Raven woke to silence.
Not peace.
The kind that hums in your bones — heavy, unnatural.
He sat upright, chest slick with sweat. The walls seemed to breathe faintly in the dark. His heartbeat echoed like someone else's — too many pulses inside one body.
Six. Then seven.
Then only one.
He pressed a palm to his chest and exhaled slowly. "Just another dream," he muttered.
But the voice that came out didn't sound like his.
> [Sleep cycle interrupted.]
[System Log: Resonance Event Detected — 03:12:44]
[Source: Soul Fragments — Class: Human / Criminal / Tier F]
The words floated in front of him — white text glowing in the dark, cold and sterile.
He stared for a long time, jaw tight. The resonance was getting worse. Every night now, it pulled him into someone else's memories. Their pain. Their fear. Their death.
He dragged a hand through his hair and whispered, "You're driving me insane."
> [Correction: Instability is a byproduct of Assimilation.]
[Increased efficiency correlates with emotional erosion.]
Raven laughed — a sharp, bitter sound. "You really don't care, do you?"
> [Humanization protocol unnecessary.]
He sighed and opened the Status Interface.
[STATUS – RAVEN AHN]
Level: 6
Rank: E (Unregistered)
Soul Integrity: 92%
Assimilation: 12%
Traits: [Deathbound Link], [Adaptive Recovery]
Stats:
• Strength — 18
• Agility — 16
• Vitality — 20
• Intelligence — 13
• Perception — 15
Not bad.
Not great either.
Each number came from something he killed.
He shut the interface and muttered, "You're turning me into a graveyard."
> [Correction: The System preserves what would otherwise be lost.]
The words glitched faintly — one frame too slow.
Like that reflection that used to smile back at him.
He didn't laugh this time.
Dawn hadn't come yet. The city outside slept under a web of flickering neon. Raven moved to the window, watching the mist roll between the towers.
Hunters were already gathering at the gates — laughing, smoking, talking about easy money.
He used to be one of them.
Now? He wasn't sure what he was.
Something cold brushed across his spine.
He turned toward the mirror by the sink.
His reflection looked normal — pale, tired, scarred.
Then its lips moved.
"You're not alone."
Raven froze.
The voice wasn't his. It was the man he'd killed in the alley — the criminal. His last words echoed through Raven's skull like static.
— Don't let me die, man, please—
He stumbled back, knocking into the counter.
> [Warning: Soul Feedback Detected]
[Fragment Resonance: 3.4%]
[Stabilization Required]
"What the hell are you doing to me!?" he shouted.
The reflection tilted its head.
Empty eyes. Crooked grin.
"We're still here, Collector."
The lights in the apartment buzzed, then died.
Only the System's glow remained — pulsing like a heartbeat.
He didn't sleep again.
Instead, he paced until dawn, jaw tight, eyes burning.
When the sun finally broke through the blinds, he pulled on his old Hunter jacket, sheathed his dagger, and left.
The streets of District 8 were alive with noise — vendors, neon signs, exhaust smoke.
Down here, the Association barely bothered to check IDs.
Raven passed a trio of hunters leaning against a vending machine. Their laughter stopped when they saw him.
"Hey," one said, grinning. "Look who crawled back from the grave."
Raven kept walking.
Another stepped forward. "Word is you died in Sector Twelve. Guess the afterlife was full, huh?"
He ignored them.
Until one grabbed his shoulder.
The world pulsed.
> [Auto-Defense Triggered]
[Target Hostility Detected]
[Assimilation Field — 0.4% Manifestation]
The man's mana sputtered out like a candle in the wind. His knees buckled.
Raven didn't move. His voice was low, quiet. "Don't touch me."
The grip vanished. The hunter dropped, gasping for air. The others just stared — wide-eyed, pale.
By the time they blinked, Raven was gone.
He spent the rest of the day near a minor gate in Sector Four — a D-rank rift guarded by a local guild.
Ordinary. Controlled.
The kind he used to clear for rent money.
The air shimmered faintly around the rift. Raven could feel it hum beneath his skin.
The pulse matched his heartbeat.
Harvest. Assimilate. Survive.
He turned away before the hunger got worse.
That night, the System whispered again.
> [New Function Unlocked: Soul Assimilation Log]
Raven blinked. "About time."
He tapped it open.
[ASSIMILATED FRAGMENTS]
• Human (Criminal, Tier F) — Memory Trace 4%
• Hunter (E, Deceased) — Memory Trace 2%
• Monster (D, Lesser Wraith) — Instinct Trace 8%
• Monster (D, Mana Hound) — Instinct Trace 6%
• ??? — Fragment Corrupted (Unclassified)
• Human (Hunter, Tier E) — Memory Trace 1%
> [Assimilation Threshold Unlocked: 15%]
[New Passive — Echo Memory Access]
"Echo memory?" he murmured.
> [Access grants cognitive fragments from absorbed entities.]
[Warning: Extended exposure may alter host psyche.]
He hesitated — then said, "Show me."
The world vanished.
He stood in a burning alley.
Gunfire.
Smoke.
The stench of blood.
He saw through another man's eyes — felt his fear, his guilt, his desperate will to live.
Then, through the haze — a woman screaming. A gate rupturing open.
A whisper in the dark:
"You weren't the first, Collector."
Raven's eyes snapped open. He was back in his apartment, on his knees, breathing hard.
> [Echo Memory Terminated.]
[Cognitive Stability: 81%.]
"You weren't the first…" he whispered.
> [Query recognized.]
[Historical data inaccessible.]
[Origin file: Corrupted.]
"Origin."
That word again. Always buried in the logs.
He stared out the window, the city lights bleeding into the mist.
Whatever this System was — someone made it.
And that someone was still out there.
Across the city, Lira Vale scrolled through Raven Ahn's file.
Three minutes of death. No healer intervention. No residual mana trace.
She frowned. "You should've stayed dead, Raven."
Her comm buzzed.
"Investigator Vale, we've got a resonance ping in District 8. Unregistered frequency. Human signature mixed with monster essence."
Her eyes narrowed. "Send a team. Quietly."
She closed the file and looked out her window — toward the same skyline Raven was staring at.
Back in his apartment, the System whispered again.
> [New Directive Available.]
[Hidden Quest — The Origin Breach: Begin Investigation.]
Raven exhaled, the faintest smirk on his lips.
"Fine. Let's see what you're hiding."
The lights dimmed. The room went silent.
In the dark reflection of the window — six pairs of eyes watched him breathe.