CHAPTER 8—CHAPTER 8 — GLIMPSE OF HELL
(~2,320 words)
Five months ago, I couldn't imagine walking freely through Rayfall without fear clawing up my throat. Now the city felt almost familiar in a strange, comforting way.
Almost.
But some days, the world reminded me that beneath all its light and harmony… something monstrous slept.
And today, it decided to wake.
THE FIRST SURGE
I felt it long before I understood it.
A pulse.Soft at first.Barely noticeable.
Like a heartbeat that didn't belong to me.
I was standing near the eastern lookout tower, watching hunters sharpen their weapons and check mana gauges before patrol. Arin and Ren had run ahead toward a shop that sold glowing mana sweets. My father was talking to a guard captain.
And me?
I was staring at the city wall — tall, carved with runic seals, humming softly with mana.
Then the world shifted.
A flicker at the corner of my vision.A shiver across my skin.Heat rising inside my chest like molten metal.
I inhaled sharply.
Then—
Boom.
A wave of mana exploded outward from somewhere beyond the walls, and my knees buckled. My vision blurred red and black, like fire and shadow colliding behind my eyes.
Voices faded.Wind roared.Something—someone—whispered my name inside my skull.
Liaaaaam…
I froze.
Another pulse.Stronger.Like claws dragging through my mind.
Fire raced along my veins.Shadow coiled beneath my fingertips.
My hands shook violently.
Not from cold.Not from fear.From mana.
A surge.
My first real surge.
"Liam!" a voice shouted distantly — my father's, maybe — but it sounded underwater.
The stone beneath my feet vibrated.My vision snapped open—
And the world was gone.
THE GLIMPSE
I was still in Rayfall.
But I wasn't.
The world around me shattered like glass and reformed in a twisted reflection — darker, sharper, violent.
I saw the eastern border.
I saw the forests beyond the city walls.
I saw hunters — dozens — clashing with monstrous beasts that towered like nightmares given shape.
A lion with two heads and bone armor roared toward a vanguard of A-rank hunters.
A serpent of molten rock burst through the earth, its scales dripping lava, scorching the air.
Flying creatures — grotesque, winged, rotting — dove from above, screaming with mana-distorted voices.
Bodies of both hunters and beasts lay scattered across the battlefield.
Mana scorched the land.Blood painted the grass.Flames lit the horizon in orange and red.
And then I saw it.
A colossal shape standing behind the chaos.
Tall.Shadowed.Watching.
My breath caught.
Its eyes — two burning red embers — stared directly at me.
Not at the hunters.Not at the beasts.At me.
As if it could see me across the worlds.Across dimensions.Across the veil of mana.
Shadow swirled around its massive form.Flame pulsed inside its chest like a furnace.
A beast.A monster.A nightmare.
My vision burned.
The creature opened its jaws slowly, deliberately —
—and whispered:
"Soon."
Just like in my dreams.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
The battlefield twisted.The blood.The screams.The mana.The heat.The shadow.The red eyes—
All of it slammed into me at once.
And then I heard something else.
A hunter shouting:
"THE GATE IS OVERFLOWING!"
Another voice cried:
"MOVE BACK! IT'S AN S-RANK BEAST!"
And then —
Pain.
Blinding.White-hot.Pure.
The world lurched, and suddenly I was being pulled backward, ripped out of the vision like a fish torn from the water.
Everything shattered.
BACK TO REALITY
I collapsed into something solid.
Strong arms caught me.
My father's voice roared through the ringing in my ears.
"LIAM!"
I gasped desperately, clutching my chest. The flames inside me felt like a star exploding. Shadows curled from my fingertips like living smoke.
My father slammed a hand over my heart — not to hurt me, but to ground me with his mana.
"Breathe!" he commanded.
I tried.
Air came in sharp, ragged bursts.
My mother appeared beside us, panic etched across her face. "What happened!? His mana—"
"He surged," my father said grimly. "A dual surge. Fire and Shadow."
My mother's eyes widened. "At his age? That early?"
"It wasn't natural," he growled. "Something triggered it."
I squeezed my eyes shut.
The battlefield.The flames.The shadow beast.
"I saw…" I whispered hoarsely. "Gates… hunters… beasts… something huge…"
My father froze.
"You saw what?" he demanded, his voice trembling despite his calm expression.
Before I could answer, a thunderous horn echoed across Rayfall.
BOOOOOOOM!
All heads turned toward the city walls.
A mana flare shot into the sky — a signal flare used only for high-ranked emergencies.
A deep, vibrating voice bellowed from the watchtower:
"ALL A-RANK AND ABOVE, MOBILIZE! BEAST GATE BREAK ON EASTERN BORDER! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!"
My blood turned to ice.
Arin and Ren stood several meters away, wide-eyed in terror as hunters sprinted past them.
My father's jaw tightened.
"A gate… broke?" my mother whispered, pale.
"No," he said darkly. "It was forced."
My breath hitched.
Forced?
By what?
"Liam," my father said, turning to me. His expression was hard, but his touch was gentle. "Tell me exactly what you saw."
But I couldn't speak.
Not because I was afraid.
Because I wasn't sure if it was real.
Or something else.
Something calling me.
THE HUNTERS MOVE
A massive stream of hunters flooded the streets.
A-ranks.B-ranks.Some S-ranks — rare, almost mythic, but present.
They wore mana armor that glowed like living fire, like crystal ice, like swirling wind. Some summoned beasts to their sides. Others carried weapons made of mana-forged metal.
Rayfall didn't sleep through danger.
Rayfall awakened.
The ground vibrated as a formation of heavy infantry marched toward the eastern gate. Mages chanted defensive spells. Archers loaded mana arrows that crackled with lightning.
My father stood up slowly, his eyes fixed on the distant tremors shaking the horizon.
He was A-rank.He was expected to fight.
My mother grabbed his arm. "Don't—"
"They need me," he said.
"You can't leave the children," she whispered urgently.
He looked at me again.
"Liam," he said softly. "This surge wasn't random. Something called you. Something connected to your affinities."
I didn't deny it.
I couldn't.
But my voice trembled anyway.
"I… saw a beast."
"What kind?" he asked.
I shook my head. "I don't know. It was huge. Red eyes. Fire inside its chest. Shadow surrounding it."
My father's face drained of color.
"…no," he breathed.
Mother gripped his arm. "No what?"
He swallowed hard. "In the ancient bestiaries… there is mention of a creature born from shadow and flame. A creature whose presence destroys mana equilibrium. A creature that commands lesser beasts like puppets."
I froze.
"What creature?" I whispered.
He looked at me, voice barely audible.
"The Umbral Pyre Sovereign."
A Sovereign.
S-rank beasts were disasters.But Sovereigns were catastrophes.
Living calamities.
My heart pounded painfully.
"The last recorded sighting was two hundred years ago," he said. "Entire cities vanished in its wake."
My mother gasped. "But that creature disappeared! It was sealed!"
"Seals break," he said.
And then he looked at me — truly looked.
My shadow still trembled.My hands still shook.Fire still flickered under my skin.
"It didn't appear in your dream," he whispered. "It reached out to you."
Ren hugged my leg tightly. "Big brother… don't go away."
Arin grabbed my arm. "Stay here. You're not going anywhere near that."
I wasn't planning to.
But deep inside my chest, something pulsed in response —
Like an answer.
Like a call.
THE DECISION
My father stood and strapped his weapon across his back.
"I have to go."
Mother shook her head desperately. "No—"
"You know I have to," he said gently. "The eastern gate break is too strong. If we don't push back now, the beasts will reach the inner district."
Arin's voice cracked. "Please come back…"
He kissed her forehead. "I will."
He knelt in front of me last.
"Liam," he said quietly. "Listen carefully."
I swallowed. "Yes?"
"You are not responsible for what you saw. You are not responsible for this surge. None of this is your fault."
My eyes burned.
"But if you feel anything — ANY connection — anything pulling you, whispering to you…" He paused. "Tell us. Immediately."
I nodded.
He placed his warm hand on my head, gently ruffling my hair.
"You're strong," he said. "Not because of your power. But because you survived."
He stood, joined the line of hunters, and marched toward the city gate.
I watched him walk away, my chest aching in a way I couldn't describe.
As he disappeared beyond the walls, the ground trembled again — distant but heavy.
A hunter shouted from the tower:
"CONTACT! BEAST TIDE COMING THROUGH!"
Arin stepped closer, voice shaking.
"What did you see out there, Liam?"
I looked toward the eastern horizon.
And there — beneath the glow of mana lights — I swore I saw two faint red eyes staring back at me from the distant treeline.
Watching.Waiting.
Calling.
I whispered:
"…Hell."
Arin froze. "What?"
"I saw hell," I said softly, unable to tear my eyes away. "And it saw me too."
(~2,320 words)
Five months ago, I couldn't imagine walking freely through Rayfall without fear clawing up my throat. Now the city felt almost familiar in a strange, comforting way.
Almost.
But some days, the world reminded me that beneath all its light and harmony… something monstrous slept.
And today, it decided to wake.
THE FIRST SURGE
I felt it long before I understood it.
A pulse.Soft at first.Barely noticeable.
Like a heartbeat that didn't belong to me.
I was standing near the eastern lookout tower, watching hunters sharpen their weapons and check mana gauges before patrol. Arin and Ren had run ahead toward a shop that sold glowing mana sweets. My father was talking to a guard captain.
And me?
I was staring at the city wall — tall, carved with runic seals, humming softly with mana.
Then the world shifted.
A flicker at the corner of my vision.A shiver across my skin.Heat rising inside my chest like molten metal.
I inhaled sharply.
Then—
Boom.
A wave of mana exploded outward from somewhere beyond the walls, and my knees buckled. My vision blurred red and black, like fire and shadow colliding behind my eyes.
Voices faded.Wind roared.Something—someone—whispered my name inside my skull.
Liaaaaam…
I froze.
Another pulse.Stronger.Like claws dragging through my mind.
Fire raced along my veins.Shadow coiled beneath my fingertips.
My hands shook violently.
Not from cold.Not from fear.From mana.
A surge.
My first real surge.
"Liam!" a voice shouted distantly — my father's, maybe — but it sounded underwater.
The stone beneath my feet vibrated.My vision snapped open—
And the world was gone.
THE GLIMPSE
I was still in Rayfall.
But I wasn't.
The world around me shattered like glass and reformed in a twisted reflection — darker, sharper, violent.
I saw the eastern border.
I saw the forests beyond the city walls.
I saw hunters — dozens — clashing with monstrous beasts that towered like nightmares given shape.
A lion with two heads and bone armor roared toward a vanguard of A-rank hunters.
A serpent of molten rock burst through the earth, its scales dripping lava, scorching the air.
Flying creatures — grotesque, winged, rotting — dove from above, screaming with mana-distorted voices.
Bodies of both hunters and beasts lay scattered across the battlefield.
Mana scorched the land.Blood painted the grass.Flames lit the horizon in orange and red.
And then I saw it.
A colossal shape standing behind the chaos.
Tall.Shadowed.Watching.
My breath caught.
Its eyes — two burning red embers — stared directly at me.
Not at the hunters.Not at the beasts.At me.
As if it could see me across the worlds.Across dimensions.Across the veil of mana.
Shadow swirled around its massive form.Flame pulsed inside its chest like a furnace.
A beast.A monster.A nightmare.
My vision burned.
The creature opened its jaws slowly, deliberately —
—and whispered:
"Soon."
Just like in my dreams.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
The battlefield twisted.The blood.The screams.The mana.The heat.The shadow.The red eyes—
All of it slammed into me at once.
And then I heard something else.
A hunter shouting:
"THE GATE IS OVERFLOWING!"
Another voice cried:
"MOVE BACK! IT'S AN S-RANK BEAST!"
And then —
Pain.
Blinding.White-hot.Pure.
The world lurched, and suddenly I was being pulled backward, ripped out of the vision like a fish torn from the water.
Everything shattered.
BACK TO REALITY
I collapsed into something solid.
Strong arms caught me.
My father's voice roared through the ringing in my ears.
"LIAM!"
I gasped desperately, clutching my chest. The flames inside me felt like a star exploding. Shadows curled from my fingertips like living smoke.
My father slammed a hand over my heart — not to hurt me, but to ground me with his mana.
"Breathe!" he commanded.
I tried.
Air came in sharp, ragged bursts.
My mother appeared beside us, panic etched across her face. "What happened!? His mana—"
"He surged," my father said grimly. "A dual surge. Fire and Shadow."
My mother's eyes widened. "At his age? That early?"
"It wasn't natural," he growled. "Something triggered it."
I squeezed my eyes shut.
The battlefield.The flames.The shadow beast.
"I saw…" I whispered hoarsely. "Gates… hunters… beasts… something huge…"
My father froze.
"You saw what?" he demanded, his voice trembling despite his calm expression.
Before I could answer, a thunderous horn echoed across Rayfall.
BOOOOOOOM!
All heads turned toward the city walls.
A mana flare shot into the sky — a signal flare used only for high-ranked emergencies.
A deep, vibrating voice bellowed from the watchtower:
"ALL A-RANK AND ABOVE, MOBILIZE! BEAST GATE BREAK ON EASTERN BORDER! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!"
My blood turned to ice.
Arin and Ren stood several meters away, wide-eyed in terror as hunters sprinted past them.
My father's jaw tightened.
"A gate… broke?" my mother whispered, pale.
"No," he said darkly. "It was forced."
My breath hitched.
Forced?
By what?
"Liam," my father said, turning to me. His expression was hard, but his touch was gentle. "Tell me exactly what you saw."
But I couldn't speak.
Not because I was afraid.
Because I wasn't sure if it was real.
Or something else.
Something calling me.
THE HUNTERS MOVE
A massive stream of hunters flooded the streets.
A-ranks.B-ranks.Some S-ranks — rare, almost mythic, but present.
They wore mana armor that glowed like living fire, like crystal ice, like swirling wind. Some summoned beasts to their sides. Others carried weapons made of mana-forged metal.
Rayfall didn't sleep through danger.
Rayfall awakened.
The ground vibrated as a formation of heavy infantry marched toward the eastern gate. Mages chanted defensive spells. Archers loaded mana arrows that crackled with lightning.
My father stood up slowly, his eyes fixed on the distant tremors shaking the horizon.
He was A-rank.He was expected to fight.
My mother grabbed his arm. "Don't—"
"They need me," he said.
"You can't leave the children," she whispered urgently.
He looked at me again.
"Liam," he said softly. "This surge wasn't random. Something called you. Something connected to your affinities."
I didn't deny it.
I couldn't.
But my voice trembled anyway.
"I… saw a beast."
"What kind?" he asked.
I shook my head. "I don't know. It was huge. Red eyes. Fire inside its chest. Shadow surrounding it."
My father's face drained of color.
"…no," he breathed.
Mother gripped his arm. "No what?"
He swallowed hard. "In the ancient bestiaries… there is mention of a creature born from shadow and flame. A creature whose presence destroys mana equilibrium. A creature that commands lesser beasts like puppets."
I froze.
"What creature?" I whispered.
He looked at me, voice barely audible.
"The Umbral Pyre Sovereign."
A Sovereign.
S-rank beasts were disasters.But Sovereigns were catastrophes.
Living calamities.
My heart pounded painfully.
"The last recorded sighting was two hundred years ago," he said. "Entire cities vanished in its wake."
My mother gasped. "But that creature disappeared! It was sealed!"
"Seals break," he said.
And then he looked at me — truly looked.
My shadow still trembled.My hands still shook.Fire still flickered under my skin.
"It didn't appear in your dream," he whispered. "It reached out to you."
Ren hugged my leg tightly. "Big brother… don't go away."
Arin grabbed my arm. "Stay here. You're not going anywhere near that."
I wasn't planning to.
But deep inside my chest, something pulsed in response —
Like an answer.
Like a call.
THE DECISION
My father stood and strapped his weapon across his back.
"I have to go."
Mother shook her head desperately. "No—"
"You know I have to," he said gently. "The eastern gate break is too strong. If we don't push back now, the beasts will reach the inner district."
Arin's voice cracked. "Please come back…"
He kissed her forehead. "I will."
He knelt in front of me last.
"Liam," he said quietly. "Listen carefully."
I swallowed. "Yes?"
"You are not responsible for what you saw. You are not responsible for this surge. None of this is your fault."
My eyes burned.
"But if you feel anything — ANY connection — anything pulling you, whispering to you…" He paused. "Tell us. Immediately."
I nodded.
He placed his warm hand on my head, gently ruffling my hair.
"You're strong," he said. "Not because of your power. But because you survived."
He stood, joined the line of hunters, and marched toward the city gate.
I watched him walk away, my chest aching in a way I couldn't describe.
As he disappeared beyond the walls, the ground trembled again — distant but heavy.
A hunter shouted from the tower:
"CONTACT! BEAST TIDE COMING THROUGH!"
Arin stepped closer, voice shaking.
"What did you see out there, Liam?"
I looked toward the eastern horizon.
And there — beneath the glow of mana lights — I swore I saw two faint red eyes staring back at me from the distant treeline.
Watching.Waiting.
Calling.
I whispered:
"…Hell."
Arin froze. "What?"
"I saw hell," I said softly, unable to tear my eyes away. "And it saw me too."