The streets of Cincinnati were unusually quiet that afternoon. School had let out early because of a strange weather warning—something about an approaching pressure anomaly. But no one really cared. Kids were just happy to be free.
Henry Carter, seventeen years old, walked alone along the cracked sidewalk of Grandview Avenue. Backpack slung over one shoulder, hoodie up, earbuds in, and hands buried deep in his pockets. Typical day, at least for him.
He wasn't in a rush. He never was. His aunt wouldn't be home for hours, and the apartment was always colder than the streets anyway.
The wind blew oddly warm. Like summer trying to force its way into spring.
He glanced up.
The sky… was wrong.
It was too still. No birds. No clouds. Just… grey, stretching endlessly, like a painted ceiling that hadn't dried yet.
Then came the ringing.
A high-pitched noise—sharp and thin—piercing through his music like a knife. He yanked out one earbud.
"What the hell—?"
His phone screen glitched. Static. Then it shut off completely.
Cars froze mid-motion. A dog across the street stopped barking and just stood there, its eyes wide like it had seen a ghost.
Henry's heart beat faster. "Okay... that's weird."
Then the light vanished.
Not like nightfall. Not like a blackout. But like someone had simply erased the sun. Everything went pitch black, like he had just stepped into a void.
No light. No wind. No sound.
Just… nothing.
He tried to move—but the ground wasn't there anymore.
It felt like falling through water, but without the wetness. Weightless. Silent. Endless.
And then… he heard a voice.
A deep whisper, inside his skull.
> "You have been chosen, Henry Carter. The Multiverse is breaking. You are the last light in the storm."
"What?! Who's there?!" he screamed, but there was no mouth to scream with. Just thought. Just terror.
> "Welcome to the Madness."
A burning pain flared across his chest. He gasped. Something was being branded onto his skin — a glowing red mark, swirling like a galaxy and dripping like blood.
Then…
THUD!
He slammed into solid ground. Grass. Dirt. Cold air.
His eyes opened.
He was no longer in Ohio.
Not even on Earth.
Above him, twin moons hung in a violet sky. Trees bent at impossible angles. A massive black sun blinked in and out like a dying eye.
A city floated upside-down in the sky, burning.
Henry sat up, shaking.
"What the hell is this place…?"
Then a distant growl echoed through the trees. Not human. Not animal. Something in-between.
A giant black wolf, with a twisted, shifting face—half machine, half bone—emerged from the forest.
Henry froze. He had no weapons. No idea where he was. No clue why this was happening.
The wolf stared at him. Then it spoke.
> "Fresh Traveler… you shouldn't have come."
And it leaped.
The beast was in the air, claws spread, mouth unhinged like a bear trap.
Henry didn't think — he ran.
Leaves and mud tore under his shoes as he bolted into the forest, lungs burning with panic. The trees were crooked, like broken fingers clawing at the sky. The air was thick, oily. Every breath was like swallowing smoke.
Behind him, the creature howled, the sound warping like a radio caught between stations.
> "This isn't real. This can't be real…"
But the pounding of claws behind him told a different story.
He didn't know where he was going. Everything looked the same. The forest twisted around him like it was watching. Judging. Laughing.
His foot caught on a root—he fell, hard.
He scrambled backward as the creature emerged from the trees, glowing red eyes locked on him.
It grinned.
And it spoke again.
> "You don't belong here, Traveler. But you'll make a fine corpse."
It lunged—
And that's when everything stopped.
Time froze. The world turned grey. Even the creature hung mid-air, its jaw wide, frozen like a paused movie.
A voice echoed in Henry's skull again.
> "Survive... and evolve. Let the Madness in."
Then a flame erupted from Henry's chest — not hot, not burning — but alive. It spread across his skin like living ink, tracing the symbol that had branded him earlier.
Suddenly, he understood.
The mark wasn't just decoration. It was a system. A tool. A weapon.
---
Madness Core Activated
> Traveler: Henry Carter
– Sanity: 100%
– Power: Unstable
– World Status: Tier 1 (Introductory Rift)
➤ New Ability Unlocked: Fracture Blink
Phase through space to dodge fatal attacks. Cooldown: 30 seconds.
---
Everything snapped back into motion.
The creature lunged — and Henry vanished, blinking several feet to the side in a burst of black mist.
He didn't question it.
He grabbed a sharp rock and drove it into the monster's exposed side as it landed.
It screamed — a terrible, glitching roar — and thrashed, knocking Henry into a tree.
But it was bleeding.
It could be killed.
He dodged again — this time on pure instinct. Fracture Blink flickered to life just in time, saving him from being ripped in two.
On the third try, he didn't hesitate.
Henry leapt on the beast's back, using the sharp rock like a knife.
He stabbed again.
And again.
And again.
Until the thing collapsed under him, twitching. Dying.
Then it disintegrated into smoke — like corrupted pixels burning away.
---
Monster Defeated
> 20 Madness Points
1 Sanity Point Lost
➤ Trait Gained: Killer's Instinct (Slight increase to combat awareness.)
➤ Loot Acquired: "Fragmented Wolf Fang" (Crafting Material)
---
Henry collapsed beside the remains, chest heaving.
His hands were shaking. Blood—real or not—coated his hoodie.
> "I just killed something... I killed it…"
A small screen, translucent and floating in the air, hovered in front of him. Like a HUD in a video game.
Except this wasn't a game.
He was trapped in a world where Madness was power. Where choices mattered. And where dying meant vanishing forever.
Another voice spoke from behind him.
This one was human. Smooth. Cold.
> "Not bad, rookie. Most Travelers die screaming in their first hour."
Henry turned.
A woman stood there, maybe in her twenties, dressed in strange black armor with one glowing eye and a long silver blade across her back.
> "Welcome to the Rift," she said. "Name's Veyra. You've just passed your first Trial. Now let's get moving—before the Rift resets and traps us both."
> "Rift?" Henry asked, still trying to breathe.
"Trial?"
> "Yeah." She smirked. "This is your new reality, Henry. And if you want to stay alive, you'll need more than dumb luck and a rock."
> "You're one of them too," he realized. "A Traveler."
She nodded.
> "And now, so are you."