Thousands of years ago, an event known as the "Great Fade In" occurred across the planet. Patches of altered reality—called "Habitats"—appeared without warning, consuming a majority of the known world. This cataclysm was later designated the First Great Fade In.
It was named the "First" for a grim reason, approximately a millennia later, there was a second. Then a third, a fourth, and eventually a fifth.
Despite ancient humanity's desperate struggle, ancient technology and collective will, the species faced total extinction. Entire civilizations were erased, swallowed by domains that defied natural law. They would have perished had it not been for the emergence of the "Privilege."
By killing at least one Mutant, Mentalist and Mage beast, anyone could be given the Privilege, be granted abilities to survive and even navigate the twisted realms, as well as rise in power by killing more and more of the "Forsaken".
With this power, humanity clawed its way back from oblivion. They became hunters, explorers, survivors. They called themselves Pilgrims. And though the world was forever broken, they had carved out a place within the ruins.
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White cornea. Blue Iris. Black pupil.
The eye hung at its zenith, dominating a vast swath of the sky like a frozen cyclops. It stared down with a terrifying, impartial clarity, bathing the landscape in a pale, sterile glow, leaching color from the snow-dusted rocks and gnarled trees.
A long tongue swatted the air as dribble fell from it onto the ground, the action of sticking it's tongue into it's mouth caused it to react as if hit by an electric shock.
Tasty, it could taste a human on the air.
The creature had yellowish skin and six legs but lacked eyes and ears on its head. Instead, three rows of teeth dominated its maw, decreasing in size from top to bottom.
As soon as it detected the human scent, it extended all three tongues, snarling as it charged after its target, drool flying in testament to its hunger.
However, before it could reach its prey, a sword plunged into its side, prompting a loud shriek.
RRRREEEEGH—!
Jumping away, it tried to create distance from the attacker but found no reprieve as a spear lodged in its neck.
It screeched again, extending a tongue to taste the air once more, a grave mistake. The tongue was severed, falling to the ground where it wiggled before shrinking and shriveling.
The loss of one of it's tongues fueled its panic and caused it to lash out, which created more openings for both of it's attackers.
One was a young woman with brown hair and green eyes, she had a slim but curvaceous figure and wielded a highly decorated sword. Above her head hovered an ever-revolving halo with an arrow pointing forward. The other was a young boy with blue hair and cyan eyes, he had a slim build with subtle muscles and gripped a spear tightly.
Said spear constantly poked, prodded and pierced the tough skin of the creature they were hunting, albeit with great difficulty. For the woman, however, her sword sliced effortlessly through hide, exposing flesh and tendons that left the beast reeling.
It was for this reason that the creature focused primarily on her, sparing the boy only glances when he struck true. But this fixation proved its downfall when a halo identical to the woman's appeared above the boy's head.
Despite its limited intelligence, the beast sensed something had changed, but it was too late. The boy closed the distance and drove his spear through its neck.
With a shriek of pain, it whirled toward him, claws slashing to tear him apart. To its surprise, he dropped his weapon and leaped back, the claws only scraping his chest.
Inhaling sharply from the pain, the boy watched as arrows from his halo rushed to his wounds. Within seconds, they reduced to minor scratches, though he now felt profoundly lethargic.
It didn't matter anymore though, he had fulfilled his objective. With the beast distracted, his companion leaped into the fray, her sword descending in one fluid motion. Its head flew through the air a second later.
She didn't stop there. Before the head could land, she positioned her sword and struck through it once more, slicing it in half.
Only then did she retract her blade, the thud of the beast's headless body hitting the ground signifying their victory.
The sword she held in her hands dissolved into light as she was breathing heavily trying to rein in her exhaustion.
"So, is it dead," she inquired of the boy currently standing in front of the head she had split in two.
Inspecting it with his spear for a moment he turned around and used the gesture she had taught him to confirm a positive answer to a question, she had called it a 'thumbs up'.
The creature was originally a Mutant beast, however, it had fallen prey to a Mentalist beast which made it's presence known in the three tongues on it's face. If the three tongues weren't destroyed it could just find itself another Mutant beast and then take over it's body.
Moving in the direction of the mutant beast he brought out a small dagger and made incisions into the flesh of the beast harvesting meat and then he stored it in sacks and pouches. At the very least they would have enough to eat for a few days.
Standing up he called her to him, and they continued on their way, the leftovers serving as magnet for other Forsaken making them keen on leaving as soon as possible.
"Do you think there's enough time?" she asked, her voice low as she glanced upward. She adjusted her pack, the foreign materials of her outfit stark against the primitive landscape.
"No, not this night, we'll have to find somewhere to hide before the eye turns black," he said taking a glance at the eye as well. While it pained him to go back without checking for a potential target today, they had no other choice.
After all, they needed to eat. But between finding a target for the hunt and getting ready for the hunt, to carrying it out. Too much time had been wasted, he even considered this quite fast, without her wonderful "Treasure" it would have taken even longer. At the very least, several days.
This world, or Occulas was an Habitat responsible for the Third Great Fade in of the outside world, thus it was referred to as the Fourth Great Habitat. Each Great Habitat being of the Tarnished rank, were well above the rank required to have their own laws.
In Occulas there was no sun, moon, or stars. Instead, an ominous looking eye covered the sky, when the eye had a white cornea, blue iris and black pupil it was safe to walk and move in it's light.
However when it reached the horizon it would change to a black cornea, red Iris and white pupil. Anything caught in it's light at this point would slowly freeze when they stayed still and catch on fire should they move too fast subsequently evaporating.
The lady from the outside world had told him it was reminiscent of of a children's game called "Red-Light, Green-Light", so the rule had been called "Red-light, Blue-Light," by the Pilgrims who explored it.
Myrhhl tightened the straps of his spear and scanned the landscape for shelter. He knew these lands like the back of his hand, so it came quite easy to him.
"There," he said, pointing toward a cluster of stone ridges jutting from the plain like broken teeth. "A hollow beneath those rocks. We can reach it if we move now."
"How long until the shift?" she asked.
He watched the eye again. Its iris had begun to darken at the edges. The transformation was slow at first, deceptive in its calm.
"Forty minutes. Maybe less."
The wind grew sharper as they hurried toward the rocks. Snow whipped sideways, slicing at their cheeks like tiny blades.
She glanced at him again. "You're sure it's safe?"
"I've hid there before," he said. "It should be fine."
She smiled faintly at the mention of 'should be'. "Comforting."
"At worst, there might be a few Mutant beasts," he said casually. "Why are you so scared anyway? We're planning to hunt the first Mage beast we see."
"It's the idea behind it, you might not understand but this place is...quite notorious on the outside. Sometimes i think a monster completely out of my league is going to jump out of the corner,"
"We're not in the migration spot of anything too crazy, if i can escape I'm sure you can," he said as they made their way closer to their destination.
They reached the rocks just as the sky changed. A thin ripple passed through the light, as if someone brushed a hand across a painting. The blue iris began to bleed into red.
They climbed down into the narrow hollow, the stone walls pressing close around them. The air inside was colder but still bearable.
Just as they settled, the light outside shifted fully. Red flooded the sky. Snow began forming crystals midair, freezing before touching the ground.