Darkness.
Not the gentle kind. Not the silence of sleep.
This darkness pressed against existence itself.
He listened.
That was the first thing he realized.
No breath. No heartbeat. No memory.
Only sound.
"Interesting…"
The voice did not come from the air.
It crawled directly into his mind.
Something shifted.
A presence stood before him—horrifying, vast, and wrong. Its form was obscured by shadow, yet two eyes burned through the darkness, illuminating the cavern with a cold, unnatural glow.
As it moved, strands of hair slipped into view.
Pure white.
Long.
Too long.
The hair trailed down past its waist, smooth and lifeless, swaying like silk soaked in ash.
The creature slowly turned its head, scanning everything its vision could reach.
Stone.
Endless stone.
And then—
A sound emerged from its throat.
Metal scraped against metal.
Yet its mouth—its mask—did not move.
"Who… are you?"
The question echoed through the cavern, heavy enough to shake the walls.
A mechanical voice answered.
"I am your AI. I will guide you through this world, ruined by corruption."
The being lifted its inhuman face. The flames within its eyes shifted with every movement, reacting as though alive.
It examined its own body.
And noticed.
Goat-like legs.
Dark fur spread across its thighs, the same striking white as its hair bleeding through in places.
Its entire body was wrapped in a black substance—smooth, living, wrong.
Each movement produced a sound.
A sound that did not belong to flesh.
"I see," the creature said. "This body… this black skin… it covers everything."
It paused.
"Invisible one," it continued. "You said you are an AI."
"Correct," the metallic voice replied. "I am an assistant. Created to guide you toward power, wealth, women—and heroism."
Silence.
Then a thought.
"So… you are inside my mind."
"Exactly."
The creature considered this.
A game.
A low growl escaped its throat.
"System."
Reality trembled.
A panel burst into existence—black and white, sharp and absolute.
He stared.
Name: Arthur
Race: ???
Abilities: ???
Nothing else.
The creature tilted its head.
"That's it?"
A pause.
"This is garbage."
Then—
A laugh.
Low. Rough. Inhuman.
"No matter," it said. "This only means I'm powerful."
The AI did not respond.
Arthur turned away from the panel.
The cavern stretched endlessly around him.
Stone.
Cracked pillars.
And only one path forward.
He took a step.
The sound that followed was unbearable.
A shrill screech echoed through the dungeon as his foot scraped against the stone.
The walls answered.
His body answered.
Pain.
Not weakness.
Not fear.
Pain.
"I don't know what I am," Arthur thought.
"I don't know where I came from."
Another step.
"But something tells me I must keep going."
A third step.
The dungeon breathed.
And thus—
The ascent began.