Ayaka's POV
Today was the first real day here—excluding yesterday, which barely felt real at all. Yesterday was confusion, panic, and half-formed thoughts crashing into each other. Today, though, was different. Today was the first day we consciously stepped into this place, fully aware that it wasn't a dream we could wake up from.
This was officially our first day.
All of us were heading into the forest to hunt a demon tiger.
Before this mission, I had tried to prepare myself the only way I knew how—by reading. Books, records, fragments of knowledge left behind by people who had survived long enough to write things down. From those texts, demon tigers were described as creatures that were, at their core, still tigers. But "still" felt like the wrong word. They were larger, their bodies swollen with unnatural strength, their fangs and claws evolved into weapons meant solely for killing. Faster. Smarter. Much, much deadlier.
