Kai shielded his eyes as the blinding streak of light tore across the heavens, illuminating the darkened ruins around him. The scavenger camp fell silent, every pair of eyes fixed on the anomaly. Even the howling wind seemed to hold its breath as the glowing object hurtled toward the ground.
"What in the—?" Kai's voice caught in his throat as the object slammed into the earth a hundred paces away, sending a shockwave that rattled the makeshift shelters and scattered loose debris. The light faded, leaving behind a plume of smoke curling into the twilight.
"Another artifact, maybe?" murmured Lena, one of the other scavengers, her voice trembling with equal parts fear and greed.
Artifacts—the remnants of a bygone era—were treasures to scavengers like them. Dangerous to handle, but worth their weight in gold to the merchants in the upper layers.
"Could be a trap," someone muttered from the crowd. Kai didn't care. He was already moving, his feet kicking up dust as he sprinted toward the crater.
"Kai! Wait!" Lena called after him, but he ignored her. Hesitation meant someone else might get there first, and Kai couldn't afford to miss a find like this. Not with the debt hanging over his head.
As he approached the impact site, the air grew heavy with heat and an odd, metallic tang. The crater was shallow but wide, its edges glowing faintly as if the earth itself had been burned. At the center of the impact lay a single object: a book.
Kai stopped short, blinking in disbelief. Of all the things he had expected—a weapon, a shard of some ancient machine, maybe even a chunk of rare ore—a book had been the last thing on his mind. It sat there, pristine and unscathed, its black leather cover gleaming faintly in the dying light.
A shiver ran down his spine. The book radiated a faint hum, as if it were alive. For a moment, Kai thought about leaving it. Whatever it was, it reeked of trouble. But then his gaze flicked back to the scavenger camp in the distance, to the figures starting to move toward him.
If he didn't take it, someone else would.
"Alright," he muttered under his breath, stepping into the crater. "Let's see what you are."
The moment his fingers touched the cover, the hum grew louder, resonating in his chest like the toll of a distant bell. Words appeared on the book's surface, glowing faintly as they etched themselves into the leather:
The Forsaken Chronicle.
Kai's breath caught. He barely had time to process the title before the world tilted. His vision blurred, and the ground seemed to fall away beneath him. The next thing he knew, he was standing in a void, an endless expanse of darkness lit only by the faint glow of the book hovering before him.
"What the hell?" he whispered, spinning around. There was nothing. No sky, no ground, no ruins. Just him and the book.
A voice echoed through the void, deep and resonant. It wasn't a voice meant to be heard; it was meant to be felt.
"To the one who dares defy the Script, welcome. Your path is unbound, your fate unchosen. Will you take up the Chronicle, knowing it will mark you Forsaken?"
Kai's heart pounded in his chest. "Defy the Script? What are you talking about?"
The voice did not answer. Instead, the book opened, its pages flipping rapidly until they settled on a blank sheet. Words began to write themselves in shimmering ink:
Quest Received: Claim the First Layer
Objective: Defeat the Ruler of the First Layer and ascend.
Reward: Access to Forbidden Skills.
Penalty for Failure: Death.
Kai stared at the page, his mind racing. The First Layer? The Ruler? This had to be a mistake. He wasn't a fighter. He wasn't a hero. He was a scavenger, barely scraping by day to day. And yet, the book's glow pulsed, as if waiting for his answer.
"And if I say no?" he asked, his voice trembling.
The voice returned, cold and final:
"To reject the Chronicle is to reject existence."
The void trembled, and for a brief, horrifying moment, Kai felt himself begin to dissolve, his body unraveling like threads of a tapestry. Panic surged through him.
"Alright! Alright, I'll do it!" he shouted. The unraveling stopped, and the void stilled. The book's glow intensified, and the words on the page shifted once more:
Forsaken Status Granted.
Kai's vision blurred again, and the void shattered like glass. He found himself back in the crater, the book clutched tightly in his hands. His breathing was ragged, and his heart felt like it might burst from his chest.
"Kai!" Lena's voice snapped him out of his daze. She was standing at the edge of the crater, her expression a mix of worry and frustration. "What are you doing? Did you find something?"
Kai looked down at the book. The glow was gone, its surface now a simple, unassuming black. But he knew better. This was no ordinary artifact.
"Yeah," he said, forcing a grin as he climbed out of the crater. "Just some old junk. Nothing worth fighting over."
For now, the book's secret was his alone. And if the words inside were true, his life had just gotten a whole lot more complicated.