Some time later, three humans stood on the branches of a tall, decaying yet stable tree. Beneath them were dozens of Silkfang Howlers growling and patrolling around the tree. Some of the monsters even lay on the ground as if unbothered by the humans.
Zeph wore a gray shroud that covered his torso and shoulders, made of tightly woven, durable fabric. It had thin, flexible plating over vital areas for protection while remaining light enough for full mobility. The material was smooth and matte, with straps keeping it snug and secure without restricting movement, making it practical for climbing, fighting, or moving through the environment.
In his hand was a small dagger, the blade coiled. The pommel of the blade was made of wood wrapped in brown leather.
These were given to him by Darius. He called them Remnants. Remnants are utilities gotten from monsters—they are clothes and weapons.
Though he was still confused, Darius had summoned it from thin air and given it to him. His elder brother still didn't explain much and, in fact, left more questions than explanations.
Zephyros had also asked him if the swords he and Riven had were Remnants, but Darius just shook his head sideways and gave no answer.
Then if they weren't Remnants, what were they?
Aside from Zephyros, Darius and Riven's clothing had also changed. They no longer wore travel-worn clothes but elegant armors shaped with care and precision.
Darius wore a deep bronze cuirass etched with sharp, geometric lines that ran across the chest like veins of metal. The pauldrons were broad but not bulky, giving him a commanding look while still allowing full movement. A dark crimson cloak draped over his back, fastened by a clasp shaped like a beast's fang. His gauntlets were layered with thin bronze plates, the edges ridged for grip, and his boots bore reinforced soles.
Riven's armor was entirely different, sleek and almost regal. She wore silver plates polished to a faint sheen, trimmed with flowing blue patterns that traced across her chestplate and arm guards like streams of water. Her pauldrons were slim and curved, designed for agility rather than intimidation, and her gauntlets ended in fine, claw-like ridges that gave her grip without sacrificing grace.
Around her waist was a long azure sash tied neatly at one side, its fabric flowing just enough to soften the coldness of her armor. Her boots were light, built for speed and precision, making her look like a duelist poised for a strike rather than a front-line warrior.
Where Darius looked like a commander born for the battlefield, Riven looked like a blade.. sharp, swift, and precise. And Zeph, standing between them in his plain gray shroud, looked almost out of place.
The three of them had different expressions written all over their faces. Riven stood at the edge of the branch and stared at the Silkfang Howlers with a confused expression.
Darius... well, he lay on his back on the vast branch and was grinning non-stop, totally unbothered.
Zeph was still pondering what he needed to learn in this world. There was still a lot to learn. The fact that he wasn't part of an "Ordained" group, as Darius had mentioned back at the sector, was still a mystery. If he wasn't Ordained, how was Darius able to bring him into a portal?
Was it part of Darius's ability tied to the Miasma? Or was it a normal thing in this world?
Being able to enter a portal without being Ordained would have been the worst-case scenario. After asking Darius earlier, though he didn't say much, Darius had mentioned that being Ordained meant being tied to the Miasma. You kill monsters, and it pays you in return.
So typically, those that aren't Ordained can't even gain anything if they kill a monster and will also not have any ties to such things as Remnants and other rewards.
But here he was wearing a Remnant his brother gave him. Maybe, since he actually summoned it out of thin air and gave it to him, it still belonged to Darius.
'..... If I remember clearly, I felt a strange surge when he gave me the shroud.'
So was this all part of Darius's mysterious abilities? If so, then how strong is Darius? If it was an ability, then he had broken every logic of the mysterious Miasma.
Zephyros slowly lowered his gaze to the Silkfang Howlers with a confused look and turned to the other two.
"These things have webs, right? Why aren't they attacking yet?"
Riven wanted to answer but was interrupted by Darius. Darius, still lying on his back, answered:
"...They're monsters, yes. But still, monsters are smarter than animals. The only animal they aren't smarter than, or have the same level of smartness with, is us, the higher-class animals. They're waiting. We have nowhere to go. In the best-case scenario, we'll fight them and kill all of them."
'How's that the best-case scenario?' Zephyros frowned.
"...In the worst-case scenario, we will be here until the Anchor figures its subordinates are missing and comes looking for them."
'Ooh...'
Zephyros felt his heart skip a beat upon hearing the word Anchor. Given how terrible and horrific these creatures look, how will the anchor look?
Zephyros pinched himself to stop imagining such an abomination.
"What if the monsters want us to believe they won't attack?"
Riven turned and gave Zeph a look that seemed to tell him she agreed with him.
Darius rose to his feet and looked down at the abominations, then sighed.
"...If they want to play it that way, then let's shift the flow."
Zephyros sighed, dejected and defeated. He knew what that sentence meant.
'...Resting time was over.'
As if Zephyros's predictions were correct, a thick white rope shot up and stuck to the upper branch. It wasn't a rope... it was a web.
A menacing growl followed the web, and a Silkfang Howler immediately landed in the middle of the three humans.
Ignoring the two clad in armor, the monster lunged at Zephyros with impossible speed. It opened its mouth wide, showing its deadly fangs.
Zephyros slightly dodged the attack and bent under the monster. Without wasting any time, he thrust the coiled blade of the dagger into the monster. Black blood spilled on the gray shroud, but it was worth it.
The monster dropped and rolled off the branch, landing on the ground with a faint sound.
That took all the courage and life in Zephyros to do that. He wanted to smile but was stopped when a voice sounded in his ear.. a voice neither feminine nor masculine. It gave a message to Zephyros that made his heart stop working for a moment.
The words were:
{....the parasite takes credit.}
****
Some time later, three humans were battling spider-wolves on the branch of a large, decaying tree.
Darius and Riven took the front line, battling the monsters and killing them effortlessly. It seemed like a one-sided battle. Every fraction of a second, a monster fell lifeless off the tree to the ground.
Zephyros stood at the stem of the tree, doing two things simultaneously.
The monsters barely made it to him. Darius and Riven killed the monsters before they got to him, and those that did reach him were met with a dagger thrust deep into them.
If the dagger did not cause much harm, Zephyros got enough time to try and create a distance between him and the monster. Then the rest would be handled by either Darius or Riven.
That was the first thing he was doing.
The second thing he was doing was thinking about the voice and the mysterious message. It was confusing and terrifying. Just the word "parasite" was enough to run him mad. What did the voice mean by parasite? Which parasite?
He wasn't Ordained, right? Even if he was Ordained, why would a mysterious voice announce the kill by saying "the parasite"?
'Strange.'
All the different hypotheses or predictions Zephyros was trying to make weren't working at all. In his context and Darius's, he wasn't Ordained, so why were strange things happening to him?
It all started with the weird transmigration; the divine and living souls explanation did not align at all with his transmigration. Also, he effortlessly entered a portal. Though he didn't know much about the portals or the mysterious Miasma itself, he couldn't help but feel that someone entering a portal without being Ordained was incredible.
Even though he still believed that might be tied to his brother, was this message also connected to him?
'... This is one of the most confusing cases ever...'
Just then, a Silkfang Howler, almost dead and bleeding from one of its eight eyes, lunged at Zephyros with all its remaining strength.
Zeph bent, almost falling down to the rest of the hungry pack of monsters. He tried to maintain balance and succeeded. The injured monster hit its head on the branch and staggered backward for a while.
As if all its strength was back, it lunged at him once again. Zephyros remained calm and thrust the dagger into the injured eye. The monster howled in pain and fell flat on the branch.
{....the parasite takes credit.}
When the voice came, what followed was something like a river flowing violently yet soothing in Zephyros's body. He felt something leaving his body, but what?
It was flowing, then immediately sank into something unknown.
'Unexplainable...'
Below them, the rest of the pack hadn't stopped. Silkfang Howlers poured from the undergrowth. They were rapidly increasing in number.
Riven, with impossible speed, carved through a leaping Howler and kicked another down into the swarm. Her expression stayed calm, though her eyes flickered toward Zeph.
"Stay focused... Don't die," she called.
Darius, on the other hand, was laughing. Bronze and crimson flashed as he smashed another monster off the branch. He grinned like this was nothing more than sport.
"Little brother!" he barked, twisting his gauntlet through a Howler's jaw. "Don't look so pale. They're only pests."
Pests? Zephyros tightened his grip on the dagger. Pests didn't leave strange voices in your skull. Pests didn't take credit for your kills. He didn't even care about the kills; he wanted to know who was taking them, and why?
Another one came for him, also injured. Zeph ducked beneath its fangs and drove the dagger into its chest. The beast staggered, shrieked, and collapsed.
The voice followed immediately:
{...the parasite takes credit.}
The rush hit harder this time... sharper vision, sharper sound, sharper everything. He could hear claws digging into bark below, smell the rot on their breath. The dagger in his hand felt weightless, like an extension of himself.
It was intoxicating and terrifying.
Was this what being Ordained felt like? Or was it something worse?
If he was actually Ordained, then why were these two lying to him?
"Darius!" Zeph's voice cracked before he could stop it. "Did you hear that?"
His brother didn't even look his way at first. He rammed a Howler aside and only then turned his head slightly.
"Hear what?"
"A voice..." Zephyros insisted. "It said..." He cut himself short. He wasn't sure whether what he was going to say was real or not. On second thought, should he even say it?
Darius's grin faltered for the briefest moment. His gaze was sharp and unreadable. Then he turned back to the fight as though nothing had been said.
"Focus..." was all he answered.
Zephyros's stomach twisted. Did his brother know what he wanted to say? What were they hiding from him?
The Silkfangs came harder now, scrambling over each other in their frenzy. The tree shook under the weight, bark cracking as webs pulled tighter. The tree could not handle the weight anymore and could collapse at any moment.
Riven cut another down and glanced back at him. "If you can fight, then fight. If you can't... don't get in the way and don't die."
"I am fighting!" Zeph snapped back at his girlfriend, though his voice sounded small against the growls below.
He stabbed another injured monster, its blood spilling hot across his arm. The voice came again.
{...the parasite takes credit.}
Each time, the rush grew stronger. His body moved smoother, his strikes faster. But it wasn't his effort being rewarded... it was as if something else was claiming him. In return for the kills, his strength was... strengthened?
... And it was all the doing of a mysterious parasite.
The word rattled inside his skull. Each time it echoed, he couldn't help but think of Darius. The way he had summoned a shroud out of thin air. The way he had pulled Zeph into this world despite giving guidelines that explained only the Ordained could challenge monsters in portals.
If he and Riven knew something... then what was that thing?
A sick thought pressed into his mind.
'What if the parasite wasn't inside me... but standing right next to me?'
The pack pressed higher. Dozens of legs scuttled, multiple webs were sticking to the branch, and in a few minutes, the whole tree was covered with monsters.
Darius seemed unfazed, laughing as he cut down another. "Hold steady! The pack will break soon!"
Riven's strikes stayed precise, but sweat shone on her skin. Even she couldn't ignore how endless this tide felt.
Zephyros barely registered his own movements anymore. He slashed, stabbed, ducked... his body moving faster than his thoughts, as though someone else was controlling his body. Each kill was met with the same cold announcement.
{....the parasite takes credit.}
His hands shook. His dagger dripped black blood. "Stop it," he whispered. "Stop it, stop it..."
Just when he was yelling inwardly at the mysterious voice, a shrieking sound tore through the forest. It was animalistic and high-pitched all at once.
Though the three humans recognized what type of animal made that sound, they were still reluctant to move or attack the close-range monsters.
Even the Silkfang Howlers stopped attacking and immediately turned their heads in unison to where the sound came from.
Then, the sound came again. It was a howl from a wolf, just the same type of howl the Silkfang Howlers make, but much louder and more intimidating.
'What type of monster is that?'
Zephyros's thoughts were interrupted when something amusing and strange happened. The Silkfang Howlers retreated and ran deep into the forest, following where the sound came from.
'Was that the Anchor?'