Chapter 4 — Peace Is Just What Breaks First
The body didn't disappear.
That was the first thing Elias noticed.
Back on Earth, bodies were removed fast. Cleaned. Erased. The city hated reminders. Here, the corrupted beast lay twisted on the road, black blood soaking into the dirt, steam rising where its flesh met the air.
People didn't look away.
They gathered at a careful distance, murmuring in low voices. Fear clung to the crowd, thick and heavy, but so did something else.
Recognition.
"This close…"
"The markers are failing…"
"It shouldn't have crossed—"
Elias stood near the broken wall, leaning slightly on his father's arm. The pain in his side had returned with a dull insistence, but he ignored it. His eyes stayed on the corpse.
The smell was worse up close. Rot and iron mixed with something sharp, like burned metal.
One of the guards crouched near the body, spear held low. He wore leather armor reinforced with metal plates, the Verdan crest etched faintly on his chest. His hair was light, cropped short, sweat plastering it to his forehead.
He reached out and prodded the beast with the tip of his spear.
It didn't move.
"Dead," the guard said. "For real."
Another guard snorted. "I'll believe it when it stops smelling like that."
A third guard, older than the others, stood back with his arms crossed. His eyes scanned the road, the marker stones, the tree line beyond. He wasn't relaxed.
Good.
Elias watched him closely.
That man knew something was wrong.
The older guard turned, his gaze landing on Elias. His eyes narrowed slightly.
"You," he said. "You were the one it charged first."
Elias nodded. "Yes."
The guard studied him from head to toe. His gaze lingered on the bandages, the way Elias stood despite the pain.
"You're injured," the guard said.
"I can stand," Elias replied.
"That wasn't the question."
Before Elias could answer, his father stepped forward.
"He collapsed two days ago," he said firmly. "He shouldn't have been outside at all."
The guard frowned.
"Collapsed how?"
"On the road," his father said. "Near the markers."
The guard's jaw tightened.
"That's where the breach was," he said.
The word sent a ripple through the crowd.
Breach.
Liora stiffened where she stood.
Elias felt it again—that subtle shift in the air. Mana reacting to tension. To fear.
The older guard straightened.
"I'm Captain Rourke," he said. "Verdan watch."
He looked at Elias again, this time with sharper interest.
"You saw it first," Rourke said. "I want you to tell me everything."
They moved inside.
Not Elias's house, but the small watch post near the village center. Stone walls. A low ceiling. Wooden beams reinforced with metal brackets. Maps lined one wall, rough but detailed, showing roads, forests, and borders.
The building felt solid.
Defensive.
Rourke gestured for Elias to sit. Elias did, lowering himself carefully onto a bench. His father hovered nearby, arms crossed, eyes hard.
Liora stood near the door, quiet.
Rourke leaned against the table, hands braced on the wood.
"Start from the beginning," he said.
Elias did.
He kept it simple.
He talked about waking on the road. About the wrongness in the air. About the sound the markers made before the creature appeared.
He left out the System.
He left out the mission prompt.
Rourke listened without interrupting.
When Elias finished, the captain exhaled slowly.
"That confirms it," he said.
"Confirms what?" Elias asked.
Rourke tapped the map.
"The markers around Verdan were set centuries ago," he said. "They're old. They were meant to keep corrupted creatures from wandering too close."
"Wandering from where?" Elias asked.
Rourke looked up at him.
"The deep wilds," he said. "Places where mana goes wrong."
Silence settled.
"How often does this happen?" Elias asked.
Rourke hesitated.
"Not often," he said. "Not this close."
That wasn't an answer.
Elias leaned forward, ignoring the twinge of pain.
"How often lately?" he asked.
Rourke's eyes hardened.
"More than it should," he admitted.
Liora's fingers curled into fists.
"What does that mean for us?" she asked.
Rourke looked at her.
"It means we double patrols," he said. "It means no one travels alone. And it means I send word to the capital."
Capital.
Elias filed that away.
Rourke's gaze returned to Elias.
"You held its attention," he said. "Long enough for us to arrive."
Elias shrugged slightly. "I ran."
Rourke huffed. "Smart."
He straightened.
"I'll be honest," he said. "If it had reached the village proper, we would've lost people."
The words landed heavy.
Elias closed his eyes for a brief moment.
This was how it started.
Small failures. Narrow escapes.
Then escalation.
"You did well," Rourke continued. "But you shouldn't have been there."
Elias opened his eyes again.
"I didn't plan to be," he said.
Rourke studied him for a long second.
"There's something about you," he said slowly. "I don't know what it is yet."
Elias didn't respond.
Rourke nodded once, as if confirming a private thought.
"Rest," he said. "We'll handle this."
As they left the watch post, the hum in the air felt louder.
Not urgent.
Uneasy.
That night, the village didn't sleep.
Lanterns burned long past dusk. Guards patrolled the roads in pairs. Doors were locked. Windows shuttered.
Elias lay awake on his bed, staring at the ceiling again.
The System panel hovered quietly at the edge of his vision.
It hadn't spoken since the fight.
He focused on it.
The panel brightened slightly.
[MISSION STATUS: COMPLETE]
[SURVIVAL CONFIRMED]
No praise.
No reward.
Just confirmation.
Elias felt a flicker of something like relief—and then irritation.
"So that's it?" he muttered.
The panel shifted.
[EVALUATION IN PROGRESS]
His heart rate ticked up.
"Don't," he whispered. "Not yet."
The System didn't respond.
Minutes passed.
The fire in the hearth crackled softly. Wind brushed against the shutters.
Then—
[EVALUATION COMPLETE]
[OBSERVATION: SUBJECT ADAPTS QUICKLY]
Elias clenched his jaw.
"Stop watching me," he said.
The panel didn't care.
[NOTE: HOST BODY STABILITY — ACCEPTABLE]
[NOTE: MANA SENSITIVITY — DETECTED]
His breath caught.
Mana sensitivity.
He hadn't used anything. He hadn't felt power gather in him.
He'd just… noticed things.
The hum. The pressure. The shifts.
[RECOMMENDATION: CONTROL DEVELOPMENT ADVISED]
Elias sat up slowly.
"No," he said. "Not yet."
He wasn't ready.
He needed information. Context. Time.
The System remained silent.
For now.
The next morning came with gray clouds and a low wind.
Elias was allowed outside again—but not alone.
His father walked with him, steady and quiet. They followed a path that curved around the village, skirting the fields.
The marker stones stood ahead, looming larger with every step.
Up close, they were massive. Carved from dark stone veined with faint lines that pulsed softly. Runes etched into their surfaces glowed weakly, like embers about to die.
"These were stronger once," his father said. "When I was a boy."
"What happened?" Elias asked.
His father shook his head.
"Time," he said. "Neglect. And things we don't understand."
Elias reached out, stopping just short of touching the stone.
He felt it then.
A faint pull.
Not toward the marker.
Beyond it.
His skin prickled.
"Dad," Elias said quietly.
His father looked at him.
"I think something is pushing from the other side."
His father's face tightened.
"You don't say things like that lightly," he said.
"I know," Elias replied.
They stood there for a long moment, the wind whispering through the grass.
Finally, his father spoke.
"If the borders are failing," he said, "Verdan won't stay quiet for long."
Elias nodded.
Quiet never lasted.
Later that afternoon, Liora found him by the old well.
She didn't speak at first. Just sat beside him, lowering herself carefully onto the stone edge.
The village looked different today. Tighter. More alert.
"I heard Captain Rourke is sending word to the capital," she said.
"So he said," Elias replied.
She picked at a loose thread on her sleeve.
"My parents are talking about sending me away," she admitted. "To relatives farther in."
Elias's chest tightened.
"That might be safer," he said.
She looked at him sharply.
"Is that what you think?" she asked.
He hesitated.
"I think… things are changing," he said. "Fast."
Her gaze softened.
"I don't like being left behind," she said.
Elias met her eyes.
"Neither do I."
They sat in silence again.
Comfortable. Heavy.
A bell rang in the distance.
Once.
Twice.
Alarm.
They both stood.
Smoke rose beyond the fields.
Not black.
Gray.
Elias felt the hum spike.
Guards shouted. Boots pounded against stone.
Rourke's voice cut through the noise.
"Form up! Now!"
Elias's heart hammered.
"This isn't another beast," he said.
Liora looked at him.
"How do you know?"
He didn't answer.
The System panel flickered.
[ALERT]
[ANOMALY DETECTED — NON-BEAST SIGNATURE]
Elias swallowed.
"Stay here," he told Liora.
She grabbed his arm.
"No," she said. "You're hurt."
"I know," he said. "That's why I need you safe."
He pulled free and moved toward the sound of shouting, pain flaring with every step.
The village square was chaos.
People gathered at a distance as guards surrounded something near the road.
Not a creature.
A man.
He knelt on the ground, hands bound behind his back. His clothes were torn, stained with dirt and blood. His head hung low, dark hair hiding his face.
A guard shoved him upright.
"Found him near the markers," the guard said. "Tampering."
Rourke stepped forward.
"Look at me," he ordered.
The man raised his head.
Elias felt the chill immediately.
The man's eyes were wrong.
Not empty.
Focused.
Knowing.
His gaze slid past Rourke—and locked onto Elias.
A smile crept across his face.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Like he'd found what he was looking for.
The System pulsed once.
Hard.
[WARNING]
[HOST HAS BEEN NOTICED]
Elias's blood ran cold.
The man spoke.
"Ah," he said softly. "So this is where you landed."
The village fell silent.
Rourke drew his sword.
"What did you do to the markers?" he demanded.
The man laughed.
It was quiet.
Almost gentle.
"Oh," he said. "I just helped them along."
His eyes never left Elias.
"After all," he continued, "peace only lasts until someone remembers how to break it."
Elias realized then that monsters were not the first sign of the end.
People were.