Amoid hovered silently in the still morning air. The forest had quieted again—but not in a peaceful way. No birds, no breeze, not even the soft rustle of tree limbs.
It was the quiet before a storm.
He could feel it in his shell. The mana around them was growing thicker, slower, like syrup in the air. Every pulse he gave off came back slower, distorted.
Nilo sniffed the air. "Smells like old magic."
Pip zipped in a slow circle above the log they'd slept under. "Feels like something's watching."
Amoid didn't answer. He was already scanning.
[Environmental Status: Mana Saturation—High. Unknown interference detected. Visual distortion probability: 40%. Caution advised.]
"Visual distortion?" Amoid muttered. "So we're walking into a mirage."
"Mirage with teeth," Pip added.
The trio moved slowly. Trees bent in odd directions here, some growing sideways or spiraling up like twisted screws. Vines pulsed with faint blue light. Flowers blinked open and shut like eyes.
They were no longer just in a forest.
They were in a place between.
Amoid didn't know how to name it. But the System did.
[Entering Zone: Riftgrove Veil.]
[Classification: Unstable biome. Hazard Level: Moderate-to-High. Dimensional overlap present.]
"Dimensional overlap?" Amoid asked. "Explain."
[Riftgrove contains partial crossings with other planes. Time, space, and physical rules may behave inconsistently.]
"Cool," Nilo muttered. "Love when gravity takes a coffee break."
They passed a tree with a mouth.
No, really. It had a mouth. Not a carving or a hollow.
A literal wooden jaw full of pink bark-flesh and rows of humming teeth.
It didn't bite. It just smiled.
Amoid floated faster.
Pip zipped beside him, whispering. "I vote we don't stay here long."
But the Riftgrove had no intention of letting them go.
Just as they reached what looked like a clear patch, the sky split.
Not a metaphor.
It split.
A crack formed in the air like someone had punched through glass. Through it, they saw something else—another forest, darker, where the trees were made of obsidian and the grass burned faintly.
And out of that crack… stepped a creature.
Tall. Thin. No face. Long arms that brushed the ground. Its chest had a single large eye, and it bled smoke.
[New Entity Detected: Riftborn Warden.]
[Threat Level: High. Motivation: Unknown. Initial analysis: Passive.]
It stood still.
Watching them. Or… something.
Pip whispered, "What if we just… didn't engage?"
But Amoid felt it again.
A pull.
Not like hunger. Like recognition.
This thing had come from the same chaos that was changing him.
And it was calling him.
He floated forward.
The Warden didn't move.
Amoid pulsed. Slowly.
The Warden raised its hand—and so did he.
Then, in perfect sync, they touched.
The world flickered.
For one second, Amoid was in the Rift.
Not this forest—but the place beyond.
He floated over islands of shattered memory, rivers of unformed thought. Lightning ran sideways. Rain fell upward. Stars blinked in languages.
And a voice whispered—not into his mind, but into his core.
"Child of Formless Start… remember what you are."
Then it was gone.
The Warden stepped back into the crack, and the sky stitched itself closed.
Amoid hovered in silence.
[Memory Imprint Received: Origin Echo Fragment – ???]
[Unable to process data. Storing for future integration.]
Pip looked like he'd just swallowed a bug. "Okay. So what was that?"
"I don't know," Amoid said. "But it knew me."
Nilo paced. "You're getting attention from the wrong kind of entities."
"I didn't ask for any of this."
"Doesn't mean you're not chosen," Pip said. "Or cursed. Or both."
They moved again, slower. Every creature in the Riftgrove seemed to stay back after the Warden left—as if the thing had marked Amoid as… off-limits.
By dusk, they found a tree that didn't whisper, blink, or breathe poison, and decided that was as safe as they were going to get.
Amoid sat still, processing.
Inside, his core hummed.
Something had changed.
Not a new skill. Not a trait.
But potential.
Seek stirred.
[Integration Path unlocked: Primordial Echo. Optional. High Risk. High Reward.]
[System advises delay. Core not yet stable enough.]
"Good," Amoid whispered. "I need time."
Because the thing that had looked at him today… that wasn't an enemy.
That was a reminder.
That even here, even as an atom turned orb turned monster-friend, he hadn't escaped what he was.
He'd only delayed it.
And now… it was catching up.