Abyss

What is the abyss? it is the origin of all life and our eternal home after death.

Humans would have never known of its existence if not for the distortion that occurred in it.

For a reason yet unknown to us, strangely deformed monstrosities, vile creatures began to appear from the home of all souls.

Quite literally, all hell broke loose.

Our tiny pale blue dot wasn't spared either.

It didn't take much time for the corruption to begin, and it was just a slippery slope from there onwards.

Just as the casualty count escalated to a billion and all tools of humanity only ended up intensifying the disaster due to crazy radiation and mutation, the dark underbelly of human nature was apparent to all.

Hope and self-preservation led to people trampling each other in crowded cities. People that considered themselves lost beyond the point of redemption committed all sorts of vile acts.

Vigilantes appeared and disappeared in waves. Some people were even comforted in the arms of despair.

But not everything was lost yet. 5 years after the first 'Abyss Beast' was sighted, a castaway thief stumbled upon the ruins of a month-old battlefield between humans and abyss beasts.

Some of the deformed rotten flesh was still lying here and there. For hundreds of miles, there was only destruction and devastation, a glimpse of the doom the was befalling humanity at that time.

He ate the black, rotten, stenchy flesh, even after vomiting profusely at first, this was his only hope.

That... was one of the first humans to walk the path of magic. When he appeared in one of the last 30 fortresses of humanity as a savior, he met the elite upper class and got in contact with secrets that he wouldn't have imagined otherwise.

Humans have been experimenting with the flesh of the abyss beasts for as long as 5 years. Their research led to a plethora of discoveries, and they even knew the existence of magic.

But in merely 5 years, even with the combined effort of thousands of great minds, they were only able to make magic accessible to steel.

The new technology that utilized magic caused far more harm to their bodies without nearly harming the environment as much.

After the savior appeared though, things began to change. The savior was dumbfounded as the little bit of magic he knew couldn't save him from a heavy dose of sedatives that he consumed unknowingly.

His hope was then extracted through human experimentation and brought to the public domain as magic became accessible to all. There was only a small price to be paid, and that was to join a legal organization that monitored all their activities but no one cared about that. After feeling helpless for so long, humanity needed power, and magic gave them just that.

What they didn't know at that time... was that chaos was just beginning. Stronger and stronger deformities began spawning at random places throughout the world.

This was, after all, one of the few planets with life in the entire Galaxy and abyss beasts that roamed space wouldn't let it go.

Now, 100 years have passed since that time, and out of the 30, only 5 gigantic fortresses that contain the persisting population of humans.

Magic has been classified into a system and ranks have been utilized to classify the power of magicians.

Although the rest of the society almost functions in the same way, the element of magic in the daily lives of people couldn't be ignored.

Education, at the same time, became the primary priority of society.

Every child was tested for their magical talent at the age of 12 because any younger than that would cause detrimental effects to their future growth and might cause some underlying mutation within the body.

I close my history textbook and look at the beautiful guest lecturer that came to remind us of humanity's struggles through a tantalizing tale.

Her words rouse and douse our emotions in quick succession, giving us the motivation to strive for a better, safer future. This moment was interrupted soon though...

"THIS TIME, I WON'T LET HUMANITY FALL INTO THE CLUTCHES OF THE ABYSS." With a red face and tears, a boy sitting beside me lets out a shout, plunging the room into stunned silence.

My classmates look at him once and knowing smiles appear on their faces. This guy was perhaps sleeping in the class again.

His parents were awarded gallantry awards from the one and only Magic Association when they gave their lives fighting the abyss beasts at the frontlines.

Through inheritance and government subsidies, this guy didn't have much problem getting into this prestigious academy.

His uncles tried to forcefully snatch his inheritance as well, but they were quickly thrown into prison. After all, the government needed the trust and loyalty of their veterans.

After being startled by the shout, the guest lecturer mildly shook her head and continued with her lecture. She didn't care if the students slept or daydreamed throughout it.

The students had their own futures to worry about. Nothing that could be forced upon them would have the brightest results. Moreover, she was just a guest.

After she left the class, the dreamy boy leaned towards my side and with extreme gratitude burning in his eyes, said,

"Brother, thank you for always supporting me. Thank you for not leaving my side when everyone else backstabbed and tortured me. I'll make sure we rise faster than everyone else and save humanity this time around."

"Erm, do you have a MeTube channel that livestreams magical combat or what? How am I supporting you? Also, can you lean back a little? I'm feeling slimes in my ear." I pushed this raving idiot back.

He shakes his head and smiles at me, "You wouldn't understand, brother."

I open my eyes wide, "...and why would I even want to understand you, creep?"

The freak said nothing and just kept staring at me. My classmates were beginning to make fun of me for acquiring a 'weird girlfriend'. My lips twitched.

When lunchtime came, this guy refused to eat with his girlfriend and came to my side, silently staring at me as I ate.

It was irritating, but words weren't helping, and we weren't allowed to use force within the confines of the academy.

I remember this freak's magic affinity test. He had the lowest talent possible.

Why was he suddenly so motivated? I don't know.

When the long day at the academy came to an end, I heaved a sigh of relief and left the premises.

I was thinking of asking our headteacher to change my seat somewhere far away from this freak when I abruptly turned around and there he was, following me like my shadow with a smile.

I was enraged. I began cursing him. Soon, I was tired. He wasn't budging from his place, nor did the smile leave his face.

Just as I prepared to cast magic to throw him away, he leaped at me, embraced me like a bear, and whispered, "Friendship is love, love is power. We will win."

"STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME, YOU FREAK,"

My body jerked as I push him away and screamed at him. I was feeling... violated.

The freak shook his head again and said, "Brother, I come from the future. You're the only one I can trust here. I was an SS-Grade Magician of the magic association, but I was betrayed by my peers. By the time I died, only 2 fortresses were remaining...and I was betrayed while protecting it."

"Wh-what are you talking about?" I was panicking. This madman was raving again. I was just an E-Grade magician. I couldn't cast my magic spell as quickly as this freak's body moved. So, I decided to give him a listen.

But my attitude gradually changed as secrets after secrets came spilling out of his mouth. Things that even my parents didn't know about me were casually spouted by this guy.

Now, this led to another question.

If this guy really came from the future and was my 'brother' as he said, why was he still... so f*cking immature.

Is that why he was betrayed? and why would I even save him when everyone was against him?

When he was done with my and academy's secrets like the experiments, child trafficking, shady dealings, and disturbing acts of sponsors, he told a secret that crumbled my worldview. My body shuddered as I felt a chill freezing my warm heart,

"We knew of this much much later than we should have. The highest level of abyss beasts might not be the strongest but they were the most difficult to deal with.

They were abyss beasts with awareness, they were too much like us. They... were humans.

The humans that perished throughout all these years also died a thorough death. Their souls were freed from the cycle of reincarnation and cast into the bodies of abyss beasts with an insane drive to destroy everything.

This... gave us a hint that the distortion of the abyss might be... artificial. This was a crazy possibility but with the existence of abyss beasts in human form, it might just be true.

Our time is short brother. Before the scams and scandals of the academy come to light, we need to snatch their resources to improve ourselves.

Just follow me, there are some treasures even they would only know of in the future, we can use them to quickly reach the peak of power."

At this point, I was almost sure that this freak was from the future. His words were just too alarming though.

I took some time to process all of that and my 'brother' stood beside me as I did so. I kept cross-questioning him but he had all the answers. If I still didn't believe him at that point, it would be me being a dimwit.

There were many things that I had yet to ask and verify, but instead of answering me anymore, the reincarnated freak just told me to follow to a place where the academy hides genetic drugs made after decades of experimenting on humans.

It was also him that told me the secret that the first guy that stumbled upon magic experimented, otherwise, we were led to believe that he made a noble sacrifice at the frontlines and left his teachings for future generations.

And so, our quest to power-up quickly began.