Hinshitsu

In a ruined world torn apart by a deadly curse, Kael, a young man with nothing but his instincts and a shattered past, is forced to confront the brutal trials of the Tower of Ascension. The Tower, an ancient structure that rises from the desolate land, promises unimaginable power to those who can survive its deadly floors, but the cost is steep, and few ever make it to the top without losing themselves in the process.

Kael’s journey begins when a mysterious, grotesque creature attacks him, forcing him into the Tower’s first trial. Armed with nothing but his will to survive and a jagged shard from the remains of his enemy, Kael discovers that the more he kills, the more power he absorbs, in the form of shards that grant him new abilities. But with each shard he absorbs, the price becomes higher. The powers are addictive, and the darkness they carry threatens to consume him.

As Kael ascends, he encounters the Forgotten, twisted, monstrous beings who once sought to climb the Tower, only to be twisted and destroyed in its depths. With each floor, Kael faces more deadly enemies, puzzles, and challenges, but the greatest threat is the one within him: the whispers of the shards, urging him toward something darker, something that might turn him into a monster.

But the Tower itself is more than just a labyrinth of dangers. The higher Kael climbs, the more he begins to uncover its true nature, a twisted creation designed to test the limits of those who dare to seek its power. The further he ascends, the more he realizes that the real battle isn’t against the monsters of the Tower, but against his own growing hunger for power.

Kael must navigate not only the brutal trials of the Tower but also the dangerous allure of the power that promises to make him unstoppable. Each step forward brings him closer to the top but also closer to the point where he will no longer be human.

To survive, Kael will have to make the ultimate choice: will he ascend to the peak, or will the Tower’s darkness claim him before he ever reaches it?

The Lonely Transcendent

It wasn't like the others. This one pulsed faintly, not with magic or malice, but with stillness. A void. As though beyond it lay nothing — or everything.

Behind him, his companions were silent. They had climbed the Tower with him, survived horrors that reshaped their bodies and souls. But now, they felt it too.

Rina stepped forward, her blade sheathed for once. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Kael turned his head slightly. "I'm not sure of anything anymore. But I've come too far to stop now."

Daren looked at the door like it might swallow them all. "We've lost too much. If there's anything left of you after this, find your way back."

Veyr gave no words. Just a nod. That meant more than a hundred speeches.

Mier approached last. She placed her palm on Kael's chest. "You're carrying a god inside you now. That kind of power… it doesn't fade. It devours."

Kael looked at them all. "I know."

He turned to the door and stepped through.

No stairs. No wind. No Tower walls.

Kael floated at the heart of it, the god's memory burning in his veins like molten starlight. Around him, the echoes of the Tower spiraled — floors he had climbed, lives he had taken, shards he had absorbed. Every choice he had made, every life lost along the way, shimmered like dust around him.

Then, from the void, a throne appeared.

Kael drifted toward it, each step dragging more of his humanity with it. The god's voice stirred in his mind — ancient, cold, distant.

"Seventeen thousand years I ruled. I was born in the space between stars, and I died with no name spoken at my end. You have taken my power. Will you take my place?"

Kael said nothing. His mind was unraveling. Not with pain — with clarity.

The Tower hadn't been a trial. It had been a ritual. A vessel. Each floor forged not a champion, but a successor. The dead god had been searching for one who would not just climb, but endure. One who would carry the memory, the burden, the loneliness.

The power to shape existence wasn't taken. It was inherited.

Because the god had waited for him.

Each step stripped away the last pieces of his past. His fear. His name. His voice. His ties to Earth, to the people below. His laughter, his memories, his warmth.

He didn't roar. He didn't cry. He didn't smile.

Its purpose complete, its soul emptied. The shards scattered into the void, lifeless. The world below shifted. Magic faded. The curse ended.

No one remembered the one who climbed. The one who fought. The one who bore the Tower's weight alone.

A lonely god in the heart of the void.

His power eternal. His name — forgotten.

The Godless Throne