SOUL CRAFT - THE DESOLATE ONE: A Soul Craft Prequel Story [LitRPG] [System] [Progression] [Isekai/GameLit]

Before there was light, there was darkness. Before there was hope, there was despair. Before there was the void, there was the one who created it. He was the first being in existence. The first consciousness. The first soul. Born from the primordial darkness that existed before the universe, he was alone for eons beyond counting—content in his solitude, accepting of his emptiness. Then the gods emerged. They filled the void with light and life and meaning. They created stars and planets, oceans and mountains, mortals who could love and laugh and hope. And when the first being asked to be part of their creation, they rejected him. "You are not like us," they said. "You are a void. You cannot create—you can only consume." Broken by loneliness, consumed by despair, the being retreated into the darkness. He fed on the suffering of mortals. He became the shadow that waits. He became the darkness that consumes. He became the Desolate One—and he swore to destroy everything the gods had built. The gods imprisoned him in the Gauntlet, a prison of eighteen levels designed to contain his power. For millennia, he waited. For millennia, he grew stronger. And then, a hollow man arrived—a man named Cain Martin. Cain healed the void. Cain broke the prison. And the Desolate One was freed. This is his story. The story of the first being, the first rejection, and the first fall. The story of the shadow that has haunted the Gauntlet since the beginning. The story of the Desolate One.