NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 1: The Awakening in New Morian
Chapter 1: The Awakening in New Morian
Darkness. Cold, suffocating darkness.
A sharp gasp tore through the silence as Elias Corvin jolted awake, his lungs desperately drinking in the thick, damp air. His mind felt sluggish, drowning in a haze of fragmented memories that didn't belong to him. His body ached, as if it had been dragged through the depths of the abyss and spat back out into the world.
Where… am I?
His vision adjusted to the dim glow of flickering gas lamps overhead. The room was unfamiliar—dusty bookshelves lined the walls, the scent of old parchment and ink mingling with something metallic… something like blood.
Panic surged through him as he tried to move, only to realize he was lying on a ritual circle—a complex array of symbols and lines drawn in a thick, viscous liquid. His heart pounded against his ribs. This wasn't right. This wasn't his body.
Elias lifted trembling hands to his face, feeling unfamiliar features, smoother skin, different proportions. He caught sight of himself in a cracked mirror on the far wall—a young man, no older than twenty, with dark tousled hair and striking gray eyes that shimmered with an unnatural glow.
Whose body is this?
His breath hitched. Fragments of another life flooded his mind. A name surfaced—Elias Corvin—but the memories that followed were incomplete, like a shattered mirror reflecting pieces of someone else's existence. The only thing he knew for certain was this: he had been someone else before waking up here.
Then, the whispers began.
Soft, insidious voices curled through the room, slipping into his thoughts like tendrils of smoke.
"He is here… the one who holds the key… the path has been chosen…"
A cold shiver ran down his spine. He turned his gaze to the floor, to the bloodied ritual circle beneath him, and something in his mind clicked. This wasn't a simple accident. Someone—or something—had performed a ritual. And he was at the center of it.
His hands clenched into fists. He had to get out of here.
Pushing himself up, he staggered toward the nearest window, peering outside. What he saw sent another jolt of unease through him.
A sprawling city stretched before him, its skyline pierced by towering iron spires and steam-powered machinery. The air was thick with smoke and fog, casting eerie shadows along the cobblestone streets below. This was no ordinary place—this was New Morian, a city known for its alchemical wonders, clandestine organizations, and secrets buried deeper than the bones beneath its streets.
And Elias Corvin had just been thrust into its heart, wrapped in a mystery far darker than he could comprehend.
Then, a knock echoed through the room. Not a polite knock. A slow, deliberate, unnatural one.
He wasn't alone.
To be continued…