The salty spray of the sea lashed against his face, stinging his eyes, but Sourabh dared not slow down. His legs moved with a desperate rhythm, kicking up sand as he sprinted along the desolate coastline.
Behind him, the angry shouts of a pursuing gang echoed, their footsteps synchronized with the pounding of his own heart. The cause of this life-or-death chase was clutched tightly in his fist—a shimmering gold necklace that now felt like a curse.
He had stolen it, yes, but there was no turning back.
As the shore jaggedly ended, Sourabh spotted a small speed boat tied to a wooden post. Adrenaline surging, he made a split-second decision and leapt onto the vessel. He had never operated a boat in his life, but today, his life depended on it. With trembling hands, he fumbled with the ignition. By some miracle, or perhaps raw desperate luck, the engine roared to life with a violent shudder.
"Ah! H-How do you even drive this thing?" The exclamation escaped his lips before he could think.
From the shore, the gang leader's roar cut through the sound of the engine. "That brat is getting away on the speedboat! Get him, now! Don't let him slip away!"
One of the henchmen hesitated, glancing nervously at the horizon. "But boss, look at the sky. It's not looking good. A storm could hit us any second. Is it safe to go out there?"
"If that little whelp can go, why can't you?" the leader snarled, eyes flashing with fury. "There's another boat right there. Get in, now!"
They, too, scrambled into a second boat and surged into the open sea, the chase resuming under a rapidly darkening sky. But they hadn't gone far before nature showed its wrath. The wind howled like a wounded beast, and waves as tall as houses began to slam against their hull.
"Boss! The storm is too strong! We're going to capsize!" the same henchman yelled over the gale. "We can't risk our lives for a single necklace! That kid won't survive this chaos anyway. Let's head back to the shore. If he miraculously makes it back, we'll be waiting there to crush him!"
The leader spat into the ocean, his face contorted in a mix of rage and frustration. "Ugh... Fine! Let's turn back!"
But Sourabh didn't stop. He was a gambler, and his biggest bet was always on his own fate. Time and time again, he had faced death and walked away, saved by some unseen force. He clung to the belief that today would be no different.
Yet, something felt off. The entire world seemed bathed in an eerie, oppressive gloom. Across the globe, dark, heavy clouds swirled, casting a shadow even over deserts where rain was a stranger. Lightning arced across the heavens with terrifying frequency, but the skies remained dry—a silent storm of raw energy.
Suddenly, Sourabh gasped. Directly beneath his boat, the water began to churn. A colossal whirlpool opened up like a hungry mouth, and before he could react, he and his small boat were swallowed whole, dragged down into the abyssal depths. Water flooded his lungs, the pressure crushing him. As his consciousness began to fade into blackness, a single thought drifted in his mind:
Is this truly the end? Has my luck finally run out? God is cruel... First, he took our parents, leaving me and my little sister alone... And now, he takes me too? I don't fear death, but... my sister. Who will protect her now?
A memory began to surface, a flicker of warmth in the suffocating cold. Sourabh remembered walking into their small, rundown home. His little sister had run up to him, a bright smile on her face.
"Big brother! You're home! I already made dinner for you. Go wash up and let's eat!"
Sitting across from her, he had taken a big bite and smiled genuinely. "Mmm! This is amazing. Seriously, my little sister has the best cooking in the entire world!"
"If you like it that much, you have to have seconds," she had said, giggling.
"But you barely ate anything yourself," Sourabh had replied, concerned. "Come on, let me feed you. Say 'Ah'... Ahhh..."
"Ahhh..."
The memory shattered.
Sourabh's eyes snapped open to the sound of a deafening thunderclap. He wasn't underwater. Instead, he was lying on hard rock, just outside a massive cave entrance. But the true shock came as he looked up.
The sky was gone, replaced by a swirling, blood-red screen that covered the entire horizon. On it, colossal, ancient letters glowed with an ominous light.
[ WELCOME TO THE SWORD GATE DUNGEON ]