The night stretched quiet at first, the lamplight in the room had burned low, leaving only faint shadows swaying across the cracked walls. Lior sat slumped In the, his head tilted backward, his breaths deep and even. One the other side on the bed, Korrin had finally fallen asleep, curled beneath the thin blanket, her hair spilling across the pillow.
For a time, the inn seemed calm, the muffled sound of the common room had faded hours ago, replaced by creaky sound of wood and the occasional sound of air whistling through the cracks in the wall of the inn, blowing the shutter up occasionally.
But then...
Clamor.
It started with faint, like boots striking stone in hurried rhythm, Then came voices, sharp and restless, rising from the street outside.
Lior eyes snapped open, to the noise outside. His body became tense at first before he dismissed it with a low sigh "probably some drunkard fighting over spilled ale" not his problem.
But the sound did not fade. Instead it increased, with screams becoming louder and louder followed with the crash of things tumbling over. The sound of frantic running feet thudded against the ground outside. He frowned "This is sounds is too many to be a simple fight."
Lior pushed himself upright, crossing the room in a few strides and tugged at a warped shutter, opening it slightly to peak on what was going on outside.
The sight outside made him frown deeply
People were scattering across the street, some clutching bundles of belongings, others dragging children by the hand. Faces pale, mouth open in panicked cries. Buildings were ablaze illuminating the Settlement.
"Damn it" he muttered.he spun back toward the bed, where Korrin still slept, her breathing steady, unaware of the turmoil outside. Lior reached her side and shook her shoulder firmly.
"Korrin wake up," he said, his voice low but urgent. "Hurry. Something"s happening."
Korrin blinked awake, rubbing her eyes. "Lior….?what happened?"
He glanced at her wondering how she dint wake up after the chaos outside ensued, " it seems like there's danger outside."
Her sleepy eyes vanished in an instant. Korrin pushed herself upright, her face paling. "Danger then we need to get out of here, quickly!"
She swung her leg over the side of the bed, fumbling for her cloak, but Lior caught her wrist before she could move any further.
"No," he said. "Not yet, we don't even know what is happening out there. Running blindly into it might be worse."
Korrin froze, meeting his steady gaze. Her lip pressed together but she gave a small nod, forcing herself to sit back down.
They waited…
From outside the noise grew louder, shouts echoing down the streets. While inside the small room, the two of them sat in tense silence, hearing as the chaos outside seems to be increasing.
…...
….…
In a dark alley of Settlement H, the air was damp, heavy with the stench of mold and smoke from the chaos. Shadows clung to the walls where the faint glow of mana crystals could not reach.
Hidden from the chaos occurring at the streets, A dozen or so hidden figure gathered in a tight circle. Their cloak swallowed the light with the insigma of a eye with double slit pupils.
One of the hooded figure spoke….
"This Settlement is weak,"the figure said, his tone cold. "its defenses are scattered, its guard are lazy even the awakener that should be protecting this place has not showed up." ….. "We are all C-class awakener why don't we go look for him any of us can definitely immobilize him"
Another hooded figure spoke "Even though he is just a E-class awakener we should not underestimate him,"… "Even a rabbit will bite back if it gets cornered."
The previous hooded figure just scoffed. As if not agreeing with what the other figure just said.
A third voice cut in, softer but sharper, "Stop arguing, whether he comes or not is not our concern." ….. "Our objective is clear, we are to secure viable females and scuttle this settlement, other things comes later"
All of the hooded figures nodded and then all said "The light demands purity, expel the dark for the dungeon to live man must perish for the ground beneath must remain untouched"
Then they scattered into different locations
….
….
….
Back at the inn Lior and Korrin waited, the sounds of chaos swelling outside their door. The shouting was getting closer, more desperate. Lior had his ear pressed to the wood, his sword held tight in his good hand. Korrin stood in the middle of the room, her knuckles white as she clutched her cloak.
Then, a new sound cut through the noise, not from the streets, but from directly below them.
CRASH!
The sound of splintering wood and shattering glass erupted from the tavern. The inn main door had been smashed open. The general roar of the mob outside was suddenly drowned out by much closer, much more immediate screams of terror from the ground floor.
Lior and Korrin locked eyes, a shared, silent understanding. The danger was in the building. They heard the cold, clear voice of a man, chillingly calm amidst the panic.
"Clear the tavern. The Light does not welcome their kind."
This was followed by a short, sharp cry that was abruptly cut off. Heavy, booted footsteps began to pound on the staircase. Doors down the hallway were wrenched open. They heard a man plead, "Wait, please, we have—" before his words were replaced by the sound of a struggle and a body being dragged across the rough wooden floor.
Another door. A woman's scream was silenced by a harsh command and the sound of a slap.
Lior backed away from their door, pushing Korrin behind him, his mind racing. There was no back exit. The window looked out onto a two-story drop into a narrow alley, an alley that was likely also
swarming with these intruders.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The footsteps were right outside now. They stopped. The doorknob rattled once, then jerked violently as someone tried to force it. The cheap lock held,
but the wood around it splintered slightly.
"Its locked from the inside," a rough voice grunted from the hallway.
"Then unlock it," another, colder voice replied.BOOM!
A shoulder, or perhaps a boot, slammed into the center of the door. The entire frame shuddered.
A long crack appeared in the wooden panel.
BOOM!
Another impact. The crack widened. Through it, Lior could see the flickering light of the hallway and the shadow of a figure preparing to charge again.
Lior raised his sword, his heart hammering against his ribs. He stood between the door and Korrin, his body a frail shield. His eyes darted around the room for anything they could use to delay the man, a chair, the wash basin, anything.
Korrin face was pale but her eyes fierce, she grabbed the heavy ceramic pitcher from the basin, holding it like a club.
Then finally, a thunderous CRASH.
The lock shattered. The door exploded inward, swinging open to slam against the wall. A large man filled the doorway, his face obscured by a deep hood, the symbol of the double-slit pupil stark on the chest of his black cloak. His eyes, glinting from the shadows of his hood, scanned the room and landed on them.
A slow, grim smile spread across his face.
"Two more for the Light," he said, his voice a low rumble. He took a step into the room. The man stepped into the room, his presence sucking the air from the small space. His eyes, cold and assessing, scanned the two teenagers before locking onto Korrin. Lior mind raced, fear and adrenaline screaming at him to act. The man was armed with a brutal, hooked blade at his hip,
As Lior watched the he knew that he had to do something, A memory, half-forgotten from some old adventure book, flashed in his panic: 'If outnumbered, take the initiative.or something like that'
With a raw shout that was more fear than fury, Lior charged. He swung the iron sword in a wild, desperate arc aiming at the man's shoulder. It was a clumsy, telegraphed attack the swing of someone who had never been formally trained.
The man's fist connected with Lior wrist with a crack that was less a sound and more a feeling, a sickening vibration that shot up his arm and turned the bones to liquid fire. His fingers sprang open, numb and useless. The sword clattered to the floorboards.
The force of the blow didn't stop there; it spun him halfway around, off-balance and defenseless. The man followed through, shoving him backward with contemptuous ease.
Lior flew across the room as if he weighed nothing. His head snapped back and connected with the stone wall beside the window with a sickening, final thud.
The world didn't fade to black; it shattered into a thousand splinters of light and pain before imploding into absolute nothingness. His legs gave way beneath him, and he slid down the wall into a limp, motionless heap. The last coherent thing his mind registered, fading fast like a distant echo down a long tunnel, was Korrin screams and cries.
Then, silence. And darkness. He did not see the rough hands that grabbed Korrin. He did not hear her desperate, muffled struggles as the large man clamped a hand over her mouth and began dragging her from the room. He did not see the second, thinner Worshipper glance at his crumpled form.
"Is that one done?" the thinner one asked, his voice bored.
The large man didn't even look back, already hauling a kicking Korrin into the hallway.
"He's finished. The wall is cracked. Leave him. We have what the Light requires."
The thin Worshipper stepped over the threshold, giving Lior still body one last, dismissive glance.
He pulled the shattered door as closed as it would go, plunging the room back into a silence broken only by the distant chaos of the settlement's destruction
Lior stood in a vast, blank space that stretched into infinity in every direction. There was no floor, no sky, only an endless, featureless white. He felt weightless, disoriented, his thoughts slow and thick. He didn't know how long he as been here or what he was seeing.
Then, a form began to materialize in the void.It was the crystallized shadow from Settlement C, the creature that had saved him, the one that had folded into the orb. It stood before him in its full, jagged glory, shards of living light pulsing faintly beneath its crystalline skin. It was exactly as he remembered it.
He stared at it, a silent question screaming in his mind. What are you?
The creature looked back at him, its feline shape becoming more pronounced in this stark light. The sleek, cat like head, the four sharp limbs, the long, crystalline tail that twitched once. It didn't speak, but held his gaze.
And in that silence, Lior realized it completely. It wasn't just like a cat. It was one, or had beensomething akin to it, before it became this… this thing of crystal and light.
They remained like that, locked in a silent stare across the impossible white space. Then, without a sound, without a warning, the crystalline cat leapt.
It didn't leap at him. It leapt into him.
It dissolved into a stream of pure, searing light and shot toward his chest.
There was no impact, only an instantaneous, all consuming agony as it poured into him. It felt like every molecule of his body was being shattered and reforged at once. His nerves screamed. His bones burned. He tried to cry out, but he could not. He felt like he should faint, but couldn't. He was trapped in an infinite state of pure, excruciating agony.The pain was absolute.