Axel had stopped trying to measure time. The sky above remained gray, colorless and dead. But something had changed. The stillness was no longer passive.
It was watching.
Each step he took into the forest no longer felt aimless. The dirt was firmer, the decay less suffocating. Trees began to space themselves wider apart, and between them, he noticed growths—clusters of black thorns sprouting in perfect circles, as if they were cultivated.
The land was shifting.
And so was the silence.
There was a rhythm now. Faint. Like a pulse beneath the soil. Not mechanical. Organic. But deliberate.
At first, he thought it was in his head—some echo of his exhaustion or hunger. But no. The ground itself breathed. Not with air, but with rhythm. A deep, deliberate cadence beneath the surface, as though the earth harbored a sleeping heart.
> Stress levels increasing.> Suggestion: cease movement.
He ignored NEX. Whatever was watching… it wasn't NEX.
He crested a hill and stopped. At its center, half-buried under twisted roots and mud, stood a fractured monolith—dark stone, slick with moisture, and covered in symbols that shimmered faintly in hues he couldn't name. Something… between blue and purple.
The pulse grew louder. Not in sound, but in pressure.
> Heart rate increasing.
> Adrenal response: elevated.
> External stimulus: unknown.
Axel stepped closer.
The symbols on the monolith shifted—subtly. They rearranged themselves as if recognizing him. He didn't understand what they meant, but something in his spine tensed.
A message. A warning. Or… a trigger.
Something about it tugged at him. Not curiosity or instinct. Recognition. Not his, but... something else's. The monolith saw him.
He reached out. Just one hand. Slowly.
When his fingers brushed the cold stone, the world moved. The ground cracked beneath him.
Something erupted—fast, black, silent. A shadow with mass. A shape that slithered from the cracks like smoke with claws.
He threw himself backward, landing hard on his spine. The breath left his lungs. Before he could move again, the thing lunged.
Its body was fluid, its edges uncertain. It struck like a whip, but with the weight of metal. It didn't howl nor made no sound at all.
He rolled. The attack struck where his skull had been a second earlier. Earth exploded around him. Shards of bark cut his cheek.
"NEX!" he yelled, without thinking. "Identify threat!"
> Classification: unknown.
> Combat mode: unavailable.
> Recommendation: evade.
Axel sprinted—or tried to. His body wasn't ready. His muscles burned. His feet dragged. But fear lent him speed.
The shadow lashed again.
A tendril wrapped around his ankle and yanked. He hit the ground hard, mouth filling with blood.
> Minor fracture detected.
> Suggestion: flee.
The shadow's edge hovered inches from his face. It vibrated, shifting between fluid and crystalline, like code corrupted mid-execution.
It wanted to erase him. Whatever it was, it wasn't a beast. And it had decided he was out of place.
> Combat functionality: unavailable.
> User defense protocol: nonexistent.
> Estimated termination: 3.7 seconds.
He twisted, kicked. The shadow hissed and retracted just enough for Axel to scramble upright. He didn't know where he was running, only that he had to get away from the monolith.
Away from that thing.
The trees became denser. The ground dipped. Roots snagged at his legs. Branches cut across his face. But the shadow followed.
The monolith behind him flickered—its symbols spasming.
The shadow froze. Only for a second. But Axel felt it.
It hesitated.
After minutes of running, Axel collapsed near a ravine, gasping.
He could no longer hear the thing behind him. He didn't know if it had given up, lost him, or simply gone dormant again.
But the pressure remained in his skull, like the memory of a scream that never happened.
> Vital signs critical.
> Adrenal fatigue detected.
> Rest required.
> Injuries: minor contusions, tissue laceration, neurological stress.
> Overall integrity: deteriorating.
Axel didn't respond. He was shaking. Not just from exertion, but from clarity.
This world wanted him dead.
Not out of malice.
Out of order.
The shadow had made that clear. Whatever laws ruled this place, he violated them simply by existing.
Later—after the pain dulled —he sat beside the ravine, staring into the mist that rose from it. Somewhere deep below, he heard the pulse again.
His mind drifted to the monolith. To the shifting runes. To the fact that the attack had started only when he touched it.
Was it a trap? A test? Or a threshold?
He didn't know.
He only knew that something had seen him.
And chosen to respond.
> System update:
> Threat classification: Level 1.
> Subject survivability: 34%.
> Status screen available.
Axel blinked. "Display."
The interface appeared in his mind's eye—this time slower, more fragmented. But there.
-----
Name: Axel
Rank: F
Strength: F
Agility: F+
Mana: F-
Stamina: F-
Intelligence: E
Luck: F-
Skill: –
Physique: –
Oath: –
Grimoire: –
Job: –
Fusion: 0.0003%
Status: Persisting Anomaly
Adaptation: Initiated
System Integrity: Degraded
-----
"It's rising," Axel whispered.
Just barely—but the number had changed.
Not much.
But enough to prove one thing:
The system was still evolving.
And it was dragging him with it.