The world had long since forgotten the warmth of the sun.
For centuries, the sky had remained a dull, bruised red, suffocated by thick storm clouds that never parted. The air reeked of blood and rust, of death and decay. This was Velios, a once-great city that now stood as a graveyard for the weak.
Yoru Kael ran through its corpse.
His bare feet pounded against cracked pavement, his breath ragged, each step fueled by sheer desperation. Behind him, the Void Stalkers closed in. Their ghastly, elongated forms slithered between the ruins, their violet eyes glowing in the darkness.
He didn't dare look back.
Shhhkkk!
A black tendril lashed past his shoulder, carving a deep gouge into a crumbling wall. He barely twisted his body in time to avoid another, feeling the rush of air as it narrowly missed his throat.
Too close.
The Void Stalkers weren't the strongest abyssal creatures, but they were fast. Their skeletal bodies flickered in and out of existence, their movements unnatural, like shadows peeling away from reality itself.
Another strike. This time, he wasn't fast enough.
CRACK!
Pain exploded in his side as he crashed against the remains of an old iron gate. He gasped, gripping his ribs as he forced himself back to his feet. A single misstep meant death.
His body screamed for rest, but he had no choice.
He had no weapons. No powers. No divine blessing.
Only Lunar Ascendants—those touched by the last remnants of sunlight—could fight these monsters. He was nothing more than a starving orphan, an outcast.
And yet, they still chased him.
Yoru clenched his teeth. Why? Why now?
Then he heard it. Laughter.
Not from the Voidborn. From above.
The Lunar Guard stood on the remains of a collapsed bridge, watching his struggle with cruel amusement. Their silver armor gleamed under the crimson sky, a stark contrast to the filth and darkness of the ruined city.
"He's still running," one of them scoffed.
"How pathetic," another chuckled.
"Let the monsters have him," a third said. "Void-cursed filth like him shouldn't exist anyway."
Yoru's fists tightened. He had been abandoned by them long ago, cast out when his body rejected the Lunar Rite. Without solar energy flowing through his veins, he was seen as a failure.
A mistake.
But now wasn't the time for hate.
Now was the time to survive.
A Void Stalker lunged at him. He twisted, barely dodging its claw, but his movements were sluggish. His vision blurred. His body was reaching its limit.
I... I can't...
The largest Void Stalker reared back, its maw splitting open into an endless void of jagged teeth.
Yoru had no strength left.
And then—
Something whispered to him.
A voice, cold and ancient, curling through the edges of his mind.
"Do you wish to live?"
Yoru froze.
The voice was not human. Not Voidborn. Not like anything he had ever heard before. It came from deep within the abyss, from something older than time itself.
The Void Stalker lunged.
And instinct took over.
His hand moved on its own, reaching into the darkness.
And the world changed.
A surge of black energy exploded from within him.
The Void Stalker shrieked, its body twisting unnaturally as tendrils of pure abyss burst from its chest. Its violet eyes flickered, then dimmed into nothingness.
It was dead.
Not slain by a sword.
Not purified by light.
Not burned by the sun's remnants.
It had been devoured.
The other Void Stalkers recoiled, their shrieks laced with confusion. Even the Lunar Guards above had fallen silent, their mocking laughter replaced by stunned disbelief.
Yoru stared at his trembling hands. His body still shook from the surge of power.
And then the voice returned.
[System Activation: Eclipse Codex Initialized.]
A wave of knowledge flooded his mind, overwhelming his thoughts.
New Ability Acquired: Abyssal Devourer
—Absorb the essence of Voidborn to strengthen your core.
Yoru gasped, the words sinking into his bones.
A System? But only Lunar Ascendants had divine blessings like this!
He felt it now—something coursing through him, something foreign yet undeniably his. The energy of the Void Stalker he had just slain pulsed within him, merging with his own flesh.
The shadows at his feet twisted, drawn to him as if he had become their master.
A slow, twisted grin formed on his lips.
Perhaps he wasn't as powerless as they thought.
The Lunar Guards had called him an outcast.
A heretic. A reject.
But now…
He was something else entirely.
Something far more dangerous.
And for the first time in his life—
Yoru Kael felt truly alive.
The city was silent.
Only the distant howl of the wind and the faint crackling of dying embers filled the void. Velios had always been a graveyard, but now—something had changed.
Something had awoken.
Yoru stood amidst the ruins, his hands still trembling from the surge of dark energy coursing through him. The Abyssal Devourer ability pulsed in his mind, its knowledge instinctual, as if it had always been a part of him—waiting.
The shadows around his feet twisted, drawn to him.
The remaining Void Stalkers hissed, their glowing violet eyes flickering between Yoru and the corpse of their fallen kin. They didn't attack. They hesitated.
Even the monsters could feel it.
He was no longer prey.
A slow exhale left Yoru's lips. His body no longer ached, the pain from his earlier wounds dulled, replaced by something new—something hungry.
He stepped forward.
The nearest Void Stalker flinched.
Yoru almost laughed. The hunter had become the hunted.
Then—
"Heresy."
The word rang out from above, slicing through the silence like a blade.
Yoru's gaze snapped upward.
The Lunar Guards had not left. They still stood atop the collapsed bridge, but their expressions had changed. Where once there was amusement, there was now wariness.
The silver-armored officer at the center stepped forward, his grip tightening on the luminous blade at his waist. His gaze burned with something dangerous—not just suspicion, but disgust.
"You dare wield the power of the Void?" His voice was sharp, unwavering. "You are no longer just an outcast, boy. You are a blasphemy."
Yoru's eyes narrowed.
Blasphemy?
Was that all they saw?
Not the starving orphan they had abandoned. Not the boy who had been left for dead. Not someone who had survived when they had refused to lift a finger.
No.
Now, he was just a threat.
Yoru clenched his fists.
A flicker of anger burned in his chest. He should have expected this.
The Lunar Guard had never cared. Their light had never reached the forsaken. He had never been one of them.
And now, he never would be.
The officer's blade hummed, pulsing with a golden glow. The air around him grew hot, the remnants of Velios' twilight shuddering in the presence of true solar power.
"I will purge you," the officer declared.
The other Guards moved in unison, their hands shifting to their weapons. No hesitation. No doubt.
They had already decided.
Yoru's breath slowed.
His heartbeat steadied.
A choice lay before him.
He could run, as he always had.
Or—
He could fight.
The Void stirred in his veins. The knowledge granted by the Eclipse Codex whispered its truths into his mind.
He was not powerless.
Not anymore.
A slow, sharp smile curled at Yoru's lips.
Let them come.
For the first time in his life—
He was ready.
End of Chapter 1.
---
Next Chapter: Eclipse vs. Sun
The battle begins. But can Yoru withstand the might of the Lunar Guard? Or will he unlock something even darker within himself?