Beginning

After a few long seconds, the shaking finally stopped. "What's going to happen now?" Void wondered as he got up from the bed.

His small home had become a mess, even his only television had fallen, causing it to break, however it was not the time to think about that.

With a few calculated steps, Void reached the door. Hesitantly, he began to lower the door handle.

Creeeak... He slowly began to open the door. But it didn't open completely. The outside was simply terrifying.

The sky was dark, all the clouds began to spin around a line of red energy, which had no visible end. Once again, the crimson sun appeared, it was not hot or cold, it was a strange sensation.

Void gulped, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Suddenly, he began to feel a strange itch on his back. Because of the moment, he tried to hold it in, but it wasn't possible.

He tried to reach his back with his hand. After scratching for a few seconds, the itch was still present. 'How annoying!' he thought as he scratched.

Although the more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed. The itch was all over his spine. Next to that spot, Void had some strange rune engravings. These appeared in that spot after completing The Abyss Call.

These engravings appeared on the bodies of all the slayers. Each one with different writings.

However, instinctively, the owners of those engravings knew their meaning. They were the skills they had received.

Soon, those itches turned into pain. Void held his head trying not to lose consciousness.

"Head towards the door."

A strange, cold voice echoed in his mind. Void looked around in disarray, finding no one.

Every second that passed, the pain grew greater. 'I feel like my head is going to explode...' the young man thought, trying to stay standing.

Then a thought came to his head:

'If I go to the door the pain will disappear.'

His gaze fell on that infinite line in the sky, that was his destiny. Slowly he began to walk towards the door.

'Damn it... My own novel wants to give me orders.' He gritted his teeth in anger.

...

The small stones creaked under his footsteps. A slight tremor continued around the door. It was imposing.

A huge door stood threateningly. Its energy emanated danger. As Void approached, the heat penetrated his skin deeper. The hot air made it difficult to breathe and the ground cracked around him.

Void, without a shred of doubt, entered the slight opening of the door, entering the darkness. The reason for his quick entry was not confidence, but the constant desire for that pain to finally go away.

Darkness began to envelop Void. The notion of time and space had been lost, the young man could not orient himself.

Fwoosh. Suddenly, some torches lit up wide. A huge room could be seen, the stones were ancient, similar to those of a lost civilization.

The place was cold. The young man's skin crawled as he walked, observing the place cautiously.

When he looked ahead, a kind of circular altar could be distinguished at the end of the room. Void walked towards it.

After getting close enough, he could notice how that altar was shaped like a bowl. Where runic writings could be seen on the edges. However, that was not what surprised the young man the most, but the abyss that was behind that altar.

A huge crack that separated the altar from a kind of door that was attached to the wall.

Turning his attention to the scriptures, Void could not understand them again but he still knew what it meant.

"The path to destiny is cemented in the blood of those who walk it."

"What the fuck?" Void muttered upon seeing that strange phrase. But, after thinking about that phrase, he realized. He had to leave his own blood on that altar.

The young man began to look around, trying to find something sharp. After a few seconds of searching, he found it, a pointed stone.

He picked it up. And after trying to cut himself a few times on his thumb, drops of blood began to flow out.

Ploc... The hollow sound echoed in the room. The runes engraved on the altar began to glow with a deep gold.

'What's happening now?' he asked himself, taking a step back.

The runes written on the altar began to change in appearance. For a moment they were incomprehensible, but after a few seconds, the information reached Void's brain as if by magic.

[The Forge] [The more enemies fall, the more the soul of the weapon will grow, reflecting the essence of the fight in its edge.]

'What's with these phrases?' he thought, annoyed by the complexity of the words. Still, he could understand what this place was going to be about.

The room began to light up and the cold air began to fight with a strange warmth. Void turned around. Behind him a path was forged in the crack towards that door, which now glowed with a whitish energy.

"Really?" Void stammered with a nervous smile.

The pain in his head had already disappeared so it was not necessary to enter, however, curiosity was killing him.

Void gulped. "What could be happening?" With a few slow steps, he began to walk towards the door.

The path that had been forged was shaky, with several spaces to cover. The young man cautiously avoided each empty spot.

Void couldn't help but be surprised, he never imagined he could experience this feeling of adventure and discovery.

Finally, the whitish door was in front of him, it wasn't imposing like the one outside but it was much more majestic. He took a step inside.

It was for a couple of seconds, a strange feeling of having left the world. Passing through the door, Void opened his eyes, which he had to close because of the intense light.

"Ugh... I feel dizzy..." he muttered, holding his head lightly.

The door seemed to be the same as the previous one. Not because it had a similar place or something similar, but because it seemed to represent dark moments from the person's past. This meant that the test would once again be individual.

Void found himself in a snowy forest, the cold wind blew hard and his shoes sank into the snow.

With calm steps, he began to enter the depths of the forest. The silence of the falling snow conveyed the disconnection in which Void was.

The shadow surrounded the young man and the branches protected him from the icy wind. Luckily, Void was wearing a coat that helped him to cover himself slightly from the cold.

The silence was absolute. He might have seemed calm, however that silence only hid the danger.

Void continued walking, alert to imminent danger. He constantly looked from side to side, and when he looked forward again, an arrow, which seemed invisible, approached him at high speed.

"Exchange."

Despite the dangerous moment, Void's voice sounded calm, almost unconcerned about the situation. And with reason, after those words, the arrow and Void changed position, causing the arrow to pass by.

This was due to his runic ability, "Exchange." Which allows him to change objects' position with a limit of three targets. Still, that was all the skill did. Everything else had to be done by himself.

'Where did that arrow come from?' he asked himself in confusion, searching through the branches of the trees. 'This is going to be annoying...'

If the monsters he had to kill are beings with some intelligence, hunting them would be too slow and complicated, causing the weapon he received to be of lesser range.

In addition, it was a fight against the clock, with a limit set for one hour.

Void continued searching through the branches. A slight flash caught his attention. It seemed that the weak light of the sun had been reflected in the ice arrow. Without a shred of hesitation, Void switched.

Bingo. A strange humanoid figure raising a bow was on that branch. Void grabbed him by the head and forcefully pushed him to the ground.

The creature fell towards the ground at high speed. When it hit the ground, the snow cushioned the impact, making it look like nothing had happened.

"Exchange." Void didn't stop there. Exchanging with the bow, which was at the creature's side, he threw a powerful punch to the face. Without stopping, he continued to hit.

It wasn't because of cruelty or anything else in particular, Void, apart from the Exchange, was just another human. If he wanted to survive, he had to kill.

Seconds passed, and the dry sound of the blows finally stopped. Void stood up.

After shaking his hand a few times to get the blood out, he pushed his hair back. "I'm finally free."

He glanced at the creature out of the corner of his eye. It was elongated, about two meters tall, and its skin was gray, perfect for hiding in the dark. Its face was unrecognizable, but its pointed ears were noticeable. And what bothered the young man the most was that the creature seemed to be wearing some kind of fur clothing, which was enough to show that they were intelligent creatures.

Void finally felt it. The emptiness he felt in his heart, the chains that held him tightly inside, dissipated. His heart pumped blood with force, eager for that strange feeling.

The young man abandoned his inner thoughts and let out a long sigh. He turned his gaze towards the high branches of the trees. Hundreds of those creatures seemed ready to kill him. They seemed to have seen Void's ability, so they were going to be more careful.

The cold air cut through the continuous silence. A slight smile appeared. "Feed my weapon."