Another day with no luck. Starvation today, it seemed. Lief sighed in contempt of his situation. Yet he knew that it was nothing to complain about, for the other millions of residents in the abandoned world, Earth, had similar situations. He leaped past the great landfills of metal and ash. He crawled deep within the ruins, searching for potential resources before the world cloaked itself with darkness, and the beasts of Kyran emerged. Traveling in the complex tunnels that had formed from layers of steel slab on top of each other, then weathered over the course of millennia, Lief saw light.
Was it a refuge? he thought. Stepping deeper into this tunnel, he discovered that the light he previously thought to come from a fire, instead was sourced from a flickering bluish core. The sickly light cast its otherworldly glow on the reflective metal around him. Lief instinctively knew this wasn't just any light. It felt... alive. A breathing, pulsing, orb. Almost sentient in a way.
The hell is this? Lief scrambled for answers. Curious, a dangerous trait in this apocalyptic world, he stepped closer. Lief cautiously reached for the orb, rubbing over its smooth surface with his fingers.
Zap! With a sudden flash, he was transported to a strange space, devoid of light yet full of it at the same time. Countless eyes appeared in the skies and ground of the realm, watching his every move, their gaze piercing past his body with unsettling omniscience.
"Welcome, Saint." A booming, cosmic voice, came from every aspect of the dimension. Lief's body shuddered as every cell in it instinctively desired to bow to this higher existence. Lief stumbled back.
"What the hell are you?" he cried, voice cracking under the weight of fear. A tall, pitch black, faceless, figure appeared, tearing the fabric of reality. The only clothing that could be spotted was a dark purple robe which cloaked the figure's unnatural frame. It leaned closer to Lief, its featureless face gazing through his soul. It slid its slender finger underneath his chin, raising his head to look at it. A mouth, filled with gleaming white teeth, appeared onto the creature, and distorted into an unsettling curve.
"I am..." It paused. "The Prophet." It's other arm twisted around to be placed on his scalp. With a firm grip, the Prophet continued. "I shall be your teacher, your guide, in your training to realize your potential."
"Why me!" Lief pleaded to be let out of this strange world. He would rather starve to death then be devoured by this creature. His arms flailed, attempting to escape. The Prophet smiled.
"You are... the Saint. The one who shall continue the Seraphic Path. I am merely here as your guide, and predecessor." The Prophet dragged Lief along the cruel, glassy, floor of the realm, to a blackened door that had appeared in the distance. As they walked, it resumed. ""I know all that you are. All that you might become. Accept your path, Saint, and the hunger will end. Refuse… and you will rot, forgotten, among the ash."" It rasped, "But now, you are far, far too weak." The door opened in front of them, revealing yet another black void, this time truly in darkness, and with sinewy paths that led to fleshy platforms, each with portals upon them. "You shall train here. In the Lattice of Fate." The Prophet disappeared, just as silently as he came.