I stared at the shadows on the wall for a long time.
The wind rustled the branches outside the window, and their silhouettes slowly slid across the stone. Sometimes they looked like hands, sometimes like intertwined roots.
I blinked.
The shadows paused for a moment.
And then they continued moving, as if nothing had happened.
I exhaled quietly and lay back down.
It was probably just exhaustion.
Four months in the wasteland could shatter anyone's sense of normalcy.
But sleep wouldn't come.
I lay there, staring at the ceiling, and listened to the city.
Nothing.
No footsteps.
No voices.
No creaking doors.
A city made of stone and people couldn't be this quiet.
I rolled onto my side.
Oscar was sleeping peacefully.
His breathing was steady, almost serene.
I smiled involuntarily.
It seemed like the first time in a long while that I'd seen him truly relaxed.
And that should have made me happy.
But for some reason, it didn't.
In the morning, the city was alive again.
People walked the streets, shops opened, someone was arguing by the well.
Oscar looked better than he had in months.
He was even smiling.
"You know," he said as we walked down the street, "I'd almost forgotten what it's like to wake up without worrying that something might eat you today."
I chuckled.
"Don't get too comfortable."
"Scarlett," he spread his arms, "we've finally made it to civilization. Can't we at least believe for a little while that everything will be, okay?"
I wanted to answer.
But I stopped myself.
A man walking past us suddenly froze.
For a second.
Just a second.
As if he'd forgotten where he was going.
Then he turned around and walked back.
Oscar didn't notice.
"Are you coming?" he asked.
"Yes."
I followed him.
In the afternoon, we sat at a small stall in the square.
A woman was selling bread and some kind of dried berries.
She smiled at us.
"Are you new survivors?"
"Yes," Oscar replied.
She nodded.
"The Citadel of Hope is a safe place for you to stay."
I looked at her.
Her words sounded… strange.
Too proper.
As if she were reciting a memorized phrase.
Oscar didn't notice this again.
"That sounds good," he said.
The woman nodded.
"You can stay here as long as you need to."
I frowned.
"Do you say that to everyone?"
She blinked.
For a second, her gaze went blank.
"Everyone."
Then she smiled again.
"Have a nice day."
We left.
Oscar tossed the piece of bread in his hand playfully.
"See? They're normal people."
I said nothing.
Oscar started going to the playground almost every day.
The guards asked him to demonstrate fighting techniques, and he gladly agreed.
I sat at the edge of the field and watched.
At first, everything seemed normal.
But then I noticed something strange.
The recruits moved in unison.
Not similar.
Identical.
Every time Oscar demonstrated a new strike, they repeated it at the same speed, at the same angle.
As if they were copying the movement.
Not learning.
Copying.
I stood up and walked closer.
One of them turned to me.
"Do you enjoy watching the training?"
I nodded. After a moment's thought, I asked,
"How long have you been here?"
He paused for a second.
"Long enough."
"How long, exactly?"
A pause.
"Long enough."
I felt something grow cold inside me.
Oscar quietly came up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder.
"Scarlett, you're taking this too seriously."
I looked at him.
He looked… happy.
"You're overthinking things," Oscar said as we walked back to the room.
"Maybe."
"Scarlett, look around."
He stopped in the middle of the street.
"People. Houses. Food. A roof over our heads."
He smiled.
"After the frozen wastelands, this is almost paradise."
I looked at the houses.
At the windows.
At the people.
And suddenly I realized one thing.
I'd never seen anyone go inside a house.
People just… walked.
Down the streets.
Oscar took my hand.
"Let's go. Tomorrow will be a good day."
I let him lead me away.
Wait. Was our relationship really like that?
Deep down, I had a growing sense that something wasn't right here.
I woke up again in the middle of the night.
This time, it was because of a sound.
A quiet one.
A scratching sound.
As if something were moving under the floor.
I slowly sat up.
The sound stopped.
I looked at the floor.
Stone.
Cold.
I lowered my hand.
And for a second, it seemed to me that it was… breathing.
I jerked my hand away.
"Scarlett?"
Oscar sat up.
"Are you okay?"
I looked at him.
"Yes."
He smiled and lay back down.
"You're just not used to the quiet."
I didn't say anything.
The next day, I went to the city gates.
I wanted to look at the forest.
When I got closer, the guard turned to me.
"Are you leaving the city?"
"No."
"Then you don't need to go any further."
"I just want to look."
He froze for a second.
And then he said:
"You don't need to go any further."
In the same voice.
In the same tone.
I felt a chill run down my spine.
I turned around and walked away.
But on the way back, I noticed something else.
Footprints.
On the ground by the gate.
They led into the city.
Lots of them.
But not a single one leading out.
That evening, Oscar talked about the future.
"Once everything has finally settled down, we'll be able to go outside the walls and explore the surroundings."
I looked at him.
"Do you think they'll let us?"
"Of course."
He laughed.
"It's a normal city, Scarlett."
I didn't say anything.
Later that night, I went back to the window.
And this time I saw it.
The shadows of the trees beyond the wall.
They weren't just moving.
They were creeping.
Slowly.
Toward the town.
Toward the walls.
Toward the windows.
And at that moment, I suddenly remembered the sign on the road.
Beware…
I closed my eyes.
And for the first time ever, I tried to summon the Bond.
And nothing happened.
Then…
a very faint warmth.
As if something inside me were fighting against a heavy sleep.
I opened my eyes.
And for a second, the city trembled.
Just a little.
Like a reflection in water rippled by a breeze.
And then everything went back to the way it was.
But I already knew.
Something wasn't right here.
And if I don't figure out exactly what…
we might be stuck here forever.
I woke up before Oscar.
Not because I'd had enough sleep.
Because something wasn't right.
At first it was just a feeling-as if the room had tilted slightly, but my eyes couldn't see it. My body lay still, my breathing was steady, and my mind… it was as if it were whispering softly: pay attention.
I lay there and listened.
Outside the window, there should have been the city. Last night it seemed so alive: the streets, the voices, the smells of food, the lights. We wandered around the square for a long time; people were laughing, someone was playing a strange instrument with metal strings.
But now…
…silence.
Not the silence of morning.
Not peaceful.
Empty.
I slowly sat up.
Oscar was sleeping in the bed next to mine. His breathing was steady, his face relaxed. He looked… happy. He looked more at peace than he had in a very long time.
I got up quietly.
The wooden floor creaked slightly under my feet.
The room was simple-two beds, a table, a jug of water, a window with a curtain. Everything looked ordinary. Too ordinary.
I walked over to the window and pulled back the fabric.
The street was there.
Houses. Cobblestones. A well. Wooden benches.
But…
no one.
Not a single person.
Yesterday, the place had been full of people.
I frowned.
"It's still early…" I muttered under my breath.
It made sense.
The town could still be asleep.
But the feeling didn't go away.
I got dressed and quietly left the room.
The stairs creaked under my feet. The smell of wood and dust filled the house.
When I went downstairs, the tavern was empty.
The tables stood in neat rows. Mugs were neatly arranged. Not a trace of last night's dinner.
As if it had never happened.
I slowly ran my finger across the table.
Dust.
A thin layer.
But people were sitting here yesterday.
I remembered that.
…right?
I went outside.
The cold morning air brushed against my face.
The city looked perfect.
Too perfect.
The doors were closed. The windows were closed. Not a sound. Not a movement.
I walked down the street.
My footsteps echoed between the houses.
And suddenly…
I noticed a figure.
A man was standing by the well.
With his back to me.
I stopped.
"Good morning…" I said.
He didn't answer.
I walked closer.
The man slowly turned around.
His face was… normal.
But his smile.
It appeared too quickly.
"Good… morning…" he said.
The words sounded strange.
As if they'd been spoken after a long pause.
I nodded.
"Where is everyone?"
He blinked.
For a long time.
Too long.
"People… are sleeping."
I looked at the sun.
It was already rising.
"The whole city?"
He smiled again.
"Yes."
I didn't say anything.
And I kept walking.
A few blocks down, I noticed more people.
They were walking. Talking. Doing ordinary things.
But the longer I watched…
…the tighter something inside me clenched.
Their movements were a little… identical.
A woman lifted a basket.
A man walked by.
A child ran across the street.
I blinked.
When I opened my eyes, the child ran by again.
With the same movement.
With the same stride.
I stopped.
He ran by a third time.
I spun around.
"Scarlett?"
Oscar's voice.
I exhaled.
He was standing behind me and looked… well.
Better than he had in a long time.
He smiled.
"Are you out for a walk already?"
"Yes…" I said quietly.
He looked out at the city.
"It's a beautiful place."
I said nothing.
He continued:
"Maybe… we should stay here for a while."
I looked at him sharply.
"Stay?"
He shrugged.
"Why not?"
I froze.
Oscar.
The very same Oscar who always said we should keep moving forward.
"We need to go to the Citadel of Hope," I said.
He smiled.
"We'll make it."
His words were gentle.
Reassuring.
But something inside me tightened coldly.
"We were looking for people," he said. "We found them."
I looked at him.
For a long time.
And suddenly I noticed.
His eyes.
They were calm.
Too calm.
"Are you sure?" I asked quietly.
"Of course."
He held out his hand.
"Let's go."
I didn't take it right away.
But I took it anyway.
We walked through the streets.
People around us were talking.
Laughing.
Living.
But the longer I looked…
…the more details began to break apart.
The words sometimes sounded strange.
Laughter sometimes came at the wrong time.
A woman was standing at the door of a house.
I walked past her.
After ten steps, I turned around.
She was still standing there.
Just the same.
Not moving.
I looked ahead again.
Oscar was saying something.
I wasn't listening.
I was looking at the people.
At the houses.
At the sky.
And suddenly I noticed.
The clouds.
They weren't moving.
I stopped.
"Oscar…"
"Hm?"
"Do you feel anything strange?"
He looked at me in surprise.
"No."
I looked around.
The city was still there.
The people were still there.
But inside me, a feeling arose…
As if I were standing inside a painting.
I clenched my fist.
A memory flashed through my mind.
The forest.
A little girl.
Her eyes.
And the whisper of the wind among the trees.
I stopped abruptly.
Oscar turned around.
"Scarlett?"
I said quietly:
"We… have entered the forest."
He frowned.
"What forest?"
I looked at him.
And suddenly I felt it.
Deep inside.
Very far away.
As if beneath a layer of sleep.
Something was alive.
Warm.
A core.
A flame.
I closed my eyes.
And whispered:
"This isn't the city."
Oscar smiled gently.
"Scarlett… you're just tired."
I opened my eyes.
And for the first time ever…
…I was afraid.
Because he truly believed it.
And all around us, people went about their lives.
Laughing.
Talking.
And not a single one of them cast a shadow.
I stared at the city for a long time.
People were walking.
Some were laughing.
Some were haggling at a stall.
Children were running across the pavement.
And it all looked… right.
But it felt wrong.
As if someone had tried to paint the world from memory.
"Scarlett?" Oscar called softly.
I was standing in the middle of the street, looking up at the sky.
The clouds still weren't moving.
"Are you at it again?" he asked gently. "Listen… it's safe here. For the first time in a long time, we don't have to fight."
I took a slow breath.
"Don't you really see it?"
"What?"
I pointed upward.
"The sky."
He looked up.
"The clouds?"
"They're standing still."
Oscar stared for a few seconds.
Then he shrugged.
"Maybe there's no wind."
I closed my eyes.
Something was throbbing heavily in my chest.
Deep down.
Very deep down.
As if something inside me were knocking on a door.
I opened my eyes.
"Oscar."
"Yes?"
"If that's true… then nothing will change."
He smiled.
"And what's wrong with that?"
I slowly turned toward the nearest house.
A brick wall.
A window.
A flowerpot.
I walked over and placed my palm on the stone.
It was cold.
But… not real.
It's hard to explain.
As if I were touching the thought of the stone, not the stone itself.
Oscar frowned.
"Scarlett?"
I clenched my fingers.
And punched the wall with my fist.
A crack.
A small one.
Barely noticeable.
A thin line ran across the brick.
I froze.
The people around me stopped.
Everyone.
At the same time.
I slowly turned around.
They were looking at me.
Everyone.
Smiles were still on their faces.
But their eyes…
Their eyes were empty.
Oscar quickly came over to me.
"Scarlett, stop it."
He gently took my hand.
"You're scaring people."
I looked at him.
"People?"
He nodded.
"Yes."
I punched the wall again.
The crack grew larger.
Now it ran through the entire house.
As if a knife had been run across the glass.
One of the men on the street stepped forward.
"You… shouldn't… do… that…"
His voice sounded strange.
Each word was separated by a pause.
Oscar squeezed my hand tighter.
"Scarlett, please."
I looked at him.
He looked genuinely concerned.
"You're destroying the city."
I said quietly:
"It's not there."
He shook his head.
"It is."
I looked at the people.
At the houses.
At the sky.
And struck again.
A crack ran across the pavement.
Across the street.
Through the air.
Yes.
Through the air.
As if reality itself were glass.
Someone screamed.
A woman covered her face with her hands.
A child began to cry.
Oscar grabbed me by the shoulders.
"SCARLETT!"
I looked into his eyes.
"Wake up."
"You're crazy!"
His voice sounded sharp for the first time.
"Everything's fine here!"
I smiled.
"Then why do they all look the same?"
He turned around.
The people really were standing the same way.
Motionless.
And they were looking at us.
Oscar turned back to me.
"Enough."
I gently removed his hands from my shoulders.
"I'm sorry."
And I kicked the ground.
Cracks spread everywhere.
Across the houses.
Across the streets.
Across the sky.
The city began… to break apart.
Buildings were warping.
Walls were buckling.
People began to move.
But their movements became erratic.
Jerking.
Their smiles began to stretch.
Too wide.
Oscar grabbed my arm.
"STOP IT!"
I didn't even look at him.
Another shock.
Now the sky cracked.
The light split into strips.
People started screaming.
But their screams sounded like the creaking of wood.
I slowly turned around.
And saw their faces.
The smiles were gone.
Their skin began to rip apart.
Their eyes stretched out.
Their mouths opened too wide.
Their teeth became long and thin.
Oscar's face…
…and everyone else's.
They were distorting.
Transforming.
Into something inhuman.
Oscar was looking at me.
His face was contorted, too.
But he was still saying:
"Scarlett… please…"
I whispered:
"It's too late."
And reality struck one last time.
A crack.
The world shattered.
I opened my eyes.
And immediately realized.
That we had never been in the city.
Cold, damp air hit my lungs.
My body ached.
Every muscle.
Every bone.
I tried to move.
And couldn't.
Vines.
Thick.
Alive.
They wrapped around my arms.
My chest.
My legs.
Digging into my skin.
Sucking out the warmth.
Life.
I turned my head with difficulty.
And saw Oscar.
He was hanging from the tree next to me.
Just as entangled in vines.
His head hung limply.
He was pale.
Too pale.
I felt something cold slide down my neck.
A vine.
It pulsed.
Like a living vein.
Sucking the strength out of me.
I tried to breathe deeper.
But my chest barely rose.
I was… almost empty.
Then I saw her.
She was standing across from me.
If you could even call it standing.
Her body was thin.
Too thin.
As if it had been stretched out.
Her skin had a greenish-gray hue of rotten bark.
It was covered in moist cracks.
A dark, sticky liquid slowly oozed from them.
Her arms were long.
Disproportionately long.
Her fingers were thin branches.
With claws that looked like broken thorns.
But the worst part was her face.
It looked almost human.
As if someone had molded it out of wet moss.
Her eyes were enormous.
Yellow.
With vertical pupils.
They stared at me with a slow, hungry curiosity.
The mouth was small.
But when she smiled…
It opened too wide.
Inside, I saw rows of thin, needle-like teeth.
Dark slime slowly oozed between them.
It smelled like…
Rottenness.
Damp earth.
Decaying leaves.
And something sweet.
Too sweet.
I felt like I was going to throw up.
I could feel it.
My stomach clenched.
But I didn't even have the strength for that.
The creature tilted its head.
Its hair looked like tangled roots.
It was moving.
On its own.
"Almost… done…"
Her voice sounded like the rustling of dry leaves.
She came closer.
The vines around me pulsed faster.
I felt the warmth leaving my body.
As if my blood were being slowly drained.
I looked at Oscar.
He didn't move.
My vision began to darken.
The edges of the world were blurring.
My eyes were closing on their own.
I understood.
This is how it would end.
The forest would devour us.
Quietly.
Slowly.
Without a fight.
I closed my eyes.
And suddenly I remembered.
The city.
The cracks.
The moment when the illusion shattered.
I opened my eyes again.
No.
I won't let it end like this.
The nymph leaned closer.
Her face was right up against mine.
I saw her tongue-long and thin-slip between her teeth.
She whispered softly:
"Sweet… blood…"
But no matter how much I wanted to resist, there was nothing I could do.
My body no longer belonged to me.
The vines drew life from my veins slowly, patiently, like roots drinking water from the depths of the earth. Every drop of strength was draining away into the cold darkness of the forest.
I looked at the nymph's face.
It was too close.
Too alive.
Too… hungry.
Her breath smelled of rot and sweet decay, as if flowers were decomposing somewhere deep underground.
Her lips stretched wider.
My vision began to blur.
The forest around me grew soft, as if drawn on wet paper.
I tried to breathe.
But the air no longer filled my lungs.
Everything was getting heavier.
Quieter.
Fainter.
I tried to look at Oscar.
But even turning my head was impossible.
The world began to slowly fade away.
First, the sounds disappeared.
The rustling of the leaves faded away.
The nymph's breathing vanished.
Then the colors disappeared.
The green forest turned gray.
Gray turned black.
The last thing I saw were the nymph's yellow eyes.
They glowed in the darkness like two rotten lanterns.
Then they disappeared too.
And complete darkness fell.
Not the darkness of night.
Not closed eyes.
But real darkness.
Without depth.
No space.
No time.
I couldn't feel my body.
I couldn't feel the ground.
Even my thoughts flowed slowly, as if they were making their way through thick water.
I didn't know how much time had passed.
A moment.
Or an eternity.
But somewhere far away…
…very far away…
I heard a sound.
At first it was so faint that I thought I was imagining it.
A quiet vibration.
As if a thin thread had trembled in the void.
Then the sound grew clearer.
It was a voice.
But not an ordinary one.
It sounded as if it came not from space, but from the darkness itself.
From within it.
I tried to make out the words.
But they fell apart.
Slipped away.
Slipped through my fingers.
As if the language were too ancient for my mind to grasp.
The voice was quiet.
But there was a strange heaviness to it.
Like a deep bell, whose sound passes through stone.
He spoke for a long time.
Slowly.
Every word stretched out through the endless darkness.
But I could hardly understand anything.
The meaning crumbled before it had a chance to take shape.
As if my mind were too weak to hold onto it.
I tried to listen.
Again.
And again.
And suddenly…
…amidst all those distant, fading sounds…
…I heard a single word.
Clearly.
Distinctly.
As if it had been spoken right into my ear.
- Scarlett.
No.
Not like that.
It wasn't a name.
It was… knowledge.
I felt something stir inside me in the darkness.
The voice spoke again.
At length.
Quietly.
The words flowed like dark water.
Once again, I understood nothing.
But then…
…another word broke through the darkness.
Slowly.
Solemnly.
Like a title spoken for the first time in thousands of years.
- Icy… Singularity…
Those words resonated within me with a strange ache.
As if an old door had opened somewhere deep within my soul.
I suddenly remembered.
The Spire.
The cold stone.
And that moment when the world called me by another name.
Icy Singularity.
The voice repeated that name.
And in the darkness, something began to change.
At first-barely noticeable.
As if a tiny spark had appeared in the endless night.
I stared into that emptiness.
And suddenly I understood.
The darkness around me wasn't empty.
It was breathing.
Deeply.
Slowly.
Like a huge heart hidden beyond the horizon.
The voice said my name again.
Closer this time.
Warmer.
"Scarlett."
I didn't know who was speaking.
I didn't know where he was from.
But somewhere deep within my consciousness, a strange certainty arose.
That voice had been waiting for me.
For a long time.
A very long time.
I tried to answer.
But I had no mouth.
No body.
No breath.
There was only a thought.
And that thought was simple.
I am still alive.
The darkness around me stirred.
And somewhere in its depths, a crimson wave slowly rose.
At first, it was thin.
Like a thread of blood in water.
Then wider.
Stronger.
Warmer.
I felt it.
As if blood had returned to my body.
Even though I still had no body.
At that moment, I saw it-my Essence.
A wyvern flying over the moon.
Its two-toned scales shimmered from matte black to purple. White eyes full of pride looked straight into my soul.
The voice fell silent.
But its presence remained.
And in this endless darkness…
…I suddenly understood one thing.
I am not falling.
I am waking up.
The crimson wave rose higher.
And somewhere very far away…
…the forest began to tremble.
Consciousness snapped back.
It was as if I'd been flung back into the world.
I coughed and gasped for air.
Cold air rushed into my lungs.
I was on my knees.
The ground beneath my palms was wet and cold. My fingers were trembling, but I could feel them again.
The first thing I saw was flesh.
Not a body.
Not a creature.
Just… a mess.
Red-gray shreds of flesh, crushed into a pulp, mixed with pieces of bone and dark liquid. The tree bark around it was split and covered in blood.
I blinked.
My mind tried to piece the picture together.
It… was right in front of me.
Where the nymph had been standing a second ago.
But now there was almost nothing left of her.
Her head lay to the side, crushed as if a stone block had fallen on it. Her jaw was twisted, her teeth sticking out.
The eyes.
One eye was still looking up.
But even that was cracked.
I stared at it for a few seconds.
Then the world shattered again.
Not on the outside.
On the inside.
A flood rushed into my head.
Information.
Too much.
Too fast.
I clutched my temples.
"Ahh-"
I doubled over.
My stomach cramped, and I threw up right on the ground.
The pain struck my head so hard it felt like someone was trying to split my skull open from the inside.
Essences.
Words.
Knowledge.
Formulas.
Flows.
Ice.
Gravity.
How a field forms.
How mana condenses.
How cold becomes structure.
How weight becomes force.
Every thought was like a hammer blow.
I shut my eyes, clenching my teeth.
"Quieter… quieter… quieter…"
But the stream didn't stop.
It poured into my consciousness like a river into a narrow channel.
I fell onto my side.
My hands were shaking.
My breathing was ragged.
It felt like my head was about to… burst.
The minutes dragged on agonizingly slowly.
Then…
Gradually…
Everything grew quieter.
My thoughts began to settle.
The flood of knowledge ceased to be a storm and turned into… memory.
I took a slow breath.
Then I exhaled.
I opened my eyes.
The forest was a forest again.
Cold air.
The smell of blood.
The crackling of bark.
I looked up.
And then I understood.
I was standing.
Not on my knees.
I had risen.
When-I hadn't even noticed.
But now my body felt… different.
Stronger.
Heavier.
And lighter at the same time.
I looked down.
And for a moment, I simply… froze.
My body was encased in armor.
But not rough.
Not heavy.
It looked as if it had been forged from star-colored silver.
The plates flowed smoothly over one another, tracing the lines of my body. At the edges, they glowed with a cold purple light.
At the shoulders, the armor flared out in sharp, almost regal lines.
The breastplate was adorned with delicate engraved patterns-resembling intertwined branches and crescent moons.
A quiet, cold glow emanated from it.
My hands were protected by long gauntlets that ended in thin finger plates.
I raised my palm.
And saw frost crystals slowly swirling in the air around it.
I felt the weight.
Gravity.
Every speck of dust around me.
Every twig.
Every stone.
The world seemed to have become… denser.
I touched my hair.
Red strands fell onto the armor like a bright flame.
And when I looked up at the puddle of water nearby, I saw my own eyes.
Red.
Deep.
Cold.
And in that moment, my memory returned completely.
Oscar.
I spun around sharply.
He was hanging from a nearby tree.
Vines entwined his body, digging into his skin.
His face was pale.
His breathing was weak.
"Oscar."
I stepped toward him.
The vines twitched immediately.
Alive.
They tried to tighten their grip.
I raised my hand.
And simply clenched my fingers.
Gravity obediently responded.
The vines cracked.
Quietly at first.
Then louder.
As if someone were snapping dry branches.
A second later, they snapped and fell to the ground.
I caught him before he collapsed.
"Come on… wake up…"
I touched his chest.
Ice slid softly across my palm.
Cold energy coursed through his body, stabilizing his breathing.
A second passed.
Then another.
And he took a sharp breath.