I woke up choking on soil.
It was in my mouth, pressed against my tongue.My nose, my ears—stuffed full. I couldn't breathe. Couldn't scream. The weight was crushing. Heavy. Wet. Cold.
Then… something snapped inside me.
A raw, animal panic surged through my limbs, and I clawed upward. My fingers broke through roots and rocks, tearing at the earth above.
I didn't know which way was up. I just knew I had to move. I had to get out.
Move. Now. Or die.
My hand finally broke the surface—met air. I gasped, spit dirt, and dragged myself out of the ground like a corpse in reverse.
It was dark. Not midnight-dark. Dim and wrong.Like the world hadn't remembered how to shine.
I lay there on the grass, chest heaving, skin covered in mud, shaking like something had unwritten me and put me back together wrong.
And then I saw it.
A gravestone. Old, cracked down the middle.
Name:Kashan Idris
Born: ???Died: ??/??/20XX
That was my name.
Not a coincidence.Not a dream.I had clawed my way out of my own grave.
My breath fogged in the cold. I tried to sit up, but my body felt wrong. Like something inside me was missing. Or added.
Then I heard the whisper.
Right in my ear.Like it came from under the ground I'd just escaped.
"One buried. One returned."
I jerked to my feet, heart racing.
No one there.Just graves. Thousands. Stretching into the fog.Some were open. Some were cracked. Some had fresh blood on the soil.
And then…a window popped into existence, floating in the air.
It shimmered with pale blue light. Like a hologram.
[GRAVEBIND SYSTEM INITIALIZED]
[Current Status: UNMARKED]
You have returned from death.
You are now bound to the dead.
New Trait Unlocked:"The First Burial" – Gain power by burying the dead with your own hands.
Warning: Failure to bury the dead will result in decay of sanity.
Progression Path Unlocked: Gravebound
I didn't understand. Not really.But my hands… my hands were shaking. Covered in dirt and blood that wasn't mine.
I looked around the endless graveyard. At the fog creeping in. At the eyes watching me from the shadows.
And I realized…
I wasn't alone.And this wasn't over.Not by a long shot.