The First Fallen Soul (English Version)

Chapter 1 : The cursed mountain

It was late in the evening, by the time the village had fallen asleep. In a small rustic house on the edge of the Mount Ebott forest, a slim figure had just grabbed all her belongings and went out as quietly as possible into the darkness of night. The figure waved her hand vaguely in the direction of the door, seemingly saying goodbye to another smaller figure, and then left quickly, without turning around.

The young child walked with as little noise as possible to avoid alerting anyone because she knew that if she was caught outside at such a late hour, she would have a hard time justifying herself. She walked carefully along, the shadows of the walls drawn by the reassuring glow of the moon, with as much stealth as a nocturnal animal. Someone other than Chara would not have had such discretion, but Chara was particularly gifted, and she managed to reach the exit of the village without encountering anyone.

Once at the entrance to the forest, she followed Mount Ebott trail, which meandered through the trees and rocks, guided only by the light of the full moon. During the day, this could have been a charming walk: the forest was particularly beautiful in this area, and was popular for many walkers. But the path Chara had taken was quite different... it was a path that would lead her straight to death. It was everything she hoped for. To disappear.

Chara had learned the rumors about the mountains at a very young age and had been interested in them ever since. "It would be a perfect place to disappear..." she thought to herself. At school, when she had asked what was on top of the mountain to make people so afraid of it, the teacher had told the story of the war between humans and monsters and explained that the monsters had been sealed under the mountain after losing the war. Some children had laughed and said that Chara had to go too since she was "a red-eyed demon"...

As Chara continued her ascent, she thought about all the things that had happened to her, and what she was leaving behind. After all, the whole village hated her, and surely dying wouldn't be so bad. Only her parents and her little sister understood her, but Chara no longer wanted to live in a world that didn't want her and where she would suffer every day. Chara was tired of being mistreated and suffering so many horrible things, just because she had been born with red eyes... At that thought Chara's fists clenched and she felt tears streaming down her cheeks, all the tears she had held back until then... Tears of rage, pain, despair... Chara cried as she had never cried before, and wished only one thing: to reach the summit and end her existence as soon as possible.

The little human shivered when a light breeze rose on the mountain. Mount Ebott was not a very high mountain, but at some steep reliefs it sometimes made it difficult for the child to climb, and sometimes she had to stop to catch her breath. But little Chara's efforts finally paid off, and she finally managed to reach the top of the mountain. The path ended there, and a few meters away a vast and deep crater stretched out.

So the rumors were true... Was this great chasm the gateway to the underworld? That thought made Chara shudder, but she thought back to what had happened to her in the village and refused to back down.

She only had one step to take.

Only one step to fall into the abyss that seemed to call to her,

Only one step to disappear and fade from existence,

Only one step.

In the best case, she would immediately die from her fall, in the worst case, the monsters would devour her.

Chara trembled slightly as she approached the chasm, and tried to gauge its depth at a glance. But in the middle of the night, she couldn't make out much. A black ocean now stretched beneath her feet, and Chara began to doubt her idea. Despite everything that had happened, she was still only a child, and being on that cursed mountain in the middle of the night, so close to death, terrified her. Chara was petrified and didn't know what to do.