Chapter 1
The first time the world almost ended, no one noticed.
The sun rose like it always did pale, tired, and slightly wrong. Shadows lingered a second longer than they should, clinging to walls, to feet, to the undersides of memories people didn't want to remember.
A boy noticed.
He stood on the narrow balcony of a crumbling apartment block, fingers gripping the rusted railing, staring down at the city that had never been kind to him. His reflection in the glass behind him was unimpressive: average height, too thin, skin pale from years of sickness and hunger. His black hair fell into his eyes no matter how often he cut it.
Nothing about him suggested survival.
Behind him, a soft cough broke the silence.
"Brother…"
He turned instantly.
His sister sat on the bed, knees pulled to her chest, sunlight spilling around her like it belonged there. She looked nothing like him. Her hair shimmered faintly silver under the light, her face calm and beautiful in a way that made strangers stare too long.
Beauty inherited from a mother she barely remembered.
The curse marks were faint today ,thin, dark lines near her collarbone, pulsing like slow heartbeats. That was good. It meant the pain hadn't reached her bones yet.
"I'm fine," she lied, smiling.
He nodded, pretending to believe her.
Outside, a siren wailed. Then another. Then the sky blinked.
For half a second, reality peeled open.
People across the city froze as something ancient pressed its gaze against the world. Those sensitive to it children, the sick, the broken collapsed instantly.
And the cursed… awakened.
The notification did not appear in words. It arrived as pain.
The boy fell to his knees as his shadow twisted violently beneath him, stretching in impossible directions. His lungs burned, his heart hammered as if trying to escape his chest.
Around him, people screamed. Some laughed hysterically. Some stopped moving altogether.
He crawled toward his sister, dragging his useless body across the floor. Every instinct screamed at him to stop, to give up, to let the darkness take him like it took so many others.
But when her scream pierced through the noise, something inside him snapped.
I don't care what you are.
I don't care what you take.
Just let me live.
Let me save her.
The shadow beneath him surged upward. Not outward. Inward. It swallowed him whole.
He disappeared. He died in silence.
His sister remained frozen and silent.
Everything was black. These were not shadows these are pure darkness.
The curse had consumed him. He was surely inside it… or worse, he had been sent to a corrupted dimension.
Corrupted dimensions were places where a person could gain unimaginable physical abilities and even dominant powers, but conquering them could be easy… or impossibly difficult. It was the Curse that decided.
As these thoughts passed through his mind, a deep, eternal voice echoed through the darkness, welcoming him.
"You have been teleported to the City of the Graveyard of Shadows the Shadow Kingdom.
The almighty Shadow Gods were corrupted and slain by the Fallen Gods. After their death, their servants were exterminated. This cursed city is now under the control of corrupted beasts and their king, the Corrupted Darkening. Welcome, human Kael, to the Kingdom of Shadow ruled by Darkening."
CLASSIFICATION:
Name – Kael
True Name – None
Rank – None
Race – Human
Title – None
Dominant Ability – None
Arsenal – Empty
After what felt like an eternity, he opened his eyes again.
He was no longer in the city. No longer in a world that made sense.
Beneath him stretched the Graveyard of Shadows, a ruined civilization swallowed by time and corruption. Broken towers clawed at a violet-streaked sky. Streets lay cracked and blackened. Twisted shapes skittered through the ruins creatures whose existence defied description. Some had cores pulsing like living lanterns; others crawled like smoke across the ground.
Suddenly, his body trembled.
Unimaginable pain corrupted his soul.
When he looked at his chest, he saw the curse marks spreading slowly, but surely. He knew it wouldn't take long. In a week, or even less, the curse would completely swallow him.
The shadows around him shifted. Something cold and sentient slid across the broken ground.
Enduring the unbearable pain, he forced himself to stand and observe his surroundings, searching for shelter and a path to the boss chamber.
The voice spoke again.
Corrupted Dimension. Survival begins. The First Curse Trial.
In the Graveyard of Shadows, there were no rules except one: survive or die.
The boy stumbled through the broken streets, noticing the sky above it was wrong. The sun burned red and black.
He searched ruined houses, scavenged broken weapons, and explored the debris. In the center of the destroyed city stood a ruined temple. The moment he saw it, a strange sensation ran through his body, making him shiver.
Night fell. Stars shimmered in the darkened sky, and cold winds swept through the ruins. He wore nothing but a ruined shirt and shortened pants.
Suddenly, he sensed something crawling behind him. His hands trembled as he raised a broken, rusted sword he had found in a ruined weapon shop. There was no time to wonder about its origin. In the darkness at the end of the street, something waited ,something beyond his understanding, beyond his ability.
Yet he wasn't completely afraid. For more than seven years, he had fought on the streets of his city for food, for water, for his sister. He had fought for his right to live.
A group of corrupted shadow souls lunged toward him, starving after years of hunger.
After hesitating for a moment, he charged.
He had never held a sword before. He didn't know how to wield it. But the curse marks burned, lending him strength in exchange for spreading faster across his body, flooding him with suffocating pain.
When the creatures came within meters, he saw their darkened faces. He pierced the first creature's head. He was wounded in return.
By the end, all the shadow-corrupted creatures lay dead.
The cost was heavy. He lost one eye. His body was covered in deep, bleeding wounds.
A voice whispered:
"You have slain five Effected Shadows consumed by corruption. You have received a tool: War Shankh."
He found a safe place and made it his shelter.
After resting, he woke up two days later. The curse marks glowed with black light. Panic rose but he calmed himself.
Then he began moving toward the ruined temple. He scavenged weapons from skeletons, consumed beast flesh, and fought endlessly. Beasts were everywhere some with one core, others with two or three. Their numbers were overwhelming, but their patterns could be learned.
He killed. He hid. He ran. Luck was his only ally. And desire pure, burning desire to live and save his sister.
After days that felt like years, something inside him changed. The shadow beneath his feet no longer resisted him. It welcomed him. Black energy erupted from his hands, crushing a beast that dared strike him.
The mark on his chest pulsed. He knew he had less than twenty-four hours. Death or corruption was close.
Still, he stepped into the temple grounds. The area was vast. Too quiet. No beasts.
Near the main hall lay a massive stone monument. When he approached, terror overwhelmed him and he collapsed.
He saw something impossible. Humans. Four of them. Three looked like ordinary people. One was a knight.
ALLIANCES AND BETRAYAL
Doubt mindedly
Kael approached the four humans cautiously, his every step trembling with a mix of fear and determination. A dozen meters away, he raised his voice, booming through the ruined streets: "Hi… I'm not a beast. I'm just a human, surviving like you. I can help, if you want."
The four gazes locked on him, wary and assessing. He could sense the suffocating aura emanating from the knight this one had to be an Effected, maybe even upper rank. Despite the tension, they eventually welcomed him after exchanging their stories. The knight offered him water and food, treating him with care. Kael was shocked here was a child, like him, surviving in this cursed city with such resilience.
His eyes fell on the rusty, broken sword in his hands. Without hesitation, the knight handed him a dagger forged from black-and-red alloy. Kael gripped it firmly, feeling its weight and potential.
Kael lowered his black-and-red dagger, given by the black knight. Its sound-sensitive aura pulsed faintly. The knight eyed him cautiously.
Kael spoke, calm but firm:
"We either fight this together… or die alone. I can help, but we must move as one."
One of the three ordinary humans stepped forward, voice shaking:
"Okay… we'll trust you. For now."
The knight's stern voice cut through:
"Do not mistake caution for trust. Follow my command, or die."
Kael nodded. Shadows crept around him, sensing his presence. The dagger in his hand hummed faintly as if responding. Together, they approached the Corrupted Darkening.
The first assault was brutal. Kael struck from the shadows while the Knight deflected strikes. The three humans flanked but the creature was massive, its movements terrifyingly fast. Hours passed, exhaustion mounting.
Finally, Kael and the Knight coordinated a strike to fell a temple tower onto the Darkening, forcing it to stagger. For a moment, hope gleamed.
The maze-like temple, however, trapped them.
The three humans, desperate and fearful, plotted.
"We can distract it… sacrifice one…" one whispered to the Knight, pointing at Kael as bait.
The Knight, seeing the betrayal, turned against them. One slave was devoured by the Darkening, one Kael injured severely, the last killed by the Knight and consumed by the creature.
The Abomination the Darkening heard the sound of their wispers and conversations ,sensed Kael's and Knight's presence although Kael went hidden in the shadow and hard to see but the knight was in a vulnerable point . At the basement of the temple, with shattered altars and pools of glowing blood, the Knight tried to sacrifice Kael to save himself.
Kael melted into the shadows, avoiding detection but before he completely disappeared the Knight pierced him with his blade with out rage wounding him a big hole appeared on his abdomen and a stream of red liquid started flowing from his abdomen, but Kael countered with the War Shankh. Its sound echoed far, attracting the Abomination. When the abomination approached them he felt the presence of two humans but attacked the visible one , the knight tried very hard but killed by the overwhelming power of the abomination.
After sensing Kael position the beast hit him with his tail very hard that a scream escaped from his lips .
He was thrown away by a single strike.
A stone sword mounted on the wall pierced his chest. Blood poured rapidly from his wounds. He is in the verge of collapsing ultimately he is dying. He saw his blood flowed from his chest , abdomen actually from the whole body into the eyes of a broken Shadow God's statue. All lights of hope dimmed from his heart , he can't escape his faith now , he was apologising to his parents to can't able to save and look over his sister he cried he mouth filled up by blood then a sentence escaped from his deep heart " Let me give a last chance , I swear I will never fail again " but nothing happened till then . The Abomination has completed feasting on the knight and slowly approaching his last prey.
But ! But the faith had other plans for him A deep voice echoed in the ruined basement
" Dear Kael ...