I was floating in the void. No body, no ground, no ceiling. Only my naked consciousness remained, facing a voice that filled the entire universe.
"I am the Entity..."
I gathered the shattered pieces of my mind. Questions swirled within me like a hurricane. "Why did you choose me? Who are you? And what do you want from me?"
A heavy silence followed, heavier than gravity itself. Then came the reply, calm and chilling: "Too many questions... for such a limited perception. Knowledge is seized, Ray; it is never gifted."
The voice continued as the pressure tightened around my neck: "What you have endured... the six doors... the slaughterhouses... all of that was nothing but a 'warm-up.' It was the forging of a rusted piece of iron into a dagger."
Suddenly, the void before me ignited. The darkness split open to reveal a blinding white light, forming a massive hologram the size of the heavens. It was a pyramid divided into nine layers, pulsating with an aura of ancient horror.
"This is the law of existence," the Entity spoke with a voice that shook my soul. "This is the ladder you must climb. There is no mercy at the top, and no rest at the bottom."
The pyramid began to glow from the base. As each level lit up, blurry text and images appeared, describing the nature of those worlds:
The Ninth Rank: Humans
"The mortal race. The fuel of the Nine Realms. They live in cities of clay and iron, drowned in the illusion of safety, unaware that they are merely cattle in a vast cosmic ranch, waiting for their turn to be harvested."
The Eighth Rank: Vanguard
"The masters of iron and gears. A world where the sun never rises, illuminated only by massive metal-smelting furnaces. Its inhabitants have shed the weakness of flesh and replaced their limbs with steel. Their creed is Order; their hearts are as cold as the machines they build."
The Seventh Rank: Draka
"The kingdom of brute force. A barren land that grows nothing but the footprints of the strong. Here, humans are not prey; they are monsters in human skin who worship dragons. The only law: The strong eat the weak."
The Sixth Rank: Temporal Dimensions
"The prison of 'No-Time.' A labyrinth where the boundaries between the first cry of birth and the final groan of death vanish. Age becomes but a hollow loop of frozen moments. It is the dimension that forces you to watch your own death occur a thousand times before your time is due."
The Fifth Rank: Luminess
"The White Deception. Cities of gold floating above the clouds, inhabited by beings with pristine wings and angelic faces that hide the arrogance of demons. Their light is blinding, but it brings no warmth—it burns sins... and the sinners along with them."
The Fourth Rank: Ixion
"A world without matter. An eternal mist hiding entities with no bodies to kill and no blood to spill. They are the whispers that drive the sane to madness, the shadows that choke you while you sleep. A world you cannot touch... but it can touch you."
Suddenly, the pyramid began to tremble. The light describing the previous worlds flickered out, replaced by a distorted blackness and incomprehensible text moving at a maddening speed, as if the System itself was unable to process the data of these entities:
The Third Rank: Atrous — [Description: Data Redacted] [Threat: Immeasurable]
The Second Rank: Arkan — [Description: Data Redacted] [Threat: Immeasurable]
The First Rank: Leem (The Cataclysm) — [Description: None] [Threat: ?????]
The pyramid vanished.
"You are here to climb this hell," the Entity stated sharply. "You must survive the brutality of the Vanguard, fight the wars of Draka, and expose the lies of Luminess. If you stop... you die."
"And I will not send you unarmed."
Two beams of golden light shot out, piercing my chest. I screamed as my body was reconstructed from within.
[Grand Reward Granted:]
Eternal Regeneration: "Your body is a biological factory that never stops. No matter how much you are torn apart, you will return."
Temporal Immortality: "Time shall have no dominion over you. You will remain constant while everything around you withers and dies."
Tongue of Existence: "No linguistic barrier shall stand between you and the truth. The System grants you the keys to all tongues; you shall understand the speech of kings, the whispers of monsters, and the forgotten inscriptions of stone as if they were your mother tongue."
The light faded. I looked at my hands, clenching and unclenching them to feel the new power. Then, I raised my head toward the Entity and spoke in a calm, serious tone, analyzing the situation with cold logic:
"So... you gave me immortality and eternal regeneration."
I paused for a moment, staring into the void, then continued firmly: "Do you really think I will kill Leem with this? Do you think I can triumph across the Nine Realms just because I understand their languages and have defensive powers?"
I looked directly into the blinding light: "I will be killed and erased by their simplest gesture. I don't just need a way to stay alive... I need a weapon that can rival them."
Silence reigned for a moment, as if the Entity was weighing my logic. Then, its voice dropped to a whisper dripping with danger: "A sharp observation."
"You possess the [Eyes of Sin]... and that is more than you deserve. Those eyes alone are capable of shattering worlds—if you learn how to use them."
The overwhelming presence drew closer: "Hear me well, Ray... Do not let your arrogance rise by a single inch. Do not think for a moment that you are a god. No matter how many you kill... in the end, you are a 'creature.' If you forget this distinction... I will strip everything from you."
The pressure vanished. Before me appeared a black door, framed by bleached bones.
[Black Portal: The Underworld.] [Mission: Begin the Climb.]
I stood up, adjusting the collar of my tattered shirt. I looked at the black door with a cold, piercing gaze.
"Immortality... and the Eyes of Sin."
I smirked, my crimson eyes igniting in the darkness.
"I'll burn them all."
I pushed the door open and stepped through to begin the war.