The air was thick with silence. Not peace. Never peace. Just the kind of silence that came after the screams had ended… and only the bones remembered. Arashi and Kira walked side by side through a street drowned in rust and ash. Broken holo-ads flickered on half-collapsed buildings. Once, this city had music. Neon lights. People.
Now? Only ghosts. Kira broke the silence. "You fought like someone who's done it a thousand times." Arashi didn't answer. She glanced at him. "I mean it. Normal people panic. Scream. You didn't even blink when that Screecher jumped you." Still, no response. "You're not like the others who come through the rifts, are you?" That made him pause. "Others?"
"Yeah. The ones who just… appear. Most of them die in a week. Some lose their minds. Few join the Scavengers."
"And the rest?" he asked quietly.
"They disappear."
He said nothing more. They finally reached the outskirts of an abandoned "Safezone-27", the logo still faintly readable above a rusted gate. Inside: a crumbled defense outpost, solar panels hanging useless, and a shattered statue of some old-world general whose name no one remembered anymore. But under the ground, past the wrecked tunnels, behind coded blast doors… A hidden shelter still breathed. Kira punched in a broken keypad sequence. The door creaked open with a heavy screech. "Welcome to Sector 0's grave."
Inside, three survivors looked up. All armed. All wary. And one of them an old man, missing an arm, with a mechanical jaw stared at Arashi like he'd seen a ghost. He dropped his cup. "I-It can't be..."Arashi's eyes narrowed. "What?"
"Y-You're not supposed to be here…" the man whispered.
"You died. Years ago. In the Rift Collapse."
Kira looked shocked."You... know him?" "Everyone in the old command knew him.
Project Heaven Chain. Code name: Hellborn Architect."
"That's not possible," she said slowly.
"That project was... before I was even born."
The man stepped forward, almost reverently. "Kid… you're not just some survivor."
"You're the reason this world burned."
Silence. All eyes turned to Arashi. But he didn't defend. Didn't deny. He just looked down at his scarred hands. Hands that once built bridges between worlds. Hands that now tore monsters apart. And in that moment, something cracked inside him. I didn't ask to come back. But maybe… I was never meant to leave.
The shelter's silence was a scream waiting to happen. Kira stepped between Arashi and the old man, her hand hovering near her weapon."You must be mistaken. He's just another rift survivor. He doesn't even remember his past." The old man's mechanical jaw clicked. "That's what they all say… right before the virus eats through their system again." Arashi felt a cold pull in his chest like something ancient inside him stirred. Virus? Again? What does he mean… again?
Suddenly, the lights flickered. The underground hum of the shelter faltered.
Then .A blood-curdling screech from the northern tunnel. Everyone jumped. The old man's face paled. "Damn it. They followed your scent."
Kira's eyes widened. "Wraiths?"
"No," he whispered.
"Worse. Stalkers. Silent-class mutants. They track with memory."
Arashi's fists clenched. "Get behind me." The survivors scrambled. Kira hesitated, staring at Arashi like seeing him for the first time."You're… not scared?"
He didn't reply. Instead, he stepped toward the tunnel. A deep growl echoed. Then another. The air turned metallic. The shadows darker. "They remember you too, Architect," the old man muttered.
Just then —BOOOOOM!
The steel tunnel door burst open. A hideous beast crawled in long limbs, bone armor, glowing yellow eyes. But it wasn't the monster that made Kira gasp. It was the mark glowing on Arashi's back as his shirt tore slightly in the impact. A mark shaped like a broken chain bleeding dark light.
"T-That mark… it's not human," she whispered.
Arashi's breath hitched. He didn't know it was there. He didn't know… it still existed.
What am I?
Suddenly
[SYSTEM MESSAGE DETECTED]
"Initializing Archive Sync…"
"Match Found: Heaven Chain User: ██████ Arashi"
"Do you wish to activate dormant protocol?"
His vision blurred. Kira's voice was distant.
The monster's roar was closer. But all he could hear… was his own heartbeat.
Yes.
[PROTOCOL ACTIVATED — SHADOWBORN FRAME: PHASE 1]
User body density: Increased. Pain limiters: Disabled. Energy pulse: Unlocked.
Arashi's eyes turned pitch black. He vanished from where he stood.
CRACK!
One second later the beast's head was spinning in the air, body twitching. Silence. Even the shelter's machines seemed afraid. Arashi stood in the middle, breathing calmly… like nothing happened. Kira stepped forward slowly, her voice trembling.
"W-What… was that?"
He looked at her eyes calm, voice colder than steel. "I think... I just remembered how to kill again."
The beast's shattered body lay twitching, but Arashi's mind raced faster than lightning. That mark on his back… the system… the power awakening inside him it was only the beginning. Kira stared wide-eyed, struggling to catch her breath. "How… how did you do that?"
Arashi looked down at his hands, still trembling. "I don't know… It's like something inside me is waking up. Something I buried long ago." The old man stepped forward slowly, eyes sharp. "You're the key, Architect. The Heaven Chain user. You were sealed away for a reason."
"Sealed? Why?"
"Because you're the only one who can stop what's coming," the old man said grimly.
"The Wraiths… the Stalkers… the virus they are all symptoms of a dying world. And you… you might be its cure or its curse."
Arashi's heart pounded. The weight of a thousand lives pressed on his shoulders.
He closed his eyes, and suddenly a vision flooded his mind.
Flashback:A battlefield shrouded in mist, figures clashing with energy blades, screams echoing through the void.
A younger Arashi, wielding a blade of pure light, fighting side-by-side with shadowy allies. And then a blinding explosion, a shout of betrayal, and the world tearing apart. The vision snapped away. He gasped, shaking.
"I remember… fragments. But why here? Why now?"
Kira placed a steady hand on his shoulder. "Because you're needed. And because the real fight is just beginning." Suddenly, the shelter's alarms blared. Red lights flashed. "Incoming! Multiple Stalkers detected!"
The old man activated a control panel, and the shelter's defenses whirred to life.
Arashi readied himself, shadow-black eyes glowing fiercely. "Let them come." Outside the tunnel, the growls multiplied. The hunt was on. But this time, the Architect was awake and he was ready to rewrite fate.