The Infinite Ascent
Chapter 0: The Day The Sky Broke
The world met its catastrophic end not in the stillness of quiet resignation, but in an eruption of sound, a tumultuous cacophony resonating through the very fabric of existence. It was a sharp and unforgiving shattering, reminiscent of delicate glass smashing violently against unyielding stone.
The celestial canopy above, an expanse that had once promised safety and permanence, fractured into countless shards, revealing a void that had lain hidden behind the illusion of the ordinary. In the wake of this monumental fracture, fragments of stars cascaded downward, like fleeting memories tumbling through the abyss. In the midst of these cosmic wounds, a presence vast and inscrutable peered down from the depths of the unknown, casting a gaze that felt both intimate and terrifying.
And I, entirely alone, stood as the sole witness to this unfathomable spectacle, the only remnant of humanity to remain alive in its catastrophic aftermath.
In previous times, I had been regarded simply as a mortal, a nameless boy lost among billions, a tiny flicker of existence in an immense universe. Yet on that fateful day, as the world around me crumbled into smoldering ash and blinding light, I experienced a profound transformation. For the first time, I heard the whisper of the system in my ear, its voice cutting through the chaos like a knife:
[You have touched the Boundary.]
[A path has been opened.]
As the others perished in flames and despair, while the mightiest of empires succumbed to ruin, and even the gods themselves fled howling into the yawning abyss, I alone endured. I should have felt the searing heat of death encircle me. I had wished for the release of oblivion, to escape this horrifying reality, but the voice remained relentlessly calm, infinite in its knowledge, and unyielding in its resolve. It refused to grant me the peace I sought.
[Will you walk the Path?]
That single, haunting question still reverberates through the corridors of my mind, eternally echoing in the silence that has followed; a relentless drumbeat of potential and promise. Even now, after countless lifetimes spent traversing realms beyond the comprehension of normal beings, even after I ascended higher than any entity before me, a pinnacle of existence itself, the weight of that question has never faded.
The choice I made on that momentous day wrenched me from everything I had ever loved, everything I had ever known, forced into a new reality that lies so far beyond the grasp of mere mortals. It propelled me onto a path that stretches endlessly, defying the very concepts of mortality, eternity, and even the boundaries of the heavens themselves.
This road, vast and unyielding, possesses no discernible end. It unfurls infinitely before me, a tapestry woven from both the light of hope and the shadows of fear. A road that one day, I am certain, the world will come to dread.
I walk, forever, on the Path of the Infinite Ascent. It is both a curse and a blessing, an odyssey through the fabric of existence that is as exhilarating as it is terrifying, a journey into realms unknown that beckons to me with both promise and peril.
To be continued...