The silver-haired man wasn’t entirely human—that much was obvious.

  Unlike the deformed creatures within the Gate, his body was intact. He didn’t carry the grotesque marks of corruption. Instead, he looked like someone forcibly torn from their world.

  Vierd studied him carefully.

  "Was I really the only one who entered that Gate… or was it also an escape route for someone else?"

  His golden eyes narrowed as he observed the exhaustion in the man’s features. He looked worn out, as if he had been running for far too long.

  "Did you leave that place willingly? Or were you running away?" Vierd asked, his voice low.

  He didn’t expect a direct answer.

  But the stranger surprised him.

  "I was trying to escape. That world… was never mine."

  Vierd’s expression darkened slightly.

  "That world? You mean the ruined city?"

  The silver-haired man slowly shook his head.

  Then, his crimson eyes drifted toward the endless desert horizon.

  His face remained emotionless, but in his gaze—there was something else.

  A buried sorrow.

  Or perhaps… memories lost to time.

  "No, I wasn’t talking about those ruins. I was escaping… from my own world."

  Vierd said nothing.

  He simply listened.

  The silver-haired man’s voice was quiet, yet heavy.

  "My world was collapsing. There was nothing left—only ash and silence. I was one of the few who managed to escape before everything was consumed. And when I passed through the Gate… I found myself there."

  His tone didn’t waver.

  Not a trace of anger or grief.

  Just acceptance.

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  "Our Gate was not just a passage… it was the end of a world."

  Vierd felt a strange weight behind those words.

  "Does that mean there are other worlds… dying?"

  "Other realms… breaking apart, searching for an exit?"

  He didn’t show his thoughts outwardly. Instead, he asked something else.

  "Do you think you’re safe here?"

  A short, hollow chuckle escaped the silver-haired man’s lips.

  "Safe?" he repeated. "I don’t think there’s such a thing as safety anymore."

  Vierd couldn’t disagree.

  But right now, his mind wasn’t entirely focused on the man before him.

  Something else had captured his attention.

  The stone he carried.

  Lifting his hand, Vierd gazed at the small crystal he had taken from the Gate’s core.

  It was small—barely the size of a clenched fist—yet it pulsed with a strange energy.

  A deep, cold power.

  The silver-haired man’s eyes sharpened the moment he saw it.

  "That stone… I’ve seen one like it before."

  Vierd raised an eyebrow.

  "What?"

  The man stepped closer—but did not try to touch it.

  He simply observed, his crimson eyes tracing the stone’s every detail.

  "In my world… there was something just like this. We were told it held the secret of life and death, that it could save our world from destruction. But in the end…"

  His voice lowered.

  "It was all a lie."

  A faint irritation flickered in Vierd’s mind—but he didn’t show it.

  "A lie? Why?"

  The silver-haired man hesitated for a moment. Then, he lowered his gaze slightly, as if he hated remembering.

  "Because we realized too late… that this stone does not save worlds.

  It consumes them."

  A slow, heavy silence followed.

  Vierd’s grip on the stone tightened.

  "The longer it remains in a world… the faster that world begins to collapse."

  Vierd’s golden eyes narrowed as he looked at the stone in his hand.

  He wasn’t sure if he should feel powerful… or afraid.

  "If that’s true… then this stone isn’t just a tool that grants me power.

  It might be the very reason why the Gate I was in started to fall apart."

  He took a slow breath—then clenched the stone tightly.

  If this was a key to the Gates…

  That meant there were more of them.

  And if these stones were connected to the destruction of worlds…

  Then the existence of the Gates was not a coincidence.

  It was something far bigger.

  Vierd finally lifted his gaze.

  "What’s your name?"

  The silver-haired man remained silent for a moment.

  Then, in a quiet but steady voice, he said—

  "Rain."

  Vierd didn’t reply right away.

  Then, after a moment, he turned away.

  Without looking back, he began walking toward the endless sands.

  "This man… might be the first real clue in my journey."

  Then, without pausing, he said—

  "If you have nowhere else to go, stay with me… until I decide what to do with you."

  Rain didn’t answer immediately.

  But after a few moments…

  He started walking behind him.

  Thus began an unlikely alliance.

  In a world without mercy—

  Where survival demanded sacrifice.

  And where truths were only revealed… when it was already too late.