Chapter One – Dreams on the Edge of Silence.
Chapter One – Dreams on the Edge of Silence
Three hundred years ago, humanity was struck by the first catastrophe: the Great Flood.
The waters rose, swallowing the continents and burying civilizations beneath their waves.
Only one landmass remained — a vast island resting in the heart of the ancient continent — now the last remnant of the world.
Upon that land, the only surviving nation was founded, encircled by a towering wall known as the "Great Wall," separating the inside from the desolate outside.
Then, a century later, the second catastrophe arrived…
The Abyss.
The earth itself split open, revealing a bottomless chasm that was no mere hole — it pierced the bowels of the world, with each layer said to be as vast as a city or even an entire nation.
With its appearance came the phenomenon known as "Essence" — an innate energy born within every human being, and the foundation of their very survival.
Every child was tested for Essence from birth.
And Essence itself was not singular but classified into five known levels:
Spark of Survival
Pulse of Power
Core of Command
Extension of Will
World's Heart
As Essence rose, the old world order collapsed.
Traditional governments crumbled, replaced by the emergence of the "Ten Orders" — powerful factions that ruled independently within the surviving nation.
Yet the Orders were not for all.
The First Three Orders belonged to the nobility, directly linked to the King.
The next Four represented the executive and research bodies.
The final Three oversaw free professions, military affairs, and covert operations — among them the Tenth Order, rumored to answer to no one.
Citizens within the Orders enjoyed protection, advanced technologies, and opportunity.
Those outside — villagers and drifters — were treated as second-class, barely considered true citizens.
Yet a sliver of hope remained:
The children of the outskirts could apply for Essence Testing, and if they succeeded, be formally admitted into an Order.
It was their only dream of salvation.
On one stormy night fifteen years ago, faint knocking echoed against the door of a lonely wooden hut in the village of Lithra.
An old woman, living alone, opened the door — and found a small basket swathed in a black cloth.
Inside, a baby boy.
He did not cry, nor did he move much — yet he was warm, despite the raging storm.
The woman gazed upon him for a long moment, then cradled him in her arms and whispered,
"Levan... I will call you Levan."
Thus, Levan grew up in that worn rural village.
No official documents.
No known kin.
And no visible signs of possessing an Essence.
But no one dared speak it aloud — for Essence was life itself, and without it, a newborn would surely die within days.
Yet Levan lived.
He grew.
People assumed he must possess a faint, almost dead spark — what they called a "Dormant Flicker."
There was another boy in the village: Romo, the son of a former carpenter from one of the lower Orders, who possessed a true level-two Essence.
The two spent their days together — Romo dreaming of ascending to an Order, and Levan silently following.
Levan was not isolated, nor was he odd as some believed.
He spoke when spoken to, answered without hesitation, and trained diligently even when he stumbled and fell.
But deep down… he felt nothing.
No surge within.
No whisper of Essence stirring in his soul.
Beyond the Great Wall, wastelands stretched endlessly — barren, silent lands where strange creatures were said to wander.
Expeditions were sometimes sent beyond the Wall, or into the Abyss itself — but few ever returned.
The Abyss was no mere pit;
Each layer was a world unto itself.
Official records stated that reaching the thirtieth layer was already a feat of legends, and anyone who reached the fiftieth was hailed as mythic.
But the seventieth layer…
No one had ever emerged from it alive, except for the Commander of the Tenth Order, a man whispered to have ventured that far — though some claimed he did not return as the same man who had descended.
It was also said that the true secret behind the vanishing of Essences, the rise of creatures, and even the Great Flood itself…
lay buried in the deepest roots of the Abyss.
One faded evening, Romo and Levan sat upon a stone overlooking their village.
Romo said,
"If I fail tomorrow, I'll try again. But if I succeed… I'll drag you with me, even if they reject you."
He laughed, and added:
"You don't talk much, but I know you think more than all of us."
Levan gazed up at the darkening sky and murmured:
"I'm not different…"
And with that, the next dawn arrived.
Bringing with it…
The first step toward the unknown.
End of chapter 1...