"Let's bring back the world."
Those words still drifted through Yuri's mind like the fading echo of a dream. They shouldn't have meant anything — they sounded like the kind of empty bravado spoken by someone on the edge of madness. A desperate promise made in the ruins of a dying reality.
Yet somehow…those words sparked something.A stubborn ember in the middle of ashes.
And for Yuri… that ember had been enough.
Weeks passed — long, grinding, mind-splintering weeks inside the Palace of Pillars, a realm where enormous stone monoliths floated in a horizonless void. No sun. No night. No sense of time. Just the slow, ancient hum of drifting structures and the constant presence of Zeek's dry sarcasm echoing somewhere in the distance.
Yuri claimed his own pillar far from Zeek's, training until sweat blurred his vision and pain numbed into routine. His strange abilities pulsed beneath his skin like a new circulatory system, and every day he tested them, shaped them, sharpened them.Every day carried the silent whisper:
Not enough. Not yet.
But today…
Something in him finally snapped.
Yuri pushed off the ground and glared up toward Zeek's massive monolith — the one crowned with a throne carved into the stone, where Zeek lay sprawled with all the enthusiasm of a corpse basking in boredom.
"Hey!"
Silence.
Zeek didn't even look up. He reclined across the throne like a lazy deity, head tipped back, fingers dangling over the armrest.
"I know you can hear me!" Yuri shouted. "What happened to that inspiring line of yours? 'Let's bring back the world!' Remember that?"
For a long beat, nothing.
Then—
Zeek exhaled the longest, most exhausted sigh Yuri had ever heard. He lifted his head only enough to look mildly inconvenienced.
"You never get tired of talking, do you."
Yuri's jaw dropped. His thoughts scrambled.
What is this guy's problem!?
Zeek pushed himself up, stretching like someone forced awake from a nap he didn't want. And without warning—
BOOM.
He dropped from his pillar.
The impact shattered the edge of Yuri's monolith, the stone trembling under Yuri's feet. Dust billowed. Echoes rang.
Zeek walked through the settling smoke with his hands in his pockets, aura flickering like a lazy shadow.
"Look," Zeek said flatly. "I wasn't joking about bringing the world back. But to do that, we'll face things beyond anything we've ever seen — beyond anything that makes sense. If we're going to survive that, we need strength. Real strength."
He stopped inches in front of Yuri.
"Now answer me this. Why do you think I chose you? Out of anyone else?"
Yuri blinked."…Uhm. You mean… there was a reason?"
"Of course there was." Zeek looked offended that it even needed explaining. "I didn't pick you at random. I'd been searching for you. For a while."
Yuri stared, speechless.
"It's because we match," Zeek added.
"…Match?" Yuri echoed. "What does that even mean? Match how? Personality? Skill? Are you saying we're like—"
Zeek inhaled sharply.A rare, honest crack in his tone.
"There's something around you," he said. "Something that resonates with my shadows. Like a force pulling them toward you. I can't explain it. But they're drawn to you — like a moth to a flame."
Yuri's expression twisted in slow, horrified realization.
Zeek's eyes narrowed."…What."
Yuri swallowed. "Do you… like… have a crush on me or something? Because I—"
CRACK.
Zeek smacked him across the head.
"Stop talking nonsense!" he snapped. "That's not even close to what I meant."
Yuri groaned, rubbing the sting.
Zeek, now visibly regretting ever opening up, ran a hand through his hair.
"Forget it. Moving on," he muttered. "The reason we stayed here so long was because I thought being near me would trigger something in you — a trait, a skill, anything. But so far? Nothing. So we're leaving."
Yuri practically lit up.
"Yes! Finally! So where are we going? And… how do we go?"He looked around the void — remembering the lack of doors, floors, directions, anything.
"We're still on the First Level," Zeek said. "We need to progress."
"…First level?" Yuri repeated. "Why does that sound like bad news?"
Zeek gave him a look — the 'are you serious' look.
"Try to keep up. This world functions like a game. And like any game, it has levels. Nobody knows how they're organized. Some say they stack like layers. Others think they're rifts hidden between dimensions."
He turned his gaze into the darkness.
"Either way, most survivors moved past this level long ago. We need to join them."
Yuri scratched the back of his head."So… how do we advance?"
"To progress, you need to defeat the final boss of the level," Zeek said simply. "And everyone's boss is different. Custom-made. You don't find it."
He paused.
"It finds you."
A heavy chill crawled down Yuri's spine.A personal final boss? Something tailored to him?
"…Zeek," Yuri said slowly. "How do you even know all this?"
Zeek didn't answer.
He turned away, shadows swirling around him, and with a flicker, leapt back onto his throne, landing like a phantom.
"Get ready," he said without looking back. "We move tomorrow."
Yuri stared up at him.
"…He ignored me."