Chapter 1: Thrown Into the Rift

He didn't scream when they threw him.

Not when the Emperor's chains cracked against his skin.

Not when the crowd spat his name like venom.

Not even when the High Tribunal declared, "Kael Ardyn, you are hereby exiled to the Rift."

He stayed silent.

Because screaming was for the ones who still believed someone would save them.

The world above ended with a stone ledge — and then nothing.

No floor. No sky. No echo. Just a darkness that devoured light.

Kael was shoved forward, wrists bound, ankles raw, his black robe half-burnt and soaked in dried blood.

He barely registered the sound of iron scraping against rock.

Then: the fall.

They said the Rift had no bottom.

They lied.

It had a hunger.

Kael plummeted through the black, time unmeasured.

The wind was wrong. It didn't rush past him — it slithered.

He felt it crawl into his ears, whispering things in no tongue he knew.

His vision flickered.

His veins burned.

And then — impact.

He slammed into something not quite solid, not quite air.

It caught him like a dying breath and threw him sideways, hurling him into jagged, obsidian stone.

Silence.

And then...

A sound.

Like a heartbeat.

But not his.

Location: Unknown Depths of the Rift

When he opened his eyes, the world was purple-black and glowing from below.

The "ground" breathed — made of shifting stone, bones, and broken weapons from gods who died screaming.

He coughed.

His fingers were bloodied, one wrist bent.

A single thought passed through his cracked lips:

"Still alive?"

He shouldn't have been.

But the Rift didn't let its prey die so easily.

It wanted them to suffer — to evolve.

In the distance, something moved.

A figure. Tall. Cloaked in shadows, dragging something behind it — chains? Limbs?

Kael staggered to his feet, half-dizzy.

The figure stopped.

Its voice was not a voice — more like ancient breath through fire.

"You smell... broken."

Kael clenched his fists. He had nothing. No sword. No mana left. No hope.

Just hatred.

"What are you?" he rasped.

The figure came closer. A thousand red eyes opened in its robe, blinking. Watching.

"I am your first test."

[THE RIFT ACCEPTS YOU]

[CONTRACT INITIATION: 1%]

Words — glowing, rune-like — appeared in the air. Kael backed away, but they followed him like blood on snow.

He stumbled over bones. His chest burned. Then came the voice again — this time inside his skull:

"Summon... or be consumed."

A rune blazed beneath him, pale blue. It pulsed in time with his heart.

"I have no mana," he whispered.

The Rift laughed.

[SUMMON WITH PAIN. OFFER BLOOD. OFFER NAME.]

The ground shook.

The robed figure raised a skeletal hand, and black tendrils lunged forward.

Kael didn't dodge.

He grabbed one.

It pierced through his palm, and he roared — not in fear, but rage.

"I am Kael Ardyn," he shouted, as blood spilled onto the rune.

"You took my life. My family. My name. TAKE EVERYTHING, BUT YOU WON'T BREAK ME."

The light flared. The abyss shuddered.

[CONTRACT SEALED]

[FIRST MYTH AWAKENED: NAME UNKNOWN]

[YOU ARE NOW RIFTBORN]

From the circle, something crawled out.

It wasn't a beast.

Not a dragon.

Not a demon.

It was a boy.

His skin was pale ash.

Eyes hollow black.

Wings torn.

But power radiated from him like fire bottled inside dying stars.

He looked at Kael and tilted his head.

"You bleed like a god... and yet you smell like dirt."

Kael panted, kneeling.

"Are you... my summon?"

The boy didn't smile.

He grinned, revealing fangs.

"No. I am your mirror."

The shadowy figure lunged again.

This time — not at Kael, but the boy.

The summoned being moved too fast to see.

In one second, the enemy stood tall.

In the next, his head was rolling on the stone.

Blood — black, burning — splashed Kael's face.

He didn't flinch.

"You called me," the boy said.

"I killed for you. You live because I allow it.

So ask yourself... Kael Ardyn — what will you do now?"

Kael looked around at the abyss.

He could die here. Or he could climb out.

No. Burn his way out.

"I'm going to tear open the sky," Kael said.

"And summon something even the gods forgot existed."

Behind him, the abyss pulsed.

The Rift had accepted him.

The world above had betrayed him.

And Kael Ardyn — now Riftborn — had only just begun.

⚔️ To be continued...

Chapter 2: The First Contract

Kael didn't sleep. The Rift didn't allow it.

Instead, it breathed around him — hot, slow, and alive.

The boy who had come from the summoning circle stood a few feet away, perched on a jagged rock, wings spread like broken blades.

He hadn't spoken since the kill. Just stared at Kael with eyes that looked like they'd seen galaxies collapse.

Kael sat, knees drawn to his chest, arms bleeding, wrists burned where the summon's contract had scorched into his skin like molten ink.

"You're not a beast," Kael said quietly.

The boy didn't look at him.

"I'm worse."

The silence dragged again. Then the boy dropped from the rock and walked over, barefoot, bloodless, moving like he didn't belong to this world.

"You gave me blood," he said, crouching. "Now I'm bound. Not by choice. But by design."

Kael looked up, tired. "So what are you called?"

The boy tilted his head. "Names are for the living. But if you need one, call me... Null."

"Fitting," Kael muttered.

Null smiled faintly. Not friendly — more like a wolf finding amusement in a dying deer.

"You called the Rift. The Rift answered. But it doesn't give gifts. It takes."

Kael blinked. "Takes what?"

Null reached out — gently, almost softly — and tapped Kael's forehead.

"Memory. Time. Sanity. Soul. Take your pick."

Kael flinched. "So I lose something every time I summon?"

Null stood again. "You've already lost more than you know."

In the distance, the Rift groaned.

The sky — if it could be called that — pulsed with purple veins. And something moved.

Not walking. Crawling. A shape that dragged itself across the horizon like an ancient mistake.

Kael gritted his teeth. "What the hell is that?"

Null's smile vanished.

"A Rift Beast. Hunger incarnate. Born from forgotten kings. It feeds on summon-born."

Kael stood too, wincing. His body still felt like ash and fire. "Can you kill it?"

Null didn't answer.

Instead, he turned to Kael slowly. "Only if you order me."

"Then I—"

"But," Null interrupted, "every command costs something. Remember that."

The creature roared.

Its sound was broken glass grinding inside bone.

Kael felt the Rift tremble beneath his boots. Felt his own breath catch. The creature was close now — a grotesque fusion of bodies: swords embedded in its back, dozens of eyes blinking, mouths sewn shut.

Kael reached for anything — a rock, a bone, anything to fight with.

Null stepped in front of him.

"Command me," he said. "Or die."

Kael hesitated. Every fiber of his soul screamed that something terrible would be lost.

But then he saw the beast charge — its claws lighting up with cursed fire.

"Null," Kael said, voice sharp, "kill it."

The air cracked.

Null's wings snapped open, and the entire abyss screamed.

He didn't run. He didn't fly. He vanished, appearing right above the creature with a blade of darkness forming from his arm.

The first slash tore the beast's head in half.

The second removed its legs.

The third — Kael didn't even see. There was just silence, then the sound of a thousand bones collapsing.

When it was over, Null stood soaked in black ichor, eyes glowing faintly.

He turned. "Done."

Kael's vision blurred. His knees buckled. His head split in two with a pain so sharp it cut through thought.

[CONTRACT COST: 1 Year of Memory Lost]

A flash.

A boy's laugh.

A warm fire.

A woman's voice calling, "Kael, dinner's ready—"

Gone.

Kael hit the ground, screaming.

Not from the pain. From the emptiness.

Something had been ripped from him. Some part of his life he didn't even remember until it was erased.

Null stood over him, face neutral.

"Now you understand."

Kael shook, grabbing dirt, fists clenched.

"This is the price?"

"The Rift never lies. Every summon feeds it. Every command deepens your debt."

Kael sat up slowly, breathing hard.

"And if I stop summoning?"

"You die. Or worse."

The Rift gives. The Rift takes.

And Kael Ardyn… had just taken his first step toward losing everything.

He looked at Null, whose wings folded behind his back like a closing door.

"I want power," Kael said, voice raw. "Enough to burn through the ones who threw me here."

Null raised an eyebrow. "Then bleed more."

Far in the distance, dozens of red eyes blinked open across the Rift's horizon.

Kael stood, shoulders heavy, eyes burning.

"Then let them come."

⚔️ To be continued...

Then let them come."

Kael's voice echoed across the Rift like it had weight. Like the darkness heard him and paused for a moment to listen.

Null didn't respond. He simply turned, those void-black eyes narrowed slightly — not in fear, but curiosity.

The boy — no, the being — studied Kael like one studies something unstable.

"You speak like a god," Null said finally. "But bleed like a man."

Kael didn't flinch.

"Then I'll learn to bleed better."

The Rift rumbled beneath them. Not like thunder. More like something massive shifting in its sleep.

Kael didn't understand it fully, but he could feel it — the world itself was listening.

Null stepped forward, wing shadows folding against his back.

"The Rift took your memory," he said. "A year of your life, gone."

"I don't remember losing it," Kael muttered.

"That's the curse."

They walked. Not toward anything, really — just deeper. The Rift had no paths. No direction. Only pull.

But Kael needed answers. Needed control. Needed power that didn't cost everything.

"You said I summoned you," Kael said, breaking the silence. "And the cost was mine to pay. But where did you come from?"

Null smiled faintly, as if humored.

"I don't remember."

Kael stopped walking.

"You're lying."

"Maybe," Null said. "Or maybe the Rift took something from me, too."

A flicker passed across Null's eyes — pain? Doubt?

Kael didn't press. He just nodded, accepting the silence as truth for now.

🌑 Later.

They reached a canyon carved straight down into the Rift's surface — filled with skeletal ruins and flickering, rune-covered stones. The place pulsed with low hums of energy — something ancient and broken.

Kael paused at the edge.

His chest tightened. Not fear — something else. A name on the tip of his tongue that he couldn't remember. Something warm… fading.

His hand clenched.

"It's happening again, isn't it?" he asked.

Null didn't reply.

But in the black stone below, Kael saw something glow.

A symbol.

His symbol.

[RIFTBORN TRAIT AWAKENED: "Recallbind"]

You may resist memory loss at great cost. Or choose what to forget.

Kael gasped, falling to one knee. His mind surged — fragments of laughter, faces without names, a child's hand holding his, a promise whispered in a storm.

Then gone.

[Choose: Suppress memory or Sacrifice body to retain it.]

Kael clenched his jaw.

"I'll keep it," he said through gritted teeth.

Pain exploded through his limbs. Blood leaked from his eyes.

Null didn't move.

"You'll die if you try to hold onto too much," he warned.

"Then I'll die remembering."

When the pain faded, Kael stood again — body shaking, but mind clear.

Something new was inside him. Not just resolve.

A skill.

[New Skill Unlocked: Rift Echo (Level 1)]

Briefly repeat an opponent's last attack with half power.

Warning: Each use consumes mental clarity.

Kael's lip curled.

Not flashy. Not world-ending.

But enough.

Enough to survive the next fight.

Suddenly, a laugh echoed from behind the canyon wall.

Not Null's.

Not Kael's.

A third voice — low, broken, and very much amused.

From the shadows, a figure stepped out — half-burned, armor melted into skin, one eye missing and replaced with a glowing red crystal.

"Another summoner," the man rasped. "Another toy of the Rift.

Kael stepped back, body instinctively tensing.

Null didn't move. Just stared.

The man raised a cracked black blade. It hummed like it wanted to drink something — blood, soul, anything.

"You've made your first contract," the man said. "Now you owe. To the Rift. To us."

"Us?" Kael asked.

The man grinned.

"I am Veyr. Riftwalker. Former knight. Former father. Former everything. Like you… once."

Kael held his ground.

"I'm not like you."

Veyr chuckled. "Not yet."

He lifted his hand — and from behind him, two Rift beasts slithered forward, chained to his wrist with rune-burned links.

"You'll break soon enough."

Kael's mind raced. Two summons. A blade. Veyr was seasoned — dangerous.

Null leaned toward him.

"Command me."

"At what cost?" Kael asked quietly.

Null smiled darkly. "Do you want to win or count coins?"

Kael exhaled. Looked down at his hand. Blood trembled on his fingers.

"Then hear me, Rift."

He whispered a word. One that didn't exist in any language he remembered — maybe one he once knew, long ago.

The ground cracked.

Symbols lit up.

The sky… blinked.

[NEW CONTRACT INITIATING]

Warning: Price \= "A name you hold dear."

Kael froze.

A name? A person? A memory?

He couldn't even remember who — but the pain in his chest told him it mattered.

"Choose," the Rift demanded.

Null watched.

Kael closed his eyes.

"Take it," he said.

A coldness swept over him like death.

The symbol flared.

A second summon stirred beneath the stone.

And Kael… forgot a girl's laughter. A brother's voice. A promise made at dawn.

"Let them come," he said again, voice colder now.

"Let them all come."

⚔️ To be continued...