The smell of burning metal filled the air. Sparks flew as the last of Ron's research lab was consumed by flames. The once-pristine facility, where he had spent years pioneering teleportation and energy-based technologies, now lay in ruins. The fire roared like a beast, consuming everything—his work, his dreams, his future.
Ron stood in the middle of it all, blood dripping from a deep gash on his forehead. His dark eyes reflected the glow of destruction, but there was no fear in them—only cold calculation.
"Betrayed… by my own people."
The realization settled in like a blade through his chest. The very researchers and investors who had once praised him as a visionary had turned against him. His work had become too dangerous—too disruptive to the industries that controlled the world. So they had set fire to his lab and vanished into the night, leaving him for dead.
A sudden explosion knocked him off his feet, sending him crashing into a pile of broken machinery. His breath came in ragged gasps. His body was failing, and his vision blurred. Was this how it all ended?
His mind raced. He had built so much. He had unlocked secrets of the universe. He was on the verge of transcending human limits. And now, because of greed, it was all being erased.
Then, he saw it—a faint light in the sky.
At first, he thought it was another hallucination, a trick of his dying mind. But no. The light grew brighter, cutting through the thick smoke.
A comet.
But this was no ordinary celestial event. The moment it passed overhead, a strange force pulled at his soul, dragging him away from his broken body. The fire, the betrayal, the pain—it all faded. His consciousness drifted, swallowed by an abyss of infinite darkness.
And then—
Light.
Air.
A new world.
Ron's eyes snapped open. He was no longer in his lab. He wasn't even on Earth.
Above him, a vast sky stretched endlessly, painted with twin suns and swirling cosmic clouds. Below him, a thick jungle teemed with sounds—guttural roars, rustling leaves, the distant shrieks of something… unnatural.
Ron sat up, his fingers sinking into the warm dirt. His body felt strange—stronger, more alive. Different.
Then, a strange notification blinked in his mind.
> [Devouring System Activated]
Absorb. Evolve. Dominate.
Ron's lips curled into a slow, dangerous smile.
"This… might be interesting."
The legend had fallen once. But now? He would rise again.
And this time, nothing would stop him.
End of Chapter 1