The city of Ishkar thrived under the golden hues of twilight. The white marble streets glowed under the lanterns suspended in midair, their warm light flickering like trapped stars. The air was thick with the scent of parchment, candle wax, and the distant aroma of roasted spices from the market. A city of knowledge, untouched by war, standing in defiance of time itself.

  Yet, despite the tranquility of its streets, Vierd and Rain walked with the weight of unspoken burdens pressing against their backs.

  They had left Elios behind, the philosopher’s words still lingering in their minds like the echoes of a fading dream.

  "Not every world fades naturally. Sometimes… they are erased."

  "Every stone you find is a grave marker for a world that no longer exists."

  "If that’s true… then who decides which worlds survive?"

  Those words carried a weight that neither of them had anticipated. The revelation that these stones were not just relics, but remnants of entire realities, left a lingering unease in the air. They had come seeking answers, but what they had found instead was a much larger question.

  Vierd’s fingers brushed against the cold surface of the stone in his hand, its warmth pulsating faintly beneath his skin. It was as if it knew—as if it carried the whispers of the past within its crystalline core.

  And that thought unsettled him more than anything else.

  They walked in silence for a time, their boots echoing lightly against the stone pavement. Rain’s crimson eyes flickered with an unreadable expression as he cast a glance toward the towering spires of the Tower of Thought in the distance.

  Then, at last, he spoke.

  "DO YOU EVER THINK ABOUT WHAT CAME BEFORE?"

  Vierd’s golden gaze shifted toward him, his brow furrowing slightly. "BEFORE WHAT?"

  Rain exhaled, tilting his head slightly toward the sky. "BEFORE THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT. BEFORE THESE CITIES, THESE KINGDOMS, THESE LAWS THAT HOLD EVERYTHING IN PLACE."****"

  Vierd didn’t answer immediately. He had never been the type to dwell on the past—survival didn’t allow such luxuries. But now, after everything they had learned, after everything they had seen…

  Perhaps the past was more important than he had given it credit for.

  "WHAT ARE YOU REALLY ASKING, RAIN?"

  Rain smirked slightly, though there was no humor in his expression. "I’M ASKING IF YOU THINK THIS WORLD WAS EVER MEANT TO EXIST."

  The words sent a strange chill through the air.

  Vierd remained silent.

  Rain continued. "VALTARIA WAS A KINGDOM THAT BELIEVED IN LOGIC, ORDER, POWER. BUT EVEN AT THE HEIGHT OF OUR GLORY, THERE WERE WHISPERS—TALES OF THINGS THAT CAME BEFORE US, OF CIVILIZATIONS THAT DID NOT SIMPLY FALL, BUT WERE REMOVED."

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  His voice lowered. "I NEVER BELIEVED THEM BEFORE. BUT NOW?"

  Vierd’s fingers tightened around the stone. "WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?"

  Rain turned his gaze toward him, and for the first time since they had met, there was something deeper behind his eyes—something akin to fear.

  "I’M SAYING THAT MAYBE WE WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO BE HERE."

  The silence that followed was suffocating.

  Vierd’s grip on the stone loosened slightly, and he exhaled through his nose. "DOES IT MATTER?"

  Rain blinked. "WHAT?"

  Vierd’s voice was calm, but firm. "DOES IT MATTER IF WE WERE MEANT TO EXIST OR NOT? WE ARE HERE. WE ARE ALIVE. AND WE ARE THE ONES WHO WILL DECIDE WHAT THAT MEANS."

  For a moment, Rain simply stared at him. Then, after a beat, he let out a quiet chuckle. "YOU REALLY DON’T BELIEVE IN DESTINY, DO YOU?"

  Vierd smirked slightly. "DESTINY IS A STORY WRITTEN BY THOSE STRONG ENOUGH TO SURVIVE."

  Rain hummed. "THEN LET’S MAKE SURE WE KEEP WRITING IT."

  The conversation ended, but the thoughts remained.

  The weight of what they had learned could not be ignored.

  And soon, it would no longer be just a burden to carry.

  It would become something they would have to face.

  The Call of the Unknown

  Night had fully fallen by the time they reached the lower districts of Ishkar, where the air was thick with the scent of burning incense and aged parchment. The people here were different from the scholars of the upper city—explorers, wanderers, those who sought knowledge not through books, but through experience.

  They found themselves at an open-air tavern, the warm glow of firepits casting flickering shadows across the stone walls. Vierd and Rain sat at a small wooden table near the back, their presence blending into the low hum of conversation around them.

  It was there that they first heard the rumor.

  A new portal.

  One that had opened just beyond the Emerald Expanse, a land of vast meadows and sprawling forests that stretched beyond the borders of known civilization.

  A portal that led to a world untouched by men.

  Vierd and Rain exchanged a glance.

  They had been waiting for the next step.

  And now, it had found them.

  "WE LEAVE AT DAWN."

  No further discussion was needed.

  This was the beginning of the next hunt for the unknown.

  But what neither of them realized…

  Was that this time, the unknown was hunting them, too.

  The First Step into the Forgotten World

  The portal loomed before them, nestled deep within the heart of the Emerald Expanse.

  Unlike the swirling black abyss of the first portal they had entered, this one glowed—a soft, eerie green light pulsating within its core, as if it were alive. The very air around it felt different, charged with an energy neither of them could recognize.

  Rain clicked his tongue. "THIS ONE LOOKS DIFFERENT."

  Vierd studied it for a moment before responding. "THE LAST ONE LED TO A DYING WORLD. MAYBE THIS ONE IS DIFFERENT BECAUSE THE WORLD ON THE OTHER SIDE ISN’T DEAD."

  Rain smirked. "ONLY ONE WAY TO FIND OUT."

  Without hesitation, Vierd stepped forward.

  And in the next instant—

  Everything shattered.

  Scattered into the Wild

  The moment they crossed, Vierd felt it.

  Something was wrong.

  There was no gradual transition, no time to adjust—only an overwhelming sensation of being ripped apart and thrown into the void.

  When his vision returned, he was no longer standing beside Rain.

  He was alone.

  The sky above him was a deep, endless green, the light filtering through massive, towering trees that stretched high into the heavens. The scent of damp earth and blooming flowers filled the air, a stark contrast to the lifeless desert he had once called home.

  Then he heard it.

  A low growl.

  His body moved on instinct, rolling to the side just as something massive crashed into the spot where he had been standing.

  A creature unlike anything he had ever seen.

  Its body was covered in thick, moss-covered fur, its limbs massive and lined with razor-sharp claws. But what sent a chill down his spine was its eyes—pale, lifeless, yet filled with a predatory intelligence.

  And then—

  The beast lunged.

  Faster than anything its size should have been capable of.

  And for the first time in a long time…

  Vierd knew he was going to die.

  His body refused to move fast enough. His instincts screamed, but his limbs were too slow—

  Then.

  Time stopped.

  The world around him froze. The beast mid-air, the trees swaying but unmoving. The light itself flickering, as if reality itself had fractured.

  And then, he heard it.

  A voice.

  A voice that did not belong to the living.

  "AWAKEN, CHILD OF THE FORGOTTEN LINEAGE."

  And in that moment, Vierd realized—

  He was not alone.