For a moment, Nox thought the sound had come from a dream.
A single chime — clear, metallic, echoing inside his skull.
The world around him was still the same: the faint hum of the electric fan, the steady breathing of his sleeping sister, the distant murmur of the Cebu streets outside.
But the sound lingered.
And then, before his eyes, light bloomed out of the darkness.
At first, he thought it was just exhaustion — another hallucination brought by hunger and stress.
But the light didn't fade.
It sharpened. It formed letters.
User: Nox Ando.
Strength: 4 | Agility: 3 | Stamina: 3.5 | Intelligence: 6
He blinked. The text blinked back, as if waiting for him to understand.
He raised his hand — it passed through the glowing words.
No warmth, no shadow, no texture. Just the impossible presence of something that shouldn't exist.
"What… the hell?" he whispered.
A voice answered.
Voice: "Designation: Nox Ando. Mortal integrity: compromised. Emotional stability: fractured."
The voice wasn't human. It was both machine and god, vibrating between static and choir.
Cold, but divine.
"Who—what are you?"
No response — only more text forming in front of him, scrolling like scripture.
Initiating Grand Seating protocol… Claim your dominion, Heir of Ashes.
The light grew, flooding the small room in white. Nox tried to move, to scream for his sister — but the air itself turned thick. Pressure crushed his skull, and for a moment, he couldn't even breathe.
The Mind Realm
The world cracked open.
Sound vanished. Sight vanished. Even thought seemed to dissolve.
For a heartbeat, he felt as though he had been flung through every direction at once — up, down, forward, backward, inside-out.
And then came silence.
A silence too vast to belong to any mortal place.
When his vision steadied, Nox found himself standing on something solid — though it wasn't quite floor.
It was black, mirror-like, stretching infinitely.
Above him was a ceiling of stars, unmoving, cold, arranged like eyes watching.
In the distance, a table emerged from the dark — long, wooden, ancient. Thirteen chairs stood around it.
He walked forward, drawn not by will but by some gravitational pull.
The air was heavy here — every breath felt like inhaling history.
The chairs were massive, carved with intricate designs of fire, ash, and crowns. Twelve of them were empty, their seats coated in the dust of ages.
But the thirteenth — the one at the center — glowed faintly, waiting.
Voice: "Grand Seating protocol active. Ascendant candidate recognized."
Nox swallowed hard. His reflection in the black marble below looked smaller, thinner, frightened — a boy who'd lost everything.
And yet, the chair waited for him.
He hesitated. His legs trembled.
"What… am I supposed to do?"
Voice: "Sit."
The word was soft, but it carried command — as if the stars themselves had spoken.
He sat.
The instant he did, a wave of pressure surged through him — every nerve alight, his mind split open to something incomprehensible.
Images flashed behind his eyes: crumbling worlds, fallen gods, burning thrones, and the echo of voices screaming his name.
He gripped the arms of the chair, gasping.
Voice: "Domain established."
The long table lit up with faint golden runes.
The Interface
In front of him, another panel appeared — larger now, alive.
User: Nox Ando
Wealth: ₱500
Available Functions: Mind Realm | Roulette | Inventory (Locked)
₱500. His weekly allowance.
His final remnant of poverty — now displayed by something that called itself God.
He almost laughed. "You've got to be kidding me."
The panel pulsed, reacting to his words.
Voice: "Do you wish to access the Roulette Function?"
Roulette. The word sounded both playful and fatal.
Nox hesitated. His heart pounded.
"What happens if I do?"
Voice: "Reward. Or ruin. The System operates by balance. Every action costs."
He exhaled, trembling. "Figures."
The glowing options rearranged, and a new message appeared at the bottom:
First-Time User Bonus Available. One Complimentary Draw Granted.
Nox stared at it, numb.
It felt like a dream stitched from his failures — a cruel joke from a tired universe.
He raised his hand toward the floating circle that had appeared in the air — a brilliant, crystalline wheel marked with colors and symbols he couldn't read. It spun slowly, humming like a heartbeat.
Voice: "Proceed, Heir of Ashes."
The title hit him again — Heir of Ashes.
He didn't know what it meant, but it sounded like a curse and a promise all at once.
He looked down at his trembling fingers.
At his reflection on the black marble floor.
At the ₱500 — his whole world, reduced to a number on a screen.
Slowly, he touched the glowing wheel.
It pulsed under his hand, warm, alive.
The lights intensified — white, blue, gold. The Mind Realm trembled.
Wind roared around him, pulling upward, as if the very stars were inhaling.
Voice: "Roulette initialization… complete."
Symbols began to blur, merge, spin faster.
Nox gritted his teeth, the force nearly lifting him from the chair.
He shouted against the roar, "If this is real—then make it mean something!"
For a split second, everything went black.
Then, in the dark:
Voice: "Understood."
The roulette stopped.
Light exploded.