They called him a demon before he even learned how to speak.
It was the eyes. Not a warm hazel or a deep brown, but a blood-red crimson that seemed to glow in the dark. Paired with hair as black as a raven's wing, Kael looked less like a human child and more like an omen etched in flesh.
Growing up in the orphanage, he learned the rules of his existence quickly.
Don't make eye contact.
Don't smile too wide (it looks predatory).
Don't expect to be adopted.
He remembered being seven years old, finding a wallet dropped by a wealthy woman in the park. He had run after her, breathless, holding it out with innocent pride.
When she turned and saw him, she didn't thank him. She screamed.
She snatched the wallet and wiped it on her dress, as if his touch had infected the leather.
"Get away from me, you cursed thing."
That was Kael's life.
Doors locking as he walked by. Mothers pulling children behind their legs. Whispers of bad luck, devil's spawn, freak.
And yet, Kael never grew bitter.
He held doors open for people who wouldn't look at him. He fed the stray cats that others kicked aside. He studied hard, worked two jobs, and clawed his way into university.
He didn't do it for praise. He did it because he refused to let the world decide who he was.
I am not a monster, he would tell himself every night. I am just Kael.
But tonight, standing on the rooftop of the student dorms, holding a plastic cup of cheap champagne, he didn't feel like an outcast.
"Kael! Stop brooding near the edge, you look like a gothic gargoyle!"
Kael turned, a genuine smile breaking through his stoic face.
Riven wrapped an arm around his neck, nearly spilling his drink. Elena was laughing nearby, adjusting a glittery "2025" headband on Mira's head, while Jared was trying (and failing) to light a sparkler.
These four were the only ones.
The only people who looked at his red eyes and didn't flinch.
The only family the orphan ever had.
"One minute left!" Elena shouted, pointing at the giant digital clock on the skyscraper across the city. 11:59:00.
"Any resolutions, Kael?" Mira asked, leaning against the railing.
Kael looked at them. Riven, the loudmouth brother he never had. Elena, the girl whose kindness saved him from loneliness.
"Just this," Kael said softly. "I just want another year like this. With you guys."
Riven grinned. "Boring! But I'll take it."
The crowd on the rooftop began to chant. The city below was a sea of lights, car horns honking in anticipation.
TEN!
"Here we go!" Jared yelled.
NINE!
Kael felt a strange shiver run up his spine. The hairs on his arms stood up.
FIVE!
The wind suddenly died. The air grew heavy, tasting like ozone and copper.
THREE!
Kael looked up. The stars… the stars were gone.
TWO!
ONE!
ZERO.
00:00.
There were no fireworks.
There was no cheer.
At the exact moment the new year began, the sky shattered.
It sounded like a thunderclap inside the brain. A cosmic DING that brought every human on Earth to their knees.
Kael dropped his cup. He clutched his head, feeling something drilling into his skull.
Above the city, the night sky tore open. Clouds swirled into a vortex of unnatural light, and a blue screen, larger than the moon, materialized for the world to see.
[THE ALL-FATHER GREETS THE NEW YEAR]
The Cycle of Creation has ended.
The Cycle of Harvest begins.
CRITERIA:
Humans below Age 20: Insufficient Biomass.
Humans Age 20+: Qualified for The Game.
INITIATING PURGE.
"What… what is that?" Elena whispered, her voice trembling.
Before Kael could answer, the screams began from the street below.
He rushed to the railing.
Down on the sidewalks, teenagers, children, infants—everyone too young—began to glow with a pale, sickly light.
And then, they popped.
Like bubbles.
No blood. No bodies. They simply vanished into motes of light that floated up toward the crack in the sky.
"My brother…" Jared choked out, his face pale. "My little brother is home… he's twelve…"
"It's a joke," Riven stammered, backing away. "It's some sick holographic prank."
Then, the beams came down.
Golden pillars of light slammed into the rooftop, hitting every survivor. It hit Riven, Elena, Mira, Jared. They bathed in the warmth, their expressions shifting from terror to a drugged, confused awe.
[SYSTEM GRANTED: HOLY AFFINITY]
But the beam that hit Kael was different.
It was a spear of absolute darkness.
It slammed into his chest, forcing him to his knees. While his friends were bathed in gold, Kael was wrapped in shadows that writhed like living smoke.
[SYSTEM ERROR]
Anomaly Detected.
The All-Mother has intervened.
[CLASS: SINNER (FORBIDDEN)]
[PASSIVE: EYES OF THE END]
Agony.
Kael screamed as his red eyes burned, the irises shifting, fracturing into kaleidoscope patterns.
And then, the visions hit him.
He saw the future.
He saw the next ten minutes. The next ten years.
He saw Elena healing people, becoming a saint.
He saw Riven shielding the weak.
He saw them fighting for the All-Father.
And then he saw the Truth.
In every timeline, the All-Father descended.
"Your faith was delicious," the God laughed.
And he ate them.
Not their bodies. Their souls.
Kael watched, helpless in his vision, as Riven's soul was torn to shreds, erasing him from existence. No reincarnation. Just eternal void.
Kael gasped, snapping back to reality. He was panting, sweat dripping down his face.
Another window flashed in his dark interface.
[UNIQUE PASSIVE: SOUL SANCTUARY]
The Truth: The All-Father consumes the souls of those who serve him.
The Mercy: Souls slain by the Vessel of the Mother are rejected by the All-Father. They are stored in the Sanctuary until the world is reborn.
CONDITION: You cannot speak this truth. (Penalty: Immediate Erasure).
CHOICE: Let them live, and they will cease to exist forever. Kill them now, and their souls will be saved.
Kael stared at the text.
The letters burned into his retina.
He looked up.
His friends were glowing with golden light, looking at their hands in wonder.
"I feel… powerful," Riven muttered. "Kael, look! I have a shield skill!"
"I can heal," Elena laughed nervously, looking at Kael. "Kael, are you okay? Why is your light black?"
Kael stood up. His legs felt like lead.
His heart, the one that had always been too kind, the one that had returned the wallet, the one that loved these people more than life itself… shattered.
A weapon materialized in his hand. A jagged dagger of obsidian glass.
The obsidian dagger in Kael's hand felt like ice.
He looked at Riven's back. He saw the spectral image of his best friend dying in a thousand different timelines.
He saw the All-Father eating Riven's soul. The logic of the System was absolute: Death now is mercy. Life now is a gamble with 0% odds.
Kael tightened his grip on the hilt. His knuckles turned white.
He raised the blade.
No.
The thought wasn't a whisper; it was a thunderclap in his mind.
I survived the orphanage. I survived the hatred of this city. I survived twenty-one years of being treated like a monster
.
He looked at Elena, Mira, Jared. They were scared, glowing with confused holy light.
I don't care what the future says, Kael thought, his red eyes narrowing. Futures are just possibilities. If the All-Father wants their souls, he'll have to step over my dead body to get them.
Kael lowered the dagger.
He dissipated the weapon back into the shadows.
[SYSTEM ALERT]
[User has rejected the Path of Mercy.]
[The All-Mother smiles at your Greed.]
[Greed: The desire to keep everything, even against impossible odds.]
The black screen in front of Kael shattered and reformed.
[WARNING: The All-Father's Gaze is sweeping the area.]
[Activating Camouflage Protocol...]
Suddenly, the vantablack darkness around Kael vanished. A fake, shimmer of gold coated him—a holographic disguise provided by the All-Mother to blend him in with the other humans.
To the world, he looked like just another awakened human.
But inside his retina, the red text burned.
DING!
A massive sound echoed across the city. The blue screen in the sky changed.
[GLOBAL QUEST INITIATED: THE FIRST HARVEST]
The Gates of Hell have opened.
Prove your worth to the Constellations.
Objective: Survive the 3 Waves.
Wave 1: The Rotted (Zombies)
Wave 2: The Green Horde (Goblins & Ogres)
Wave 3: The Night Walkers (Mutants & Werewolves)
Reward: Class Assignment based on performance.
Failure: Death.
"Zombies?" Jared shouted, his voice cracking. "Are you serious? Like in the movies?"
"Look!" Elena screamed, pointing toward the edge of the rooftop.
Below them, the city streets were cracking open.
From the fissures, hands clawed their way up. Gray, rotting, skeletal hands. Thousands of them. The ground churned as corpses dragged themselves into the neon light of New Year's Eve.
Groans filled the air—a collective, wet rasp that drowned out the sirens.
"Oh god," Mira whispered. "There's… there's so many."
Kael stepped forward to the edge.
He didn't just see the zombies.
With his [Eyes of the End], he saw the numbers.
Red tags floated above the zombie. Level 1. Level 2. Level 1.
But then, a personal window popped up for Kael. A quest hidden underneath the fake Global Quest.
[HIDDEN QUEST: THE GLUTTONY OF WAR]
The All-Mother demands a display of power.
While others survive, you must feast.
Objective: Kill 1,000 Enemies within the 3 Waves.
Current Count: 0 / 1,000
Reward: Awakening of the Forbidden Class: [The Sinner].
Penalty for Failure: The All-Father discovers your location.
One thousand.
Kael almost laughed. The system wanted him to slaughter an army single-handedly while pretending to be a novice.
"Guys, listen to me!" Kael's voice cut through their panic. He turned to his friends. "We stay on the roof. We bottle-neck them at the stairwell door. Do not let them surround us."
"Kael?" Riven looked at him, surprised by the command in his voice. "You… you know what to do?"
"I have a feeling," Kael lied. He grabbed a metal pipe from a construction pile on the roof. "Riven, use that shield skill you talked about. Stand in front. Elena, stay behind him. Jared, Mira, find anything sharp. If they get past Riven, you stab them."
"What about you?" Elena asked, trembling.
Kael walked to the stairwell door just as the first heavy thud slammed against it from the inside. The zombies were already in the building. They were coming up.
Kael's eyes glowed crimson, unseen behind his messy black hair.
"I'm going to thin the herd."
BOOM.
The stairwell door exploded outward, knocked off its hinges.
A swarm of gray, rotting bodies poured onto the roof, teeth snapping, claws reaching.
"Hold the line!" Riven yelled, a golden barrier flickering into existence in front of him.
But Kael didn't wait.
He didn't hide behind the shield.
He charged.
[Passive Activated: Wrath's Spark]
[Adrenaline increased by 200%. Pain reception dampened.]
Kael moved like a blur. He swung the metal pipe with bone-shattering force.
CRACK.
The first zombie's head caved in like a ripe melon.
[You have slain a Rotting Walker (Lvl 1)]
[Kill Count: 1 / 1,000]
It wasn't enough. The pipe was too slow.
Kael ducked under a clawed hand, spun, and kicked a zombie off the ledge.
2 / 1,000.
He needed a weapon. A real one.
He looked at his hand. The obsidian dagger he had summoned earlier… he couldn't use it openly. Riven and Elena would see it. They would ask questions.
I have to fight like a human. But with the ferocity of a demon.
He grabbed a discarded fire axe from the emergency glass case on the wall.
Now armed with steel, Kael became a whirlwind.
He wasn't fighting to survive. He was fighting to fill a quota.
He hacked through limbs, severed heads, and pushed bodies back into the stairwell. Black blood sprayed across his face, staining his white shirt, but he didn't blink.
"Kael!" Riven shouted, bashing a zombie with his shield. "Slow down! You're going too deep!"
"I'm fine!" Kael roared, severing another head.
15 / 1,000.
The first wave was endless. For every one he killed, two more crawled over the corpses.
But Kael felt a strange rhythm. The All-Mother's system was guiding his swings, showing him weak points in red outlines.
Neck. Knee. Temple. Spine.
He was dancing through the gore.
[Wave 1 Progress: 80%]
[Kill Count: 84 / 1,000]
Too slow, Kael thought, panic rising. I need more kills. If I don't hit 1,000 by the end of Wave 3, the All-Father finds me. And if he finds me, we all die.
Suddenly, the groaning stopped.
The remaining zombies on the roof convulsed and melted into puddles of black goo.
"Is… is it over?" Jared gasped, leaning on a shovel, breathless.
DING!
[WAVE 1 COMPLETE]
[Rest Period: 60 Seconds]
[WAVE 2 INCOMING: THE GREEN HORDE]
"Sixty seconds?!" Elena cried out. "That's not enough time to breathe!"
Kael wiped the blood from his eyes. He looked at his kill count.
92 / 1,000.
He was failing. The zombies were easy, but there weren't enough of them. The next wave—Goblins and Ogres—would be harder to kill.
He looked at the sky. Green portals were swirling open, larger than before.
From the portals, small, screeching creatures with crude daggers fell onto the streets. And behind them… massive, hulking beasts with clubs the size of cars.
Ogres.
One of the Ogres landed on the street below, looked up, and locked eyes with Kael.
It roared, shaking the building. Then, it began to climb the side of the dorm.
"Riven," Kael said, his voice deadly calm. "Keep the small ones off Elena."
"What? What about the big one?" Riven pointed at the Ogre climbing toward them.
Kael gripped the fire axe until the handle creaked. He looked at the Ogre.
That thing was worth more than one kill point. It had to be.
"I'm going to kill it," Kael said.
Before his friends could stop him, Kael didn't wait for the monster to come to the roof.
He jumped onto the railing, poised to leap down toward the beast.
[QUEST UPDATE]
[New Opportunity Detected: Elite Enemy.]
[Slaying the Ogre grants +50 Kill Count.]
Kael grinned. A savage, blood-stained grin.
"Jackpot."
He leaped into the void.