Author's Note:
Hey there! Just a little heads-up, this story's more of a slow burn, so if you're into fast paced novels...then probably this isn't for you. It won't be all explosions and chaos right out the gate, but trust me, the buildup's worth it.
The world you're diving into is completely made up (yep, not Earth), so not everything's gonna follow real-world logic. Hope you stick around and enjoy the ride! And if you feel like dropping a comment or review, I'll be lurking around and reading them whenever I can.
♤Uncertain Death♤
I was just another face in the crowd.
The rain came down in heavy sheets, but I barely noticed it as I trudged through the city streets. My backpack weighed down on my shoulders, a constant reminder of everything I still hadn't done.
Another day of classes that left me empty. Another shift at the store folding clothes for people who didn't even look me in the eyes. My hands trembled from exhaustion, but no one ever asked why.
Each day blurred into the next. A routine so ordinary it felt like it could drown me if I stopped to think too long.
Still, sometimes, when the world slowed down just enough, I let myself dream.
I dreamed of standing for something. Of leaving a mark on a world that didn't even know I existed. I dreamed of being more than just background noise. But those dreams always felt distant, like stars, beautiful, untouchable, too far away to ever hold.
Tonight was no different.
My feet splashed through puddles, my head low against the cold rain biting into my skin. I took the same shortcut I always did, narrow alley, brick walls, quiet corners. I'd walked it a thousand times just to get home faster.
But tonight… something was different.
A scream shattered the stillness. High-pitched. Desperate.
A child.
I didn't think. My body moved before my mind could catch up. I ran, rounding the corner and nearly slipping on the wet concrete. And then I saw them.
Two men in dark hoodies, faces shadowed. They had a small kid backed against the wall, trembling, clutching a backpack like it was a lifeline.
My heart slammed against my ribs. I had no plan. No clue what I was doing.
"Hey!" I shouted, my voice sharper than I meant it to be. "Leave them alone!"
They turned. Cold eyes. One of them smirked and I saw it, the flash of steel. He didn't even let me speak or negotiate with them.
Before I could move, he lunged.
Pain hit me like lightning.
I stumbled back, gasping as the blade tore into my side. Blood soaked my clothes, pooling on the ground beneath me. My knees buckled.
I dropped.
But through the haze of pain, I saw the kid run.
They got away.
And for one moment, one brief second, it felt worth it.
Then everything began to fade.
My vision blurred. My chest tightened. Every breath was a struggle. "So this is how it ends," I thought. "This is how I disappear".
A quiet life. An unnoticed death.
Regret burned through me like fire. I hadn't done anything. Nothing worth remembering. I had spent my life being invisible. Just surviving. Not living.
Tears mixed with the rain on my cheeks. I wanted more time. I wanted another chance. I wanted to matter.
But time was already slipping.
Everything slowed. The rain. The sounds of the city. Even the blood rushing in my ears. It was like the world itself was pausing.
And then I felt it.
Something else.
A presence.
I turned my head, barely able to lift it and there it was.
A figure. Cloaked in shadow, shifting like smoke in the wind. Not fully human. Not fully anything I could name. It flickered, like it didn't quite belong in this world.
Maybe I was imagining it. Maybe I was dying.
"You've reached the end of your path," it said. Its voice was distant, hollow—like it echoed from somewhere far beyond me.
I tried to speak, but my throat clenched tight. My mouth wouldn't move.
The figure stepped closer. I felt it more than saw it.
"There is no turning back, mortal. You have one choice. Fade away, forgotten… as you were meant to. Or…"
The word hung in the air.
I shivered, but I couldn't move.
Something tugged at me. A strange pull in my chest. Like the world was bending, twisting, offering something impossible.
"Or?" I rasped. My voice barely a whisper, but it was all I had left.
"Or descend into the Realm of the Forgotten," the figure said. "A place where those who've lost their way are given one last chance. To fight. To carve a new fate from the ashes of their past."
I wanted to let go.
God, I was tired.
The pain. The weight. It was too much.
But something inside me refused to give up. That same piece that had always dreamed. That small, burning part of me that still wanted to change everything.
"I choose… to live," I whispered. The words barely formed, but the figure heard them.
It tilted its head and reached out a hand.
"Then you will live," it said. "But the path you've chosen comes with a price."
Its hand closed around mine and the world shattered.
Everything broke apart. Light and shadow, pain and thought. I fell, tumbling through something I couldn't explain. Time. Space. Memory. It all peeled away.
And then I stopped falling.
My lungs screamed. I gasped, dragging in air like it was the first time I'd ever breathed.
The alley was gone.
The city was gone.
Everything I had ever known…
Gone.
In its place was a landscape of shifting shadows and strange lights. A realm twisted and unreal.
I wasn't the same.
I knew it the moment I stood.
And whatever this new world was…
It was going to demand everything from me.