[Soul Trait Unlocked: Adaptive Resilience]
You have endured and survived against overwhelming force. Your body learns. Your flesh remembers.
You can learn and adapt to the moves of your opponent]
Ian blinked.
Then smiled—just a little.
———
The world beyond the temple was quieter—too quiet.
Ian walked alone through the desolate, crumbling landscape, every step stirring pale dust and ancient ash.
The ruins fell away behind him, swallowed by shadow and memory. Only the red sky remained above, bleeding. The air had grown heavy, dry and metallic against his skin, as though it remembered blood.
As though it could taste it.
He didn't speak. Didn't think. His body moved, but his mind was distant, hollowed by something colder than grief and older than fear.
But the silence didn't last.
It never did.
It began as a whisper. A breath too close to his ear.
"You shouldn't be here…"
Ian stopped.
Turned.
Nothing.
No footsteps. No shapes. No shadow but his own.
