The moment I opened my eyes, the world I knew... was gone.
A grey void greeted me—like someone had paused the world mid-breath.
A single black card hovered above still, glasslike water.
I lay beneath it—soaked, shivering, breathing only because my body didn't know how to stop.
Then, the Hex echoed.
Like it had been waiting.
[Condition required to unseal the Shadow Key has been fulfilled.]
[You have obtained the Shadow Key.]
The words sank into me. Not loud. Not sharp. Just... final.
I had always wondered what it sounded like.
But now that I heard it—it felt familiar.
I just couldn't remember whose voice it was.
I stared at the card. Watched it float, still and silent.
Like a coffin lid, waiting to close.
My breath hitched. The water was freezing. But that's not why I trembled.
She was right.
What she said that day... the truth I refused to believe...
I already knew.
She was alive.
Somewhere. Somehow.
But to believe meant hoping.
And hope... meant pain.
I clenched my fists, bit my lip hard enough to taste blood.
A laugh scraped out—bitter and cracked.
It wasn't funny.
It just... was.
I didn't scream.
I didn't move.
I just whispered the only word left in my mind:
"Rune."
The moment it left my lips, symbols bloomed in the air—silver, shifting, alive.
They moved like ink in water, forming a screen where my heart should've been.
The air pulled tighter around me.
The water froze in place, like it feared what came next.
And then I saw it:
---
Name – Night
Title – [None]
Rank – Seeker
Aspect – Shadow's Blessings
Aspect Description – Shadows are not born. Not made. They exist where even light dares not linger. They are echoes of what was, of truths forgotten, of steps never taken. They cannot be held. They cannot be bent. Shadows do not obey. They watch.
Aspect Rank – Divine
Soul – Dormant
---
Traits –
[Lost] – You are forgotten. And have forgotten something that once defined you .Something in you keeps you lost in the darkest void .(Unique)
[Sealed] – A power lies chained in the deepest part of your soul, in the path where not even you dare to thread. Only you can unlock it. (Rank ???)
[Night Pierce] – Nothing can blind your sight—not darkness, light or even divinity. (Unique)
[Shadow's Blessings] – ??? (Divine)
Chronicles –
[Shadow Key] – They say it was not found, but forged. In the dusk before memory. It is not a tool. Not a weapon. It is a truth waiting to open. But not a door. Not a place.
A part of you, which wishes to remain hidden.
---
Divine.
The word alone made my chest feel heavier.
Divine was the highest rank—untouched. Untouchable.
And yet...
I had no abilities.
No path.
No answers.
Just a title I didn't understand, and a silence that wouldn't leave.
Why give me this?
They knew. The ones who forced me here—they knew I had no hope in the Trial.
Was it pity?
Or cruelty?
I looked back at the black card.
It pulsed gently now, like it was breathing.
And for a second...
I felt something I hadn't in a long time.
Peace.
I reached for it.
Touched it.
It vanished.
The world cracked sideways—gravity ripped away.
I fell.
Wind howled past me.
I couldn't see clearly, but I knew—I was falling fast.
If I didn't land right, I'd die.
But when I hit the ground… it was soft.
Black sand caught me.
The sky wasn't a sky.
It was absence.
No stars. No sun. No horizon.
But I could see.
The island was small. Surrounded not by water, but by nothing.
A void that breathed.
I walked to the edge. Looked down.
And without thinking—
I jumped.
I fell again.
But it didn't feel like I jumped.
The void caught me like a hand.
Dropped me back on the island.
Heavier than before.
I stood.
Then I sank to my knees.
Not because I was hurt.
Not because I couldn't die.
But because I didn't want to stand anymore.
Tears fell.
Quiet. Slow.
I didn't wipe them away.
And then—
The Hex returned.
[A task has appeared.]
[Objective: Find the secret hidden in the Forgotten Spire.]
[Reward: Lost Memory.]
I looked up.
Somewhere in the void…
Something had awakened.