Silas's vision blurred as the strong force pulled him into the pond. After a few seconds, he hit the ground hard, causing a sharp pain to shoot through his body.

He winced and looked around vigilantly, trying to decipher his surroundings. The area was dimly lit by bioluminescent moss covering the walls. Silas found himself in a cavern with ancient stone carvings, faintly glowing with an eerie blue light. The air was damp and cold, filled with the smell of wet stone and earth.

"Where am I?" he muttered to himself, pushing himself to his feet and brushing off the dirt.

As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he noticed a narrow tunnel leading further into the cavern. Taking a deep breath, Silas decided to explore. He gripped his sword tightly, ready for any danger that might lurk ahead.

The tunnel twisted and turned, opening into a larger chamber. In the center of the room stood a pedestal, and on it, something that looked like a blob of dark red liquid was floating. Seeing it, Silas frowned as he guessed vaguely. He had heard that some people obtained mysterious opportunities while they were in the gate which could make them a phoenix in a single leap, but he also remembered that sometimes these opportunities were all just traps and were enough to end one's life. Silas cautiously circled the altar in full alert, trying to find any clues regarding the blob of dark red liquid. There were some ancient carvings on the side of the altar, but Silas, with his limited knowledge, could not decipher the words. After contemplating for nearly twenty minutes, Silas decided to get close to the blob to try and guess, so he climbed the altar. But suddenly Silas stopped in his tracks as a loud boom echoed in his mind.

*BOOM*

"Curse of the forsaken,

Bearer of the ill fates,

Harbinger of Destiny,

Are you ready to accept the mantle for the clan of $%#&@%#"

An ancient voice sounded in Silas's mind, shaking his mind. Even though he didn't know the language, he could understand the words. When the words ended, Silas's mind was pulled into a vision.

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

*ROAR*

A gigantic beast the size of a planet roamed in the void, its eyes larger than a planet. It swallowed many of the planets on its way. It suddenly saw a planet shining like an emerald green gem. Its eyes showed a hint of greed as it came closer to the planet, ready to swallow it whole, but suddenly a thunderous rumble echoed as a palm came from the planet. Its size grew larger and larger as it came closer to the beast, and at one point it grew a hundred times the size of the beast. Seeing this, the beast panicked and tried to flee, but before it could move, it was crushed by the arm and lost its life and it got dragged back to the planet.

Silas jolted awake, his body pale and blood dripping from all his seven orifices, and he was trembling uncontrollably. Silas could not believe what he saw; he had never heard anything even close to that. From that vision, he was pretty sure that Blue Star could not even fit between the teeth of the monster. Even though there were guesses that there are extraterrestrial species, they have not come in contact with them, and people even thought that the ancient ruins present in the gates were part of the previous civilization that lived on Blue Star. But if what he saw was true, then he could not even think of what was waiting outside for them in the universe. He could only think that Blue Star was lucky to not come in contact with beasts of that caliber.

Silas looked at the drop of dark blob floating on the altar. He had his doubts, as it had been two decades since gates started to manifest in the world, and no one had found this place.

'Wait...'

Silas began to rethink the words that were said. 'Do I have some sort of destiny?... maybe.'

But Silas was pretty sure that he was just a normal guy, albeit slightly lucky, as he was able to awaken as an Evolver and he did not have any notable talents.

Silas hesitated a little bit about getting close to that dark blob but thinking about the fates that planets suffered and about that hand, Silas knew he needed to get stronger; otherwise, he might not even know how he ended up dead.

Silas stood and wiped away the drops of blood. Even though his legs were still trembling, Silas took a step forward. He still had empty potion bottles that he previously used. He decided to store the blob in one of the potion bottles for now as he decided that he needed to think it through.

But fate had it different as Silas stumbled forward due to the weakness and directly fell on top of the blob. It touched his forehead, like a drop of water coming in contact with a dry land, it immediately soaked into his forehead.

'Shit.'

This was the last word that Silas remembered as he lost consciousness and fell forward.