Chapter 1: Whispers Before The World
Before Denzaga bore the scars of battle or the breath of any known race, there was only stillness—a world coiled in potential, untouched and untainted. The Onyx, ancient beyond reckoning, came not to conquer or colonize, but to guard. Exiled from their original home after a war lost to something unspeakable, they arrived on Denzaga like monks to a sacred tomb. Here, they sensed not life—but something else. A cold, ever-humming frequency that vibrated beneath the planet's bones.
It began as whispers. Barely discernible fragments of thought bleeding through soil and stone. The Onyx, despite their resilience, felt it worm its way through their dreams, revealing memories they never lived and visions that were not their own. The Void, an entity not born of stars or matter, but absence itself, had always been part of Denzaga. Buried in silence. Biding.
The Onyx were not its creators—but its wardens. They were the first to understand that Denzaga was not a sanctuary but a prison, and they were merely the newest guards shackled to its gate. This realization did not come with fear, but with a somber responsibility. Because they knew: the Void doesn't consume violently—it seduces. It convinces.
And it had begun to speak.
