A star tore through the night sky and crashed deep within an ancient forest. Earth and stone shattered. Roots split. Ash scorched the air. From the crater rose two indigo orbs, alive with thought, bound together as brothers.
The forest swallowed them. Mana hung thick, heavy, restless. The orbs drifted between the trees. Their light folded inward. Flesh formed. Bone followed. Breath began.
Two naked young men collapsed onto the forest floor.
Sound reached them first. Then scent. Then fear. They understood instinctively: these bodies were weak yet hidden. Human.
Stone structures carved into nearby hills drew their attention. Symbols burned faintly along entrances. Mana leaked like liquid fire. Dungeons.
Footsteps cracked through the undergrowth.
A group of hunters emerged. Worn armor, sharp eyes, open greed. They moved as one, scanning the forest with practiced precision.
"We need an E-rank dungeon," one said.
"If anyone shows up, we kill and take their valuables," another added.
Rank measured danger. Dungeons fed power. Humans hunted everything.
A shout rang out. "Dungeon spawn!"
A warped stone portal tore open between roots and rock. Mana surged.
"Three minutes," the leader said. "Once someone enters, it closes."
The hunters surged inside. The portal sealed.
The brothers stayed back. Instinct warned them. Not yet.
They fled deeper and found an abandoned stone building swallowed by vines. Rats scattered as they pushed open a rotted door. Torn cloth and filth clung to the floor.
They dressed silently. The rags choked them. The stench burned.
"We do not enter a dungeon yet," the older said.
The younger nodded.
Fragments of memory surfaced. Indigo skies. Gods falling. Humanity screaming. Their race erased. The curse left behind. Dungeons spread across the world. Some humans gained abilities. Shapeshifters remained rare.
This world no longer bowed to race. It bowed to intelligence and skill.
Sunlight crept through a cracked window. Movement approached.
The hunters arrived. Two women wielded staffs. Three men in worn chainmail. They moved together, coordinating silently, their eyes scanning for threats.
"This shelter works," one said.
"I need points for visual appraise," another added.
Visual appraise measured power. Weak at first. Sharpened through killing, absorbing mana, selling it for coin.
The brothers pressed into shadow.
"I think I saw something," the younger whispered.
Weapons slid free. Laughter broke out, shared between all five hunters.
"Rookies," one of the women said, her tone echoing the group's amusement. "Dungeon slaves are profitable."
The younger clenched his jaw. "This world is rotten."
"We are not ready," the older replied.
Transformation without control meant ruin.
"We run," the younger said.
The older smiled, faint, cold. "Who said we fight?"
Their bodies twisted violently. Bones cracked. Flesh tore. Muscles bulged and snapped. Claws ripped the wooden wall apart. Every step left them unbalanced, half-falling.
Two tall, deer-like forms loomed where humans had stood. Eyes burned red, then drowned in black. Strength jagged, unstable. Every heartbeat reminded them they were fragile, broken—but dangerous. The power thrummed inside like a living thing, unpredictable, hungry, testing their limits.
They smashed through the far wall, vanishing into the forest before the hunters could react.
They ran until pain stopped them. A cave opened beneath the earth like a maw. They collapsed inside and reverted.
Bones cracked. Flesh healed. Hunger screamed. The younger stumbled, half-blind. The older struggled for breath.
Two flat stone slabs lay in a small chamber.
The older brother helped the younger lie down, then collapsed himself. Darkness swallowed him. His body went still.
Even in unconsciousness, a dark aura pressed outward. Cold. Heavy. Wrong.
A voice surfaced, deep and demonic, not entirely human, as if more than one consciousness spoke in unison.
"If this world turns cruel to me, we will be crueler. If this world chooses darkness, we will fall deeper within it. We will be the darkest, that stand at the pinnacle of the shadows."
The younger brother felt it—a suffocating weight pressing on him. Fear clawed through him, though he could not comprehend it.
A faint shimmer pulsed in the corner of his vision. Something moved beyond shadow, brushing against his mind. A presence that tested him. He could not see it, could not name it, but he knew it would demand strength—for every weakness.
Even as he trembled, the shadows seemed to stretch longer, linger closer, whispering a promise of trials yet to come.
The voice faded. The aura sank back into the older brother, leaving him still.
Darkness remained. Something waited ahead.