The ruin trembled as the shard's pulse rippled through the floor, dust raining from the cracked ceiling. The glow dimmed, then burst outward once more — a faint heartbeat of something ancient refusing to die.
Kael staggered back, shielding his eyes. The air reeked of iron and something burnt, a metallic scent that clung to his tongue.
Then came the sound.
[System Update Detected…]
The voice echoed inside his skull, cold and steady, a mechanical whisper that didn't belong in this world.
[Update: Cursed Item successfully registered.]
[Notice: Cursed Heart Shard absorbed.]
[New Objective: Collect all 5 Cursed Items to increase XP tier progression.] [Warning: Each absorption affects the linked Spirit entity's memory integrity.]
The words hung in the silence, each one digging into him like a blade.
Kael turned slowly. Zaida stood near the altar, her crimson eyes flickering like dying embers. Her head tilted slightly — confusion shadowing her face.
"Master… what were we doing before this?" she asked softly, blinking hard, as if trying to catch fragments of thought that were slipping away.
Kael froze.
"Before this?" he echoed.
Zaida frowned, tapping her temple with a clawed finger. "You said something about… dying once before. That you remembered the pain. But… when was that?"
The blood in his veins ran cold. She'd been the one who remembered his past life and how he allegedly stole someone's life when he transmigrated; she was the one who hinted at his old world(s), his failures, and the way he had died and all that crap she talked about when he blacked out in the hallway.
And now, suddenly, she was clueless?
He tried to steady his breathing. "You don't remember what happened yesterday?"
Zaida looked at him blankly for a moment, then gave a small, frustrated shake of her head. "Yesterday?" she whispered. "There was a yesterday?"
The silence that followed felt heavier than the ruins themselves.
Kael sat down against the wall, the exhaustion of the day catching up with him. The faint orange of sunset bled through the shattered ceiling, turning the floating dust into golden mist.
Zaida slumped beside him. Her energy flickered faintly — a dimming aura instead of her usual vibrant glow.
His stomach growled. It felt embarrassingly human in that moment — a reminder that even in this world of spirits and demons, hunger was still real.
He fished through his pack — what was left of it. A single ration bar, half melted and stale. He broke it in half and handed one piece to her.
Zaida looked at it curiously. "Do I eat this?"
"You once complained about the taste when i first summoned you and had no idea what the hell to feed you. You wanted my brains and organs and other disgusting stuff zombies eat," he muttered, forcing a small grin.
She accepted it, biting off a piece hesitantly. Her expression turned thoughtful, almost childlike. "It's terrible," she said flatly.
Kael chuckled under his breath, though it didn't reach his eyes.
When the last of the sun rays slipped behind the trees, the ruin was filled with shadows. The shard still glowed faintly in the center, a slow, rhythmic throb like a second heartbeat.
Zaida leaned her head against his shoulder, her aura fluttering weakly.
Kael stared at the shard.
Power. XP. Advancement. And in exchange? Her memories.
He clenched his fists until his knuckles whitened. "If this is how I'm supposed to climb ranks," he murmured under his breath, "then maybe the system isn't helping me survive — it's helping me forget."
Outside, something howled in the forest, distant yet hungry.
Kael didn't move. He only watched the shard pulse again, a red flash across the ruin walls, and swore he could see his reflection in it smirk, just for a moment.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The night was too quiet. Even the wind outside seemed afraid to enter the ruins.
Kael sat by the dying campfire, sharpening his bone-steel blade in rhythm with his heartbeat. Each scrape of metal echoed in the hollow room. Across from him, Zaida crouched beside the glowing shard, her hands hovering near its surface like a moth circling fire.
Her eyes reflected the red light — unfocused.
"Zaida," Kael called softly.
She didn't answer.
"Zaida."
Her head jerked suddenly, eyes snapping toward him with a mechanical twitch. "I—" She blinked rapidly, the glow in her pupils flickering. "Sorry. I… forgot that name belonged to me."
Kael froze, his hand tightening around the blade. "What do you mean you forgot?"
"I just… heard it, and it sounded unfamiliar." She gave a small laugh, though it didn't reach her face. "For a moment, I thought you were calling someone else."
The air between them went still.
Kael swallowed hard. "Do you remember what we talked about before sunset?"
Zaida tilted her head. "The food?"
"No," he said slowly. "Before that."
She frowned. Her fingers twitched as if trying to grab hold of something invisible. "There was… a story," she murmured. "About someone who… failed. I think you were angry. But I don't know why."
Her voice broke mid-sentence. She went still again — then convulsed, a sharp, jarring motion like a glitch in reality. The light from the shard surged once and dimmed again.
Kael lunged forward. "Zaida!"
She blinked rapidly, gasping once like someone waking from a dream. "Master?" she whispered. "Why are you shouting?"
He froze where he was, every word suddenly feeling wrong in his mouth. "You—" He stopped. He couldn't even finish the sentence.
Zaida stared at him, confused but smiling faintly, like she didn't notice anything missing.
Kael sat back, his heartbeat thundering in his ears.
Then the static came. A faint, electric hiss in his head — the system's voice, distorted, almost mocking.
[Every curse you take makes her less of what she was.]
The words crawled under his skin.
Kael clenched his fists. "Wait hollup...WHAT? You knew this would happen,?!" he muttered.
The system didn't reply — only a brief flicker of red text across his vision:
[Progress cannot exist without loss.]
Zaida stood and looked toward the forest, her head tilting slightly. "Did you hear something?" she asked. "Someone's crying."
"There's no one out there," Kael said quietly.
"Are you sure?" she murmured. "It sounds… familiar."
He didn't answer.
She turned back to him and smiled, though her expression seemed off — like someone mimicking the idea of a smile. "It's okay, Master," she said. "If I forget again, just remind me who I belong to."
"That would've sounded weird if we were on Earth."
Kael didn't move. His chest ached. The fire crackled once, then went out, leaving only the shard's pulse to light their faces — one heartbeat, then another.
He didn't respond when the system whispered again:
[Collect more. Remember less.]
---
The fire was gone.
Only the shard's pulse lit the ruin, its dull red glow breathing against the walls like a sleeping heart.
Zaida's head slowly dipped forward. Her eyelids fluttered, then stilled — the first time Kael had ever seen her sleep. For a moment, she looked almost human. The stitches softened, the strange glow in her eyes fading to faint silver.
Kael leaned against the wall, exhaustion finally catching up to him. His vision wavered. He told himself he'd close his eyes just for a moment.
Darkness took him instantly.
He was on Earth again, and he was Alex again.
The world was normal. His world.
His cramped bedroom glowed with the neon hum of computer screens. The smell of instant noodles and coffee hung in the air. He sat in his gaming chair, hunched over the keyboard, finishing the last lines of code for the game he'd been building for months.
A knock.
"Alex?" his mom's voice called softly. "Delilah's here."
He didn't even have time to answer before the door opened and Delilah stepped in. She didn't sit. She never did. Her eyes were already narrowed, her tone sharp.
"You owe me an apology."
He blinked, tired. "For what?"
She folded her arms, glaring. "For cheating. Don't play dumb — I saw you with that girl at Starbucks."
He sighed, rubbing his face. "That was my cousin from Boston. She—"
"Don't lie to me!"
Her voice rose. He hissed for her to keep it down — his mother was just downstairs.
The vase hit before he could move. It shattered across his setup, cracking the glass desk and killing two of his computers in a burst of sparks.
"Delilah, what the hell—"
"You think I'm stupid?" she screamed, trembling.
Alex's chest tightened. "Do you even hear yourself? She's my cousin! My cousin!"
Her expression faltered, guilt seeping in. Then she took a step closer, her voice trembling. "I'm sorry. I was just scared. I love you."
He turned away, seething.
She touched his arm gently, whispering soft apologies, unbuttoning her shirt as if to erase the damage with intimacy. He stood frozen.
"Don't," he said.
She pressed herself closer. "Please… I just—"
He pushed her back. "You really think a quick fuck can fix this?"
The world froze for a second. Then Delilah smiled — wrong. Too wide. Her eyes blackened.
Her skin cracked like old porcelain as her body stretched into something monstrous. "You shouldn't have said no."
Then she lunged.
Pain.Hands through his chest.Darkness.
Flames. Screams. The stench of blood.
Kael Ardyn jolted awake in the pitch-black cellar, gasping. Iron bars. Shadows. The same infernal scene. Demons howled in the distance.
Then the voice:[Initializing Spirit System…]
[Candidate identified.]
[Commencing Contract Selection.]
-----
[Selection confirmed: Undead Class – Variant: Zombie (Awakened).]
[Warning: Rejection from society is imminent. Proceed?] The cellar shook. Demons ripped through the gate. Kael swore. "Well, fuck society then—YES, I choose her!"
Kael's eyes flew open. Morning sunlight streamed weakly through the cracks in the ruin's wall. The nightmare bled away, but the sting in his chest remained.
Zaida was already awake. She knelt beside him, staring down with her head slightly tilted, her silvery eyes unreadable.
"You were shouting," she said quietly. "You called out a name."
Kael rubbed his face. "Delilah." He winced at the sound. "Someone from before."
"From your old world?"
"Yeah. Someone who thought she owned me." He forced a breath and stood. "Let's move before the forest wakes up again."
The air outside was thick and cold, the morning fog clinging to the earth like spilled smoke.The forest was silent — too silent.
As they walked, Kael noticed it first. A faint distortion in Zaida's voice when she spoke — like static buried beneath her words.When she said his name, it came out layered, as though two voices spoke at once.
"Zaida," he said quietly. "Say that again."
"What?"
"My name. Say it again."
"Kael…"
There it was — a faint echo, another tone whispering just behind hers. It wasn't her voice.
He stopped walking. "It's the shard."
Zaida blinked, confused. "Master?"
He touched the pouch where the Cursed Heart Shard rested. The faint pulse within it synced with the rhythm of her voice. Every time she spoke, it glowed — responding, almost feeding.
The mist ahead shifted as if something unseen was watching them.
[Warning: Anomaly Detected.]
[Residual resonance detected from Cursed Shard.]
[Note: Entity Level 3 signature confirmed.]
Kael's stomach sank. "Something's tracking us."
Zaida's fingers flexed, claws ready. "Then we fight?"
He shook his head. "ugh I'm too hungry for this. If it's Level 3, we run. The shard's made us visible."
The fog whispered around them, almost teasing — faint laughter threading through the trees.It wasn't from any direction. It was everywhere.
Kael drew his cloak tighter. "From now on, we stay quiet," he muttered. "The more it hears us, the faster it learns."
Zaida's stitched lips twitched. "You think it's listening?"
"I know it is."
He glanced at her — and for the briefest moment, her shadow didn't match her body.It stood taller. Thinner. Grinning.
Kael didn't react, but his heart skipped once.
"Let's move," he said.
They vanished into the mist again — unaware that high above, in the shifting fog, something vast and formless bent closer, watching through the shard's faint pulse like an eye opening for the first time.
But before they could take a step, the air ahead rippled. The ground reflected light that wasn't there — a liquid shimmer twisting into shape. From it crawled something grotesque, a creature of mirrored flesh and hollow, silver eyes.
Its voice was like breaking glass."Kael Ardyn…"
Then it lunged.
The Mirror Hound moved before Kael did, each swing of his sword mirrored, predicted, countered. He struck left, it moved right. He ducked, it ducked faster. Each reflection carried a heartbeat's lead, like it already knew his intent.
Four smaller F-class demons slithered from the shadows, their snarls high and feral. Kael grit his teeth."Zaida! Take two! I'll deal with the rest!"
She nodded, her movements graceful yet slightly off — her memory still flickering like static.
Kael clashed with the Hound, the sound of metal meeting mirrored bone echoing through the darkness. Each blow he landed glanced off, the creature's reflective hide twisting his attacks against him. Behind him, Zaida's shriek cut through the air, not fear, but hunger.
By the time Kael glanced her way, she had already torn through her two targets then sank her teeth into their fallen corpses, devouring what she could.
"Zaida—!"
She looked up mid-bite, disoriented. "Master… when we first fought… didn't you—" Her words broke off. A blank stare.
But that was enough.
Kael froze. When we first fought… She had said something like that before during training, back when instinct had mattered more than thought.
He inhaled sharply, let go of reason, and let his body move.
He stopped thinking about the next strike — stopped planning. He let his blade dance on instinct, shifting unpredictably. The Hound faltered, its mirrored body stuttering, unsure how to anticipate chaos.
Kael's sword found its mark — straight through the creature's core.
The reflection shattered.
The Hound's form melted into silver dust, whispering with its final breath: "They remember you…"
Silence. Only the wind remained.
Kael's vision flickered as the system appeared before him, glowing faintly in the dusk.
[Cursed Item collected: 1/5]
[Linked Spirit Memory degradation: 3%]
[Mission update: 5/5 F-class demons defeated]
[Reward: XP Level 3 obtained]
Zaida sat down beside him, her hands trembling as faint light still glimmered between her fingers. She hummed — a soft, broken tune that stopped halfway, as if she'd forgotten the rest.
Kael looked at her, throat tight. "You'll remember again… I'll make sure of it."
Zaida smiled faintly, eyes glassy. "Even if I forget you, Master… my body will still find you."
Ugh… I may be a little dirty-minded, but seriously, she needs to stop saying stuff like that. Even Jorin would be like, 'Dude… chill.' I miss his perverted ass. These trials are sucking the life—and apparently my sanity—right out of me. I'm exhausted, constipated, and questioning all my life choices at once.
The night grew still again. Kael leaned back against a rock, exhaustion tugging at his limbs. For a moment, the world seemed calm.
Then — a sharp, distorted chime.
[Override initiated...][Warning: External entity attempting to access system channel.][Message intercepted — unknown source.]
Static filled the air. A whisper cut through it — distant, human, and terrified.
"Kael Ardyn… stop collecting the shards. They aren't gifts — they're graves."
Kael's eyes snapped open. He looked toward the shard lying nearby — and saw it pulse again, faintly.
For an instant, its surface reflected five silhouettes — dark, towering, gathering somewhere far beyond this forest.
And then, the light went out.