The village of Ikasa was small.
Nestled between green hills and quiet forests, it was a place where life moved slowly. Magic lanterns lit the streets at night, farmers cultivated enchanted crops, and the villagers lived peacefully—relying on their modest magical abilities to make daily life easier.
Among them lived a girl named Maira.
She was fourteen years old.
Despite her young age, she carried burdens that most adults in the village never had to face.
Maira lived in a modest wooden house on the far edge of Ikasa with her mother, who had long suffered from a mysterious illness. Some days her mother could barely stand. Other days she could not even leave her bed.
So Maira did everything.
She fetched water from the well before sunrise.
She gathered herbs from the forest paths.
She prepared medicines and warm meals.
She cleaned the house, washed the bedding, and sat beside her mother late into the night to make sure her breathing remained steady.
And she did all of it without complaint.
Because her mother was her entire world.
Despite the hardships, Maira was known throughout the village. Not only for her gentle personality, but also for her beauty. She had long silver hair that shimmered in sunlight and soft eyes that always seemed full of warmth.
But what people admired most was her kindness.
She helped elders carry heavy baskets.
She assisted farmers when their magical irrigation spells malfunctioned.
She even spent time with younger children teaching them simple spells—despite the fact that her own magic was considered weak compared to others.
Magic came naturally to most people in Ikasa.
Not to Maira.
Her spells were faint. Her mana reserves small. Sometimes even the simplest magic exhausted her.
Yet she still tried.
Because she refused to let weakness define her.
Luckily, she wasn't alone.
Maira had a small group of friends who cared for her deeply. When she struggled to carry water for her mother, they helped. When she was too tired to gather herbs, they assisted her.
And when they practiced magic together in the open fields outside the village, they sometimes slowed down just so Maira could keep up.
Those were the moments she treasured most.
Moments where she could laugh like a normal girl.
Moments where the weight on her shoulders felt just a little lighter.
But admiration came with another problem.
Boys her age often approached her.
Some shy.
Some confident.
Some clearly trying to impress her.
They asked her out.
They confessed their feelings.
But Maira always declined.
Not because she disliked them.
But because she had no time for such things.
Her mother needed her.
That was reason enough.
Some boys accepted the rejection.
Others did not.
One of them was the village chief's son.
The boy was arrogant.
He had grown up surrounded by privilege and power, and he believed the world should bend to his wishes.
So when he first approached Maira near the village well and asked her to be with him, he expected an easy answer.
Instead, he received a gentle smile.
And a polite refusal.
He tried again the next day.
Then the next week.
And again.
Each time Maira rejected him calmly.
Even when he offered something tempting.
"I can arrange better treatment for your mother," he once said smugly. "My father controls the village healers."
For a moment, the offer shook her.
But she shook her head.
"My mother wouldn't want me to accept help that comes with conditions." she clearly knew he had ulterior motives. That answer humiliated him.
And humiliation slowly turned into resentment.
Then into anger.
Then into something far darker.
One evening, after a long day of caring for her mother, Maira stepped outside to collect the final bucket of water before nightfall.
The sky was dim.
The village streets were quiet.
Too quiet.
She felt it before she saw them,Footsteps.
Five shadows stepped out from the darkness.
Her heart froze.
The chief's son stood at the front.
Behind him were four other boys from the village.
Boys she recognized.
Boys she had grown up with.
"Maira," he said with a crooked smile.
"You've made me wait long enough."
Her instincts screamed danger.
She stepped back.
"I'm going inside," she said quietly.
But they blocked her path.
Then suddenly—
They lunged.
Maira fought back instinctively.
Even with her weak magic, she managed to push one of them away with a burst of wind. Another stumbled when she struck him with a wooden bucket.
But five against one was impossible.
A spell struck her from behind.
Her body froze.
Paralyzed.
She couldn't move.
She couldn't scream.
Panic flooded her chest.
Then—
The door of the house opened.
"Maira…?"
Her mother stepped outside.
The moment she saw the situation, terror filled her eyes.
"Maira!"
She tried to run to her daughter.
But the boys grabbed her.
"No—! Stop!" Maira cried desperately, her voice barely escaping her frozen lips.
The chief's son pulled out a small vial.
Dark liquid sloshed inside.
"No—please—anything but that!" Maira begged, tears streaming down her face.
But they forced the poison into her mother's mouth.
Her mother collapsed moments later.
Her breathing stopped.
Her body fell still.
The world shattered.
Maira stared in horror.
The five boys looked down at her.
And the chief's son crouched beside her frozen body.
His voice was cold.
"That's what you get for toying with me."
Darkness swallowed her vision.
Morning came.
And with it—
Betrayal.
Village guards dragged Maira from her house.
She was accused of murdering her o wn mother.
She tried to explain.
She told them everything.
The attack.
The poison.
The five boys.
But no one believed her.
Because she had no injuries.
The paralysis spell had faded.
Her body looked untouched.
The villagers whispered cruelly.
"Fake tears."
"She pretended to care for her mother."
"What a monster."
Even her friends remained silent.
They avoided her gaze.
Fearful.
Cowardly.
Broken.
Then the village chief delivered his judgment.
"You are sentenced to death."
But it would not be a simple execution.
Instead—
She would be thrown into the World-Class Dungeon beneath the village.
A place where monsters ruled.
A place no human had ever returned from.
A place meant for criminals to die slowly.
As guards dragged her to the dungeon entrance, villagers gathered to watch.
They spat insults.
They laughed.
They wished for her suffering.
Maira trembled, she had never experienced such cruelty in her life, her chest felt hollow.
After everything she had done for them…
This was their answer.
Then her trembling stopped.
Slowly, she raised her head.
Her gaze locked onto the chief's son and the four boys standing smugly behind him.
Her eyes burned with fury.
"You will pay," she whispered.
Then louder—
"I will come back."
Her voice shook with hatred.
"And when I do…"
"I will come for all of you."
The chief's son laughed.
Moments later—
She was thrown into the darkness.
The fall lasted longer than expected.
Through strange tunnels of light.
Between shifting floors of the dungeon.
Her body tumbled through unseen spaces.
Her mind screamed endlessly.
I'll kill them.
I'll kill them.
I'll kill them.
Then—
She landed.
Hard.
The room she found herself in was strange.
Large.
Silent.
Filled with glowing stones embedded in the walls like stars.
Then a voice echoed through the chamber.
Ancient.
Powerful.
"Who dares enter my domain?"
An overwhelming aura pressed against her.
Fear crawled down her spine.
Yet she forced herself to stand.
Slowly she walked toward the source of the voice.
At the center of the chamber stood an altar.
And floating above it—
A grimoire.
Its pages turned slowly on their own.
The voice came from it.
"You are a mortal who has stepped into my domain," it began.
"I will forgive this trespass for—"
"Don't worry," Maira interrupted quietly.
"I'm leaving."
The grimoire paused.
"…What?"
"I didn't mean to come here," she said tiredly. "So I'll just go."
"WAIT!"
The book suddenly floated forward.
"Please don't leave!"
Maira blinked.
"…What?"
"I've been trapped here for centuries!" the grimoire cried. "Take me with you! I'll grant you power! Anything you want!"
She narrowed her eyes.
"How can I trust you?"
"Simple!"
A glowing contract appeared in the air.
Runes filled the page.
The conditions were clear.
Maira would become the grimoire's master.
It could not betray her.
It would grant her power.
She stared at the contract.
Her hands trembled.
Her mother's face appeared in her mind.
Then the five boys.
Their laughter.
Their cruelty.
Her eyes hardened.
She signed the contract.
The grimoire erupted with excitement.
"YES! FREEDOM!"
It spun wildly in the air.
"So Master, what do we do now?"
Maira's eyes burned with hatred.
Her voice was cold.
"We escape this dungeon."
She looked upward.
Toward the distant world above.
"And then…"
"I take my revenge."
The grimoire floated beside her.
Its pages fluttered eagerly.
"Then let's begin."
And deep within the dungeon—
The first step toward a catastrophe had just begun.