Chapter 19: Abyssal Awakening

Kieran felt his life slipping away, his body growing colder with each passing moment. Darkness swallowed him whole, pulling him into an abyss so deep that even his thoughts seemed to fade into the void. But amidst the emptiness, Damien's words echoed in his mind.

"You're a lesser being. And people like you don't get to act tough."

The memory burned into him, a festering wound that refused to close. His fists clenched in his subconscious, trembling with frustration. Was this really how it ended? Was this all he amounted to?

Kieran thought of everything he had endured every insult, every sneer, every time someone dismissed him as weak. He thought of how they doubted him, how they believed he was nothing without an ability. He thought of the countless times he fought against those expectations, hoping, just hoping, that he could prove them wrong.

Becoming a hunter was supposed to change that.

He had trained, pushed himself beyond his limits, believing that even without an ability, he could stand tall. He thought the system would be his turning point, a sign that his efforts weren't in vain.

But in the end, nothing changed.

His body had hit the dirt like discarded trash. He had been helpless, just as he always was.

His anger built up like a storm, twisting and turning within him. A fire burned in his chest, refusing to die. He didn't want to disappear like this. He didn't want to be forgotten. He refused to be weak.

Move!

He screamed at his body, at his mind, at whatever force was keeping him trapped in this endless void. But nothing happened. No surge of power, no miraculous awakening. Just silence.

And then, slowly, the fire dimmed.

Maybe he really was useless.

Maybe no matter how hard he fought, the world had already decided what he was.

Maybe

A heartbeat rang out.

It wasn't his own.

The deep, resonant thump echoed in the darkness, sending a ripple through the void. Then another. And another. Each beat was steady, firm, radiating a power beyond comprehension.

Kieran's eyes darted around, searching for the source, but there was nothing. Just the abyss.

The heartbeat grew louder. Stronger.

And then something moved.

The space around him shifted, as if something immense had just stirred from slumber. An unnatural force reached out from the abyss, sinking into him like tendrils of cold fire.

Kieran gasped. He could feel it entering him, binding itself to his very essence. It was unlike anything he had ever experienced alien, overwhelming, and yet… familiar.

His pulse quickened as an immense pressure settled over him, thick like a suffocating fog. His instincts screamed, warning him that something was near. Something ancient. Something powerful.

And then, Kieran saw it.

Two black eyes stared at him from the darkness, their gaze piercing, unyielding. They weren't human. They weren't anything he could name.

And then Kieran saw the darkness twist into a grin.

A slow, stretching grin, illuminated by nothing yet visible in the abyss. A shiver ran down his spine.

The pressure around him grew heavier, crushing, like the weight of an entire world pressing down on him. Kieran wanted to move, to run, to do something, but his body refused to respond. He was trapped, held in place by a force far beyond his understanding.

A voice slithered through the void, low and hoarse, like something scraping against the fabric of reality itself.

"Rise."

The word wasn't just spoken it reverberated through him, shaking the very core of his being. The abyss pulsed, as if the command itself carried power beyond comprehension.

The voice never spoke again.

But something had already changed.

The darkness shifted, flowing around him like a living entity. His skin tingled, his senses heightening beyond their normal limits. His body no longer felt human. He could feel himself become stronger, faster something more.

System notifications flared into existence in his vision, no longer unreadable glitches.

[System Awakening: Suppressed State Releasing…]

[Error… System Adapting to Host's Evolution…]

[System Authority Altered. Unlocked Ability: Death Rebirth.]

[New Trait: Abyssal Veil.]

[Warning: Foreign Will Detected.]

Kieran's mind reeled. The system his one hope was changing. And something was affecting it.

No.

Not something.

Someone.

The presence before him those black eyes, that grin it wasn't just an illusion. It wasn't just his imagination.

It was real.

And it was inside him now.

Everything vanished.

—

A sharp inhale.

Kieran's eyes flew open, his vision a blur of white. A bright light seared into his retinas, forcing him to blink rapidly as his mind adjusted. His body ached, but he was alive.

The sterile scent of antiseptics filled his nostrils. The rhythmic beeping of a heart monitor echoed faintly in the background. As his vision cleared, he recognized the clean white walls, the rows of empty beds, and the presence of medical equipment.

He was in the academy hospital.

Confusion flooded his mind. How did he get here? The last thing he remembered was

His heart pounded as fragments of memory resurfaced. The abyss. The eyes. The voice.

And the power.

His fingers trembled slightly as he clenched the sheets beneath him. He could still feel it. The darkness. The raw energy coursing through his veins.

He wasn't the same.

Something had changed.

Something inside him.

And as he lay there, staring at the ceiling, one thought repeated over and over in his mind.

What have I become