Darkness.
Not the peaceful kind.
Not sleep.
It was a suffocating void that pressed against Light's mind, crushing his thoughts into nothingness. There was no sense of time, no sense of body—only pain drifting somewhere far away.
Then, slowly, painfully—
Consciousness returned.
A sharp gasp tore from his throat as his lungs burned, pulling in air as if he had been drowning. Every breath felt like glass scraping through his chest. His entire body screamed in protest.
Light groaned.
His eyelids fluttered open.
Blurred shapes greeted him at first. Flickering red lights danced weakly above, pulsing like a dying heartbeat. The walls around him were narrow, metallic, enclosing him from all sides.
Cold.
Claustrophobic.
"A… capsule?" Light whispered, his voice hoarse.
The word barely escaped his lips.
His head pounded violently. When he tried to move, agony surged through him, and he clenched his teeth to suppress a scream. His side throbbed where John's blade had pierced him earlier—it felt swollen, torn, and dangerously warm.
Fragments of memory slammed into him.
The cockpit.
John's cold eyes.
The blade.
The wormhole.
Light sucked in a shaky breath.
"We… crossed it," he muttered.
But something felt wrong.
He didn't remember landing.
With trembling hands, Light reached for the capsule restraints and fumbled with the locks. His fingers were numb, sluggish, but eventually the clasps released. He collapsed forward, barely catching himself before hitting the floor.
Every movement hurt.
Still, he forced himself up.
Light reached the hatch and pressed the manual release.
With a hiss, the door slid open.
Cold air rushed in.
Not recycled air.
Real air.
Light stepped out—
And froze.
He wasn't in space.
He wasn't surrounded by wreckage or stars.
He stood on soil.
Dark, uneven ground covered in thick roots and dead leaves. Massive trees towered above him, their twisted branches blocking out the sky completely. The air was heavy, damp, and carried an unfamiliar scent—earthy, metallic, wrong.
It was night.
But not an ordinary night.
There was no moon.
No stars.
Just darkness so deep it swallowed sound itself.
Light's heart pounded.
"This… isn't Planet-721," he whispered.
His instincts screamed danger.
Clutching his injured side, Light began to move forward. Each step sent waves of pain through his body, but fear pushed him onward. He had to find the others.
"Iris… Marcus…" he called softly.
No answer.
The forest felt alive.
Not with wind or animals—but with presence.
He felt watched.
A strange, suffocating pressure wrapped around him, like invisible eyes tracking his every move. The shadows between the trees felt thicker than darkness should allow, as if something lurked just beyond his vision.
Then he saw it.
Smoke.
Thin wisps rising faintly in the distance.
Hope flared in his chest.
"They landed…" Light said, forcing a weak smile. "They survived."
He picked up his pace, ignoring the pain ripping through his body. The smoke guided him deeper into the forest, but the further he went, the worse the feeling became.
The air grew heavier.
Darker.
A black aura clung to everything.
Light swallowed hard.
"I'm not alone," he murmured.
His instincts told him something was wrong—terribly wrong—but he pushed forward anyway.
Suddenly, the trees opened into a clearing.
Light's heart leapt.
Capsules.
Three emergency capsules lay scattered across the ground, their exteriors scorched and cracked.
Relief washed over him.
"Iris!" he shouted. "Marcus!"
Silence answered him.
His steps slowed.
His heartbeat thundered in his ears.
Something was wrong.
Light approached the nearest capsule.
Then he saw the bodies.
Three crew members lay sprawled on the ground.
Motionless.
Still.
Too still.
"No…" Light whispered, dread tightening his chest.
He stepped closer.
And his world shattered.
Their heads were gone.
Cleanly severed.
Blood soaked the ground beneath them, dark and sticky. Their chests had been torn open violently—ribs snapped outward, hearts ripped away.
This wasn't a malfunction.
This wasn't an accident.
This was slaughter.
Light stumbled back as nausea surged violently. He dropped to his knees and vomited, his body convulsing as fear and disbelief tore through him.
"This can't be happening…" he gasped.
Tears streamed down his face.
Then he noticed something else.
Only three bodies.
Two capsules missing.
"Iris…" Light whispered, his voice breaking. "Marcus…"
Cold terror flooded his veins.
He stood slowly and walked forward, every step trembling.
Then—
He saw it.
A massive silhouette crouched near the edge of the clearing.
Something enormous.
The creature's back filled Light's vision. It was massive, its spine jutting out in sharp, uneven ridges as if the bones had grown outward instead of inward. Dark, torn skin stretched over its shoulders, splitting open in places where something underneath had forced its way through.
It hunched over a body, tearing into flesh with monstrous strength. Wet, crunching sounds echoed through the forest as bones snapped effortlessly.
Light froze.
He ducked behind a tree, his hands shaking as he covered his mouth to keep from screaming. His breath came in shallow, panicked gasps.
The creature lifted its head and threw something aside.
It landed near Light.
A small metallic object.
Light's eyes widened.
A name tag.
Bloodstained.
Cracked.
IRIS.
His mind went blank.
"No…" he mouthed soundlessly.
He looked again.
What remained of Iris's body lay beneath the creature.
Her head was gone.
Light's chest tightened painfully as silent sobs wracked his body.
Then his eyes caught something else.
An arm.
Severed.
Lying beside her.
Light recognized it instantly.
Marcus.
Fear unlike anything he'd ever felt gripped him.
He turned to run.
Too late.
The creature stopped.
Its head snapped toward him.
It sensed him.
A deep, distorted roar shattered the silence, shaking the ground beneath his feet.
Light ran.
Pain meant nothing now.
Branches tore his skin as he sprinted blindly through the forest. Heavy footsteps thundered behind him, each one shaking the earth. The creature was fast—far too fast.
His lungs burned.
His vision blurred.
He burst into a clearing—
A cliff.
A dead end.
Light turned just as the monster leapt.
Instinct took over.
He grabbed a broken branch and swung wildly.
It snapped like paper.
The creature struck him.
One devastating blow.
His arm bent backward.
Bone shattered.
Light screamed as he was hurled to the ground.
Tears streamed down his face as he crawled weakly.
"Please…" he sobbed. "God… help me…"
The creature loomed over him.
And then—
Light noticed something.
A tag hanging from its chest.
A familiar name burned into his mind.
MARCUS.
Shock crushed him.
"No… Marcus…" he whispered.
His eyes dropped to the creature's arms.
One was different.
Wrong.
The severed hand.
The truth shattered him.
The creature roared.
Its jaws closed around Light's leg.
Pain exploded.
Light screamed—raw, broken, endless.
Blood soaked the ground.
Darkness crept into his vision.
As consciousness faded, a strange light flickered before his eyes.
Cold.
Mechanical.
Unfamiliar symbols appeared.
His body went limp.
Darkness swallowed everything.
Then—
A voice echoed.
"A user has been logged in."
End of Chapter -3 -