---
Ki Ran and Rusdi tread carefully over the moss-covered stone path, weaving through the ruins. Morning mist hung thick in the air, filtering the pale red sunlight breaking through Moontoon's ashen sky. The air was colder now, as if the world itself had become aware of something that shouldn't be alive.
Behind them, two skeletons with glowing green eyes followed in silence, their footsteps soundless but resolute.
> [Effect: Mental Surveillance – Ki Ran's Skeletons suffer -10% Accuracy while observation is active]
The aura left behind by Oculus Beta still lingered faintly.
They arrived at another abandoned human camp—its makeshift structures half-collapsed, overrun with wild vines and dust. In the corner of the ruined base, Ki Ran noticed something.
A partially opened steel chest.
Inside: a cracked black crystal, roughly the size of an eyeball. When Ki Ran reached out to touch it—
> "...A voice... inside your mind... The Mirror of Truth has chosen you..."
> [Side Quest: Fragments of the Mirror of Truth]
Locate the remaining mirror shards
Each fragment contains a memory of the world's fall
Suddenly, a vision surged through him.
A memory that wasn't his.
The sky split open. A white light engulfed a city.
A lone figure stood atop a building… smiling as the world burned.
Ki Ran stood frozen.
Rusdi laid a hand on his shoulder. "You okay?"
"...I remember feeling like that once," Ki Ran whispered. "Powerless. But now... I can kill without hesitation."
They moved on.
In the underbrush ahead, they found a small creature.
Humanoid. Dark-skinned, a bleeding wound on its chest.
Its eyes were filled with fear.
It crawled backward, raising its trembling hand—begging.
Ki Ran raised his hand.
The skeletons drew their blades.
> "If you keep sacrificing everything for power… you'll become one." – Rusdi
Ki Ran paused.
His heartbeat slowed.
Then… he lowered his hand.
The creature fled, limping into the shadows.
The skeletons stood down.
"Why didn't you finish it?" Rusdi asked.
"...Because for the first time… I wanted to know what it feels like… to not be the monster."
---
Hours passed.
A monster lunged from the trees: Berserk Fangwolf—a wolf-like beast with crystalline fangs and blood-red eyes.
Ki Ran smirked slightly.
"Skeletons. Drive it right. Bone Spike—curve from the left."
In under three seconds, the beast was dead.
> [EXP +98]
Progress: Level 3 (357 / 500)
---
That night, they lit a small fire.
Rusdi finally spoke of his past—his missing little sister, the loneliness, the desperation that led him here.
The sky began to darken.
Ki Ran sat in silence, eyes fixed on the ruins.
From afar, a strange noise echoed.
It wasn't a beast.
> "If he evolves… the threat category will change."
And in that moment… one of Ki Ran's skeletons spoke.
> "...Master... why do you hesitate?"
Ki Ran flinched.
The skeleton's eyes glowed brighter than ever.
Something... had awakened.
---