Rey leaned against the cold wall of the chamber, heart still racing. The presence in the center—the object he had seen—it wasn't just ancient.
It was sacred.
It was cursed.
It was both.
He hadn't dared approach it. Not because of fear, but because some instinct—buried deep within him—warned him that to touch it would mean changing something forever.
And he wasn't ready for that.
Not yet.
---
He stumbled deeper into the ruins, following a crumbled hallway branching off from the main chamber. The path twisted, sloped downward, and opened into what looked like a forgotten sanctuary.
There were stone seats—benches carved into the walls, arranged in a circular pattern around an empty platform. Faint carvings coated the ground beneath his feet, most of them shattered or worn down by time.
He sat down heavily.
His shoulder burned. The blood had dried, crusting against torn fabric. His tattered shirt clung to him like damp paper. The weight of exhaustion pulled at every joint.
For the first time in days, he closed his eyes.
---
When Rey awoke, he didn't know how much time had passed. But something had changed.
His body felt lighter. The pain dulled.
And carved on the wall in front of him… was a word.
One word.
A name, in letters both alien and familiar.
> "Rey."
He blinked.
At first, he thought it was a trick—some ruined script resembling his name. But the more he looked at it, the more it seemed… deliberate. Fresh.
Scratched into the stone. Clean.
Like someone had written it while he slept.
His heartbeat quickened.
He stood and approached the carving. The air around it felt colder. His fingers hovered just above the stone.
> "Who did this…?"
A sudden gust of wind rushed down the corridor.
But he was underground.
There shouldn't have been wind.
> "You do not belong here..."
The voice came from nowhere. Echoed from every direction.
Rey spun around.
Nothing.
> "Who are you?!"
No response. Only silence.
Then… a whisper. Right next to his ear.
> "You are not the first."
Rey stumbled back, slamming against the wall. His blade was in his hand before he realized it.
Still, no figure appeared.
But in that moment, something inside him shifted.
A memory?
A fragment?
No. A presence.
Not something from before. Something awakening now.
He gritted his teeth.
> "Fine. If I'm not the first... I'll be the last."
---
He left the sanctuary, moving slower this time. Not because of pain—but because he could feel the ruins watching him now.
Every step echoed like a drumbeat of fate.
He returned to the upper level, where the spiral path had begun. The monster from earlier was gone—vanished, perhaps too afraid to remain.
But Rey didn't forget.
He needed to grow stronger. Smarter.
This world wasn't going to pity him. It was going to crush him unless he struck first.
---
Outside the ruins, the land remained dead.
But now, standing atop a high ridge, Rey saw further than before.
And in the distance… were more.
More ruins. More horrors.
More answers.
The Abyss hadn't just swallowed him.
It had chosen him.
And now… it whispered his name.
---