Ash fell like snow.
Soft. Silent. But never cold.
Erian walked through the smoldering remains of what had once been his home. Charred beams creaked beneath his boots, and the air still reeked of smoke and flesh—thick and stubborn, as if refusing to leave.
He didn't cry.
Not because he didn't want to.
But because he no longer had the strength.
Where laughter once echoed, only dust remained.
Where his sister used to throw rocks at him for sleeping in, now there were only footprints—fading under the wind.
"Lira…" he whispered.
The wind didn't answer.
He was too late.
Only ruins remained.
Disfigured bodies. Ashes. And something else… something he couldn't explain.
A feeling—unsettling and cold—like someone was watching him from beneath the earth.
He knelt between two shattered stones and pushed aside the rubble.
There it was.
The little wooden figure he had carved for Lira.
A girl with wings.
A promise.
Broken in half.
He slipped it into his pocket.
It was all he had left of her.
"Why?"
The word left his mouth dry and hollow.
⋆⭒✧༺༻✧⭒⋆
And then… everything stopped.
Not a sound.
But the absence of sound.
The fire ceased its crackle. The wind froze.
Even his heartbeat stalled.
The world itself fell silent.
And in that stillness—something inside Erian shattered.
It wasn't pain.
It was like something ancient, buried deep, finally stirred awake.
Something that had always been there… waiting for everything else to vanish.
A message formed in his mind.
He didn't hear it.
He understood it.
[Inherited System Activated]
Erian stood up, dazed. He looked around. No one.
[System damaged. Limited functions]
[Emergency reboot... complete]
[User: Erian Veros]
[Priority Level: Suppressed]
[Destination: REVELATION]
A sharp pain pierced his skull. He staggered, clutching his head.
Blurry images flashed in his mind—
A buried city.
A compass floating in darkness.
A burning symbol carved into stone.
Then—
Nothing.
The world exhaled.
The fire crackled again.
The wind resumed.
But something inside him had changed.
He rose slowly.
Something hung around his neck.
He didn't remember it.
He pulled it from beneath his tunic.
A compass.
Old. Worn. Forged of dark metal.
But its needle didn't point north.
It spun.
Endlessly.
Until suddenly—
It stopped.
Pointing toward the forest.
Erian swallowed hard.
There was nothing there.
Just trees.
Or so he thought.
⋆⭒✧༺༻✧⭒⋆
A sound jolted him—
Footsteps among the trees.
He turned.
A man stepped out from the shadows.
Tall.
Wrapped in a black cloak.
Wearing a white mask with no mouth.
"You shouldn't be here," the man said, voice hollow—
not spoken from the mouth, but from everywhere.
Erian took a step back.
"Did you do this?"
No answer.
Just that gaze.
The mask didn't move, but Erian felt like he was being seen from the inside out.
"Where's my sister?"
The man tilted his head slightly, as if mocking him.
"She has already been chosen."
"Chosen for what?"
The stranger stepped closer.
"To see the truth.
You weren't supposed to survive."
Erian clenched his fists.
The system whispered in his mind again.
[Skill Available: Fragmented Intuition]
He didn't know what it meant—
but his body moved.
He dove to the side—
just as a shadowed spear sliced through the air where he'd been standing.
He ran.
Not toward the forest—
but toward the cliff behind the village.
The masked man didn't follow.
He simply watched.
When Erian looked back one last time—
he saw the man raise a hand to his mask.
As if struggling to keep it on.
As if there wasn't a face beneath it…
…but something else.
⋆⭒✧༺༻✧⭒⋆
He reached the cliff, breathless.
The sea roared below, crashing violently against the rocks.
He dropped to his knees.
What was happening?
Nothing made sense.
The village.
His sister.
The system.
All of it—madness.
He looked at his hands.
They were shaking.
And without thinking, he spoke:
"What am I supposed to do now?"
No answer.
But the compass spun again…
and stopped.
This time, it pointed north.