushed on the ground. Others had tried to cling to the supply crates to climb back up, but they were all slaughtered by the guards, who were skilled enough to kill a hundred weak and starving slaves.
"So, how am I going to escape this pit?" wondered Keos, determined.
When the head guard opened the crates, the other guards stood by his side. The slaves saw much less food than before. Usually, there was enough to feed a hundred people, but now there was barely enough for fifty. The slaves looked at each other in disbelief as the guards climbed back onto the crates and were lifted out of the abyss.
Immediately, the slaves rushed at the food. Some pushed and shoved, others tried to negotiate, while the most desperate fought over a piece of bread or water.
Keos watched as the bread disappeared one by one, along with his chances of survival. Lost in thoughts of freedom and observing the guards, he hadn't paid attention to the looting. Within five minutes, there was nothing left.
"Damn it, damn it…" Keos cursed, panic rising in him. "What am I going to do now if the next supply doesn't come for another two weeks?"
He looked around at those who had managed to get some food. They might be able to ration their meager portions for a week, but after that? He knew he would starve if he didn't find something.
He had no choice: he had to steal or beg.
Keos began to beg for food, but was met with refusals everywhere. No one wanted to share, and he understood why. This only made him more frustrated. Enraged and desperate, he realized he had no choice but to use force.
Keos continued to beg pitifully, hoping that one of the slaves would eventually give in. The faces around him showed pity, but no one decided to share their food.
Suddenly, a young girl with white hair and bright eyes, who seemed almost too innocent for this place, approached. Hesitantly, she broke off a piece of bread and offered it to Keos. She looked to be around 12 or 11 years old, he couldn't tell. She continued to hold out the bread, even as her younger brother, standing beside her, intervened abruptly.
"Claya, keep that bread for yourself!" he snapped, his tone firm.
"But Jin, he has nothing!" she replied, her voice soft and gentle.
"You'll get us both killed if you keep sharing everything with everyone!" Jin retorted. "Do you really think he would give you a piece of bread if it was the other way around?"
Keos listened, and Jin's words echoed his own thoughts. Would he have given Claya a piece of bread if he had one? The answer was no. In this hell, survival was the only rule, and there was no room for pity.
Claya, visibly saddened, put the piece of bread away. Despite the situation, Keos managed a bitter smile and said:
"Thanks anyway."
The young girl walked away, her brother Jin giving Keos a wary look. But Keos' problem was still not solved: he still had no food. He tried negotiating with other slaves, offering to work extra in the mines in exchange for a bite of bread. But everyone refused; here, food and water were too precious to trade for labor.
Hatred and frustration welled up inside him. He didn't want to die here, not like this, not now. Anxiety gnawed at him.
"No, I don't want to… I can't… I must not die here," he murmured, his voice shaking but determined.
The slaves around him flinched at his words and began to move away, fearing what he might do in his state. They were afraid of being robbed or worse, being killed. Although he had never heard of it happening, survival in this desperate abyss had become a matter of life and death.
As most of the slaves returned to their caves with their meager loot, Keos stood still, staring up at the dark sky, wondering if he would once again be left to his fate. Suddenly, he spotted the madman: a small, thin man with disheveled gray hair who always wandered around, repeating the same chant over and over. The madman was known for his constant cries, proclaiming that no one would ever escape the abyss. Keos despised this man, considering him a coward, someone who had given up and was unworthy of life.
"Yes… it will be you," Keos murmured with cold determination.
He approached the madman, who was heading towards his cave, picked up a black, rough stone, wet from the surrounding humidity, and demanded:
"Give me your food, you filthy worm."
The madman, laughing hysterically, responded with his usual words:
"Hahaha… we won't get out… we'll never get out… hahaha…"
Keos repeated his demand, his voice trembling with rage:
"This is the last time I'm asking you, give it to me!"
The madman, ignoring the threat, turned and ran towards his cave. An intense heat surged within Keos, a burning anger that exploded inside him. He lunged at the madman, smashing the stone into his skull. Once, twice, three times, four times… He kept hitting until the madman stopped chanting.
"We… won't… get out…"
"You won't get out," Keos growled, his voice filled with rage.
He found himself kneeling in front of the corpse, his hands and face splattered with blood. Panic rose in him as he realized what he had just done. He needed to hide the body, make sure no one discovered what he had done. He felt no remorse; to him, it was a necessary act. A weakling had no right to live; that was the law of the abyss.
Keos dragged the madman's body to the cave where no one would find it. As he moved, Jin, Claya's brother, spotted him, his eyes locked on the bloody body.
"So, you killed him," Jin said coldly.
"Yes, I had to," Keos replied, his eyes filled with resolve.
"You did what you had to do," Jin said, turning away. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. You won't be punished."
"Okay…" Keos murmured, relieved.
He didn't ask any more questions and continued on his way. He entered the madman's cave, laying the body in a dark corner. Looking around, he saw piles of spiritual stones the madman had hoarded.
"That bastard… He was keeping all this… That's why the quotas were low," Keos muttered angrily.
He dug a little deeper and found other hidden supplies. It was a real treasure for Keos.
"Damn, I should set up here now," he thought, but then reconsidered. "No, that would be too suspicious. I'll just take the spiritual stones… and these supplies too," he added with a smile.
Without any remorse, he took what he could and returned to his own small cave. There, surrounded by spiritual stones, he sat down and thought about what he had just done. Then, feeling exhausted, he lay down on the cold ground, trying to sleep.
But as he drifted off, the spiritual stones began to emit
a faint glow. Keos felt warmth spreading through his body again. The stones were glowing in different colors: shades of purple, green, red, and yellow. Some were completely white or blue. He picked them up in his hand, feeling a strange energy radiate from them. Intrigued, he focused and felt the energy flowing into him.
"What is this?" he murmured, fascinated.
He realized he was absorbing the energy, and the warmth he felt grew stronger. The more he concentrated, the more the energy from the stones seemed to transfer into him until they lost their glow and became dull and lifeless.
"Wow... I absorbed everything... I feel... better. Like I've slept for ten hours... All my pain is gone, and I feel stronger. Is this because of these stones?"
An idea crossed his mind: if he could absorb this energy, maybe he could also release it. He focused, trying to expel the heat from his body. Concentrating intensely, he suddenly produced a small flame from his hand.
"Damn, what's happening? My hand is on fire!" Keos shouted, panicked, trying to put out the flames. But then he realized that the flame wasn't actually burning him. Curious, he touched the flame. It was hot but didn't hurt him.
Keos calmed down, watching the flames light up the cave. It was the first time he had seen real fire. The only other flames he had ever seen were during the guards' punishments or when an inmate had been burned.
Curious, Keos tried to reabsorb the flames into his body. He focused again, and slowly, the flames vanished, retreating back into him.
"Unbelievable... I can control it," he thought, his mind racing with the possibilities.
This power, this energy from the spiritual stones, had given him something he never had before: a chance. A chance to change his fate, a chance to escape this abyss, a chance to survive.
Keos lay back down, his mind buzzing with excitement and fear. The abyss was still dark and cold, but for the first time in his life, he felt a spark of hope. He had discovered a power that could help him survive—and perhaps, one day, escape.
As he drifted off to sleep, his last thoughts were of the flames and the power within him. He didn't know what the future held, but one thing was certain: he would do whatever it took to survive.