chapter 5 "The pact"

The night before everything fell apart, I sat on the edge of my worn-out bed, staring at the moonlight slipping through the cracks in the window. It was quiet. Too quiet.

That's when Ananya walked in. School bag slung over one shoulder, eyes hard and unreadable.

"I'm quitting school," she said, not even looking at me.

I blinked. "What? Why?"

She tossed her bag on the table. "We can't afford Mom's medicine, Ayaan's tuition, and food. I'm sixteen. I can work part-time."

Her voice was flat. Cold.

I stood, frowning. "You're not quitting school. I promised Dad I'd take care of everyone. I'll figure something out."

She gave me a bitter smile. Not the kind that reaches the eyes. "You've been saying that for months. You keep going into low-tier gates and come back bleeding. How much longer until you don't come back at all?"

"I'll take a higher gate this time. A dangerous one." I tried to sound certain. "We need more mana crystals. I'll handle it."

She stared through me like I wasn't even there. No warmth. Just disappointment.

"Don't die," she muttered.

Then she turned and left.

---

Now

Inside the abnormal gate

Twenty gates. Twenty monstrous, pulsing portals bleeding unstable mana into the air. And from each of them—nightmares stepped through.

I'd seen monsters before. Hell, I'd fought them. But this… this was something else.

Flaming lions the size of trucks. Serpents swirling like living cyclones. Beasts made of starlight and bone.

The entire ARM Guild stood frozen.

Even Vikram, usually unshakable, had fear in his voice. "Hold your ground! Form up! Don't run!"

Easier said than done.

Everything in me screamed to flee. My instincts shrieked prey. That's all we were to them.

Still, we moved. Somehow. Swords drawn. Shields lifted. I saw Vikram and Leena take point. Determined. Desperate.

"We break the central gate!" Vikram shouted. "That's our exit! We need the monsters to attack—draw them in—then dodge. The impact might collapse the gate."

He never finished.

A roar. A blur. Then fire.

Two F-rank warriors were gone—ash in an instant.

A spear of ice the size of a van tore through a B-rank beside me. No scream. Just silence and blood.

I couldn't breathe.

Leena tried casting a barrier—too slow. A creature cloaked in wind shattered it like glass. Tara screamed—lightning ripped through her leg.

We were dying.

This wasn't a battle. It was an execution.

"Stick to the plan!" Vikram roared.

He charged ahead, sword raised, slashing at the leg of a wind-cloaked beast.

It should've staggered. Should've bled.

It didn't.

The thing turned, eyes burning like coals, and before I could even scream—

A glowing horn drove straight through Vikram's chest.

Time slowed.

I watched it happen.

His body lifted off the ground, limp, like a rag doll skewered by fate. His sword slipped from his hand, clattering uselessly to the blood-soaked earth.

Then the beast flung him aside.

He landed with a sickening crunch—bones breaking, blood spraying.

I couldn't move.

My legs wouldn't listen.

"VIKRAM!" someone screamed. Maybe Tara. Maybe me.

I don't know.

All I could see was his body.

Still.

Empty.

He was the strongest here. The bravest.

And he died like nothing.

Like the world didn't care.

I gritted my teeth, blinking back the blood and sweat burning my eyes.

If Vikram's dead... then what chance do I have?

My back burned—claws tore through me. Blood soaked my shirt. I staggered, sword trembling in my grip. Every breath hurt. Every step was pain.

I looked around.

Bodies.

Torn. Burnt. Broken.

The garden reeked of blood and smoke.

I was alone.

Somehow, I kept moving. Limping toward the central gate. It shimmered—obsidian and pulsing with ancient magic.

One step. Another.

My knees gave out.

I crawled.

The dirt was wet—slick with blood. Mine. Theirs. I couldn't tell.

I dragged myself forward. Behind me, the monsters approached. Slowly. Like they knew I had nowhere left to go.

I reached the gate.

And beyond it—something else.

A garden of the shadow.

Trees loomed like ancient sentinels, their bark blackened and twisted, branches gnarled as if frozen mid-scream. Dark crimson and deep violet flowers bloomed along the cracked stone path, their petals pulsing faintly like they were alive—feeding on the mana in the air. In the center of the garden stood a statue—tall, imposing, and draped in a hooded cloak that looked carved from obsidian. Faint cracks ran down its surface, and one of its twin curved blades was chipped, as if it had once fought a battle no one survived to witness.

I collapsed at its feet.

Could barely breathe.

Could barely think.

I failed them. Vikram. Tara. Leena. I couldn't protect them.

My family… Ananya. Ayaan. Mom…

A whisper left my bloodied lips. "If I had power… if only… I could've saved them…"

Then—

It hit me.

A voice.

No warning. No whisper.

Just there.

Inside my head.

"Do you want power?"

I froze. My breath caught in my throat.

It wasn't the world speaking.

It was something beneath it.

Older. Colder.

Something that had been watching.

Waiting.

And now—it was awake.

I blinked.

"Do you wish to form a contract?"

I didn't understand.

But I didn't care.

"Yes," I gasped. "Anything… please…"

And then—

The statue moved.

In that moment, shadows erupted from the statue.

Dozens of blades—shaped from the void itself—lashed out in every direction.

Each monster that stepped into the garden was obliterated. Not wounded. Not injured.

Erased.

The beasts screamed—roars of fire, thunder, and magic.

But none reached Arjun.

He lay there, watching as his enemies died in waves of shadow.

A black crest burned into his chest.

A symbol of fangs curled into a spiral.

And then—silence.

The air grew still.

The last monster fell.

The statue's head tilted slightly, and its blades withdrew.

And then the ground beneath me blazed to life—dark purple rings pulsing outward like a heartbeat. The air trembled. One by one, the monsters collapsed into nothingness, devoured by shadow. Their roars faded into silence. The Garden stilled. The Dungeon… was clear.

"Welcome to the Abyssal System."