"There is infinite hope for everyone in this world... but not for you."
The cold, sharp words echoed through the sterile, white hospital room. The sound of flickering fluorescent lights buzzed faintly overhead, casting uneven shadows across the space. It wasn't an ordinary hospital—it was a prison cloaked in a façade of care.
These calm and mocking words broke the frozen atmosphere in the room. These seemingly simple words filled with an unreasonable amount of mockery were not directed at anyone other than a young boy lying on the simple bed.
The young man looked seventeen or eighteen years of age with a slightly sunken face as if he hadn't been properly fed in years. Even then, his pale white skin seemed to glisten under the artificial white light of the room.
After saying those words, a woman dressed in a loose white medical gown closed the book with a forceful thud, got up from her seat, and walked forward.
Even though the woman was dressed in simple clothes, her charm didn't diminish at all.
The boy could only roll his eyes to look at the woman's figure as most of his body was paralyzed, making it completely useless.
"So big," the boy thought when his eyes landed on the woman's ample bosom shaking with each step that she took.
"So big, yet so small..."
The woman's name was Fiona Allison. Contrary to her big outward heart, she was petty to the core; it wasn't rare for her to make fun of his difficulties. She was responsible for taking care of him these days. Other than the woman's name, the boy didn't know much about her.
Fiona, dressed in white, serenely walked towards him.
Her eyes were clear, and her skin was snowy-white. She stopped once she was in front of the bed and bent down slowly, inching closer, her face dangerously close to the young man's cracked lips.
The woman's angelic face was perfectly reflected in the young man's pitch-black, abyss-like eyes.
If it was someone else other than Dawn, they would have already torn the woman's white gown and forced themselves on top of her, but his heart remained stone cold, barely showing any ripple.
The only thing beautiful about this woman was her face; her heart was cold as stone and even somewhat cruel.
Dawn had been in this hospital room for ten years or, to be precise, since he was seven years old.
In these years, she had never let go of any chance to mock Dawn for his disability. Every time she spoke, her words would be biting and ruthless, striking where it hurt the most.
Today was no different.
Thud!
Fiona slammed a medical chart shut, her crimson-painted lips curling into a smirk. She walked forward with slow, deliberate steps, her white gown swaying gently with her movements.
"Still hoping for a miracle?" she sneered, leaning close enough for Dawn to feel her breath on his face. Her scent was deceptively sweet, like freshly bloomed lilies hiding poison.
Dawn's dark, almost pitch black eyes reflected her beauty, but they remained empty, void of hope or emotion.
"Enjoy your last few moments," Fiona added, straightening up and tossing her white gown aside. She revealed a curvaceous figure that many might consider captivating, but Dawn looked past her like she was nothing more than a ghost.
Moments later, Fiona slipped into a sleek black dress, transforming into a picture of elegance, and sauntered out of the room. Her final words lingered like a curse.
"Let's hope I don't see you tomorrow."
Dawn watched her receding figure while lost in thought, not understanding why she made fun of his situation. If it was only her, then Dawn could have understood, but everyone was like this, the old lady who occasionally cane to clean his room and even the gentle doctor.
Not just them, every single human that he encountered looked at him with clear and open disgust in their eyes as if he was some sort of monster.
Just because he was disabled—but then how was this his fault?
Including his parents, who had last come to visit him years ago.
He still remembered his parents visiting; however, since the birth of his younger brother, they rarely showed themselves.
Dawn was a little sad at first, but then he could understand their feelings. Moreover, he was still grateful for the money they spent to take care of him.
Dawn let out a deep breath and closed his eyes, and then suddenly a digital screen resembling a monitor from the past appeared in front of him displaying a row of text.
Marveling at the ability of the miraculous AI chip which was integrated inside his brain, he once again focused on the window in front of him.
'Tsk! Another good for nothing with a cheat,' Dawn muttered while gazing at the empty air with his dead fish-like eyes.
In front of him, light seemed to morph and twist to display numerous tightly packed English characters.
It was a page from the recently published web novel which Dawn was reading.
Reading web novels had become Dawn's favorite pastime activity. In the beginning, he enjoyed reading these books, but as time passed, his heart was starting to fill with despair as he found out a glaring truth.
"Is there really no hope for ordinary people like me..."
A totally ordinary individual getting a super powerful ability in another world was the only way to change destiny.
According to most of these books, someone like him would remain unordinary and sufferable unless he encountered a miraculous opportunity like those cheats in the web novels that protagonists encounter.
But given his situation, if his luck was this good, he wouldn't be here today to begin with.
Frustrated, he suddenly closed his eyes tightly and waited for the inevitable.
Dawn had no idea how much time had passed, but when he tried to open his eyes again, they wouldn't budge, as if they had been glued together by superglue.
Suddenly, a loud screeching sound came from the distance. Before Dawn could even open his eyes to understand the situation, he felt a sharp stinging pain coursing through his body, and then there was... nothing.
In the next moment, his thoughts seemed to have frozen, followed by a moment of pain before it all blacked out for him.
...…
"Did I die?" Dawn thought.
He wasn't shocked or anything but felt free, as if he had been suddenly freed from a large eternal cage.
At the moment, he was unable to see anything or feel everything; it was as if he was nothing more than a ball of consciousness.
Although he wasn't shocked by the situation, Dawn was still surprised by his own reaction, given the fact that he had possibly died, but he felt unnaturally calm.
Such calmness scared him, but he was unable to do anything at all.
Suddenly, he felt as if someone was tugging at him.
Initially, he didn't feel anything, but soon the tug became stronger and stronger.
It was as if someone was yanking him, trying to pull him somewhere.
And with such force, he had no choice but to be pulled wherever he was being taken.
….
The sky was fractured like glass with countless spider web-like tentacles seemingly stretching for miles into the distance like the hands of some unknown evil god gripping the world tightly.
The strangely eerie scene might have left some earthlings crying out loud in fear, but the people in the city below remained calm and composed as if the scene was a common occurrence.
And indeed, for the people below, the scene wasn't anything unusual, as for them, the sky had been like this for hundreds of years, or since the abyss started to invade the world and Mana awakened.
City of Mesarith.
A handsome, broad-shouldered middle-aged man dressed in a simple but luxurious white robe stood, his long beard trembling slightly in nervousness as he looked at the gates of the room with worry in his eyes.
In the distance stood another man with slightly similar facial features as the middle-aged man; however, this man looked slightly younger than the bearded man—they seemed to be related to each other.
"Big brother, calm down. How would the outsiders think if they saw the head of Skylar Family acting like a nervous child?"
Robert looked at his big brother and said while forcefully smiling; his big brother Theodore was going to become a father for the third time and was still acting like this.
"Huh! What do you know, Robert..."
Before Theodore could finish his words, he heard the sound of loud tender cries coming from inside the room.
"Wah! Wah!"
Theodore and Robert's faces changed, and without hesitation, they rushed inside.
Inside the room.
"The child is successfully born," a mature and aged voice quietly announced while holding a baby in her hands; the baby's eyes were tightly closed as he cried out loudly.
The room was simple, an open space with wooden flooring. A sturdy door made of rosewood separated the rooms from outside. Inside, a large king-size bed was surrounded by a few dignified men and women of varied age, their expressions solemn as they gazed at the sweating woman lying on the bed.
Pants of the woman echoed through the room, after all, she had just given birth.
Murmurs of midwives filled the room as they shuffled around, tending to the woman and the baby.
The cries of the baby slowly ceased as the infant opened his small eyes, the world before him blurry, getting used to the light.
"Huh?"
"This... did I reincarnate?"
The baby, or to be specific, Dawn thought, with shock on his tender face.
He was an avid reader of web novels and therefore was familiar with such settings. Instead of feeling happy, this new reality filled his heart with fear.
Given how miserable his previous life was, Dawn was sure he wouldn't get any cheat, and the world was never a safe place for a reincarnator.
Then suddenly, he shook his little baby-like head to get rid of unnecessary thoughts.
He should focus on good things; at least now he would be able to move. With that thought, he attempted to raise his tender hands.
In the next moment, a pale white hand filled with an intricate tattoo of an opened eyeball at the back of his palm appeared in his vision.
"A tattoo?" Dawn was shocked by the appearance of the tattoo, not understanding how a newborn could have a tattoo.
"Don't tell me…?" A dangerous thought suddenly appeared in his head, however before he could do anything further he shifted his attention back to the old woman who was behaving a little strangely.
Dawn wasn't the only one who noticed the strange tattoo; all the people present also noticed this strange abnormality.
Before he could think anything more, he heard a midwife shouting like a banshee with a ferocious look in her eyes.
"An abyssal Mark?"
Immediately After hearing her loud shout Dawn instinctively know what was going on.
"Of course," Dawn thought bitterly. "Even in a new life, I'm cursed."