" Do you desire power ? "

" Do you want revenge? "

" Find the book, Boy "

"And your wish shall be Granted"

Sunlight penetrated the dark room through the broken window, making the shadows dance as if they were calm waves about to break

The sleeping boy on the floor awoke with a start. His dirty hair, torn clothes, and the iron chain around his neck marked him as a prisoner. He looked around the room, sweating, but saw nothing unusual.

Slowly, he got up from the floor with difficulty and stumbled toward the half-broken mirror that allowed him to see only a small part of his reflection.

"Black eyes. Black hair. And this damned chain. This is who you are, James Williams, just a runaway slave waiting for his death," the boy spoke calmly.

With heavy steps, he returned to the broken window and picked a green mouldy loaf of bread The boy’s face tightened as he took a hearty bite , which tasted terrible. His vision began to blur as he glanced around. He saw a strange, glowing shadow in the kitchen. It was his mother's ghost.

"Despite my constant hallucinations of you, Mom, it seems I won’t be able to meet you in the afterlife. It seems my body refuses to give up," the boy said, tears falling on the bread.

After his meager breakfast, the boy wandered around the room he had been in. He relied on his memory due to the lack of light. After all, this was his home before the catastrophe. He walked from the room he had slept in to the destroyed, empty kitchen and sat on the table, staring at a knife. He closed his eyes, picked it up, and placed it against his neck. “If I’m not going to die naturally, what difference does it make if I do it myself?”

The boy let out a pained laugh and clenched his teeth. He wanted to end it quickly, but the glowing shadow came again and touched his shoulder.

"Will, do you want a toast?"

The boy’s eyes opened quickly, and he looked behind him. He had heard his mother’s voice for a moment. He remembered the time when his mother used to make toast, cutting it into slices and dipping it in milk. She had used the same knife he wanted to use to kill himself.

In the midst of his contemplation, the boy put the knife away.

"I can’t do it, Mom. Not before I kill the bastard who killed you and made me his slave. I swear I’ll kill him... even if it’s the last thing I do on this earth!"

James jumped up and headed towards the door. He stopped briefly and looked back. He was used to seeing his mother there to bid him farewell with a warm smile, but all he saw now was darkness and profound silence.

The boy turned and opened the door to his home. Suddenly, he heard kind words dancing in his ears: “Good luck, James!” Even though it was a hallucination and if he turned around, he would find nothing but darkness, it made him smile widely. “I’ll come back one day, Mom. I promise.” With that, he closed the door behind him.

What he found outside his home was destruction and devastation: shattered buildings, a gray sky, and brown earth that showed no signs of life. The boy moved forward, leaving the wreckage of his home behind.

“All of this because of that damned black creature. Because of him, this beautiful world was destroyed,” he cursed inwardly.

A hundred years ago, humanity was thriving in international peace like never before. Wars had stopped, and wildlife had flourished. Everything was fine until a creature, known to people as X, arrived. It was black like a shadow of an unseen person. It did not attempt to communicate with or speak to humans according to historical records. At precisely one hour, it erased seven billion humans, which is fifty percent of humanity. It left behind massive destruction and irreparable damage. Millions of tribes disappeared from the face of the Earth for unknown reasons, and then it suddenly vanished as if it had never existed. Due to its devastation, the world was split into two parts: one part was shattered and devoid of life, while the other miraculously survived.

The remaining humans settled in the surviving part, but their greed and primal arrogance did not disappear. Afterward, widespread wars broke out to seize the unshattered areas, returning humanity to its natural roots: the strongest survive.

Over time, those who could not enter the livable areas settled in the wasteland ,where the gray sky loomed over the land constant reminder of the damage creature X wrath

James moved through the ruins and approached a giant iron wall.

“The Utopia,” the boy whispered. It was a human settlement created by the ancestors for trade. They had tried to create an advanced human society even amidst the ruins, but they failed miserably. Whoever controlled this settlement was a powerful scoundrel with a strong gang, and he was also a slave trader—the same bastard who killed my mother and made me his slave: Zerak. The boy clenched his teeth in anger.

Although the creature X had destroyed humanity and our beloved planet, it left behind a valuable gift to our world, a gift we could never have dreamed of.

The boy approached a door in the wall and heard a deep voice say, “Name.”

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The boy spoke, “William James.”

The gift was the strange remains and energy left behind after the attack. Somehow, the remaining humans absorbed that energy after decades of exposure, and one day, this gift was unlocked. The iron wall began to ripple like the surface of water. The iron pieces separated in a fantastical manner and formed an opening like a door.

The gift was the birth of what is known as magic!

“You may enter, William James,” the strange voice said.

The boy entered through the opening and was greeted by the familiar sight: weird shaped iron like houses, metal streets, and lights floating in the air. The general public included some who could fly and others who disappeared and reappeared elsewhere. Strange creatures, like wolves walking on two legs, were present. This was the Utopia.

as james navigated his way throught the crowd sympathetic glaces met him here and there while other shifted their gaze from him

The boy lowered his gaze to the ground and quickened his pace. He imagined the stares of passersby falling on him occasionally, all because of the damned chain around his neck.

After a few meters, he reached one of the shops. He raised his head to read the familiar sign: “The Blacksmith Shop.”

The boy pushed the door open and entered the shop. It was a typical blacksmith's shop filled with the smell of molten metal and the sound of hammers used to shape the molten pieces.

He immediately saw an old man who greeted him with a smile. “Hello, James, how are you?”

The boy forced a smile. “Hello, Uncle Michael.”

The boy approached the old man and sat in one of the empty chairs. The old man brought some milk and pieces of bread and handed them to the hungry boy, but the latter refused the food. “Uncle, I’ve eaten, and milk and bread are expensive these days. I’m fine, really.”

The old man looked at the boy, who tried

to act strong but was clearly in pain. The

boy's mother had been his student, and

he had raised her as his own daughter

and taught her how to earn her

livelihood. Therefore, he felt a sense of

responsibility toward the boy.

"Will, it will go to waste , its just milk and bread" the old man

explained.

The boy stomach begin to growl and his salvia started to fall like a wastefall . The

old man took a cup of milk and poured a

little on the ground.

The boy clinched his fists and screamed "S-Stop, I'll eat, I'l eat, just don't waste it!"

The old man smiled kindly and handedthe boy the plate. James broke the breadwith his hands and dipped it in the milk.Before eating, he paused to look at theplate, his body relaxing, and heformed agenuine small smile. He began eating the bread and milk while the old man watched, smiling.

After finishing the meal, the old man asked, "Do you still have those dreams about the book?"

James's body froze as he recalled the

terrifying voice in his dreams and the

strange book the voice urged him to find.

"Yes" the boy answered, in pain.

The old man was silent for a while and

then said, "Will, I've tried to contacta

psychiatrist several times, but he

wouldn't come here, and I understand his

situation. People from the other side

can't enter our area. I've tried really hard,

but I failed, and there's no one who can

help you here. You need to talk to her,

Will"

James was silent for a long time,

understanding what the old man meant.

"But Uncle, I can't face her. She died

because of me. If only I had magical

powers like everyone else here, I could

fight or perhaps kill him. But this damned

body can't do anything."

The boy began to cry and tried to hit his

foot with his hand, but the old man

stopped him.

"Will, it wasn't your fault. Your mother

tried to protect you, and that's what

mothers do. At least visit her before that

man comes to take you to the mine" the

old man said.

The boy looked at the old man and

nodded slowly.

In the far north of the metal city, there

was a large area with no sign of

buildings. It was the city's cemetery.

A small shadow moved through this

empty cemetery, which only held graves,

with no signs of artificial lighting or

decorative iron trees-just a flat expanse

of grave

The boy held a rubber red flower in his hand, carrying a strange magic that made its scent beautiful. With heavy steps, he approached his mother's grave. He stopped in front of the tomb. A powerful gust of wind swept over the boy, and a terrifying silence enveloped the place. James dropped the flower from his hand and formed a fist that caused crimson blood to flow from it. His mother’s grave had been destroyed and dug up. The boy let out a painful scream and began to beat the ground with his hand.

"I will kill him!" the boy shouted. "I swear I will kill him!" he cried out in anguish. A terrifying voice echoed in the boy's ears. "Boy, do you want power?" James shouted, "Yes, I want power!" "Do you want revenge?" "Yes, I want revenge," James replied, his eyes red from crying. "Then find the book!" whispered the voice in the boy's ear.

James struggled to approach his mother’s grave. He could see her body, now turning blue and close to decay. He resisted the foul smell and the tears that refused to stop, and he began to carry the soil with his trembling hands and place it in the grave. "Mom," the boy whispered, trembling. His tears fell on his mother's feet and mixed with the blood from his hand.

The strong wind ceased, and the atmosphere calmed for a moment. A dark aura hovered over the open grave, and the boy felt his knees shaking involuntarily. He raised his tear-filled eyes and looked around. "What is happening here?" he asked with a trembling voice. The flesh of his mother's corpse began to ripple and move as if it were alive. The boy lowered his gaze and started to see his mother's flesh and skin separating from the bones and moving towards her abdomen.

He fought the urge to vomit and wanted to flee, but he couldn't. "Find the book!" the terrifying voice whispered in his ears. "The book," the boy whispered, and involuntarily began to clear the dirt from his mother's body. Her flesh and blood started to separate from the bones and gather in her abdomen. A terrifying symphony echoed in the eerie space where the boy stood. In an instant, the flesh and blood began to merge together in a complex shape. The blood solidified and began to form into a rectangular cover, while the flesh started to bend in a paper-like manner, forming several pages.

In the midst of his astonishment, a dark book materialized before the boy. "The book," the boy whispered in terror. He automatically took the book from his mother's skeletal structure and placed it before him. The book had no title, just a red five-pointed star in the center. Trembling, the boy opened the book while recalling the terrifying voice, "power, revenge." In the middle of the frightening book, the boy found the pages empty.

James was astonished and began flipping through it, but all the pages were the same. The boy felt immense anger and weakness. "My mother's body has disappeared, and this book has formed, but it's empty! Did I sacrifice my mother's body for an empty book? Where is the power? Where is the revenge?" the boy cried out. In his anger

frustrated he tossed the book aside blinking back the string of tears but as the book his the ground a corner of it pages sliced throught the boys skin a drop of blood splatterd across the paper

In an instant, the book came alive. The

pages quivered, shifting as if puled by an

invisible wind, and then they began to fill.

Words, ancient and twisted, bled across

the parchment:

"He who shall remain asleep,

He who shall rule over the inner world,

Rise with the power of darkness,

To seize the existence of the world."

The boy's eyes trembled and widened. A powerful black wind blew and began to swirl around him. Before him, a red window appeared out of nowhere.

[System Activated]

[Welcome, child of the dark]

[powers: Locked]

[Blood Price: 1 Drop]