When he opened his eyes, the world that greeted him was cold, damp, and utterly unfamiliar.
A dense, swirling mist clung to the air like a living thing, seeping into his skin as if to reject his very presence.
Towering trees loomed above him—great wooden sentinels that stretched endlessly skyward, their massive trunks wrapped in shadow. He was lying on damp soil, the cold earth pressing against his back. Instinctively, he sat up, curling slightly against the bite of the air. Each breath drew a lungful of icy fog, sending a shiver crawling up his spine.
“Where... am I?”
The words slipped from his mouth only to be swallowed by the mist.
No reply came. Only silence and trees.
Rising to his feet, he looked around. There was nothing but forest. No paths, no voices—just an unbroken sea of grey and green. He wore a damp, navy-blue school uniform—one of those common kinds any student might wear back home.
Back home?
A strange emptiness bloomed in his chest. His name came to him easily—Yuma—but beyond that, his mind was a fog. He couldn’t remember why he was here, or even what had happened moments before he awoke. Had he been at school? At home? With friends?
It all felt real, and yet distant, like half-remembered fragments of a dream slipping through his fingers.
"Just my name… Everything else is gone..."
He reached for something—anything—within the haze of memory, but there was only the growing sense that something had been stolen. Not erased, but lost. A gnawing absence that made his skin crawl.
Who had he been? What kind of life had he lived?
Surely, it hadn’t all been so easily forgotten.
He glanced down at his clothes again. Yes—he was a student. Middle school? High school? The texture of the fabric, the way it fit—it all felt familiar. But the memories that should have surrounded that familiarity were gone, smothered in a suffocating fog.
He scanned his surroundings once more. The forest was impossibly vast—primeval, untouched by human hands. Ancient trees with impossibly thick trunks crowded the landscape, rising like titans out of legend. It didn’t feel like any forest he’d known. It felt like something out of mythology.
“What the hell is going on…?”
Panic began to well inside him, each thought spinning wilder than the last.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
"A car crash? A kidnapping? Did I hit my head? No… there’s no pain. A movie shoot? A prank? But this scale... It can’t be..."
"Sleepwalking? But then why can't I remember anything?"
He wasn’t someone born without memories. He was someone who had lost them. And that was worse. Much worse.
Then—
Ping.
A sharp electronic chime cut through the air. Not through his ears—but directly through his mind.
“…What?”
Startled, Yuma looked up.
Hovering before him in mid-air was a panel. A glowing, translucent rectangle of light, as though pulled from the screen of a game—or a dream.
[Subject has awakened. Initializing Blessing System.]
[Launching support protocol. Accessing memory... Generating appropriate mission.]
Welcome to a new world.
Chapter One: A New Journey Begins
Mission 1: Select a deck and summon your first unit.
Deck Selection (0/1)
Summon a Follower (0/1)
"A... panel? Is this... some kind of game?"
He blinked. Tried to touch it. His fingers sliced through air.
"Blessing system… mission generation…? A new world? A deck…?"
“…Is this… a VR game?”
But that couldn’t be right. Even the most cutting-edge technology couldn’t replicate this kind of realism. The texture of the soil beneath his shoes, the weight of the fog on his skin, the crisp, earthy scent of the forest—it was all too vivid.
And more than that—he knew he didn’t know any game this real.
He pressed a hand to his temple. His mind whirled. Still, the panel in front of him remained unchanged, waiting.
“…Taken into a game world? That’s ridiculous… right?”
He had no answers. Only the panel.
It asked him to choose a deck. To summon.
And with no memories, no place to go, and no one to call for help, what other choice did he have?
He took a breath.
“…I guess… I have to.”
He reached forward again. This time, five tall, black silhouettes appeared before him, each one hovering like a card waiting to be drawn.
Question marks floated above each.
They must be the “decks.” They looked like oversized cards.
Hesitantly, Yuma reached out and touched one.
Ping.
The panel lit up—and the contents of the deck unfurled before his eyes. Cards, glowing softly, filled the space between him and the trees.
Then—
Throb.
“—Ugh!”
A searing pain lanced through his skull. But with it, a fragment of memory surged forth.
A name. A game.
“…This is… EDD?”
He remembered.
Ethereal - Deck - Dominion.
EDD.
A strategy card game he had once played with feverish devotion.
The cards floating before him were unmistakable. Even in this surreal setting, their light brought with it something familiar. Something real.
"This is EDD… There’s no doubt."
And yet—it brought no answers. Only more questions.
Why here? Why this world?
What was happening to him?
Another chime rang out, and new text appeared:
You have selected: Abyssal Civilization
Starter Deck “Awakener of the Dark God” has been unlocked.
Mission 1: Deck Selection (1/1) - Complete.
Achievement Unlocked: Awakening of the Abyssal King
—The echoes of prayer welcome your choice.
“…Figures. Of course it’s the Abyss starter deck… But what does that mean? ‘Echoes of prayer’? Achievement unlocked?”
No reward. No tutorial. Just a message.
And yet… Yuma clenched his fist.
For the first time since waking in this strange, fog-drenched world, he felt as if he had taken a step forward.