The Unseen Abyss

The words Do you wish to update the system? blinked on the screen, repeating over and over again, as if mocking me, tempting me to make a choice.

I stared at it, my hands trembling around the small device. I had no idea what was happening. This was all so overwhelming—too overwhelming. My head was spinning. Update? What did that even mean? I'd barely just received this damn system, and now it was asking to update?

Everything felt wrong. I could feel my chest tightening, like the air itself had grown heavier, pressing down on me. A strange, gnawing sensation settled deep within my stomach, creeping like an itch I couldn't scratch. My heartbeat was pounding, as if each thump was threatening to break free from my ribs.

What was this? Why did it feel like I was slipping into something… unnatural?

Just do it, Kai.

That voice in my head wasn't mine. It was a command, and yet, it wasn't. My hand moved before I even realized it.

I pressed Yes.

The screen flickered.

I gasped, stumbling back, the room around me distorting like a bad painting. The edges of the walls warped and twisted, and the light grew dimmer, then brighter, then vanished completely. My heart raced, the sound of blood rushing in my ears.

I fell to my knees as the space around me twisted and collapsed into darkness.

And then… nothing.

It was quiet.

The air felt different, oppressive, as though it was filled with a presence that wasn't there a moment ago. I couldn't see anything. Nothing but pitch black. A complete void. My chest constricted, and I tried to suck in a breath, but the air was thick. Unnaturally thick. Every inhale felt like a struggle. I wanted to scream, to call out, but my throat was dry, and no sound escaped.

I looked at the system screen in my hands. It flickered again, a faint glow illuminating the emptiness.

System update in progress.

I looked at the words, confused. This isn't real. This can't be real. It's just a malfunction. It's just a glitch.

But the longer I stared at the screen, the more certain I became that this wasn't a glitch. This wasn't a mistake.

Was this the update?

Suddenly, the void around me rippled. I felt it in my bones, a shudder that ran through me, from the tips of my fingers to the back of my skull. And then, as if some invisible force grabbed my chest, I was pulled forward, yanked into the blackness.

I gasped, my heart racing, but I couldn't stop it. I couldn't control it. I was falling, falling deeper into the void with no way to stop it. The panic rose, but it was suffocated by a strange, numbing sensation.

It wasn't until I hit the ground that the world returned—suddenly, violently. The fog rushed back, swirling around me. The trees, grotesque and twisted, stood tall, their gnarled roots crawling across the ground. The air smelled rotten, stale, like something was dying. The once still, suffocating silence had given way to a low growl in the distance. The growl felt wrong—too wrong.

I tried to stand, but my legs felt like jelly, as though they hadn't carried me in years. The world seemed to tilt, and I staggered to my feet, holding the device tightly in my hands, as if it could protect me from whatever nightmare this was. But nothing could protect me.

I was alone.

The growl came again, louder this time.

It's getting closer.

My heart thudded against my ribs. I couldn't breathe.

Just go. Run. The voice in my head screamed, but I couldn't. My legs refused to move.

I tried to focus on the device in my hand, but it was no use. It felt… wrong. I glanced down at it again. The screen flickered again, the words blurred and jumbled, as if something was trying to push through, to show me something. The message was there.

Loop reset complete.

I didn't understand. What does that even mean? I wanted to scream it, but the words didn't come. They couldn't.

But there was something else there. The tiniest flicker, like a whisper in my mind. Look at your stats.

I frowned. The system had reset, but my stats had to be the same, right? I'd just registered as a 1-star Hunter earlier today. Nothing had changed.

But when I opened the status screen, I froze.

It didn't make sense. My stats were still there, all listed neatly, but something was… wrong.

Name: Kai Verner

Hunter Rank: 1-star

Strength: 0.1

Agility: 0.1

Magic: 0.0

Special Abilities: None

Mana: 0

I blinked at the screen, my breath caught in my throat. What…?

Strength 0.1

Agility 0.1

Magic 0.0

None of this made sense. I had no abilities, no magic. What did this even mean? 0.1? Why was it so low? How could I have 0 in everything else?

And then, the one thing I hadn't noticed before—the one thing that hadn't even occurred to me.

Special Abilities: None.

There it was. None.

The realization hit me like a slap to the face. It was like everything I'd worked for, everything I'd tried to achieve in my life, had been for nothing. I had nothing. I wasn't even a real Hunter. Just some failure who had somehow slipped through the cracks, getting a 1-star rank and nothing else to show for it.

I wanted to throw the device. I wanted to break it, shatter it into a thousand pieces. I wanted to scream and cry and rip everything apart.

But I didn't.

Instead, I stood there, frozen in place, staring at my stats like they were some kind of sick joke. A joke I wasn't in on.

I'm nothing, I thought, the words echoing through my mind. I'll never be anything. I'll always be this. A nobody. A failure.

But then, the screen flickered again, and something new appeared.

Do you wish to begin the loop?

My breath caught. The loop…?

I felt my stomach drop. I didn't want to do this. I didn't want to go through whatever this was. This place, this nightmare—it wasn't real. It couldn't be.

And yet, deep down, I knew. I knew that it was.

There was no choice.

I pressed Yes.

I woke up in the forest again.

The fog rolled around me, thick and suffocating, the twisted trees looming like specters of death. The growls, the low, rumbling sounds that came from beyond the mist, were louder now. Closer. My body ached, my muscles trembling, but my feet refused to move.

Why?

I wanted to fight. I wanted to scream. But there was no escape. No way out.

I waited. I waited for it. I knew what was coming. I knew I couldn't run from it.

The creature emerged from the fog.

It was bigger this time, the monster more grotesque than before, its eyes glowing like fire in the dark. It crept forward, its claws scraping against the ground, and I could feel its hunger. I could feel its eyes on me, knowing that it was coming for me.

But I couldn't do anything. I couldn't move. I couldn't scream.

I was trapped.

Loop reset complete.

I woke up again, the darkness surrounding me. This time, I didn't struggle. I didn't fight. I didn't scream.

I had already accepted it.

I would never escape.

Not from the creature. Not from the loop. Not from myself.