The footsteps behind him were getting closer.
Vell clutched the small pouch of credits to his chest, his bare feet slipping on the wet ground as he ducked into another alley. His lungs burned. His ribs ached from where he'd been sleeping on concrete for the past week.
"There he is!"
Shit.
He made the mistake of counting his money in the open. Just a handful of credits some lady had dropped in his cup, but apparently that was enough to paint a target on his back.
"Come on, homeless boy. We just want to talk."
Three of them rounded the corner, blocking his path. He recognized the leader—some punk from the nicer part of town who probably spent more on lunch than Vell had seen in months. The guy was grinning, showing off gold teeth.
Vell backed against the wall. "I don't have much. Just take it."
He held out the pouch, hoping they'd just grab it and leave. But the punk shook his head, cracking his knuckles.
"Nah, see, that's not how this works. You made us run all this way. That's gonna cost extra."
The first punch caught him in the stomach. He doubled over, gasping, and the pouch scattered to the ground. Credits rolled across the dirty alley like tiny silver tears.
"Please—"
A boot connected with his ribs. Then another. He curled up, trying to protect his head as they took turns kicking him. Each impact sent lightning through his body.
"Fucking trash," one of them spat. Literally spat, right in his face. "Stay in the gutters where you belong."
They collected every credit, even the ones that had rolled under a dumpster. When they were done, they left him there in the filth, bleeding from his nose and probably a few other places.
He lay still for a long time after their footsteps faded. His whole body was throbbing and the cold ground was not helping.
'Why?'
The question wasn't about the beating. He'd been jumped before. It was bigger than that, deeper. Why was he here? Why was he the one lying in an alley like garbage while everyone else got to live normal lives?
'Why did you say that, Kana?'
The memory hit him harder than any of those kicks.
---
The courtroom was packed. Standing room only, like some twisted theater performance. He sat at the defendant's table in his only good suit—the same one he worn to job interviews, to his graduation, to Rynn's birthday party just two weeks before everything went to hell.
His lawyer, some public defender who looked like he would rather be home sleeping, shuffled through papers without much interest. The prosecutor, on the other hand, was practically glowing with confidence.
"The prosecution calls Kana Orin to the stand."
Vell's head snapped up. No, not her. Anyone but her.
But there she was, walking up to the witness stand in a black dress, her face pale but determined. She didn't look at him. Not once.
"Miss Orin, you were present on the night of the incident?"
"Yes." Her voice was steady, professional.
"And you witnessed the altercation between the defendant and the victim?"
Kana's hands gripped the edge of the witness stand. For just a second, her eyes flicked toward him, and he saw something crack in her composure.
"I..." She took a shaky breath. "I saw him. Vell was there."
"Can you describe what you witnessed?"
The courtroom was dead silent. Even the reporters had stopped scribbling.
"Rynn found something. Some kind of artifact from one of the low-level dungeons outside the city. He was excited, wanted to show everyone." Her voice started to break. "But Vell... he wanted it for himself."
"No." The word slipped out before Vell could stop himself. His lawyer grabbed his arm, but he kept talking. "Kana, that's not what happened. You know that's not—"_
The judge's gavel slammed down. "The defendant will remain silent."
Kana was crying now, real tears streaming down her face. But she kept talking.
"They fought. Vell pushed him, and Rynn fell, hitting his head on the rocks by the river." She wiped her eyes with a tissue. "I tried to help, but there was so much blood. Vell just... he just stood there. Then he took the artifact and ran."
The courtroom erupted. People shouting, cameras flashing. But all Vell could hear was his own heartbeat pounding in his ears.
'You were there, Kana. You saw what really happened. Why are you lying?'
---
Back in the alley, Vell pushed himself up to his knees. His nose was definitely broken, and something warm was trickling down his chin.
The real memory was different. Rynn hadn't found any artifact. There had been no fight over treasure. His best friend had died because he'd slipped on rocks while they were all hanging out by the river.
A stupid accident. Tragic, but simple.
Kana had been there. She saw Rynn lose his footing, seen him crack his skull on the stones. She held his hand while Vell screamed for help, while they both tried to stop the bleeding.
So why had she lied?
'Money? Threats? Or did you just need someone to blame?'
A crash echoed from the street beyond the alley. Then screaming.
[Warning: E-rank monster has escaped its master's control. Evacuate until a player arrives at the location.]
The alert blared from speakers mounted on every corner. Red lights flashed, painting the alley in bloody shadows.
Vell struggled to his feet, wiping blood from his face. People were running past the mouth of the alley, their voices high with panic.
He should run too. Hide until some player showed up to deal with whatever had gotten loose. That was the smart play.
Instead, he walked toward the noise.
His ribs hurt with every step. His face still bleeding but something inside him just didn't care anymore. Maybe he wanted to see the thing that might finally put him out of his misery.
The monster was in the middle of the street, right outside a fancy restaurant. It looked like someone took a normal panda and fed it nothing but steroids and hate for about five years. The thing was massive, easily eight feet tall, with red fur and claws that could probably cut through a car door.
It was busy tearing apart what used to be a delivery truck.
And eating the driver.
The sounds it made while feeding were wet, crunching noises that made Vell's empty stomach twist, but he kept walking closer.
'This is stupid. This is so fucking stupid.'
The monster's head snapped up, noticing him. Blood dripped from its mouth as it let out a growl that made the windows shake.
He stopped walking. Not because he was smart enough to be scared, but because his legs just wouldn't move anymore. The thing was staring right at him with these tiny, crazy eyes that didn't belong on anything that big.
It charged.
The ground shook with every step it took. This close, he could smell it - like rotten meat and wet dog. He closed his eyes and waited.
A flash of silver light slammed into the monster from the side, sending it crashing into a storefront. Glass exploded everywhere.
When Vell opened his eyes, there was a player standing between him and the beast. She wore sleek armor that looked expensive and carried a spear that glowed white-hot. Professional and deadly.
She turned to check on him, and his heart stopped.
"Kana."
Her face went pale under her helmet. "Vell? What are you..." She looked at his bloody face, his torn clothes. "Oh god, what happened to you?"
The monster roared behind her, pulling itself out of the ruined shop. She spun around, raising her spear.
"Stay back," she said without looking at him. "I'll handle this."
Vell wanted to say something. Ask her why. Demand answers. But the words wouldn't come. He just watched as his cousin - the girl who destroyed his life - prepared to save it.
The monster rushed at her. She slid under its claws and drove the spear straight up into its chest. The blade went through like it was made of light instead of metal.
The beast screamed and swiped at her with its other paw. She rolled away, but not fast enough. The claws caught her shoulder, tearing through her armor like paper. Blood splattered on the broken glass.
"Shit!" She stumbled backward, one hand pressed against the wound.
The monster didn't give her time to recover. It lunged again, this time catching her leg. She went down hard, her spear sliding across the street.
Vell watched it all happen like he was in some kind of trance. His cousin was about to die. The person who ruined his life was going to get torn apart by a giant panda monster, and he was just standing there.
'Move. Do something.'
But what could he do? He had no weapons, no powers, no training. He was just some homeless guy with a broken nose and empty pockets.
Kana tried to crawl toward her spear, but the monster stepped on her back. She screamed as its weight pressed her into the glass-covered street.
The beast raised its claws for the killing blow.
Vell's body moved without permission. He grabbed a chunk of concrete from the ruined storefront and hurled it at the monster's head.
"Hey! Over here, you piece of shit!"
The rock bounced off the thing's skull like a pebble. But it got its attention. Those crazy little eyes locked onto him, and suddenly Vell realized how incredibly stupid this was.
The monster forgot about Kana and charged straight at him.
'Well, this is it. At least I'll die doing something right for once.'
He closed his eyes and waited for the claws.
Instead, he heard a wet, stabbing sound.
When he looked, Kana was behind the beast, her spear buried deep in its spine. The monster let out one last roar before collapsing face-first onto the street. Its body started dissolving into little sparks of light.
Kana fell to her knees, breathing hard. Blood was running down her arm and leg, but she was alive.
They stared at each other across the empty street. Neither of them said anything for a long time.
Finally, Kana spoke. Her voice was quiet, almost a whisper.
"Why did you help me?"
He looked at his hands. They were shaking. "I don't know."
She tried to stand up but winced and sat back down. "You could have just walked away. After what I..." She couldn't finish the sentence.
"Yeah. I could have."
"Vell, I—"
"Don't." He turned to leave. "Just don't."
"Wait."
But he was already walking away, back toward the alleys where he belonged. Behind him, he could hear sirens getting closer. Other players would be here soon to clean up the mess.
He wandered through the narrow streets without really paying attention to where he was going. His whole body felt numb, like the fight had used up whatever energy he had left.
That's when he saw it.
Tucked behind a dumpster, half-buried under some trash, was a small golden tube. It was covered in weird symbols that glowed in the dark.
'What the hell is that thing?'
He should have walked away. After everything that happened today, the last thing he needed was to touch some mysterious glowing object he found in the garbage.
But curiosity won.
The moment his fingers touched the metal, pain exploded through his entire body. The symbols lifted off the tube and burned themselves into his skin. He screamed as darkness poured out of his pores like thick oil.
[1st stage complete.]
[Satisfactory results.]
[Activating beast forge...]
A voice spoke directly into his mind. Cold, mechanical and for sure not human.
The pain stopped as suddenly as it started. He pushed himself up from the ground, expecting to feel broken and bloody.
Instead, he felt stronger than he ever had in his entire life.
"What the fuck just happened to me?"