The World Today
The world before the sky tore open was a world of nations, laws, and commerce. A place where satellites danced around the Earth, and skyscrapers clawed at the heavens. That world died in 1990.
It began with silence then thunder, but not from clouds. The first portal opened above the Pacific Ocean, splitting the sky with a violet crack. A gaping wound hovered in the clouds, rimmed with lightning and humming with power. From it descended the first beast, something like a tiger, but made of shifting shadows and bone. Entire fleets were sent to destroy it, and none returned. Then more portals followed, as if the skies themselves had been infected. These gateways pulsed with a strange energy later called the Force.
Where the portals opened, monsters followed, creatures from a dying world called Arakna, a land where the natural laws of Earth didn't apply. Mountains walked. Rivers turned to fire. The beings from that realm weren't just beasts; they were infused with the very essence of the Force, a chaotic power that warped reality, tore apart the natural order, and carved up the Earth.
The fall was fast and merciless. Nations collapsed. Military strength was meaningless against creatures that ignored bullets, walked through fire, and seemed to feed on violence. But then humanity changed.
In a desperate bid for survival, humans began to awaken. It started with bursts of power telekinetic surges, inhuman strength, the ability to walk through walls or set the air ablaze. The Force had begun bonding with human beings. It was salvation but still and a curse, a double edged sword. Everyone alike believed the Force was not a power meant for human hands. The more a human tapped into it, the more the Force changed them. Not just physically but mentally. Emotionally. Spiritually. It offered strength, yes, but it demanded humanity in return.
The transformation happened in stages, mapped and studied as best they could:
The Scar The awakening. Physical marks begin to appear on the body—cracks of violet light along the veins. The user can barely manipulate the Force at this stage.
The Wound: Power manifests in minor ways. Strength, agility, and basic energy manipulation. Risk of Force feedback grows.
The Blade: Combat-apt users reach this stage. The Force can now manifest as weapons—blades, whips, claws.
The Cloud: Reality begins to bend around the user. They can float, disappear briefly, or phase through walls. Some begin to hear "the voices" echoes from Arakna.
Demon: The body is permanently altered. Users in this stage are unstable, immensely powerful, and only held back by sheer will. Only a few in history in the short history of this world have reached this level without falling.
Monster: The final stage. No human has returned from this level. Once you become a Monster, you are no longer human. The Force consumes your soul.
To slow the process of turning, Force wielders developed limiters, which come mostly in the form of masks, rituals, and even drugs that could suppress excessive usage. Different continents have their methods. But the inevitable remains the same, The Force gives, then it takes.
To contain the chaos, the last three major continents were fortified into global strongholds. The oceans had become dead zones, riddled with creatures and unstable rifts. Intercontinental travel was rare and dangerous. Each continent governed itself, but all answered to one man: General Grak, the strongest Force user in the world and wielder at the Demon level. His hands molded what remained of civilization, and his iron will held back the collapse.
Grak ruled from Neo-Kyoto, the last standing megacity of Asia—a sprawling fortress-city powered by reactors that harnessed stable Force currents. He had one son: Jin. And Jin, for all his father's might, was born powerless.
Or so it seemed.
A twelve, his Force awakened but to nothing. The usual signs weren't there. No scar marks. No surges of strength. No telekinetic spark. Only silence. In Grak's eyes, this was worse than being powerless. It was defective. Useless. A failed heir. The boy was cast aside.
Now sixteen, Jin had no nation, no people only blood on his hands and scars on his soul.
The Leviathan was more than a monster—it was a force of nature. Reports from before the collapse described it as serpentine, nearly 400 meters long, able to shift its size and form. Its scales resisted all known forms of Force energy. It had destroyed four human settlements in the past, turned the surrounding desert into an unlivable storm of dust and ether. It was classified as an X-Class Dungeon Boss—a title reserved for creatures powerful beyond imagination. Their total abilities couldn't be measured because no human had lived long enough to tell the story.
The dungeon it ruled wasn't natural. It expanded, shifted, reshaped itself. No one who entered ever escaped—until Jin. And so, the journey begins...
The lights were blinding.
The beeping of machines, the hiss of sterilized air, and the scent of antiseptic reminded him that he was still alive, barely. Bandages wrapped his stump where his arm had been. IV lines fed into his good arm. His body felt heavy, weighted down by and exhaustion.
He opened his eyes slowly.
The world had ended q long time ago, but he's was just beginning.