The snow had stopped falling hours ago, but the cold still clung to the mountains like a curse.
High above the chasm, five figures stood at the edge of a jagged cliff. Blood stained the ice, a smear of color against the pale void. Wind howled through the gorge below, carrying with it the faint echo of something ancient… and hungry.
He lay there—broken, bleeding, forgotten.
Not dead. Not yet.
A shallow breath steamed in the frigid air. His chest trembled with every movement. Bones snapped with each twitch of his fingers. But the pain was dull now. Distant. The kind that told you the end was near.
Above him, their voices argued.
"He's already done what he needed to. The ritual chose him."
"Then why is he still breathing?"
"…Does it matter?"
He recognized them—his comrades. The Chosen. The ones who had stood beside him, smiling through fire and steel. The ones who had promised salvation.
One of them—he couldn't tell who anymore—stepped closer. The voice was smooth, without malice.
"It was always meant to be me. You were just the vessel. The sacrifice."
The sacrifice.
There it was. Said so plainly. As if that word didn't weigh a life.
He wanted to scream, but his lungs wouldn't listen. He wanted to curse the gods, curse the system that had chosen him for death and another for glory. But all that came out was blood.
"I'm sorry," the voice said again. Then silence.
A boot pressed against his ribs.
And shoved.
The world twisted.
The wind screamed.
He fell.
Down.
Down.
---
It should have been the end.
But in the dark, where no gods watched, something stirred.
It slithered into the wound of the world. Into him.
A flicker of light sparked in the abyss—blue and golden, burning with stolen divinity.
> [SYSTEM BOOTING…]
[ERROR: User Identity Conflict Detected.]
[Initializing Override Protocol…]
[Warning: Unauthorized Host…]
[Proceeding.]
His body convulsed as the light pierced his spine.
> [Welcome, Hero.]
[Questline initialized: Forge the Legend.]
[Objective: Become the Light in the Darkness.]
He gasped.
Then laughed.
A raw, cracked sound that echoed off the stone walls like madness.
The world thought him dead.
The Hero had been chosen.
But something had gone wrong.
The gods made a mistake.
And now?
Now he was going to make them pay for it.
---
Well… that escalated quickly. 😅
One second our guy was a respected hero, and the next—he's getting Sparta-kicked off a cliff by his so-called teammates.
Talk about trust issues.
But don't worry, he didn't completely die. That would've made this a very short novel.
Instead, he accidentally hijacked a god-tier system, confused the universe, and might just burn the world down by accident. Or on purpose. Depends on his mood. 🤷♂️
If you're into stories where the MC is done with everyone's nonsense, refuses to stay dead, and starts building his own legend from rock bottom… you've found your next addiction.
Leave a comment, toss a stone, or just whisper "revenge" into the void.
See you in Chapter 1: Ashes.
—Author, definitely not plotting more betrayals. Probably.