GHARIB The Stranger, Chapter 1 - Short Version
The UNDERWORLD: into the Depths
GHARIB the Stranger, the Rise - CHAPTER 1:
Into the Depths
Copyright 2022 - Steve Iskenderian - All Rights Reserved
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Beneath the broken Earth, Gharib walks alone.
The UnderWorld stretches before him—a vast abyss of silence and ruin. It is a place swallowed by time, where no one who ventures too deep ever returns.
This is his third descent. The first nearly killed him. The second was no better. Yet, he returns.
A loose stone shifts beneath his boot. A tremor shakes the rock. The abyss below yawns, ready to swallow him whole.
The Discovery
Frustration surges. He raises his hammer. Strikes the rock. Again. And again.
Then—a glow.
Something buried in the stone pulses with an eerie, otherworldly light. Not metal. Not salvage. Something else.
For a brief moment, doubt creeps in.
What am I doing here again?
But hesitation is a luxury the UnderWorld does not allow.
A Memory That Will Not Die
As exhaustion grips him, the past comes clawing back.
"DADDY! WATCH OUT! DADDYYYY!!!"
A child’s scream—piercing, endless.
He gasps awake, cold sweat clinging to his skin. The same nightmare. Every night. But there is no time for weakness. He pushes forward.
