Chapter 1

Nero's life was shit. 

Used syringes, potion bottles, old swords, junk electronics, and heaps of foul-smelling trash formed a deadly carpet of disease and cuts beneath the young man's feet. 

 Nero's eyes flickered from the light of a sputtering torch clutched in his left hand as he searched the undercity tunnel for salvageable objects.

The air was hot and humid, and Nero's hair and skin were covered in a layer of sweat and grease, but the smell didn't bother him after years of undercity scavenging. 

He nimbly stepped around gaping holes and darted by the dripping waste pumped down from the massive skyscrapers aboveground, grabbing bits of metal or used Ether crystals that could be resold. It was about time to head back. Nero's worn backpack was full of valuable material, as this tunnel was undiscovered by other scavengers and thus had an ample supply of trash to resell.

"If I clear this tunnel out, I will make good progress towards paying back my debt," he thought with a grim smile.

Nero reached down to pick up a copy of The New York Times, squinting at the headline: "100 Years Since The Astral Shift: A Recap." 

The scavenger absentmindedly flipped through the paper, which recounted the earthquakes that shook the globe followed by mass genetic mutations and the appearance of mysterious magical powers. It went on about the rapid rise of new religions, and malfunctions of various modern technologies: all old news.

Nero was following the string tied to his wrist up and out of the undercity tunnels when a white flash caught his eye at the end of another dark, unexplored passage. 

It would be smart to go back now... but something about that flash beckoned to Nero, and, almost in a trance, he followed it into the shadowy tunnel.

So fixated on the white glint, Nero didn't even notice the damp cement walls of the sewer gradually shifting into ancient, carved stones, and the disgusting floor turning into black marble tile. He simply followed the passage fixated on that beautiful, intoxicating flash. 

Snapping out of his trance, Nero found himself in front of a massive doorway. Carved along its frame were complex murals depicting scenes of beautiful temples and churches. Engraved on the ceiling were images of ancient civilizations bowing before towering monoliths. 

The terrifying aura of the massive doorway shook Nero, who turned back to run back out of the tunnel, but as he whipped his head around, the young man was met with a wall of solid, seamless stone.

After a moment of consideration, Nero inched through the massive doorway.

He found himself in a colossal atrium. Collums rose like stone trees towards the ceiling of the atrium, melting into a roof that seemed to shimmer with flowing images of distant galaxies and eclipsing plants.

In the middle of the room was the source of the glint: a small, black stone, placed atop an unassuming pedestal.

Nero felt it pulling at him, beckoning him closer, and he didn't resist, quickly walking towards it. The tap of his shoes echoed at with every step he took, seeming to grow louder the closer he got to the pedestal.

Nero reached his hand towards the stone. His middle finger brushed against its surface, which was smooth and cool to the touch. 

Suddenly, a shock flashed through Nero's body.

The black stone unwound and struck Nero's forearm. Screaming in pain, Nero watched as the veins in his arm turned black, winding upwards from his biceps to shoulder to his gasping throat until it reached Nero's head.

Pain spilled into Nero's mind. The atrium around him disappeared, replaced by an endless, black void. The void was darker than any tunnel Nero had ever delved, he couldn't see anything. No hint of color or light existed, only the dark.

An increasingly louder humming noise boomed through the space. Looking down, Neros' eyes widened at the sight of a colossal, black tendril reaching up from the depths of the void below him.

The tendril slowly approached, wrapping around his ankle and then crawling up his leg and torso before reaching his head, where it shot into his temple.

Nero tried to open his mouth to scream, before realizing that he had no mouth. Before he could form a thought, the being pushed itself into his brain, yanking Nero out of the void.

Nero's mind spiraled. He lay, writhing on the floor, spewing a stream of profanities at the pounding headache ripping his mind apart.

"FUUUUCKING SHITTTY FUCK BITCH SHIT FUCK."

The pain receded, and Nero looked around. He was back in the sewers, in front of the tunnel that he took to the atrium. Except... there was no tunnel, just a plain wall. 

Did I just hit my head? Maybe that was just some weird concussion dream. Nero struggled to rationalize the bizarre experience, before noticing a strange object floating in front of him. 

Nero shakily stood up, stepping towards the levitating object. It was a ragged book, with its title written on the cover in faded ink.

"The Doctrine of Araxil"