Ryder woke to the sound of wind.
Cold air hit his skin. He opened his eyes and saw the sky—gray, clouded, endless. Not the crushing dark of the Sanctum. He was lying on stone, just beyond a crumbled ruin.
He sat up slowly. His body ached. His clothes were torn and damp, but not soaked. A strange black marking ran down his right arm—the same spiral he had seen in the chamber.
His first breath felt different. Light. Shallow. The air didn't feel right.
He stood.
The landscape stretched before him like a wasteland. Dry cliffs, sun-bleached rocks, and the broken bones of ancient structures jutted out of the earth. There was no sign of water.
A voice spoke behind him.
"You came from the Sanctum?"
Ryder spun.
A girl stood there—mid-twenties maybe, tall, dressed in red cloth reinforced with thin armor. A short blade hung at her hip. Her hair was dark red, tied back. Her eyes were sharp, like she didn't miss anything.
She looked at his arm, then at his face.
"You're not from here."
"No," Ryder said. "I'm not."
"Name?"
"Ryder Kazuki."
She narrowed her eyes.
"Strange name. You look foreign. Your aura... it's unstable."
She wasn't normal. Ryder could feel something around her—like heat, but focused, dense.
"You're not just anyone," she said. "You activated the Tide."
"I didn't choose it."
"It chose you?"
He didn't answer.
She sighed. "That arm means you're marked. If the Concord sees you, they'll try to erase you on sight."
"Erase me?"
"You're Mythic. Worse—you're Leviathan-marked."
She stepped closer.
"I'm Seris Vael. Phoenix-bound. You're lucky I found you first."
Ryder blinked. "Phoenix?"
She nodded. Her left eye briefly flickered orange.
"We don't have time for a history lesson. Can you walk?"
"I think so."
"Then follow me. You'll want answers. And shelter."
They moved through the rocks in silence. Ryder kept glancing at the horizon. It looked dead. No trees. No water. Only ruins and cliffs.
Seris finally spoke.
"This place used to be an ocean. Before the Tide Reversal. Before the Concord purged the Mythborn."
Ryder frowned. "Mythborn?"
"People like you. People like me. Ones who bonded with ancient forces—Leviathan, Phoenix, Behemoth, Kraken. Long ago, they shaped the world. But they became too strong. Unstable. So the rulers above formed the Concord and wiped them out."
"And you?"
"My House survived in secret. Barely. I've been in hiding for years."
They reached a small outcrop. A cave entrance was carved into the rock, hidden by broken stone.
Inside, a few lanterns lit the walls. There were supplies, blankets, scrolls, weapons. She gestured for him to sit.
He did.
"Now," she said, kneeling across from him. "Tell me how you got here."
"I was diving. Back on Earth. In my world. There was a storm. Then... black water. Pressure. And then I was in the Sanctum."
She nodded slowly. "So, not just Mythic. You're foreign. One of the Lost Anchors."
"What?"
"The Tide sometimes pulls souls from other worlds. When it needs something fixed. When something old stirs."
Ryder looked down at his arm. The mark pulsed faintly.
"I don't understand any of this. I just wanted to live."
Seris looked at him carefully.
"Then survive. Because the world above is hunting people like you."
Suddenly, the lanterns flickered.
Seris stood up fast. "Someone's here."
Ryder turned.
A voice echoed from the cave entrance.
"Found you."
A man stepped into the light. Pale skin, gray robes, eyes like shattered glass. His hands dripped with green energy that hissed on the stone floor.
"The Concord thanks you, Phoenix traitor. And the new Leviathan Host... he's a bonus."
Ryder felt his skin crawl. The air grew thick.
Seris drew her blade. "Run."
"But—"
"Now."
The man raised his hand. The ground twisted. Roots burst from the walls, alive, reaching.
Ryder sprinted down a side path as Seris blocked the attacker. Her blade ignited in orange light.
He didn't see the fight—just heard the roar of fire and a scream of something not human.
He ran until the light faded.
Then everything went quiet.