NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1: Chapter 1
"You're being lied to!" I shouted, my voice trembling with a mixture of fury and despair. My eyes searched desperately for understanding in the faces of the crowd, the people who once loved me. Now, they stood as my executioners.
It was the year 2059. Humanity had regressed into a shadow of its former self. In 2030, a devastating war shattered the world's foundations, dragging civilization backward in time. Technology, once the backbone of society, was lost to the ashes of conflict. Survival became the only law. The weak were cast aside, and the concept of human rights was little more than a forgotten whisper.
I had been a nobody in this brutal new world, just another nameless face in the darkness. But armed with fragments of forgotten knowledge, I dared to hope. I built a community, a camp of resilient, determined people who believed in the dream of something greater. Together, we worked to rebuild what was lost, to reignite the flame of a better world.
For a time, it seemed possible. Until my wife, the woman I trusted most, betrayed me.
"We trusted you, how could you?" a woman cried out, her voice trembling with emotion, tears streaming down her face. Her anguish ignited the crowd, their grief and rage turning into action as stones rained down on me. I couldn't even lift my arms to shield myself. All I could do was glare at my wife, my expression seething with betrayal and hatred.
"Are you all idiots?" I roared, blood and fury mingling in my voice. "Why the hell would I go through the agony of rebuilding this godforsaken world, bringing back the modern era, just to sell you out? And for what? Sex? Are you all out of your minds?"
The accusation was absurd, and maddening, and yet, they believed it. They truly thought I had bartered their lives away to a neighboring village for the promise of carnal indulgence. Their blind stupidity burned hotter than the pain.
"Shut up!" someone shouted from the mob. "For years, you abused your power, using it to take advantage of the women! We found them and saw the evidence of what you did. Their broken bodies, their suicides. We read the letters they left behind!"
A stone arced through the air with brutal precision, slamming into my eye. A sickening pop followed as my vision in that eye disappeared into a world of crimson and darkness. I screamed in agony, the pain searing through my skull like fire. But even as the white-hot sting consumed me, it couldn't extinguish the inferno of my wrath. My remaining eye burned with hatred as it locked onto her, my wife, the puppet master behind this cruel betrayal. Her face, a mask of feigned innocence, was the embodiment of my downfall.
The crowd noticed my gaze and misread it as defiance. Their anger flared, their shouts rising in a chorus of vengeance. "Enough!" someone roared, the command fueling their determination.
They surged forward, no longer content to throw stones. Their hands gripped rusted blades and sharpened sticks, each step bringing them closer, their intent unmistakable.
My screams tore through the heavens, a sound so raw and agonized it seemed to make the very air tremble. They flayed me alive, stripping away not just my flesh but every ounce of dignity I had left. Pain consumed me, blinding and infinite, but through the haze of torment, I saw her, my so-called wife. Her lips curved in a cold, merciless smile as I writhed under their cruelty.
They didn't stop there. They defiled me, violated every shred of humanity I had, and finally doused me in boiling oil. My body convulsed as it seared through my skin, but my mind clung to one thought, one prayer: revenge.
I didn't care who answered my call, be it the devil, some malevolent demon, or a god of ruin and chaos. I just needed them to hear me. I would sell my soul. I would trade my freedom, my very existence. I didn't care what it cost.
These people, I gave them everything. I led them with peace and love, sacrificing all I had to make their lives better. And this is how they repaid me? Skinning me alive, torturing me, spitting on everything I stood for? Fuck them. Fuck their excuses. I didn't care if they were misled; they had brains and chose not to use them. They deserved to burn in the very fire they lit beneath me.
"Well, you're dead."
The voice snapped me out of the haze of my hatred. The burning rage that had kept me grounded through that hell vanished, leaving me in a cold void of shock. Dead? I hadn't even realized. My eyes darted around as the realization sank in. I wasn't in the world I knew anymore. The surroundings were a dark, shapeless expanse, and standing before me was a massive black lion radiating a malevolent aura. Its presence froze me in place, my mortal instincts screaming at the sheer wrongness of it. I was nothing before this being, just a speck of dust trembling in the shadow of a god.
"I heard your prayer," the lion said, its deep, resonant voice laced with a faint, cruel smile. "And I have come to answer it."
Its words made my heart pound in my chest. My prayer had been heard? But by what? I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came. The lion continued, undeterred.
"Other gods cannot answer your call. They have an agreement to stay away from your kind, mortals are beneath their interest. But I am not like them. I am an Outer God, born not from existence, but from nonexistence itself. Unlike the deities of creation, I arose without the help of you mortals, without the need for your prayers or belief."
Its calm, deliberate tone sent shivers down my spine. There was an unshakable finality to its words, a weight that pressed down on me.
"Oh…" I managed to croak, the sound pitifully weak compared to the overwhelming presence before me. What was I supposed to say? What could I possibly say?
The lion's grin widened, revealing teeth like jagged obsidian. "I will answer your prayer," it said, rising gracefully to its feet. "I will grant you the power to claim your revenge, or whatever it is your heart desires."
As it began to circle me, its form shifted with every step. The majestic yet menacing lion melted into an evil-looking elephant with tusks sharp enough to cleave the heavens. Then it became a dragon, its scales blacker than the void, exuding a suffocating aura of destruction. It shifted again and again, a hulking bear with fangs like spears, a twisted, serpentine creature whose eyes burned with otherworldly fire. Each transformation was more terrifying than the last, yet all were somehow still the same being. Its transformation stopped when it became a demonic lizard.
I stood frozen, trapped in a mix of awe and terror as the god from nonexistence loomed over me, its presence suffocating, its promise unmistakable.
"T-the price?" I stammered, my voice trembling with fear. Though it had been years since I last indulged in anime or those over-the-top cultivation novels, I knew one thing for certain: no evil entity would grant such a boon without a cost. They didn't operate out of boredom or kindness.
The lizard-like form stopped circling me, its glowing, malevolent eyes locking onto mine. "MCs," it hissed, its voice dripping with sinister delight. "I want the soul of an MC. They carry so much fate within them, their souls practically radiate power, a feast beyond comparison."
It paused, its reptilian lips curling into a wicked grin. "And without an MC to anchor their worlds, those realms would spiral into chaos. Entire timelines crumbling, countless souls falling into despair. More for me to feast upon." The lizard's grin widened, jagged teeth glinting with malevolent glee. "A perfect deal, wouldn't you agree?"
The question hung in the air like a noose tightening around my neck. The lizard tilted its head, watching me squirm. "Do we have a deal?" it asked, its voice both calm and insidious.
I hesitated, my mind racing. My anger whispered, Take it. My fear screamed, Run. Somehow, I found my voice. "H-how many MCs do you want?"
The lizard stopped mid-stride, its sharp gaze fixed on me. It didn't respond right away, as if savoring my words. Finally, it spoke, its tone measured and calculating. "That depends on your requests," it said. "Each request will have its own price tag. The greater your desires, the higher the cost."
I nodded slowly, the implications sinking in. My mind scrambled for ideas, trying to recall the endless fanfic and novel tropes I had once devoured. Wishes for power, immortality, knowledge, all those MC dreams that came with steep prices.