Roy hung vertically inside a narrow pit, his head pointed down, feet barely visible above the surface. The world around him was pitch black, but inside this hole, it was deeper than darkness — it was silence given form.
His body ached. His spine throbbed. He couldn't move any limb — not even to wipe the blood seeping down from his mangled leg.
All he could see was dirt, packed and cold. Nothing but earth and shadow.
But just as his senses began to fade… he saw it.
A faint purple glow, buried within the soil.
It pulsed slowly, like a heart buried beneath the world.
With the last drops of willpower he had, Roy reached out and began digging. His fingernails split, and blood mixed with the dirt, but he didn't stop.
And then… he touched it.
A scroll.
Wrapped in violet silk, humming with ancient power. Strange symbols danced on its surface — not written, but living.
Before he could think, his palm brushed the script.
That's when the scroll ignited.
Purple light exploded around him. Not with heat, but with weight — as if language itself had mass. The symbols detached from the parchment and bled into his skin, crawling like fire across his veins.
Roy screamed — or tried to. The power choked his throat and filled his lungs. He saw visions — or were they memories? — flashing across his mind in fractured light.
And just like that, it ended.
The scroll in his hand… was now blank. As though the very soul of it had been consumed.
He shoved it into his pocket, trembling. But his vision blurred. His heartbeat slowed.
"What… did I just… do?"
And the world turned black.
✦ Dawn
Morning broke.
Where once the cursed forest had whispered horrors, now it stood silent beneath a golden sky. The trees, charred and leafless, loomed like burnt monuments.
Three figures crept through the underbrush.
They were not human.
Their skin was pale, their limbs too long, eyes glowing yellow. Transformed ones — the remnants of a forgotten punishment.
But they weren't hunting for prey. They were searching… for something.
"I smell blood," one of them muttered, crouching near a disturbed patch of earth.
Another hissed. "Fresh. Someone's alive."
And then—
"Over here!" the third shouted, his clawed hand brushing against what looked like feet sticking out from a crumbling hole.
They dug fast.
And what they pulled out shocked even them — a human, barely breathing.
But before they could decide what to do with the unconscious boy…
A voice cut through the morning air like a blade.
"Stand down."
She appeared, stepping between trees like a shadow given form.
A woman. Or rather… a girl.
Young, yet her presence commanded silence. Her fox-like ears twitched. Her long silver tail shimmered in the light. Despite the beastly traits, her face was hauntingly beautiful — like a creature not meant to be seen by mortals.
"Lady Nyra…" the others bowed slightly.
She ignored them and stepped closer to Roy. Her gaze flicked to his pocket — to the now-blank scroll barely tucked inside.
She pulled it free, held it up.
"…Empty," she whispered.
Her brows furrowed, and she gently touched his forehead. For a moment, her expression shifted from cold to… startled.
"He took it in."
"What do you mean?" one of the men asked.
"The glyphs. The seal. The inheritance. It's all inside him now," Nyra said softly. "He's… a vessel."
The three exchanged glances.
"Should we kill him?" one suggested.
"No."
Nyra's voice was calm, but final.
Her eyes turned skyward.
"…The tomb has awakened. We can't undo this now. Take him back to the sanctuary. We'll get answers."
✦ Elsewhere…
Far beneath the forest, the pit Roy had fallen into began to breathe — softly, like lungs awakening from eternal sleep.
And far from there, in the ruins of an old city long buried by time, a single statue stood: cracked, worn, and forgotten.
It depicted a man — cloaked, with no face, arms outstretched toward the sky. At his feet lay a small sacred stone, glowing faintly.
A single drop of blood fell upon it.
The air shifted.
Somewhere deep in the continent's bones…
something began to move.