Pain.
That was all Aiden knew.
It tore through him like molten glass, searing veins, burning marrow. Every nerve screamed, every muscle spasmed. He couldn't even claw at the agony because his fingers had locked into claws of their own, stiff and trembling.
He collapsed against the cold marble floor, chest heaving. His reflection stared back — his face was pale, but his eyes… his eyes sparked faintly, lightning crawling inside them like trapped storms.
"What… what is this?" His voice was shredded, broken.
No answer. Only the throb of the library, shelves stretching endlessly, their shadows watching. But something pulsed inside him, deeper than blood. A rhythm that wasn't his. A second heartbeat.
Thump-thump.
Thump-thump.
The sound rattled his skull until he realized it wasn't a sound at all. It was words.
"Engraved."
He gasped as violet lines carved themselves across his chest — glowing script, curling into runes that burned brighter with each pulse. They etched themselves into his flesh like branding irons, yet left no wound.
Aiden staggered to his feet, clutching at the marks. His hand passed through them — not tattoo, not scar, but something deeper, written into the fabric of his soul.
The whisper returned, closer now, curling into his mind like a parasite.
"The Curse of the Reader is yours. Read, and take. Read, and live."
Aiden shook his head violently. "Get out of me! I don't want this!"
The library groaned in reply, shelves rattling, chains clinking, a thousand books quivering as if in laughter. The floor beneath him cracked. Black smoke spilled upward, weaving into the shape of a vast door.
A trial.
Aiden felt it in his marrow. He wasn't meant to simply hold the curse. He had to survive it.
The door groaned open with a sound like torn flesh. Beyond it, a void stretched into nothing, filled with fragments of stone and floating shelves, a broken space of lightning and darkness.
He tried to turn away, but the runes on his chest burned. The curse dragged him forward, chains hooking into his very bones, pulling him step by step through the door.
The moment his foot crossed the threshold, the library behind him vanished.
The void howled.
Stone platforms drifted in endless darkness, lit only by sparks of violet lightning that arced between them. A storm raged in silence above, a storm without clouds, a storm made of words — millions of words, phrases, scripts, spinning endlessly like galaxies of ink.
In the center, a pedestal rose. Upon it rested a page, torn, floating, dripping with liquid shadow.
Aiden's instincts screamed.
The whisper guided him:
"Read it… and live."
He clenched his fists. His body trembled. "No… I won't be your puppet!"
But before he could retreat, the storm answered.
Lightning tore from the words above, a spear of violet crashing down upon him.
Aiden screamed as the bolt slammed into his chest. The runes ignited, exploding outward. His body lifted from the ground, suspended in the storm's grip, every inch of him burning alive.
His veins turned into conduits, carrying the storm, forcing him to channel power no human was built to withstand. Flesh split. Blood boiled.
"Accept, or perish."
He struggled, eyes wide, mouth foaming as another bolt tore through him. His vision blurred, edges darkening. His body was tearing apart from the inside.
In his fading sight, the page on the pedestal pulsed. Its words slithered, glowing, waiting.
Instinct overrode fear.
Aiden staggered forward, one hand stretched, every nerve screaming. The lightning roared again, hurling him onto the pedestal. His fingers brushed the page.
And in that instant — everything went silent.
The lightning vanished. The storm froze. The void held its breath.
The page melted into his hand, crawling up his arm like liquid ink. Symbols rearranged themselves, locking into place, fusing with his curse.
A voice boomed in his skull.
[Curse Skill Acquired: ⚡ Chain Lightning Lv. 1]
Aiden collapsed onto the stone, chest heaving, body twitching with sparks that crawled under his skin. He couldn't move. He could barely breathe. But he was alive.
Barely.
The whisper purred inside him, satisfied.
"Good, little Reader. One page, countless more to go."
Aiden's head pounded. His hands trembled as violet arcs flickered between his fingertips.
"…I… survived," he rasped.
The void trembled as if laughing at him. The platforms shook, lightning shattering stone. And then — far above, beyond the storm — eyes opened. A dozen, a hundred, red and unblinking.
Watching.
Aiden froze. His chest tightened. He wasn't alone in this trial. Something ancient had been watching him all along.
And as the storm shattered the void apart, he heard it whisper:
"The second trial begins now."
---
Author's Note:
🔥 How was that, Readers? The first curse skill has awakened — but what price will Aiden pay to use it? Don't forget to comment, vote with power stones, and add to your collections so you don't miss the next trial! Your support keeps me writing 🙌