Shadow Awakener: The Last Hope
Prologue: The Day the Sky Shattered
In the moments before I died, I watched an asteroid tear through Earth's atmosphere, its surface wreathed in flames the color of dragon's breath. Pride, the Fire Dragon General, stood before me with his hand raised to the heavens, orchestrating our planet's destruction with a cruel smile that would haunt me across time itself.
I am Eun-sang—or rather, I was. The "good-for-nothing" F-ranked awakener with the most useless element: shadow. The one whose very name, meaning "God's gift," felt like a cosmic joke. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Let me tell you about the day humanity learned we weren't alone in the universe. About the seven elements that made Earth the most coveted prize in the cosmos. About the gods of other planets who looked upon our world with envy and malice. And about how I, the weakest of all awakeners, became humanity's last hope.
Ten years ago, the first portals appeared. They tore through the fabric of reality like wounds in the sky, spilling forth creatures we called mystics—monsters that laughed at our bullets and shrugged off our bombs. We would have perished then, if not for the awakeners—humans who manifested extraordinary abilities to control the elements: lightning, fire, light, wind, earth, water, and shadow.
We thought we were ready when the SSS-rank portal appeared over the Atlantic. One million awakeners gathered to face whatever emerged. I stood among them, desperate for the reward money to pay off my father's debt, with my childhood friends Yeong Suk and Joon Woo by my side. We were all F-ranked, all dreamers, all fools.
None of us knew we were sacrificial pawns.
None of us could have imagined that through those portals would come the Seven Generals of the Fire Dragons, each embodying a deadly sin: Pride, Greed, Wrath, Envy, Lust, Gluttony, and Sloth. Even Thor, the Lightning King himself, with his mastery of eight lightning skills, fell before their might.
I watched my world end that day. Watched Pride summon an asteroid that would cleanse Earth of all life. Watched as everything and everyone I ever knew turned to ash.
But that wasn't the end.
In that final moment, as reality crumbled around me, Mother Earth—Gaia the Saint—made her last desperate gambit. She poured her dying essence into me, granting me something beyond mere power: a chance to rewrite history.
Ten years. She sent me back ten years, to the time before the portals appeared. But this time, I have what no awakener has ever possessed: a system to guide my growth, and the potential to master not one element, but all seven. The elements that made Earth so precious, that drew the hunger of gods and dragons alike, now flow through my veins.
This is my story. The tale of how an F-ranked shadow awakener rose to become the Shadow Warden, the master of all elements, and Earth's last defense against the coming storm. This time, when Pride raises his hand to the heavens, I'll be ready.
This time, I'll protect them all.
Even if it costs me everything.
Again.