Kai stared at the sun as he held a bucket of water in his hand, his feet buried in warm sand, his eyes locked onto the burning orb above. The sun, immense and relentless, pulsed in the sky like a heartbeat too great for the heavens to contain.
It dared him to look away. He refused.
The heat pressed against his skin, turning the air into a shimmering veil between himself and the sky. But still, he watched.
To the world, the sun was power, it was life, it was the untouchable force that governed the rise and fall of nations, the slow march of time. To him, it was something more.
It was a challenge.
A whispered secret that only those brave—or foolish—enough to stare into its depths would ever begin to understand.
But he backed down from the challenge and went on his way, ignoring the sun and carrying the bucket of water down the hill and straight on into the village.
His skin was bronzed by the sun's relentless gaze. His hair, wild and wind-touched, shifted like dark silk , tangled yet defiant.
His clothes, worn and dust-streaked, clung to him like a second skin. The fabric was frayed at the edges, its original color long lost to the desert's ruthless embrace. His boots, cracked but sturdy, pressed into the sand, grounding him even as his spirit soared towards the sky.
He walked, his mind troubled as thoughts flew into his head. He had just gotten a message that he has been accepted as on one of the candidates for the Awakening Test that was happening tomorrow and he was going to tell his mother. He wondered about her reaction but he would see it when he gets home.
---
Kai's voice was raw with frustration, his words clashing against his mother's unwavering resolve. He had argued before, but never like this—never with the weight of his own future pressing against his ribs like a caged animal.
"The Awakening Test is my path, my purpose!" he insisted, his blood pounding against his heart. "You can't keep me tied to this village forever!"
His mother's eyes were stormy, filled with a fierce love that cut like knives. "You don't know what lies beyond, Kai. You only see the glory, but you do not know the cost."
"It was what claimed your father and now you want to go without knowing if you will die".
Before he could scream his response, a sound shattered the night.
It wasn't just a scream—it was something worse. Something raw and guttural, thick with agony and dread, twisted into an inhuman howl that clawed its way through the darkness. It didn't just come from one throat; it was a chorus, the tortured voices of those who had seen it—who had felt it.
Then came the word, slicing through the screams like a blade:
"ABOMINABLE!!!!!"
The village was swallowed by chaos.
A creature emerged from the shroud of night, its form grotesque beyond comprehension. Towering, sinewy, its flesh an amalgamation of charred, decayed tissue and pulsing, unnatural veins that oozed a thick, black ichor. Its mouth was a horror—lips peeled back over jagged, uneven fangs, yellowed and cracked, each tooth shaped for tearing, for consuming. Its eyes—no, its pits—radiated nothing but hunger, void-like sockets that swallowed the moonlight and spat out nothing.
It moved with a sickening grace, claws stretching like skeletal fingers, each tipped with curved talons that glistened wet with old, rotted blood.
The first villager barely had time to scream before the creature's hand speared through his stomach. He convulsed, gasping, choking, before the Abominable _pulled_ him apart—his ribs cracking like brittle twigs, his entrails spilling to the ground in a wet, pulpy heap. The thing didn't pause. It plunged its mouth into the torn cavity, slurping hungrily, its teeth grinding bone like softened meat.
A woman ran, but the creature caught her leg. In one fluid motion, it twisted, snapping her femur in half with a sickening crunch. Her body convulsed, but the thing showed no mercy. Its clawed fingers dug into her back, and it began peeling her apart like she was no more than a carcass for slaughter.
The screams melted into the air, drowning beneath the wet sounds of tearing flesh, of organs spilling, of bones splintering under relentless force.
Kai's mother stumbled backward, her hands shaking, her breath stolen by terror.
The Abominable turned, its soulless gaze locking onto her.
Kai didn't think. He just ran.
His body collided with the creature's side, the impact barely shifting its monstrous weight, but enough to earn its ire. The beast's head twisted toward him, a deep rumbling snarl rolling from its throat.
It struck.
Kai barely dodged, but the tip of its claw caught his shoulder, and fire exploded through his flesh as the talon sank deep. Blood poured from the wound, hot, thick, staining his tunic.
But the Abominable wasn't done.
It lunged again.
Kai had no weapon. No power. No plan.
Only the raw, desperate will to survive.