The wind howled through the temple ruins as Shin Noragetsu, Hana, and Renjiro made their way down the winding mountain path. The confrontation with the Silent Veil monks had left an ache in Shin's chest that he couldn't quite place. They had cast him out, exiled him, as if he were already lost to the Void. He gritted his teeth. He wouldn't let that be true. He couldn't.
"We need to get as far from here as possible before they change their minds," Renjiro said, his voice calm but firm. "They let us leave, but that doesn't mean they won't send someone after us."
Hana walked beside Shin, her arms crossed. "They were wrong to turn on you like that. You didn't ask for any of this."
Shin exhaled sharply, watching his breath fade into the cold air. "Doesn't matter. To them, I'm a danger. And maybe they're right."
Hana stopped walking. "You don't believe that."
He didn't answer. He wasn't sure what he believed anymore.
Renjiro glanced at the sky. "We need to move faster. There's a storm coming."
As they continued their descent, the storm clouds above thickened, casting the valley below in shadow. The tension between them was heavy, unspoken fears and doubts pressing against them like the weight of the abyss itself.
Then Shin felt it—an unnatural shift in the air, like a ripple through reality. He stopped abruptly. "Something's wrong."
Renjiro's hand went to his blade. "You feel it too?"
Before Shin could answer, the ground trembled beneath them. A dark fissure split the mountainside, jagged tendrils of void energy spilling out like ink seeping through cracked stone. The air grew thick, suffocating.
And then they appeared.
A dozen figures materialized from the darkness, cloaked in shifting shadows. Their eyes glowed with a faint violet hue—Voidborn. They moved in eerie silence, their forms flickering like mirages. At their center stood a single figure, taller than the rest, draped in tattered black robes. His face was obscured by a metal mask etched with ancient symbols.
"Shin Noragetsu," the masked man intoned, his voice resonating with an unnatural timbre. "The abyss calls to you. Do not resist."
Shin's grip tightened around his katana. "Who are you?"
The man tilted his head slightly. "A herald of truth. You walk the edge of oblivion, but you do not yet understand what you are."
A chill crawled down Shin's spine. The way the void pulsed around this man—it was stronger than anything he had encountered before. Stronger than the monks' fear. Stronger than his own doubts.
Hana stepped forward, kunai in hand. "If you think we're just going to stand here and listen—"
The void-born moved in a blur. Hana barely had time to react before she was forced back, her weapon deflected by an unseen force. Renjiro launched into action, his blade flashing as he met the attack head-on.
Shin felt it again—that pull. The abyss wanted him to fight. It wanted him to embrace it.
But he wasn't ready.
With a sharp breath, he surged forward, meeting the nearest Voidborn head-on. Their blades clashed, sending a shockwave of dark energy rippling through the air. The moment their swords connected, Shin saw something—a vision. A world swallowed in darkness. A city in ruins. And at its center, a figure wreathed in abyssal fire.
Him.
He recoiled, breaking the clash just in time to dodge another strike. His mind raced. What had he just seen? Was it the future? Or something worse?
The masked man watched him carefully. "You cannot run from destiny."
Shin wiped the sweat from his brow. "Watch me."
With a surge of willpower, he forced the void's influence back. The air around him crackled, a brief shimmer of resistance against the abyss's pull.
Renjiro landed beside him, breathing heavily. "We need to retreat. This isn't a fight we can win."
Shin hated it, but he knew Renjiro was right. They were outnumbered, and every second they stayed, the void clawed deeper into his mind.
Hana threw a smoke bomb to the ground, shrouding them in thick mist. "Move!"
They bolted. Shin felt the void's pull lessen as they ran, but it never truly faded. The masked man's voice echoed behind them, haunting, inevitable.
"You will return to us, Shin Noragetsu. The abyss is patient. And it never lets go."
As they disappeared into the storm, Shin clenched his fists.
He wouldn't let it win. Not now. Not ever.
-----------
For Advance chapters visit : patreon.com/Oskin