Raiyan's gaze stayed locked on the slowly dissipating mist where the Shadow had collapsed. Aminah and Felix didn't watch the fading wisp—they stared, frozen, at where Max had fallen. Their faces drained of color.
Raiyan whispered, throat tight:
"Let's get Max goin—"
He stopped short. A reflexive gasp ripped from him as Max's form stirred—horrific and wrong.
Max lay motionless at first, but something in the way his spine shifted signaled change. All at once his body twitched violently. Pale turned to inky black across his skin. Claws burst from his fingers and knuckles, slender and obsidian. His back arched, bone spines knifing upward beneath his dark flesh. His chest heaved with distortion. From somewhere in his throat—Max's throat—escaped a malformed screech. His eyes, now glowing wholly purple, reflected insanity.
Aminah didn't move. Her jaw dropped, eyes fixed, unblinking.
Felix reeled back, voice trembling:
"No… no…"
Raiyan's heart fluttered. He should run. The system had just told him to run. But it wouldn't obey. His legs felt like roots.
The distorted Max screamed again—an inhuman roar of pain and hunger.
Felix pressed back, terrified tears rolling:
"We must… we must…"
> SYSTEM MESSAGE
> Ally turns enemy
> Reason: Shadow Soul Takeover
> Happens when Shadow is killed, and its soul seeks a new body.
> Objective: Run
> Temporary skill boost: Speed
The words flashed, cold and unforgiving. But Max—no, it—rose fully upright. Claws clicking like stone scraping on stone. Its black limbs stretched, joints reversing, transforming into a warped beast carved in human visage.
Felix moaned, stepping back, hands quivering. Aminah's lips trembled. All four of them locked eyes—once comrades, now death walking.
It lunged in. Felix yelled:
"Take Aminah and run! I will distract it!"
Raiyan snapped into motion. The system's speed boost surged in his bones. He swooped down, lifted Aminah—still trembling, terrified, not resisting—and turned and sprinted toward the forest's edge.
Felix screamed—something splintered like a cry of grief and fury. Then, abruptly, silence.
Leaves slapped his face, roots grabbed his feet. He ran until his lungs burned and his vision blurred. He dared not look back until he heard human screams—Felix's cries trailing into nothing.
He found a wide bush. He pressed Aminah down beside it, crushed her tight under his arm, hand over her mouth to keep her silent.
Her eyes stared ahead, hollow.
Raiyan turned, scanning the forest.
SYSTEM MESSAGE
Ultra hearing unlocked
He heard it.
Branches crackling. Footsteps—but wrong. Fast. Predatory.
He watched as a black rod of limb slithered between tree trunks, scaling into view. His chest contracted; a wave of terror shut out sense.
The creature stepped into the clearing, head tilted, those purple eyes locking onto Raiyan and Aminah. His face was twisted: jaw stretched, unnatural protrusions—hornlike pimples—on his forehead and cheeks.
Raiyan gasped. He looked down at his pants. He'd peed himself.
He stared. Shock stole every thought. A heartbeat passed. The monster smiled.
Then its claw burst forward and impaled Raiyan's chest.
No warning—no pain. Just cold keen pressure. His heart crumpled.
Visibility flickered.
Everything went black.
Huh? Am I dead?
Not again…
In the void, the horizon vanished. He floated amid grey rippling waves. His legs felt heavy. No sense of time. Voices—disembodied and whispering:
"There should be no life in the void. How has this person sought Life?"
"He was broken. He arrived broken. Why does he persist?"
Raiyan tried to respond, to move, to cry out, but he was silent. Restless. Past and present merging.
Then—
> SYSTEM MESSAGE
> Skill enabled
> Sacrificial Protection
The void blurred. Pain flickered as memory.
A dull ache throbbed in Raiyan's chest.
The world was dark at first—still and cold. No wind. No pain. Just numbness. His eyes fluttered open slowly, struggling against the heavy weight of his lashes.
He lay on something… soft? Not entirely, no. A bed, perhaps, but far from comfortable. The fabric was coarse beneath his palms, and the air hung with a faint, unfamiliar staleness. No scent of wood, blood, or forest. Instead, something metallic. Dry.
Alive.
His breath caught.
The memory struck him like a hammer to the head—Max's twisted face, claws, that unbearable shriek, and finally… death. He remembered the claw stabbing through his chest. The blackness. The void.
So why…?
His hand shot to his chest in panic.
Nothing.
No gaping wound. No blood. Just skin—whole. The area was sore, but intact. It didn't make sense. Was it a dream? A vision? No, it had felt too real—too raw.
His eyes adjusted slowly to the dim lighting. The room was small and spartan—gray concrete walls, no windows, a single flickering torch in a rusted sconce. There was only one door, locked tight. The walls seemed to breathe with silence.
And then—he saw him.
A man.
Sitting across from him on a simple wooden chair, elbows resting on his knees, hands clasped. His coat was black, high-collared and worn, his posture relaxed—but his presence… suffocating. His hair was a mess of black strands that fell over his forehead, his face sculpted with sharp edges, skin pale like marble, and eyes a cold, unreadable brown. Unblinking.
Watching.
Like a wolf measuring a wounded deer.
Raiyan instinctively flinched, shoulders tensing. The man didn't move.
Then, in a deep, almost indifferent tone:
"Ah. You're awake."
The words were plain, but the weight behind them pressed down like an unseen stone. Raiyan opened his mouth, his throat dry, voice cracking:
"Uhmm… sir, where am I?"
The man tilted his head slightly, arms now folding across his chest.
"You tell me."
"Pardon?" Raiyan blinked in confusion, heartbeat quickening.
The man's gaze sharpened. It was as if his eyes could pierce flesh and bone. His tone dropped an octave—stern and direct.
"I come from the city of Xorkhor. One moment I was sleeping—next, I woke up here. In this room. You were lying on that bed too, whining in your sleep."
His voice was calm, but not kind.
"I looked around. This place? It's not Xorkhor. Not even close. This… is clearly some other continent."
Raiyan's breath hitched.
What the hell is going on?
He tried to sit up, wincing slightly as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed. The cold floor bit into his bare feet. His mind reeled as he recalled the last thing he'd seen: the forest, Aminah, Felix… Max's twisted grin. The Shadow.
A spike of panic shot through his chest.
"Was there a woman with me, sir?" he asked quickly, anxiety sharpening each word.
The man raised a brow, turning his head slightly as if recalling something. Then, without shifting tone:
"Hmm? No. Only you. But—there were some clothes. Over there, look."
He lifted his chin toward the far side of the room. Raiyan's eyes followed.
On another worn-out wooden chair sat a bundle of folded clothing—tattered, bloodstained, and unmistakably familiar.
His chest tightened.
Aminah's clothes.
His eyes twitched. He gripped the mattress tightly, knuckles white. Where is she? Did she—was she also taken? Or worse… left behind?
The man's voice came again, now low and edged, dangerous.
"Say, boy… Are you associated with the Church of Razkar?"
The words cut through the air like a blade. Raiyan turned to face him fully, confused and tense. The man's expression had darkened—dead serious. There was no warmth in that gaze. No bluff.
Raiyan's pulse hammered against his ribs. He raised both hands slightly, voice steady but unsure:
"Uhmm… no, sir. I was attacked in… a forest. By a Shadow. My party comrades… were with me. We defeated it, but I think…"
He paused, breath trembling. "…I think it took over the body of one of my comrades."
The words left his lips slowly, carefully. The man didn't blink. Raiyan's eyes shifted toward the corner, toward Aminah's clothes, then back.
"What is this Church you mentioned…?"
The man leaned back a little, lips pressing into a grim line. Raiyan continued staring him down.
"Huh. There are churches here too, then. Wait, no… must be a name for a place of Reverence. Razkar… huh…"
Raiyan thought "…must be a famous guy then."
Raiyan watched him in stunned silence. His mind suddenly reeled with a lot of questions.
What is he talking about? It didn't sound like he was from the same world. Or if he was, he didn't share the same reality. Was this… another reincarnator?
The man sighed, and finally relaxed his shoulders a bit. His voice returned to that same tired baritone.
"Alright then. I will not kill you."
"Eh?" Raiyan blinked.
The man didn't repeat himself.
Raiyan gulped.