Basilisks are vicious monsters !
The corpse of the basilisk still twitched.
Aiden stood beside it, his chest rising and falling, each breath thick with the metallic taste of blood and dust. The massive serpent's scaled body stretched far behind him, vanishing into the shadows of the rocky landscape like a dark river of muscle and fang. His blue-glowing eyes pulsed, flickering slightly as if resonating with something he didn't yet understand.
Jin sat on a nearby stone, his golden eyes narrowed toward the sky, where three suns burned without rest. One blazed white like bone. The second shimmered gold, like an eternal noon. The third hung low and crimson, bleeding into the clouds like a wound. The sky above this world always felt wrong—an illusion painted too perfectly, a canvas hiding cracks.
"You ever wonder why this place doesn't feel… real?" Jin said quietly, breaking the silence.
Aiden glanced at him. "You mean the dream thing?"
"No," Jin said, shaking his head slowly. "I mean why the world never sleeps. Why the sun never sets. Why time doesn't move."
Aiden didn't answer. He'd been questioning it since the day he woke here—how the hours melted together, how there were no nights, how his body never tired, only fought and healed, then fought again.
"This world," Jin said, his voice quieter now, almost like he feared being heard, "was built. Not born. It was designed—by the Shadow Architect."
Aiden tilted his head. "Who?"
Jin didn't look at him. "A being older than gods. A creature of calculation, created by Vael'thyr."
That name sent a chill through Aiden's spine. Something in it felt buried inside his bones, like an echo he wasn't supposed to hear.
"Vael'thyr," Jin continued, "was called the Forgotten Origin. The gods never speak of him. He wasn't one of them. He was before them. And he made the Shadow Architect to build this realm—this prison. Not for punishment, but to hold… things. People. Beings the gods couldn't kill. Couldn't risk freeing."
"And we're inside that prison?" Aiden asked.
Jin nodded once. "But worse. The prison feeds on us. The three suns? They suppress memories. They erase time. They erase truth. You level up, but you don't grow. You move, but you're still trapped."
Aiden felt the truth creeping in like fog. That stagnant sense of déjà vu, like he'd lived this before. A dream where he always woke up the same.
Then, his mind buzzed. A soft chime rang inside his skull. A familiar screen flickered into view, ethereal and cold.
NEW WORLD ALERT
⚠️ Event of Doom Incoming
Start Time: 2 Days
Location: Flame Gardens, Zone 2
Estimated Participants: 100,000+
⚠️ Spectator: Vael'thyr – The King Of Gods
Survival Rate: 10%
Reward for Final Blow: 100,000 EXP
"To defy fate, one must endure fire."
Aiden's blood went cold. "The hell is this…"
Jin stood slowly, reading the screen over his shoulder. The moment he saw the words Vael'thyr, his face went pale.
"It's real," he whispered. "He's actually coming to watch this one."
Aiden turned sharply. "Who's coming?"
Jin's lips tightened. "Vael'thyr. The god behind all this. The one who cursed you. The one who cursed everyone."
The screen lingered a moment longer before dissolving into mist.
Jin looked up, then pointed toward the eastern horizon. "Flame Gardens… it's a volcanic zone. Ancient, scarred, filled with sulfur fields and lava pits. That's where the event always starts."
"And over a hundred thousand people are going?" Aiden asked.
Jin nodded. "Some to fight. Most to die. Others just to watch. There are those who treat it like a festival. Like an offering. A sacrifice to amuse the god."
Aiden clenched his fists. "That's sick."
"This whole world is," Jin replied. "But there's no escape. If we don't go… the system wipes us. That's the rule. Participate, or be erased."
"Even spectators die?"
"No," Jin said, sighing. "Spectators are safe. But if you don't join the movement—if you refuse to fight—you're labeled a deserter. The system sends a Purge Hound to wipe you from existence. No second chance."
Aiden's heart thundered. It wasn't just a game. It was war.
A war designed for gods to watch like a theatre.
"I'm not ready," he said quietly. "I just reached level 30."
"No one's ever ready," Jin muttered. "Even the ones at level 70 drop like flies in the first five minutes. You'll see. The boss that spawns… It's not like any monster we've faced."
He paused, then added, "Last time, it was a Titan-Walker. Thirty meters tall. Covered in molten chains and flesh armor. It wiped out twelve elite squads in its first step."
Silence followed.
Then a rumble, faint and distant, trembled through the ground. Aiden turned toward the east. From beyond the mountain walls, a single streak of red light split the sky. A pulse. A signal. A warning.
The event had begun its awakening.
Countdown: 47 hours remaining
All combatants must report to Flame Gardens
Vael'thyr watches.
Aiden stared into the growing crimson glow. He didn't know if he'd survive. He didn't know if this was the end or the beginning.
But one thing was certain—whatever this world was, whatever gods controlled it…
He would not let them win.
Not anymore.
The sky above him churned in shades of molten crimson as one of the three suns dipped slightly—an illusion of dusk in a world that never truly darkened. Aiden stared into the horizon, where jagged cliffs framed the far-off glow of the Flame Gardens. Pillars of smoke curled from the distant volcanic ridges like the breath of slumbering beasts. It was quiet now… too quiet. Like the world itself was holding its breath.
The ground beneath his boots trembled faintly, not from a monster—but from something older, deeper. The dream world was awakening.
Around him, other players prepared in silence. Some sharpened blades, others whispered prayers. The bravest stood still, staring into the ash-filled wind, their eyes lost to memories of past events they had somehow survived.
Jin stood beside him, cloak fluttering, eyes fixed forward. "You feel it, don't you?"
Aiden nodded slowly. His glowing eye shimmered. "The weight… the pressure."
Jin's voice was quiet. "It's not fear. It's history. This world remembers."
A single system message blinked before Aiden's eyes:
"Prepare for the arrival."
The world was no longer dreaming.It was remembering its curse.
And the gods were watching.