The Fallen World
Chapter 0: My Final Letter
They'll probably burn this letter. Or hide it, pretend it never existed—just like they pretended I was never there. But someone will read it. Maybe a kid who grew up like me, watching the world from behind the glass. If that's you... Know this: I wasn't born a monster. I was made.
I was born on a rainy night, along with my twin brother Elijah. He came out smiling. I came out crying. My parents liked to joke that even at birth, Elijah stole all the good luck. What they didn't say was that he kept stealing it. Every day. Every year. He was light. I was shadow. He was the pride of the Draven family — And I was the mistake they tried to forget.
I remember birthdays where only one cake was made. His name on it. Only one gift. Only one smile from Mom. It wasn't for me. In school, teachers looked at me like I was copying Elijah's homework — even when I wrote it first. He was the athlete, the genius, the charming future hero. Me? I was the "Oh, you're Elijah's brother." That was my name for years.
But I could've lived with that. I could've swallowed it, buried it like I did everything else. Until Alia. She was... different. Or so I thought. The first girl who looked at me and didn't seem disappointed. She sat beside me during lunch when I was alone. She asked about my favorite books, not Elijah's awards. I told myself not to hope. But I did. And she shattered me.
I saw them in the hallway. Her lips on his. His hand tangled in her hair. Her smile — the same one I thought was mine — given to him without hesitation. When I asked her why... she said, "You're not like him, Kael. You're too quiet. Too distant." Too broken, she meant.
That day, I stopped speaking. Not just to her — to everyone. I faded from their lives so easily, it was like I had never existed.
Years passed. The world kept ignoring me, and I kept pretending I was fine. Then... the Gate opened.
It was a tear in the sky. Midnight black, humming like a heartbeat. The sky cracked open above the city, and from within it — something stepped through. A being of shadow and flame. Its eyes glowed like dying stars. Its voice wasn't a sound — it was a feeling, crawling under your skin. It looked at me, only me, and said: "You are empty." "You are perfect." "Become my vessel."
I should've run. I should've screamed. But I smiled. Because for the first time, something saw me. Not Elijah. Not the people. Not the world. Me.
The creature's name was Erebane. It said it wasn't a god. It wasn't a demon. It was a collector. And it offered me the one thing I never had: Power.
When I Awakened, it was unlike any other Hunter. They tested me. I didn't just copy skills — I absorbed them. I could combine abilities, rewrite them, twist them until they were something new. They said I could become the world's strongest Hunter. The government begged me to join the Association. The guilds offered me riches, fame, everything I was denied as a child. But it was too late. You can't feed a soul after it's died.
I found Elijah during the Whitegate raid. He was struggling — bleeding, broken, alone. He looked at me, eyes wide with fear. He called me "brother" for the first time in years. So I crushed his skull with my boot. I didn't hesitate. I didn't blink. And I didn't regret it.
They say villains are born from hatred. That's wrong. Villains are born when love is denied so long, it curdles into something else.
The world feared me. Then it called me evil. Then it begged me to save it. But I was never here to save anyone. I was here to show them what they made.
So if this is the last thing I ever write... Then let this truth stain history: I didn't destroy the world because I hated it. I destroyed it because it never gave me a reason not to.
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