The rain hadn't stopped for days. It came down in silver threads over the city, slicking every surface with a faint mirror sheen that shimmered under the neon haze. The Adventurer's Hub looked less like a headquarters and more like a tired cathedral — steel bones, humming lights, and the ghosts of too many broken promises.
Raiden stood at the edge of its atrium, cloak dripping, eyes locked on the holo-board that flickered faintly with missions. His badge — Level 1 Adventurer — glinted against his chest like a joke only the world could laugh at.
He didn't need recognition. What he needed was a path forward.
Behind his eyes, the same scene played in a merciless loop — a home filled with warmth turned to smoke and static. His wife, Silva, reaching out through the flames. The sound of boots. The crack of a weapon. Then, silence.
He had thought the Black Halo raid was just another senseless act of violence — the kind that came and went in the city's underground wars. But lately… the coincidences itched.
He rolled his shoulders, pushing the thought away as he approached the counter. A courier in a soaked jacket shoved a folder across the desk without looking up.
"Request from the outskirts," the courier said, voice clipped and low. "An anomaly's been reported near the Old Evergreen District — forest zone just outside city perimeter. No Guild coverage. No stable comms. Locals say it's swallowing signal and sending static back like it's breathing."
Raiden's fingers brushed the file open. The words blinked in holographic blue:
Objective: Investigate the anomaly's source and neutralize any threat.
Area: Evergreen Fringe — classified as Level 3+ survival zone.
Potential Hostiles: Unknown fauna mutation. Unstable energy readings.
Risk Level: Red.
Reward: 400 EXP + material salvage rights.
Kairo, the Hub's elder, appeared from the shadows like an echo given shape. His coat was older than most of the neon fixtures around him, his expression a calm mirror to the storm outside.
"You've picked a dark first step," Kairo said, voice rough like gravel over thunder. "Evergreen's not kind to beginners. The forest has roots in old tech — parts of it still breathe electricity from the war days."
Raiden closed the folder, eyes steady. "I've been through worse."
Kairo studied him for a long moment, then nodded. "Courage and despair sound the same when whispered by the wrong heart. Make sure you know which one's speaking."
Raiden didn't answer. He fastened his cloak, slung his sword to his side, and walked out into the rain.
---
The trek to Evergreen Fringe was long — a trail of wet steel, broken signs, and silence heavy enough to hum. The further he went, the less the city followed. Neon faded to darkness. Data towers gave way to trees so thick they looked like pillars. The air here wasn't just damp — it was charged, faintly buzzing against his skin.
When Raiden crossed into the forest, his Quantum Watch flickered erratically. Lines of faint light rippled across his vision:
[System Warning: Ambient corruption detected. Proceed with caution.]
He frowned. "Corruption?"
The forest floor was soft and uneven, the roots coiled like veins. Strange lights pulsed faintly in the mist — not fireflies, not tech. Something in between.
Then came the growl.
It started low, behind him, deep enough to shake the air. Raiden turned slowly, blade sliding free. The creature that emerged from the fog moved like smoke given claws — a four-limbed predator with skin that rippled like wet glass. Its eyes gleamed white, unblinking.
[Detected: Level 4 – Advanced Tier Beast]
[Threat Level: High]
He froze for half a breath. Advanced Tier. He shouldn't even be in the same zone as that.
The beast lunged.
Raiden barely rolled aside as its claws shredded through a fallen log, splinters flying like shrapnel. He swung, a clean horizontal arc that bit into its flank — shallow, but enough to draw a scream. The sound wasn't animal. It was distorted, full of static.
The creature spun, its tail slamming into him like a whip of iron. The impact threw him against a tree. The bark cracked; pain erupted through his ribs. He spat blood and forced himself upright, sword trembling in his grip.
[Warning: Vital signs critical. Retreat advised.]
He almost laughed. "Not an option."
The predator pounced again. Raiden sidestepped, dragging the blade up in a diagonal cut. Sparks flew where metal met corrupted flesh. The blade caught the creature's jaw — its blood hissed when it hit the ground, burning tiny holes through the leaves.
It slammed him again before he could recover, claws raking his shoulder open. He hit the mud hard. The beast's breath rolled hot and foul over him.
He saw Silva again. The fire. Her hand reaching. Then gone.
Something inside him cracked.
[System Alert: Critical threshold reached. Unstable energy response detected.]
The world went white.
Electricity tore through him, violent and pure. It screamed from his veins into the sword — arcs of blue-white lightning wrapping the blade until it howled. The storm became him, and he became its vessel.
He didn't think. He moved.
The blade cut across the beast's chest in a blinding arc. The impact detonated with a thunderclap that split the rain apart. Lightning seared into the forest floor, leaving glass where soil had been. The predator convulsed mid-snarl, its eyes bursting in twin flashes of light.
When the glow faded, Raiden was kneeling, breath ragged. The creature lay still, smoke rising from its carcass. The rain hissed as it hit the scorched earth.
[Lightning Slash – Level 1: Covers host's blade with a surge of lightning, damaging and stunning the enemy.]
[EXP +300]
Raiden let out a long, shuddering breath. "So that's… what you are."
His hands trembled — not from fear, but from the aftershock of the current still crackling in his nerves. The System faded, leaving a faint hum in his skull.
He staggered to his feet and inspected the body. Its chest bore deep branding marks, almost symbols — and there, faintly burned into the skin near its jaw, a black insignia: a circle broken by three fangs.
Raiden froze. That emblem — he'd seen it once before, scorched into the wall of his apartment the night Silva died.
The Black Halo.
He crouched, fingers brushing the mark as the rain washed over it. His heartbeat stuttered.
"Black Halo…" he whispered. "You're connected to this, aren't you?"
No answer came. The forest only watched.
He sheathed his sword and turned toward the deeper woods. The anomaly's pulse was stronger now — a rhythmic vibration in the air, faintly mechanical, almost alive. Whatever it was, the Black Halo had touched it. Maybe built it. Maybe buried it.
Either way, he would find it.
He walked until the trees grew so dense the light barely touched the ground. The storm raged louder overhead, thunder bleeding through the canopy. His shoulder ached, his ribs screamed, and his pulse still carried faint electric rhythm — but he moved forward.
When he finally stopped to rest beside a shallow stream, the System flickered faintly once more.
[Skill Lightning Slash stabilised.]
[Host Level: 3 – Basic Tier]
[EXP to next level: 200]
[Corruption levels rising. Proceed with caution.]
Raiden stared at the faint display. The words corruption rising felt almost deliberate — as if the forest itself wanted him to know this was far from over.
He exhaled, slow and deliberate. His reflection shimmered in the water — tired eyes, wet hair plastered to his forehead, faint electric lines pulsing beneath his skin like veins of light.
He wasn't just an adventurer anymore. He was a storm learning to breathe.
He lifted his sword, the blade faintly alive with blue arcs. Ahead, the woods throbbed with a sound that wasn't wind — a low hum, mechanical, rhythmic.
Whatever waited deeper inside Evergreen, it wasn't natural. And now, with the mark of the Black Halo burned into the memory of this night, Raiden knew one thing: the people who took Silva from him hadn't vanished into myth. They were here. Somewhere in the shadows between thunder and trees.
He set his jaw, feeling the storm se
ttle inside him again.
The rain whispered against his cloak as he stepped forward.
And the forest, almost eager, whispered back.