Until one day… that man appeared.
He was someone more stubborn than even steel. Yet at the same time, he seemed strangely indifferent to the world around him, as if he had intentionally closed himself off. It was as if he were constantly trying to distance himself from everything. But once he made up his mind… nothing could stop him. Except, perhaps, a meteor shower that obliterated the entire galaxy.
His journey alone was enough to leave many in silent awe. From a mere commoner… to being able to capture the heart of Queen Lyna. Such an achievement usually belonged only to those brimming with ambition. Yet oddly, the man appeared to be someone without any ambition at all.
His clashing traits were as strange as his name.
Mujun.
At first, Kristo held no hope for the man. He only shared stories. Stories about the true state of the world. About Eukaryota slowly dying. About the war that never ended. About a future that the next generation might never have.
Kristo expected Mujun to respond with indifference. After all, the destruction of the world would not happen in their generation. The prophecies of doom written by the thinkers were still far in the future—long after they were all dead.
However, Kristo's assumption was wrong. Mujun listened with absolute seriousness. He asked question after question, some so profound they forced Kristo to think long and hard before answering.
And in the end… Kristo told him about Project Genesis.
That was when something strange happened. Mujun's eyes, which usually appeared vacant and filled with boredom, suddenly ignited. In them was something Kristo had never seen before.
A flame.
Seeing those eyes, Kristo felt as if he had found a glimmer of hope. And because of that hope… he did something extremely dangerous. Kristo began to manipulate Mujun. He pushed the man to become the face of Project Genesis.
Under the protection of Queen Lyna, Mujun began to gather those who believed in the plan: the thinkers, the researchers, and the psychic users who dared to attempt something never done before. With the help of the Matriarch candidates in the Kingdom of Kata and Queen Lyna's own psychic strength, Mujun finally succeeded in creating something that had previously existed only in theory.
The Consciousness HUB.
A connection point between the Realm of Thought and the Real World. Although it was temporary and could only be used to explore the Realm of Thought, it was a first step whose possibility had never been proven before.
From that place, they began their search. Navigating the currents of consciousness in the Realm of Thought, trying to find echoes of minds that did not originate from Eukaryota.
At first, they found nothing. Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months. Some began to give up.
But Mujun did not.
He poured all his time and energy into searching for other life in that endless sea of consciousness. And finally… his efforts bore fruit. He found a signal. It was very weak—so weak it could have been dismissed as mere coincidence. But for Mujun, it was enough. He pinned all his hopes on that signal. Preparations for the first expedition began.
However, one major problem arose. Mujun wanted to join the search team. He wanted to be one of the first Arachnoax to explore that new world.
And of course… Queen Lyna would never let her lover simply walk away. No one knew what awaited at the end of that path. Perhaps a new world. Or perhaps something far more horrific. Yet Mujun remained adamant. He didn't even care when Lyna pleaded with him not to go.
Kristo knew that Mujun had to go. If Mujun succeeded in finding a new world, all of Eukaryota would immediately follow in his footsteps. Every kingdom would race to open their own paths. But if Mujun failed… Queen Lyna, who loved him so dearly, would never stay silent. She would mobilize all her power to find her lover.
Whatever the outcome, the first wave had to begin. Because of that, without Queen Lyna's knowledge, Kristo helped Mujun board his expedition ship. And when the ship finally vanished into the path of the Realm of Thought toward an unknown sea of stars, Kristo knew his plan had succeeded.
But he also knew one other thing. He would never know how the story ended. As the man behind the disappearance of the Queen's lover… Lyna would surely come for him. And with her would be a rage so deep that Kristo himself would end up as ash, whether he was a former confidant of the Queen or not.
But… that never happened. Queen Lyna disappeared. And if the rumors on his desk were true… then it was likely that the other Matriarchs had also vanished at the same time.
Kristo stared blankly at his desk.
The plan he had initiated with such careful precision now felt like an irreparable mistake. Because now… it wasn't just Mujun who was lost among the stars. Every Matriarch of Eukaryota had vanished along with him.
Kristo let out a long sigh. He placed the tattered file back on the table. Before he could reach for a new report, the door to his room suddenly burst open, and someone entered with racing breath.
"Sir! Acuelata has been struck by a deadly plague. Dozens are confirmed dead, and thousands more are already infected. The numbers are rising!"
"What!?"
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The Province of Acuelata was one of the largest trading regions in the Kingdom of Kata. Its cities were densely packed with worker colonies, grain silos, and inland ports where caravans from various kingdoms met. For hundreds of years, the place had always been filled with the sounds of life. But in the past few days… the most frequent sounds heard were only coughing, screaming, and wailing.
The plague came without warning.
At first, it was only a few warehouse workers who fell ill. They complained of high fevers, weakness, and joints that felt as if they were being crushed from within. Doctors thought it was merely a common seasonal illness. But two days later, one of them died.
His body was covered in black swellings around the folds of his legs and beneath his jaw. These hard lumps grew like rotten fruit under their chitin shells. When doctors attempted a dissection, the blood that spilled out was dark… almost black. It smelled of putrid meat.
After that, death began to arrive one after another. Within three days, dozens were dead. Within five days, the toll reached hundreds. The victims' bodies were riddled with large lumps rotting from the inside out. Their fevers were so high that some began to hallucinate before finally dropping lifeless.
Yet the most terrifying aspect was not the symptoms. It was the mode of transmission. The plague moved like a shadow.
A worker fell ill at the morning market. Two days later, the merchants in the same alley began to sicken. Not long after, the disease spread to the surrounding homes. Panic set in. Markets were closed. Houses were locked from the inside. Some families even burned their own homes after a member showed symptoms of the disease.
But the plague continued to spread. Then, someone finally discovered something strange.
In the corners of the city… under the warehouses… in the dark alleyways… rats began to appear. At first, there were only a few—hardly noticeable in a province gripped by panic. But in a short time, they numbered in the hundreds.
The small creatures looked thin and agitated. Their fur was dull, and some even had strange wounds on their bodies. Many simply died in the streets. But before dying, they had bitten food, touched water, and scurried through people's homes.
Doctors who examined the rat carcasses found something horrifying. Their bodies were also covered in the same small swellings that appeared on the human victims. It was as if these creatures were carrying the disease from an unknown place.
The problem was, no one knew where the rats came from. Acuelata was not a region known for large rat populations. In fact, over the last several decades, their numbers had almost never been an issue.
But now they emerged from everywhere. Warehouses. Sewers. Holes in the ground. Even from the cracks of old stone walls. It was as if something had driven them out of their nests.
In less than a week, the entire province turned into a place filled with fear. Carts that usually carried wheat now carried corpses. Cremation fires burned day and night. Doctors began to run out of medicinal herbs. And the death toll continued to rise.
Dozens turned into hundreds. Hundreds turned into thousands. No one knew how to stop the disease. No one knew where the plague originated. They only knew one thing: Acuelata was drowning in an invisible death. And if the disease managed to cross the provincial borders… then the plague might spread across all of Eukaryota.
Kristo, arriving at the quarantine site, watched a little girl take her last breath after enduring a night of agony. Kristo's face turned pale; before any war could even begin, a deadly plague had already devastated their trading city.
"What is actually happening to this world?"