Darian had just fallen into an underground city. He couldn't see much, but something told him that whatever he'd landed in… was big.
His eyes fluttered open. This wasn't the desert. He was lying on a cold stone floor.
He jolted upright.
Bars. Thick metal ones. Snowy sat quietly beside him, unharmed. His backpack was still strapped to his back. But there was no doubt.
He was in a prison.
"No, no, this can't be happening…" Darian muttered, trying to piece together what went wrong. He had finally found humans... he was sure of it! Then—then—
"THE SHOT!" he screamed, loud enough for the entire prison to hear. His echo bounced off the walls as footsteps approached.
Three figures appeared on the other side of the bars.
In the center stood a tall woman clad in gray armor. On her left was a younger boy with bob-cut white hair, barely a teenager. On her right, a tall man in black with a heavy coat and a wide brimmed hat. His messy orange hair peeked out from beneath it.
Darian stared, speechless.
Humans.
"Finally! Humans!" he shouted, stumbling to the bars, until the man on the right raised his hand.
"Unique gravity."
The moment he spoke, Darian's body collapsed. It was like an invisible weight slammed him down. He couldn't move. His knees hit the ground hard, and his palms scraped across the stone.
"What is this…?" he gasped, straining against the force.
"SILENCE," barked the armored woman. Her voice was sharp, commanding.
"We're the ones asking questions. What are you?"
The question stunned him.
"What am I? I'm human! What kind of question is that?!"
The pressure increased. His chest strained under the invisible force.
"When we first saw you, you weren't human," she continued, cold. "You only looked like one."
They must've seen him when he was fused with Snowy.
"No! I swear! It's the fox—"
"WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!" The woman slammed her boot against the bars.
"It fuses with me… I don't know how it works," Darian stammered, frustrated by his own lack of answers.
Then the woman pulled something from her pocket.
A bullet.
Darian's eyes went wide.
That bullet.
"So it was you!" she accused.
"What? No, wait, that's just a bullet..."
The boy on the left finally spoke. "You mean those things that are fired from rifles?"
Darian blinked. "Wait... you know what rifles are?!"
The man on the right, Kael, raised his hand again. A sudden pull yanked Darian up, then dropped him brutally.
"SHUT UP! WE ask the questions," Kael snarled. Snowy whimpered behind him, cowering.
"Kael, wait," the white-haired boy, Liro, interjected. "He knows about rifles. He's not ordinary."
"Liro, you and your old world obsession... useless," Kael muttered.
Darian now knew two of their names. Kael, the angry one with gravity powers. Liro, calm and curious.
Liro stepped closer. "How do you know about rifles?"
"Everyone knows about them… don't they?" Darian could feel gravity easing up. "Aren't they common?"
"No," Liro said flatly. "They're from the old world. Not common anymore." He knelt beside Darian. "So tell me again… who exactly are you?"
Darian took a breath. He had to go for it.
"I'm from the old world," he said solemnly, placing a hand on his chest. "I know it sounds insane, but it's true."
Silence.
Then Kael and the woman burst into laughter.
"You're serious? The old world was destroyed over five hundred years ago," the woman said, pointing at him. "If you're that old, you must be a Krukin!"
"No! You ever heard of black holes?" he shot back. "I got pulled through one... it's how I survived!"
The word caught Liro's attention. "Black holes? I've read about them. Space phenomena… but I never understood them."
"I can explain! Please, just listen!"
The woman paused. "Hard to believe anything without proof."
"Then let me show you something," Darian said, moving toward his backpack".
But as he reached, his arms grew heavy again, Kael's doing.
"Don't move!" Kael shouted. "That pack could be a trap—"
"Enough, Kael," the woman said, stopping him with a raised hand. "Let him."
"But Princess—"
Princess? Darian froze at the word. She didn't look like a princess… but maybe appearances didn't mean much anymore.
The gravity pressure lifted. Darian dug through the backpack and pulled out his diary.
"Here!" he slid it under the bars.
Liro grabbed it and flipped through.
"What are we looking at?" he asked.
"My research. The Krukins. I've documented them, studied their behavior, categorized them by danger level. I used scientific instruments to—" Darian's voice dropped. "Just… please believe me."
The woman, now confirmed as a princess, crossed her arms.
"For now, stay here," she said. "We'll decide what to do with you later."
The trio turned and walked off. Darian collapsed beside Snowy, exhaling.
"Well, Snowy… meeting humans again after ten years didn't exactly go how I imagined." He scratched behind the creature's ears. "But I tried everything. Let's hope it's enough."
Later…
In a large chamber filled with sofas, a table, and a desk, the three humans reconvened.
Alerya, the princess, stared at the bullet in her hand.
"Liro," she said, "what exactly is a rifle?"
"A weapon. Very common in the old world. Used in wars. Many types," Liro replied, flipping through Darian's diary.
"When that man fell, he didn't have one," he added. "He didn't shoot the king."
Kael frowned. "He could've thrown it away while escaping."
"No," Liro said. "We found the bullet embedded in the king's stomach. No rifle could shoot from above and reach that angle. It wasn't him."
Alerya's eyes narrowed.
"Then someone else tried to kill my father. And that man… he was just in the wrong place, wrong time."
"Exactly," Liro said. "And if he's telling the truth about the old world… he could be a valuable ally. Have you seen his magic? I've never read about anything like it."
"Yeah…" Alerya whispered. "It was unique."
She took a final look at the bullet.
"Bring him to the council room. I'll call the others."
Back in the prison, Darian looked up as Kael and Liro returned.
"What now? Did you decide to execute me?" he asked dryly.
Kael, surprisingly calm, unlocked the cell.
"No. You're coming with us," he said. "We've decided to hear you out."