Darkness. Silence. A vast, endless void.
Orion Graves floated in the abyss, weightless, lost in the endless nothingness. His memories were fragmented—the last thing he recalled was the chaos of the research facility, the alarms blaring, the scientists screaming. Then came the warships, the explosions… and then, a rift.
A space wormhole had swallowed him whole, twisting his body and mind through the cracks of reality.
Now, he was here.
But where was here?
As his senses adjusted, he felt it—a presence deep inside him. Something foreign, something alive. His Inner World, once barren and lifeless, had begun to shift.
A whisper echoed in his mind.
"Devour… and become."
His Core Civilization—The Nameless Abyss—was stirring.
And it was hungry.
For most Evolvers, their Core Civilization determined their destiny. A strong Core meant a powerful future. A weak one? It was a death sentence.
The Nameless Abyss was considered trash—a void-like existence where nothing was born. It had no set race, no grand history, no divine protection. It was a dead world.
But now, Orion understood something.
His Core Civilization was not meant to be born—it was meant to be built.
And the first step was devouring.
Before him, the remains of a fallen civilization drifted in the void. A ruined city, long abandoned, its buildings crumbling. Ancient corpses lay frozen in time, their bodies shattered, their souls long gone. But even in death, their essence remained.
And his Nameless Abyss responded.
Dark tendrils surged from his body, slithering toward the ruins, coiling around the broken towers, the remnants of history. Then—they consumed.
A flood of power, memories, and energy surged into Orion's soul. He gasped as knowledge filled his mind—the language, the culture, the genetic structure of the fallen race.
But more than that—his Inner World changed.
The black void trembled.
A monolith of pure obsidian erupted from the ground, stretching high into the infinite sky. The land, once barren, now had shape—ashen plains, shifting shadows, pools of abyssal energy.
And then, from the darkness—they emerged.
The First Race: The Abyssborn
From the monolith's shadow, figures began to step forth.
Their bodies were tall and lean, humanoid yet distinctly alien. Their skin was obsidian-black, carved with glowing silver markings that pulsed like living veins. Their eyes were hollow voids, shifting between light and darkness.
They were the first race of the Nameless Abyss—the Abyssborn.
Orion could feel their connection to him. They were not mere creations—they were extensions of his will.
They knelt before the monolith, awaiting his command.
Population: 12.
The number was small, but Orion instinctively knew—this was only the beginning.
The Abyssborn were unlike any other race. They had no fixed form—their bodies adapted. Unlike other civilizations, which evolved in set paths, his race would shift, transform, and mutate based on what he devoured.
Their abilities were not limited to a single evolutionary tree.
They could evolve endlessly.
The thought sent shivers through Orion's spine.
"This… this isn't a trash Core Civilization."
"This is something else entirely."
---
The Abyssborn began to explore their new world.
One reached down and pressed its palm against the ground. The shadows moved at its touch. Another stretched out its fingers, and a thin, black mist drifted from its skin, forming a blade of condensed void energy.
They were testing themselves. Learning. Growing.
And Orion could feel their hunger.
They wanted to evolve.
"Then I need to feed them."
The thought was interrupted by a warning—
A presence.
Something foreign was approaching.
Orion's eyes snapped toward the void. A shadow loomed in the distance. A ship.
No—a war vessel.
He narrowed his eyes. The insignia on its hull was familiar—The Starborn Dominion.
One of the civilizations that had attacked the research base.
A voice crackled through the void.
"Unidentified lifeform detected. Energy signature unstable. Prepare for capture."
Orion exhaled.
The old him might have been afraid.
But now?
He had something to test.
His Nameless Abyss had awakened.
And the universe was about to learn what that meant.
---
End of Chapter 1.
Next: Chapter 2 - The Devourer's First Battle.