Born to break

Julian Vance lived by a simple rule. If you couldn't prove it, it wasn't worth believing. That mindset had carried him through most of his life. It was straightforward, reliable, and, in his opinion, the only sensible way to look at the world. It was also the foundation of his career. His YouTube channel, Myth Destroyed, has attracted over four million subscribers. Every week, people tuned in to watch him investigate haunted locations, expose fake mediums, and pick apart stories about supernatural encounters. Some people hated him for it, but many appreciated his honesty. Julian wasn't interested in mocking people. He simply wanted evidence. And most of the time, there wasn't any. On this particular Tuesday night, he found himself in an abandoned industrial area on the outskirts of Detroit. Crouched beside a rusted dumpster, camera in hand, he was investigating what several Reddit users had dramatically described as a gateway to another dimension. After nearly an hour of examining the site, he had reached a different conclusion. It was a damaged neon sign. Nothing more. Julian lowered the camera and let out a tired sigh. "So much for tonight," he muttered under his breath. He stood, dusted dirt from his jeans, and started walking away. Then reality broke. There was no flash of lightning. No explosion. No warning. The sky simply split apart. A sharp cracking noise echoed across the empty district, sounding less like thunder and more like something immense snapping in half. Julian felt the vibration hit his chest before he properly heard it. The temperature dropped instantly. Not the kind of cold that comes with winter. Something deeper. Something ancient. He froze and looked up. A jagged tear stretched across the night sky. Beyond it was darkness. Not ordinary darkness, but something alive. Something moving. Julian's stomach tightened. Eyes. Hundreds of them. Some large. Some tiny. All staring directly at him. For the first time in years, Julian didn't stop to analyze what he was seeing. He ran. He managed four steps before an unseen force seized him and lifted him off the ground. The strange thing was that he never felt himself falling. Instead, it felt as though something had carefully carried him elsewhere and gently set him down. That somehow made the situation even worse. When he opened his eyes again, the world around him had changed completely. There were no walls. No visible floor. No sky overhead. Only an endless grey expanse stretching in every direction. It wasn't darkness. It wasn't light. Just grey. Flat and lifeless, as though every color had been stripped away. Standing several feet away was a figure that looked almost human. Almost. It was unnaturally tall, with limbs that seemed slightly too long for its body. Its neck was stretched just enough to feel wrong. Each hand possessed an extra joint where none should exist. The face disturbed him most. Smooth skin. No nose. No visible eyes. Only a mouth. A very wide mouth. Far too wide. When it was smiled, Julian noticed an impossible number of teeth. "Julian Vance." The voice echoed from every direction at once. "Content creator. Investigator. Skeptic. Professional destroyer of myths." Julian's pulse was racing. Yet somehow, his sarcasm remained functional. "If this is some elaborate sponsorship deal," he said, "I'd like to speak with the legal department first." The creature tilted its head. Almost as if it were studying him. "You possess humor." The smile widened. "Good. Entertaining participants tend to survive slightly longer." "Participants?" One elongated hand rose into the air. "Welcome to the Eldritch Protocol." Julian frowned. "The what?" "You have been selected." "Selected for what exactly?" "To play." Before Julian could ask another question, a burst of light slammed into his chest. Pain shot through his body. He staggered backward and grabbed his wrist. Something was carving itself into his skin. Not burning. Pressing. As though an invisible seal was being forced into flesh. Several seconds later, the sensation disappeared. A strange black symbol remained. Lines twisted and shifted across its surface, constantly changing shape before settling and changing again. Then another voice spoke. This one came from inside his head. Cold. Mechanical. Emotionless. SYSTEM INITIALIZED. HOST DETECTED: JULIAN VANCE CLASS: UNASSIGNED RANK: ZERO FIRST TRIAL COMMENCING IN 10 SECONDS Julian blinked. "What?" "The rules are uncomplicated," the creature explained calmly. "Survive the dungeons. Gain power. Entertain us." Something enormous stirred somewhere beyond the endless grey. Even without seeing it clearly, Julian felt a wave of terror crawl down his spine. "And if I don't want to play?" The creature smiled again. Those teeth looked even worse the second time. "You accepted the moment you were born inside a universe that belongs to us." The countdown continued. 3 2 1 The grey world vanished. Julian dropped onto a hard stone. Pain shot through his legs as he landed awkwardly. He steadied himself and immediately looked around. A narrow corridor stretched ahead. The ceiling hung low overhead. Moisture coated the walls. Green flames flickered from iron torches. The air carried the metallic scent of blood mixed with something rotten. And he wasn't alone. "Oh, thank God." The voice startled him. "I was seriously starting to think I'd gone insane." Julian turned. A young woman sat against the wall nearby with her knees drawn to her chest. She looked around nineteen or twenty. Short hair. Torn jacket covered in patches. Fresh bruising beneath one eye. Despite her appearance, her gaze remained sharp and alert. She stood as soon as she noticed him. "Who are you?" "Julian." He glanced around the corridor. "Got here maybe twenty seconds ago." She nodded. "Dara. I've been trapped in this place for about twenty minutes." A low growl echoed somewhere ahead. Both of them turned toward the darkness. "That thing called this a trial," Julian said. Dara lifted her wrist. A familiar black symbol rested there. "Yeah. I figured that out when the first monster showed up." Julian raised an eyebrow. "The first?" "Unfortunately." A notification appeared before her eyes. Or at least she seemed to be reading something only she could see. "The System assigned me a class called Void Walker. No clue what that means." She looked at him. "What about you?" Julian checked his own status. The message still hovered there. CLASS: UNASSIGNED His expression darkened. "It says I don't have one." Dara stared. "That sounds bad." "That's because it probably is." Julian forced himself to stay calm. No weapons. No abilities. No class. No understanding of where he was. Just hours earlier he had been debunking supernatural stories for an audience of millions. Now he was trapped inside one. The growling became louder. Closer. A shape emerged from the darkness beyond the torchlight. Large. Low to the ground. Predatory. Its eyes reflected green fire. A new notification appeared. FIRST TRIAL: SURVIVE REWARD: CLASS ASSIGNMENT FAILURE CONDITION: DEATH Julian looked at Dara. "Can you fight?" "A little." "Can you run?" She smirked. "Much better than I can fight." "Good." His mind was already working through possibilities. The corridor. The torches. The creature's hesitation. The way it seemed reluctant to step fully into the light. He had no powers. No class. No weapons. But he still had the one thing that had always kept him alive. He knew how to observe. He knew how to think. And he knew how to find answers. Julian took a slow breath. "Run left." Dara raised an eyebrow. "You have a plan?" "Something like that." She studied him for a second before grinning. "Alright, YouTube man." The growl thundered through the corridor. "Let's see what you've got." The creature lunged. Julian and Dara ran.