[Participated in the Royal Road Writathon November Challenge of 2023]

Ina'Ani was a world of prominent duality.

During the Day, Ina's Light shines down upon the world with its brilliance of Light-giving protection and Life-giving properties.

During the Night, Ani's Darkness consumes Light with such animosity that one cannot even see one's fingers before one's eyes. As if that were not enough, inside the Darkness roamed creatures that hunted everything sentient to consume their Spirits to grow their strength.

Stuck between absolute safety and absolute despair, humans either grew strong enough to face the Nightmarish creatures plaguing their World, or they hid behind those that did.

***

During the darkest moment of one particular Night, when Ani's Darkness swallowed Ina's Light in the skies, a bright flare streaked across the horizon spelling the arrival of The First Man.

Chapter 1 - Birth of the First of Man; [26k in Words]

Chapter 2 - The First Steps of the First of Man. [23k in Words]

Chapter 3 - The Shortest Path is not Always the Quickest Path - [30.5k in Words]

Chapter 4 - The Longest Path is definitely the Slowest Path - [30k in Words]

Chapter 5 - The First Nightmare Gate - [23k in Words]

Chapter 6 - Nightmare within a Nightmare - Still to be written.

PS; Hehe... Have no clue where the story will go. None at all. Now that the third chapter is complete, I am fairly certain where things stand, though it took some time to reach that point plot-wise. Became far more solo survival slice-of-life than I meant it to be. Oh, well. It is what it is.

PSS; The cover was AI-generated, by me personally, with one of my favorite Manga Artist's style as the crux of the generated image. Kudos to all who recognize it.

PSSS; Tags will probably shift as the story goes, so don't be alarmed if they are not 100% accurate.