Ruler of Beyonders

When Nyxa touched Ren's chest, a strange warmth spread through his body.

And then everything went dark.

He lost all sense of time.

The endless Soul Abyss vanished like smoke.

Ren's eyes opened slowly.

He was back.

Back in the real world.

He lay on the cold floor of the resonance chamber. Then he teleported toward the operating room to check if everything was fine. The lights above flickered faintly, but no alarms were ringing now. The black mist was gone. The machines were silent.

All around him, people lay on the ground. Yato. Watson. The operators. Everyone.

They were breathing. Peaceful. Unmoving.

Sleeping.

Ren sat up with effort, his body still weak. His head throbbed. His heart beat slowly, almost too slow.

Then, in the silence, a voice echoed gently inside his mind.

"Master, don't worry. They are just sleeping. Nothing happened to them."

Ren looked around, searching for the voice. He knew it immediately.

"Nyxa?"

"Yes," the voice replied. "Only you are awake now. The energy storm drained their strength. Their bodies are resting. Soon, they will wake."

Ren touched his forehead.

It was real. All of it.

"What did you do to me?" he whispered.

"I did nothing," Nyxa said calmly. "I only helped you see what was already inside you. The power, the memory, the questions. They belong to you. Always have."

Ren looked down at his hands. They no longer trembled. He didn't feel fear anymore, only something deep and quiet. Like a fire waiting to burn.

"Then what happens now?"

"For now," Nyxa said, "you return to your world. But inside you, the Soul Abyss has awakened. It will grow. And so will you. The path forward will not be easy. But you no longer walk it blindly."

Ren stood up slowly. His legs felt weak, but he stayed steady.

"And you?" he asked. "Will I hear you again?"

Nyxa's voice was softer this time.

"I am part of you now. You may not always hear me, but I will always be near."

Ren nodded.

He looked at his sleeping friends. The room felt calm. Quiet. Like the storm had passed, but left something behind.

Something new.

He walked toward the control panel. The screens were off. The chamber lights faded into soft blue.

Then he sat down and waited.

Waited for them to wake.

Ren sat quietly in the chamber, watching the others as they lay on the ground. One by one, they began to move. After some time...

First, Watson groaned and rubbed his head. His eyes opened slowly, blinking as if waking from a long dream. He looked around, confused at first. Then his gaze found Ren.

"You are awake?" Watson said, trying to stand.

Ren nodded.

Before Watson could speak again, Yato stirred next. He coughed once, then pulled himself up, checking his team members beside him.

One after another, the operators woke up too, eyes wide, confused, breathing hard. They looked at Ren with fear and awe. None of them said anything right away. They did not have to.

Everyone felt it.

Something had changed.

Seroi was the last to open his eyes. He sat up slowly, staring directly at Ren, but said nothing. Just nodded once.

Then he stood and spoke to the team.

"Run a full system check. Save every second of the scan. And call the council."

Watson looked at him. "You are telling them?"

Seroi nodded. "We do not have a choice. The whole world is going to know soon anyway."

Then all procedures were completed by Seroi and all data was sent to the council, and then they analyzed it and confirmed the awakening within six hours.

After the health scan ended and the system checks were done, Seroi gave Yato a simple order:

"Take him home. Quietly. No reporters. No questions."

Yato nodded.

The sun was just beginning to rise when the transport arrived. A plain black vehicle with no symbols, no lights. Clean, silent, fast. Only special agents used it, designed to move unnoticed through any city.

Ren sat in the back seat, his eyes half-closed, his mind still heavy.

Watson sat beside him, tapping messages into a small device.

For a while, no one spoke.

Then Watson glanced over at him.

"You feel different," he said.

Ren stayed quiet.

Watson nodded slowly. "Right. Makes sense. After what you went through, you probably do not even know how to explain it."

Ren looked out the window. The world outside passed in blurs of gray and light.

"It does not feel real," he said.

Watson gave a small laugh. "It never does at first."

There was silence again.

Then Yato broke the silence and turned serious.

"Listen. What happened in that chamber… most people will never see anything like it in their lives. Not even once. You were born with something dangerous. That means from now on, people will want to use you. Or control you. Or destroy you."

Ren looked at him and said in a sarcastic way.

"You are not scared of me?"

Yato smiled faintly. "Of course I am. But that is not the point."

Ren did not answer. He just watched the road ahead.

The vehicle slid into the edge of Ironvale an hour later.

The streets here were narrow and cracked. Metal rails hummed softly under old transport lines. Workers were already filling the sidewalks. No one noticed the black vehicle parked near the edge of a broken stairwell.

Yato stepped out first.

"Go home. Stay quiet," he said. "The world is about to know your name. But not yet. Rest while you can."

Ren got out slowly.

Yato opened the trunk and handed him his old bag that Ren and Watson had brought to the test center.

"Your things."

They took it.

Then Yato placed a hand on his shoulder. "When they come asking, remember this. You do not owe anyone anything. Just survive. Just keep walking forward."

Ren nodded.

Yato stepped back into the car.

The door shut.

And just like that, the vehicle rolled away, vanishing down the empty street.

Ren and Watson turned and walked home.

After some steps, Ren used his Abyss magic, spoke one word, "The return," and teleported Watson to his home because he knew very well that he was too tired now. Only black mist surrounded Watson, and in short microseconds he was not there. Only some black mist remained as a remnant of Dark Abyss.

Then within twelve hours, the news had spread.

"Subject Ren, classified as UNKNOWN TYPE ABYSS, has awakened." "Dark Abyss Magic confirmed real." "Ren, age seventeen, may be the strongest awakened in recorded history."

News networks, underground forums, government servers, and private guilds were all talking about the same thing.

Some were afraid.

Some were curious.

Some were already making plans.

But Ren did not care about the outside world yet.

He had something more important to do.

He had to go home.

Ironvale was a large city built between two rocky hills and an old, dried river. The buildings were tall but old, made up of stone and steel. Smoke often rose from the lower districts where factories never stopped. The sky here was always a little gray. Not dark, not bright. Just tired.

Ren walked down the cracked streets wearing a black hoodie and carrying a small bag. He did not want attention. Not yet.

He passed by shops selling cheap food, machines, and awakening charms. Kids ran barefoot in narrow alleys, laughing, chasing each other. The scent of fried bread and hot metal mixed in the air.

This city was his home.

And his prison.