I failed again.

During the exam, I knew something was off. A key element was missing, slipping away no matter how desperately I tried to grasp it. I did everything they told me not to do, even when I knew better. Yet nothing made sense. I left the exam hall in defeat. The test was supposed to be my chance out of poverty, my ticket to my dream life, but now it had only deepened the void inside me.

Back in my cramped bedroom, the white walls offered no comfort; they only existed to close further on me. My phone buzzed constantly with calls and messages from family and friends desperate to come in contact with me. I didn't have the strength to answer any of them. I was numb.

Failure had become a companion in my life. With each test and each opportunity wasted, I sank deeper into a black hole. I couldn't eat when I remembered my exam. Couldn't think when my pen touched the exam paper. It was as though my mind had been filled with water during the exam, only to be drained after the exam.

I sat on the edge of my bed, scrolling aimlessly through Etern—an anonymous forum. Post after post blurred together until one caught my attention. It spoke of a weird tablet that could grant unimaginable power, power that came at a cost. To claim it, you had to offer your body, memories, and feelings.

A small part of me stirred. Somewhere deep in my mind, I thought of my girlfriend, the super rookie who had just joined the biggest guild. She is my everything. But now, even that connection had turned into a burden I could no longer bear.

I wrote a comment on the post:

"Where is the tablet?"

Moments later, a reply flashed across my screen:

"Gate 50. 7th door in Cave 9. It just appeared 10 minutes ago."

Gate 50. The slum that was both my prison and my home. Cave 9 wasn't far, only a ten minutes' walk. It would've been faster if my bike, the one I'd stolen last week, hadn't been stolen from me. Another failure. Fitting.

I put on my worn-out shoes and threw on a thick jumper. The bitter cold air hit me hard in the face as I stepped outside, but I didn't care. I sucked in the frigid air through my nose rails, and then I ran into the night.

——

The entrance to Cave 9 was like a giant mouth waiting to swallow its prey. In the blank space inside the cave stood fifteen doors in a half circle. There were no monsters and only a pool of blood under one of the doors. The cave, like others, appeared out of nowhere, an abnormality no one could explain. Yet here I was, waiting for my turn for the weal of faith to spin.

I pushed through the seventh door.

The atmosphere changed immediately. The air grew thick and heavy, every breath a struggle. My vision dimmed as if the cave was swallowing the light around me. I stumbled forward until I saw it: a massive stone tablet, its surface gleaming unnaturally as though it absorbed every speck of light.

I moved closer, and faint words illuminating as the stone revealed itself:

"Offer your body, memories, and feelings and be born anew."

A strange, wild thought stirred within me, a fleeting but powerful desire to obliterate everything I was. The pain, the failures, the person I had become... I wanted it all gone. I pulled out my phone and sent a final message to sever all ties to this life.

To my girlfriend:

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"I'm breaking up with you. Don't contact me."

To my family in group chat:

"I'm done. Uncle, thank you for everything. To my parents and siblings: consider yourselves lucky you're not in jail."

I blocked them all except for my uncle. He messaged me almost immediately:

"Whatever you're thinking, don't do it. Call me. Please."

I turned off my phone, dropped it, and let it hit the hard ground. It made a sound before silence braced me again.

I stared at the tablet. How does someone offer themselves to something like this? What would it take? Would I become a monster? Would I even survive? The thoughts whirled through my mind but didn't stay. None of it mattered anymore.

I lay on the tablet's cold surface, feeling an icy chill seep into my bones. For a moment, the world stood still. I continued looking at the black ceiling and suddenly started hearing voices.

"Hey, boy! Get off the tablet! That thing is mine!"

The voice echoed through the cavern, accompanied by hurried footsteps. I barely turned my head. A man in a black coat—clearly a guild leader—appeared with several of his men behind him. They hesitated, their faces tight with concern as the tablet began to glow.

"Didn't you hear me? Get off! Now!" the leader barked.

I didn't respond. Slowly, I drew a pocket knife from my pants. I stared at it for a moment, then pressed the blade against my skin. Without hesitation, I plunged it into my neck.

Pain flared but faded just as quickly. It felt distant like it was happening to someone else.

"No, no, no—NOT on the tablet! Get him off it!" the guild leader screamed.

"But we can't get near it!" one of the men yelled back.

The tablet's glow intensifies. A low, rumbling sound filled the room. I felt myself becoming hotter and heavier. Shouts filled the room as the guild members were pulled toward the tablet-like pieces of debris caught in a whirlpool.

"Fall back!" the leader commanded. But it was too late. One by one, they vanished into the void.

The light grew blinding, swallowing the room whole. I felt myself slipping away, swallowed by the same abyss.

A sudden presence filled my mind. It wasn't a voice in the usual sense, but it resonated like a pulse deep in my consciousness.

"Offer accepted. ?@&:!? recognize new inheritor."

The words echoed endlessly as though carried across infinite walls. My heavy body now felt weightless. Yet reality seemed to fold and twist around something ancient and unknowable.

The light became blinding, enveloping everything. For a moment, there was only light. Then, complete blackness again.

——

I opened my eyes.

The world was eerily silent. I found myself in Gate 50—or something that resembled it. Water stretched to the horizon on my left while fields of green grass swayed gently in the breeze to my right. Everything was bright, peaceful... surreal.

I tried to stand but found that I wasn't even touching the ground. I hovered for a moment before my feet finally sank into the grass. I looked around, trying to make sense of my surroundings, but my mind was blank. The anguish, the pain, the failures—they were gone. Even the memories of who I was had become distant like it was someone else's life.

I vaguely recalled that a guy had once been important to me, but even his face was a blur in the fog of my mind.

"Hello there," a voice said, interrupting the silence. "You actually did it—this is the first world where it's worked!" A man appeared suddenly, stepping out of thin air. His presence was both casual and a bit unsettling.

"Who are you?" I asked, my voice flat.

"You probably don't remember our last conversation," he said, studying me. "That's expected. You gave up your memories. My name is Frost. I'm a remnant of a star—what you might call a god."

He handed me a set of colorful things. "Put these clothes on. We need to move. The guilds will come looking soon."

I obeyed without question, slipping into the clothes as if guided by instinct.

He grabbed my hand, and the world around us shifted. Colors and shapes twisted and blurred, pulling us into a new, vibrant room filled with things on the walls.

"Welcome to my base," Frost said. He gestured toward a red sofa. "Sit down. Want some water?"

"Yes," I said simply.

As I drank, he continued, "You've inherited a fragment of an ancient god's power. This is only the beginning. You'll need to grow stronger. There's a war coming, and you'll have a role to play."

I stared at him, unmoved. The words drifted through my mind without being registered.

"I'll be back in twenty years; until then, don't get noticed by the Gods," Frost added.

"Work hard, and your memories will return."

With that, he vanished. I took note that he is a person who comes and goes as he pleases.

I turned and stared at the wall, where strange moving figures appeared inside a glowing box. People were talking, their faces shifting and flickering. Suddenly, a sound blared from the box.

The images changed, and large text flashed across the screen:

"Breaking news: People who vanished are reappearing at the locations where they were last seen. Most say they have no memory of what happened…"

Vanished people. I was one of them, I grumble.