CHAPTER 1: WHISPER OF THE DEVOUR LAW
Long before the Nothing Realm existed, before the stars aligned as they do now, there was a world brimming with life and mystery. Rivers gleamed like silver under twin moons. Mountains pierced the sky like jagged spears, their peaks lost in clouds. The forests whispered secrets older than humanity, and magic pulsed in every stone and stream.
This world was ancient Earth, untouched by modern hands. And in this ancient era lived a young man named Rasel. He was nineteen, with sharp eyes that seemed to pierce reality itself, restless and never satisfied. Even among his village of hunters, herbalists, and simple folk, Rasel felt… different. Like a spark that didn't belong in a small flame.
Every day, he practiced, trained, and wandered the forests, not for food or adventure, but because of a strange pull he could not explain. A whisper in the wind, a tug at his soul, a presence waiting in the depths of his mind.
"Rasel! Don't wander so far again!" shouted his mother from the edge of the village, her voice tinged with worry.
He waved without looking back. "I'm fine, Mother. The forest… it calls me."
No one understood. Not the villagers. Not even his closest friends. And he didn't try to explain. He had begun to understand that this call was his alone to answer.
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That evening, as the twin moons rose, Rasel ventured deeper into the Eternal Forest. The air became thick with magic, sticky and buzzing with energy. Birds had fallen silent, the usual hum of insects ceased, and even the wind seemed hesitant to move. Shadows stretched unnaturally, bending around him, forming shapes that disappeared when he blinked.
He came across a river with water so clear it reflected not the sky, but images of places he had never seen—floating islands, ruins in the clouds, and creatures that belonged to dreams rather than reality. The river whispered again, soft as silk, guiding him forward.
At the heart of the forest, Rasel found a structure unlike any he had seen—a temple half-swallowed by the earth, its stones cracked and moss-covered. Strange blue symbols pulsed faintly across its surface, almost like veins feeding a hidden life. He stepped closer, drawn irresistibly.
The moment he crossed the threshold, a sudden pain exploded in his forehead. He dropped to his knees, clutching his head, gasping. His vision blurred. And then he saw it: a mark, glowing and pulsating, forming on his skin like molten darkness.
What… is this? Rasel whispered, trembling.
Before he could react, visions assaulted him—thousands of fragments of time and space, overlapping, chaotic. He saw a man with silver eyes destroying entire galaxies. A throne made of void in a universe beyond imagining. A being with no face, yet every essence of power and knowledge radiating from it.
And then, a voice. Not of this world, not of flesh or bone, but of existence itself:
"You… are chosen."
Rasel screamed as fragments of the temple rose into the air, drawn toward him as if invisible hands were pulling them. The Devour Law, a force beyond comprehension, had awakened inside him.
He fell backward onto the cold stone floor, his breathing ragged. A faint glow emanated from the mark on his forehead, spreading down his arms in veins of dark light. He flexed his fingers, watching in shock as small stones and dirt began to lift and swirl around him, attracted to the energy emanating from his body.
I… I absorbed it? he whispered in disbelief.
The forest around him reacted. Trees shivered, the wind moaned, and a low hum began vibrating through the earth. Rasel's eyes widened. He understood, even if only partially, that his life would never be the same. He had become a vessel for something far larger than himself. Something that had existed long before humans walked the earth.
Minutes—or perhaps hours—passed in silence. Rasel sat motionless, trying to calm his heartbeat. Slowly, he rose to his feet, testing the Devour Law in small bursts: pulling water from the river into his palms, lifting small rocks without touching them, feeling the hum of energy that now coursed through his veins.
Even as he experimented, he felt the weight of responsibility pressing down. He was not chosen by accident. Someone—or something—was guiding him. And deep down, he knew the presence watching him was not benign. It was the distant whisper of a being beyond time: Leo.
Far in the future, the Unknown God—Leo's ultimate form—watched Rasel's awakening. A faint smile touched the edges of his existence, a plan unfolding across millennia. The Devour Law, now seeded in Rasel, would prepare the world, the cosmos, and eventually, Leo himself for what was to come.
Rasel wiped sweat from his brow, still shaking. He did not understand fully, but he felt a spark of power unlike anything in his village, his land, or even his world. And he knew one thing with absolute certainty: he would never be ordinary again.
A soft rustle behind him made Rasel turn. Nothing visible, nothing tangible—but a sense that the forest itself had acknowledged him. It had recognized him as the vessel of the Devour Law.
He breathed deeply, trying to steady himself, feeling the hum of power in his veins, the whisper in his mind, and the infinite possibilities of what he could become.
This is only the beginning, he thought, and I am ready.
The forest seemed to bow slightly, shadows curling as if alive, and the night itself seemed to hold its breath.
Far beyond, across time and space, the Unknown God's presence lingered, subtle and eternal:
"Grow strong, Rasel… my successor. Prepare the world. Prepare Leo. Prepare everything."
And the Devour Law pulsed stronger, marking Rasel as the first in the chain that would shape the fate of the multiverse.