"How long has it been…?"
A voice, deep and heavy with centuries of memory, echoed in the void.
"Born… over and over again. A curse… no, a duty."
The words were calm, but behind them was an unshakable hatred.
"This time… I'll make sure to kill him. No more ties. No more endings where we both fall."
The voice faded, replaced by the sound of an infant's cries.
The forest stretched endlessly, each tree twisted and ancient. Their trunks were pitch black, their branches stripped of leaves, reaching up like skeletal hands against a sky that was neither day nor night. The air was thick, cold, and damp , heavy with the stench of rot.
In the middle of this lifeless place lay a newborn child.
No blanket. No warmth. No touch of comfort.
Only the soft, pale skin of his small body, marked by the fresh cord at his belly button , the only proof he had ever been connected to anything at all.
The baby's wails cut through the silence, thin and desperate. His tiny limbs kicked weakly against the frozen ground.
Then…
A low, guttural growl.
From between the dead trees, it emerged , a massive beast with matted brown fur, no eyes, and a jaw that stretched far wider than it should have. It moved on four thick, muscular legs, its claws scraping the dirt as it approached the sound.
The cries drew it closer.
Closer.
Closer still.
The beast lowered its head, opened its mouth, and in one slow motion , swallowed the child whole.
Its throat worked once. Twice. The baby was gone.
But then...
A sound like tearing flesh. A blur of black movement.
In the next instant, the beast's body split apart from neck to belly, spilling its insides into the dirt.
From the steaming mass, the child tumbled out, drenched in hot blood, still crying as if nothing had happened.
A shadow stepped forward from the mist.
It had no face, no clear shape, but its presence was suffocating , darker than the forest itself. Without a word, it reached down and grabbed the baby by his right leg, the bloodied cord still hanging from his belly.
The shadow turned and began to walk, carrying him upside-down through the pale, fog choked trees.
The cries didn't stop.
Not once.
The mist swallowed them both, the black forest fading into nothing.
And so began the life of Erebus , the child born only to kill.
THE END OF CHAPTER 1