As Neo walked down the street he marveled at the changes the world had undergone since the time it had been connected to the Abyss.
Half a year ago the number of dissapearances had suddenly began growing exponentialy, but half a month later many of the people that had dissapeared began returning one by one. They all told a similar story.
That being that they were brought somewhere none of them recognised, and after years of struggling to merely survive they found a weird structure, one that brought them back to earth. Others had lost all their memories and had to spend months being rehabilitated.
One thing was realised though, there was a large difference in strength between them. Some seemed strong enough to take on a small to medium size nation on by themselves. Others were barely stronger than when they dissapeared.
One month after the start of the dissapearances 'gates' started appearing in dark alleyways, if returners don't defeat enough monsters in a given time then they will overflow onto earth.
Neo himself had never been to the Abyss but had heard many stories of it from interviews with the returners, having heard many talk about the mystical things that would happened, they didn't need food or sleep. It was something Neo obsessed with, though he says the extent is lowered by the fact he's eighteen his friends agree it's likely the opposite.
Right now as he walks down the street he is headed towards the local whalmart for groceries. The streets are lined with returners, now known as wanderers, using the inexplicable abilities they got from the Abyss. Many of the ones who gained powerful abilities live in abyssal cities.
As Neo was thinking about this he suddenly felt like he was falling, it felt like he had suddenly been put in outer space. The next thing he knew he was upright on the ground, then on his face.
It took him a minute to reorient himself after that. But when he did he began to stand up, taking note of his surroundings. Looking around he saw many floating islands, and beyond them, nothing. The space seemed to stretch on forever. Where the countless islands ended and the infinite abyss began he could not tell. And the air felt weird, it was invigorating in a way, but at the same time it reminded him of being submerged in water, like the surreal type of feeling the light from an eclipse gives.
Neo had barely gotten on his feet when something hit him like a truck. A few moments later and he hit a nearby boulder as though a strongman had thrown him at full strenth at it. And before even an instant could pass the pain arrived in full, had he broken a bone? No that wasn't even a question anymore, his arms felt like jello where he was struck.
Looking up he realized what had hit him, just too late. It was one of many monsters that had been made public knowledge. If he remembered correctly this specific one was a type of lycanthrope, and was always ravenous. But by the time he even realized it was a monster it was already charging at him.
By the time he had gathered strength to lift his left arm, the one that hadn't been hit, it was already on top of him. It jaw seemed to unhinge as it prepared to bite the weak and powerless human in it's claws, then it bit down on him. He could only feel down to his neck on his right side, without even looking down Neo could tell that it bit down on his shoulder.
Even if he died here Neo couldn't let this bitch leave without a chunk missing. He bit down on the werewolf, tearing a chunk out of it's shoulder as it suddenly pushed him away and got into a fighting stance, clearly not expecting him to fight back.
Neo decided to chew the chunk he had bitten off, something to ease the unbearable pain he experienced every moment. A few bits of chewed meat slid down his throat as he chewed. And... he could feel his arm again? That can't be, he was sure all the nerves to his arms had been destro-
He looked down and saw his arm setting itself back into place, and his shoulder where a chunk had been taken out was healing too? All he had done was swallow a few bits of the werewolf by accident, why was his arm only healing now? He looked around and saw that the werewolf was healing from the chunk getting torn out of it too, but much slower.
Neo remembered that all sorts of lycanthropes had been reported as having accelarated regeneration. It still didn't make sense though, all he had done was bite a chunk out of it, why would he gain better regeneration than it? Or maybe that was the reaso-
There was no more time to think, it was already charging at him.