Chapter One - Into The Abyss

Chapter One

Hi. My name’s Leofwin Warin, but you can call me Leo. I’m the last child of a mostly insignificant family. I spend most of my time playing video games, reading light novels, and, of course, I have a PhD in procrastination.

That was before the Abyssal Convergence.

What’s that? Great question. I’d love to explain, but right now, I’m being chased by a lightning Hodag. (That’s a monster, in case you were wondering. The kind that makes me wish I was back home in bed, hiding under the covers and pretending I was asleep.)

Since I’m likely about to meet a very untimely death, now feels like a perfect time to reflect on how I ended up here.

I’m only seventeen. I don’t know much. But I do know one thing — the words that got me here. (Running from a monster with way too many teeth and a personal vendetta.)

When I was little, my dad would pat my back and say:

“Leo, you must become strong so you can protect the people you love.”

I think that was his way of telling me to be a hero. Or at least a decent person.

Pretty sure he didn’t mean defend your kill streak in Zombie Slayer 3000.

So, thanks Dad. Here I am, trying to live up to that talk while running for my life from an electric lizard.

He got sick a few years after that. Terminal cancer. I took care of him until the end. His words stuck with me. I still want to be the person he saw in me.

But instead…

A COMPLETE FAILURE.

I don’t care about sports. Or grades. Honestly, I don’t care about reality at all. I prefer the fantasy worlds in my light novels. Monster-slaying. Sword-wielding. Magic-slinging. I wish I could be like the heroes in those stories, strong, capable, brave. The crackling roar behind me snaps me out of it. The beast is close. I push my legs harder, but it’s no use.

The lightning Hodag slams into me, like being hit by a truck wrapped in volts.

I smash into a tree. Air punches out of my lungs.

Coughing. Gasping.

I lift my head. The monster looms above me.

Then…

Black.

My eyes shot open to another crack of thunder and a blinding flash of lightning.

My tiny, boring rural town had officially hit a record: the longest storm in human history. Seriously, it was like the final boss of bad weather.

The kind of storm that made you think Mother Nature had been binge-watching disaster movies and was now spamming the ‘thunderstorm’ button like a salty gamer. I groaned, rolled over, and buried myself deeper in my blankets. If I ignored life hard enough, maybe it would give up and leave.

The universe had other plans.

"LEO!"

The door slammed open and in charged my sister, Rose — like a human wrecking ball. I caught a glimpse of her boot right before it drove into my ribs.

“Up. Now,” she said, grinning like she’d just won a gladiator match.

I wheezed. “One day, you’re gonna kill me.”

“That day is not today.” She flicked on the lights. “School. You’re late.”

"Time is an illusion," I muttered.

She ripped the blanket off me with all the subtlety of a bear ripping open a cooler.

“Get. Up.”

I collapsed to the floor dramatically, groaning like my soul was leaving my body.

She just rolled her eyes and laughed.

Then she paused, glancing at the window.

“The storm’s getting worse,” she said. “Be careful, okay?” That was... weird. Rose never worried about anything. And something about her tone sent a chill down my spine. After flopping around like a dying fish for a minute, I finally dragged myself up and started getting ready for the day.

My mornings were always the same. They started with a surprise ninja ambush from my sister—well-meaning, sure, but no less violent—followed by a quick shower and a desperate attempt to style my brown hair into something remotely decent. I’d stare into the mirror and hope that maybe my green eyes would finally do me a favor and attract someone. Spoiler alert: they never have. At all. Unless getting ignored counts as a win, in which case I’m basically undefeated.

After that came a high schooler's attempt at breakfast, which usually meant no breakfast. But today was different. Rose had made a plate for me, and it had my dad’s classic pancakes on it. Ever since he passed, she hasn’t stopped trying to take care of me. I’d be caught dead admitting it, but her effort always manages to get to me. I smiled, just a little, and scarfed the food down in seconds.

Then I glanced at the kitchen clock.

Annnnnnd I was late. Again.

***

I burst into my homeroom class, drenched and breathless, with rain dripping from my hoodie and forming little puddles on the tile floor. Mr. Price looked up from his desk, eyebrows already raised like this was his favorite part of the morning.

“Leofwin. Good to see you. It seems you’ve broken your record,” he said, narrowing his eyes at his watch.

“Only thirty-eight minutes late,” he added, smiling with all the warmth of a tax audit.

I was truly excelling today. Breaking records left and right. I could medal at the Late Olympics. As if on cue, my phone buzzed in my pocket. That was weird—I only had two friends.

I opened my mouth to deliver the usual “the bus was late” excuse, but Mr. Price wasn’t in the mood. His eyes sharpened.

“Save it, young man. Take a seat.”

I scanned the classroom for an open desk, hoping there was still one in the back. As I passed the third row, I heard a snicker followed by two synchronized whispers.

“Psst, Leo.”

Oliver and Drew. My closest friends. And by that, I mean my only friends. We’d been inseparable since we were kids, playing games, hatching stupid plans, getting into trouble. Honestly, I was closer to them than most of my extended family, apart from Rose.

“I don’t get how you’re always late with that brute of a sister waking you up every morning,” Oliver chuckled, rubbing the fading bruise he’d earned from her two nights earlier.

“Hey! Don’t you dare,” I laughed. “For your information, she’s not a brute. She’s just... strong-willed.”

“Yeah. Like a lion,” Drew muttered.

I couldn’t help but smile.

Drew had a rough upbringing. He was constantly bullied and treated even worse at home. He tugged at the hem of his shirt, instinctively trying to cover the cigarette burns that scarred his torso. His blond hair was a tangled mess, like a rat’s nest that had given up on life. Drew never expected much from people, and it took nearly two full years before he started trusting Oliver and me.

Oliver, on the other hand, was his polar opposite. He was full of energy, laughter, and an almost annoying amount of optimism. He believed the best in everyone, even when they didn’t deserve it. If he stood in your corner, you’d think you could take on the world. Sometimes I worried that belief would get him killed.

My phone buzzed violently in my pocket. Unfortunately, my leg was pressed against the wooden desk, so the vibration echoed through the room like a dull alarm. I slowly looked up to see Mr. Price glaring at me.

“Mr. Price, I think I speak for the entire class when I say…” came a voice dripping with false sweetness.

I turned to see Claire, smiling at the teacher with feigned innocence.

“…that Leo has interrupted our class. And it would reflect poorly on your behalf, as a strong teacher, of course, if you did not punish him.”

Mr. Price grunted, straightening his back and adjusting his belt like he thought it made him look more intimidating.

“You’re absolutely right, Claire. But don’t suck up to me again. I won’t tolerate that from you,” he said, puffing out his chest with pride. “And Warin, detention after school.”

Claire returned to her seat with a satisfied smirk. She gave me a smug little wave. Her blond hair swept over her shoulder like it belonged in a shampoo commercial. If she didn’t have the personality of a movie villain, she’d actually be stunning. Tall, athletic, with blue eyes that could pull you under if you stared too long—she was on nearly every sports team, and somehow still found time to torment me. She was the most popular girl in our grade.

I didn’t know why I got dumb when I looked at her, but I hated it. And I hated her.

“Yes, sir,” I said with a mocking salute.

Oliver and Drew burst out laughing. Mr. Price’s neck flushed red all the way to his ears, and he quickly returned to the lesson.

That’s when things took a turn towards the ‘end-of-the-world’ genre.

Mr. Price’s class was boring. And I don’t mean mildly boring. I mean the kind of boring where I’d rather play tag with a rabid dog than sit through another one of his lectures. My attention drifted, and before I knew it, I was daydreaming about video games while staring out the window.

The storm clouds looked strange. Not just dark, but wrong. They spun in tight, unnatural spirals, too low in the sky and moving too fast. I didn’t say anything to Oliver or Drew. If I did, they’d probably overreact and make a scene. So I just kept watching.

The floor trembled beneath us. A soft rumble, subtle at first.

Then the sky exploded.

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A streak of purple lightning tore across the clouds, so loud that everyone instinctively covered their ears. It slammed into the metal grating outside the windows, and the glass shattered on impact. I dove under my desk, heart hammering in my chest.

Did I just see that right? Was that... purple lightning?

The room fell into stunned silence. Mr. Price, visibly shaken, crept toward the windows like he was expecting the storm to answer him. A few students cautiously followed, peeking over his shoulder.

Outside, the clouds continued to spin, pulling together into a swirling, glowing funnel. Lightning flashed again, painting the sky in pulses of violent violet. It looked like the storm itself was trying to touch down, gathering all its energy into one point in the center of the courtyard.

A chill crawled up my spine. Every hair on my body stood on end. I could feel the pressure building, like the world was holding its breath.

"What in the hell..." Mr. Price whispered.

Then the sky tore open.

A massive bolt of purple lightning slammed into the courtyard with an explosion that rocked the building. The shockwave hit like a bomb. Windows burst. Desks flipped. Half the class was hurled to the floor. The very air turned electric, buzzing and charged, like reality itself was short-circuiting.

I wiped the blood from my eye, blinking hard as it smeared across my cheek and blurred my vision.

“Emily!” someone screamed beside me. “Mr. Price, somebody help!”

Claire was on the floor, just a few feet away, cradling her best friend. I gasped as I took in the sight. Emily’s body was covered in glass, dozens of tiny shards protruding from her arms, her side, even her face. But what froze me was her arm—bent at a sickening angle—and the jagged piece of metal lodged in her chest. Claire’s tears fell in steady drops onto Emily’s uniform, her expression twisted in grief.

Mr. Price groaned as he limped toward the door, holding his leg. He looked dazed, clearly injured. He managed to shove the door open, probably thinking he could escape and leave us behind.

He tripped instantly.

His head smacked the cement floor with a sickening thud, and he stopped moving.

“So much for a strong teacher,” I muttered.

That’s when I noticed it. A flicker at the edge of my vision. In the corner of the courtyard, the storm began to spin again. But this time, it wasn’t random. It was focused.

A vortex of purple lightning was forming. It pulsed, rapid and deliberate, glowing with energy. The storm wasn't just lighting up the sky anymore—it was folding space in on itself.

The air vibrated as a deep humming filled the room. The funnel of light shrank inward, condensing until it shaped itself into something horrifying.

A door.

Not made of wood or metal, but of swirling lightning and raw power. A tear in the sky. A glowing gash in reality.

And something stepped through it.

A figure, cloaked in black. His face was hidden, or maybe he didn’t have one at all—just a dark void and two flickers of lightning where eyes should have been. A jagged, hollow grin carved itself into the shadows under his hood.

He was massive. Bigger than anything human. Bigger than anything that belonged here.

And he was staring at me.

His gaze pierced right through me. It was like he could see every part of my thoughts, my fears, the parts of myself I didn’t even understand. I couldn’t move. I could barely breathe.

“What are you?” the being asked, his voice cold and dispassionate as he stared directly at me. I froze under his gaze. I couldn’t speak, even if I wanted to, I couldn’t form a single word. My thoughts scrambled. My mouth wouldn’t work. He tilted his head slightly.

“Why do I feel nothing from you?”

Drew and I slowly got to our feet, even as the figures attention shifted away from us. I wiped the blood from my eyes again, ignoring the sting just so I could see clearly. The room around us was broken and quiet. A few of our classmates had started to rise, groaning, whimpering, dazed and wounded.

The figure’s gaze swept across us. He hovered forward, past where the windows used to be, floating in midair like gravity didn’t apply to him. His head turned slowly, glancing from student to student, face unreadable. Or maybe he was disappointed.

Was he flying?

His gaze moved over the room like he was searching for something that wasn’t there.

“Why are you all so weak?” he muttered. “I thought I had finally found them. But of course, I ended up in the wrong place again. Another millennium wasted. Another spell squandered.”

He pulled back slightly, as if re-evaluating the space.

Then, something unexpected happened.

Drew stepped forward.

Of all people, it was Drew, the one who trusted no one, the one who rarely spoke unless it mattered. He planted his feet and glared at the cloaked figure.

“Who are you?” he shouted. “Why did you kill them?”

He pointed to the bodies near the shattered glass, the ones who had taken the full brunt of the blast. There was fire in Drew’s eyes, a raw, unfiltered fury I had never seen from him before.

The figure’s eyes brightened with faint amusement.

“For something so insignificant, you show courage,” he said. “I like that. Perhaps I was too quick to judge this world.”

He looked past Drew, toward the rest of us.

“And to answer your question…” he gestured at the fallen students. “Those who cannot stand before me do not deserve to live.”

A wave of rage surged through my chest. I wanted to scream, to say something…anything. But nothing came out. I wasn’t brave like Drew. I wasn’t ready. But somehow, the figure sensed my change in energy. His expression darkened.

The room shifted.

A crushing pressure filled the air, like an invisible weight pressing down on all of us. My legs gave out, and I dropped to my knees.

His voice lost all humor.

“You don’t have what it takes.”

His eyes burned into mine.

And I believed him.

Could this guy read my mind?

"Ants should not reach for gods." His voice echoed with disgust, like we weren’t even worth crushing. Then he turned his attention beyond me, as though addressing the entire world.

"But for my amusement, I want to see what kind of beings you really are. So, I will offer you an opportunity. Some of you possess latent power. Weak, yes, but present. That potential interests me."

His words didn’t sound like a suggestion. They were heavy, absolute. Each one felt like it was being carved into the air itself. I didn’t just hear him. I felt him. And what I felt wasn’t fear. It was something worse.

"Behind me is a portal. A nexus. It will take you to the world of Purgatory."

He extended his arm toward the swirling tear behind him. The lightning crackled in response, swirling faster, hungrier.

"In that world, you may evolve. If you survive, you may become something greater. And if you do, perhaps this spell won’t be a complete waste. I will catalyze your evolution, and the strong will rise. Provide me with entertainment."

He snapped his fingers.

Drew collapsed beside me. Half the class dropped with him. Purple lightning burst around their bodies as they convulsed in place, screaming and writhing on the floor.

"Do not struggle, child. It only hurts more when you do."

The voice filled my head like it was spoken from inside my skull.

They were being electrocuted. I stood frozen, helpless, watching Drew scream in agony. His arm stretched out toward me, trembling, desperate for help.

I reached for him.

Just before our hands touched, a new voice cut through the chaos. It wasn’t spoken aloud. It pierced straight into my mind.

Stop, Leofwin.

I yanked my hand back as if it had been burned. My whole body recoiled. Drew’s eyes rolled back as he seized. My vision blurred again. Tears welled up in the corners of my dry, blood-streaked eyes.

Who said that?

The question barely formed before a jolt of power hit me like a train. Pain ignited through every nerve, and my body hit the ground hard. I convulsed, my muscles twitching violently. It felt like I had been plugged into a generator, my body turned into a human circuit board.

I forced my eyes open just long enough to see Oliver watching in horror, frozen, powerless to help.

Then I saw it. The lightning surrounding me wasn’t purple.

It was green.

Then everything went black.

Just before I lost consciousness, the figure’s voice returned, soft and slow, like a whisper burned into the inside of my brain.

"I have given you the tools to become something greater. How great depends on you, and you alone. Show me what ants are capable of."

His smile faded.

His eyes locked with mine.

Then, with a final flick of his fingers, he vanished into the swirling portal behind him.

****

I was awake, but afraid to move. Every muscle in my body felt like it might shatter if I made the wrong decision. Around me, my classmates groaned and stirred. Some were crying. Others didn’t make a sound at all. I lay still, paralyzed, as the low hum of that unnatural vortex filled the air like a living engine.

Eventually, I forced myself to sit up.

Glass glittered across the floor like a shattered sky. Desks were overturned. The back wall was missing—completely gone. The courtyard, where the lightning had struck, was just an open wound beyond the rubble.

But that wasn’t what stopped my breath.

Scattered across the floor were bodies. Not just hurt students—bodies. People I had grown up with. Sat next to in class. Laughed with. Argued with. Some of them weren’t moving. Some never would again.

The smell of smoke and blood and ozone hit me all at once. My stomach flipped.

I turned and stumbled toward the corner of the room, collapsed to my knees, and vomited. Everything I had eaten came up in a violent rush, until there was nothing left but dry heaves and tears in my eyes.

So much for those pancakes.

“Leo!” Oliver’s voice dragged me back to reality. He knelt beside me, wide-eyed. “Your eye! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I muttered, trying to smile. “Just a cut.” I wiped my cheek, though I could still feel blood crusting around it. Honestly, it hurt more than the time Rose woke me up with a knee to the family jewels. And that was saying something.

Drew sat up slowly across the room, rubbing his head.

“I feel weird,” he said. “I don’t know how to explain it, but... I don’t feel like myself.”

Before I could answer, a soft sound broke through the air. Crying. Muffled. Repeating.

We turned.

Claire sat in the far corner, her arms wrapped tightly around Emily’s lifeless body. Her red-rimmed eyes stared through us like we weren’t even there. She kept whispering something to Emily—words no one could make out. Her beautiful features were twisted, sunken, empty.

I hesitated, then stepped closer. Even after all the crap she’d given me through the years, I couldn’t just ignore that kind of pain. I bent down to say something, maybe offer a word of comfort.

“Touch me, and I will kill you.”

Her voice was like ice. I flinched back on instinct. My hand pulled away before I even realized it had moved. I knew if I pushed further, she would explode. And I didn’t blame her.

I couldn’t imagine losing Drew. Or Oliver. They were my family.

The word echoed in my head.

Family.

Then I remembered.

“Rose.”

I slapped at my pockets until I found my phone. My hands were shaking. Three missed calls. A voicemail.

And a city-wide alert flashing on the screen:

Multiple Unidentified Vortexes Reported.

My throat closed up.

I raised the phone to my ear and played the message. Her voice came through—fragile, breathless, afraid.

“Leo... um, I don’t know what’s happening. There are purple lightning clouds forming over the house. I can’t leave. I can’t believe I’m saying this but... I’m scared. I don’t know if I should stay inside or—”

Static ripped through the audio.

I clenched my teeth, willing the message to continue, praying she was okay.

“Leo!”

Her voice cracked with panic.

Then more static.

Then, softly, “I love you.”

Click.

The message ended. And I couldn’t breathe.

I frantically clicked on the city-wide alert, searching for the location of the portals.

“Hey Leo, are you okay?” Drew asked, putting his hand on my shoulder. Turning to my friend I whimpered in fright.

"No, no, no, no, no... I need to leave now," I said as I ran towards the exit, Drew held me back with force.

"What the hell is going on? We can't just leave here, look at our classmates!" Drew yelled as the tears fell from my eyes.

"It's Rose... I... I think something happened to her," I said as I struggled to get out of his grip.

"How sure are you?" He asked as Oliver walked up to us. I showed him the list of places that were affected by the vortex, and the location of my house was one of them, "Oh! My God."

“I have to find her, I can't... I can't lose another…" I said as I wiped the tears that stung my eyes, the words scratched at my throat as I mumbled what I could to him.

Then we heard a low hum coming from the vortex at the center of the courtyard, seconds later it began to glow and it started getting smaller. Just like that the portal began to close in on itself dragging those that had been “catalyzed” into it. Sam was the first to go, he had been closest to the windows. He was ripped from his feet and sent flying into the swirling lightning.

I threw myself at the floor, clawing at anything I could reach. My fingers closed around a desk leg, holding on for dear life.

Claire was sobbing, still cradling Emily. “No! NO!”

Drew gritted his teeth, trying to dig his boots into the floor, but it was no use. One by one, we were being dragged towards the lightning.

I'm Leofwin Warin, and this was the beginning of my journey into the Abyss.