Chapter 1
Author note:
‘Single quotes’ mean internal thoughts.
“Double quotes” mean spoken dialogue.
Italics are for sounds like churkle, thud, etc.
Square brackets([]) is for written text read or written by the characters.
Enjoy reading.:)
The room was silent, like rooms in the middle of the night.
The curtains flew from the cold breeze, moonlight slipping in through the open windows subtly illuminating the room.
The clock on the nightstand displayed 2 a.m.
A nineteen-year-old Asmodeus White sat on his bed. His blonde hair fell down on his shoulders. He was once again awake past his bedtime.
The AC hummed in its usual tone, a steady sound that didn't change no matter how long he listened.
The room felt cold. The kind of cold that didn’t feel like winter— more like the air itself had been set to a fixed level and left there.
Asmodeus didn't bother putting on a shirt.
He never did so at night anyway.
It felt unnecessary when he was alone.
His deep blue eyes were fixated on an unusual-looking ring. He had found it in his father's collection.
‘This is the strangest ring I've ever seen. Dad only said that it was passed down, but is that it?’
The ring had a red gemstone, perhaps a ruby in the middle of a black obsidian band. Uneven gold veins covered the obsidian and reached up to the ruby, as if holding it in place.
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It looked wrong, as if it belonged to another world.
'It's like some fantasy ring, like those from novels I read.'
Asmodeus smirked.
'Like if I put a drop of blood on it, it'll awaken and I'll get some system.'
He stared at it for a moment, his eyes were drawn to the veins.
‘The gold veins look like somebody wrote in some weird language, as if writing a spell.’
A second passed, then two.
He sat up straight and observed the ring more carefully.
He brought it closer to his eyes, then farther away. As if distance would give him the answers.
He continued to stare at it, perhaps he believed he could bully it into answering.
A grin formed on his face. "Hm~ Let's... just try it. What does trying cost?"
He pressed his finger against an old wound, reopening it. A bead of blood formed slowly, thick and dark in the dim light.
He let it drop on the ring.
Silence. Only the hum of the AC was to be heard.
Asmodeus sat cross-legged in front of it, eyes closed, expecting the ring to magically float and do something.
The silence stretched long enough to turn into awkwardness.
He opened one eye, trying to take a peek. Seeing no changes he opened the other.
He stared at the ring in disappointment, as if disappointment would convince the ring into working.
"....Right....
It clearly doesn't work like that."
A heavy sigh slipped out of him.
"That was the cringest thing I've ever done. I wanna scratch something now."
He reached for the ring with a defeated look, and slipped it onto the middle finger of his right hand.
Unaware of the subtle red glow that had formed around it.
Pulling the blanket he laid down to sleep—
Pain.
It appeared without any warning.
His lower back stung, then he felt like someone was holding and pulling on his spine.
"Wh—ah—AH!!"
The sound tore through him. He clenched the bedsheets as if his life depended on it. His nails dug into the sheets, ripping them up.
“My- my back…” he stuttered.
The pain grew every passing second. It was as if it was checking how much he could take, measuring his tolerance.
He wanted to curl up, but every movement felt like a hassle. His muscles had stiffened, depriving him of any movement.
"I—is there..."
His voice broke.
He tried to shout but nothing came out. He felt as though someone had held his throat.
‘I can't move… it hurts…’
Tears flowed down his cheeks. He had never felt this helpless in his life before.
His eyes darted across the room. Anything that could help him.
‘Something... anything…’
His eyes locked onto the phone on the nightstand. He tried to grab it. The distance felt larger, way larger than he remembered.
‘Mom—’
Then everything cut out.
---
Light stabbed his eyes, waking him from his sleep.
"Ahh..."
"Why is the sun so unusually bright today?" His voice came out rough.
He got up too fast, immediately regretting the dizziness that followed.
‘Dang it, I got up too fast.’ He cursed at himself.
He threw on his shirt and got out of the bed to wash his face.
He stumbled on the way to the bathroom.
"What was that last night? Some weird dream or something?" He groaned.
“Gotta reduce reading fantasy stuff.”
He opened the tap to splash his face with water. Forcing himself awake.
The sound of the water running seemed too loud. He shut the tap off quickly.
Brush, paste, go grab coffee, another normally boring day. That's what he thought.
‘Loud water, bright sun, now the toothpaste looks rosy. What a weird day.’
But when he looked up in the mirror—
He stopped.