As the three of them suddenly jolted awake, they felt surprisingly fine. It had been a while since they last fought, and as they looked down at their clothes, they noticed they were still wearing the coats.
"Do we always get free shit?" Renzo asked, turning to Zay with a raised brow.
Zay smirked. "Most of the time, yeah!"
He glanced around the hut and quickly noticed Kazren wasn't there. Frowning, he scanned the room until his eyes landed on a wooden table with a single piece of paper on it. Zay walked over and picked up the note.
"If you're reading this and I'm not there, I got called in by a friend of a friend in the Ovaris Empire but will be travelling to Lyre soon.
According to the documents a bird dropped off, here's the quick rundown:
A group of girls — ages ranging from three all the way up to fifty — have been kidnapped. All of it happened under the cover of night. Nine different families have also fled the Empire too. Not sure if it's connected or just a weird coincidence.
There are rumors a group is doing experiments on humans using Monster Cores. No solid proof yet, but something's stirring, and I've got a bad feeling about it.
I left a boat for you at the Quivarem docks. Under the name Maven Rockers. New model — runs on aura. Been in development for years, but honestly? I think you'll make better use of it than I ever could.
No telling when I'll be back. Or if I'll be back, alive that is. The group behind this calls themselves Raven's Eye. Their goal? No clue but from what I read in the document, it's merging humans with monsters to create some kind of army. Personally? Sounds like the ramblings of kids with too much time and no brains.
Mixing an Aura Core and a Monster Core isn't even possible."
The rest of the note had been ripped off, as if Kazren decided to take part of it with him.
"So these bastards are trying to turn people into monsters?" Renzo asked, glancing at Zay.
Zay didn't reply. He crumpled the paper in his hand and slipped it into his pocket, just in case.
"It appears so. Though, as Kazren said, combining an Aura Core and Monster Core shouldn't be possible... then again, that's just in theory. Maybe they found a way around it."
He walked over to the window beside the hut's door and stared out at the clouds rolling in over the mountains.
'I've been thinking about this ever since we killed Ashgrave… I've never tried this so it might kill but but there's only one way to know for sure if it's possible,' Zay thought, exhaling slowly before turning back around.
He spotted something on the wooden shelf — Ashgrave's Monster Core, still faintly glowing. Zay nodded to himself, stepped forward, and extended his arm. He picked up the core, gripped it tight, then walked to the door and opened it.
He paused at the doorframe, glancing back at his siblings.
"If this doesn't work and I end up dying… just tell our parents that I got lost in the mountains and got eaten by a pack of bears."
And with that, he stepped outside.
The sky was clear, stars twinkling overhead. Zay sat down on the rocky cliffside just beyond the hut and held the core in his hand.
"What the hell is he doing?" Lily asked, concern written all over her face.
Renzo's eyes widened. "I think… he's trying to do exactly what Raven's Eye is doing."
Without hesitation, he bolted for the door. Lily followed close behind.
They burst outside, leaping down the small wooden steps — but before they could reach him, Zay's body began to glow.
A blinding white light erupted from him, swirling with violet and black aura. The shockwave sent both Renzo and Lily flying back.
They crashed against the side of the hut, splinters raining down from the wooden beams. Dust kicked up around them as the ground cracked beneath their feet, a low, vibrating hum beginning to fill the air.
"Shit — Zay!" Renzo shouted, shielding his face from the searing wind.
Lily pushed herself up, eyes wide as she stared through the haze. "What's happening to him?!"
In the center of the clearing, Zay remained seated, his body was trembling violently.
His veins lit up beneath his skin, glowing bright red. Black streaks etched along his arms and neck, clashing with veins of radiant violet and burning white. He gritted his teeth, his eyes wide open but unfocused, flickering between amethyst and pitch black.
He clenched his open hand over his heart as his breathing became ragged, and heavy.
The Aura Core, steady and refined like a humming storm, clashed violently with the Monster Core, which pulsed with pure malice.
Zay's breathing hitched as the Monster Core surged upward, trying to overtake his heart, trying to force its instincts into his blood. His body seized. His nails dug into the dirt, veins bulging along his arms and neck.
Suddenly, a bolt of energy shot out from his chest, splitting the ground in front of him.
A second shockwave erupted, stronger than the first—blowing the hut's door off its hinges.
Renzo grabbed Lily's wrist and pulled her down behind the edge of a boulder. "We can't get close at all!"
"He's dying — he's actually dying, Renzo!" Lily yelled, her voice cracking as the wind battered her hair. "Do something!"
"I can't! I-I think it's too late!"
The air around Zay twisted violently. His aura no longer flowed—it spiraled like a vortex.
White light pulsed from his chest, while black mist leaked from his back, forming jagged wings of energy that stretched and flickered, unstable and incomplete. Violet lightning danced along his arms, arcing through the air with a screech.
He let out a choked scream as his back arched. The cores clashed inside him.
He dug his fingers into the dirt, forcing himself upright as his body quaked. Blood streamed from his nose, ears, and from his mouth.
The aura around him thickened, now twisting into a spiral column that extended high into the sky like a beacon—white at the base, black at its core, and violet flames licking around the edges.
A deafening, thunderous detonation shook the entire mountaintop.
Renzo threw his arm around Lily, shielding her again as the third shockwave hit, scattering trees and slamming boulders off their foundations.
As the smoke began to settle, Lily lifted her head, coughing. "Renzo…?"
He looked up too, eyes squinting through the dust and flickering sparks in the air.
The glow had dimmed—but Zay was still there.
Floating just a foot off the ground, arms spread, body limp. The aura around him had shrunk into a thin black and violet pulsing over his skin like a second, his hair had turned a deep black streaked with a white and red mix.
And in his palm… the Monster Core had vanished and the menu of Arbiters appeared before him.
[Seal of Midnight, and Predator's Hunting Grounds has successfully aided the Arbiter in adapting to the Primordial Monster Core.]
[Arbiter, you have two Cores within your body. You are the first Arbiter to have a Primordial Monster Core Within Akser.]
Lily and Renzo rushed over to Zay as he collapsed backward onto the ground.
As his siblings made their way to him, Lily sat down, looked at him, and gently moved his head onto her lap before checking for a pulse.
"Does... he have a pulse?" Renzo asked, crouching down next to Zay.
After a few seconds, Lily felt a steady rhythm under her fingers and closed her eyes with a soft sigh. Her long, dark blue hair stopped swaying as the wind around them died down. Her emerald eyes locked onto her younger sibling's face before she looked up at Renzo.
"... What even happened?"
Renzo took a moment and tried to speak, but nothing came out for the first few seconds before he found his words. "I... I guess he read that note... about merging cores, and I don't know, tried it himself with that Ashgrave beast? I have no fucking clue."
Renzo looked over at the hut. The entire front of it was gone, the walls were partially destroyed, and the beds inside had been ruined.
"I don't think... we can use those for a place for him to rest." He chuckled lightly, trying to ease the situation with a somewhat joking remark.
"This isn't the time for dumb jokes," Lily replied coldly before closing her eyes and checking Zay's pulse again. She still felt it.
Lily opened her mouth to speak, but then, out of nowhere, Zay shot up, opened his eyes, and looked around. He abruptly stood up, flexed his arms, and let his hair sway in the wind before laughing.
"Shit, that was dangerously close," He said, turning to face his siblings.
"What exactly are you doing on the floor?" Heasked, glancing down at Lily as she got up.
"No reason... none at all. Are you okay?" She replied.
"I feel more than fine, honestly," He said, looking down at his bare chest, his clothes shredded by the shockwaves.
"Damn it. I liked that coat," He muttered under his breath before turning away from them.
"Arbiter: Resonance Lens"
⌈Name: Zay Yuso⌋
⌈Current Location: Quivarem⌋
⌈Age: 20⌋
⌈Time: March 20th, 9:03⌋
Condition:
– Perfect Health
– Aura Reserves: 200%
Core:
Aura Core: 100% | Unsealed (New)
Monster Core: 100% | Primordial | Unable to access this Monster Core Rank with your current strength. Lowered to - Ravager
⁑
"What the hell?" was all he could say, his eyes staring at his age.
"What's wrong?" Renzo asked, looking over at him.
"Somehow... my age increased to 20..."
Renzo's eyes widened. "How the hell?"
Suddenly, a new Menu appeared.
[Arbiter, due to the effects of using a Monster Core in the way you did, your age has been forcefully increased by the passage of time on your body. Note: The growth of age from here on out will continue as normal.]
"It has something to do with the Monster Core. The Resonance Lens forcefully increased my age up to 20."
Renzo looked slightly surprised, but nothing more.
"With all the weird shit I've seen or heard of in the past year or so... this is somehow one of the more calm things," he said, scratching his head before sighing and placing his hands in his coat, enjoying the feeling before taking it off and handing it over to Zay.
"Why are you handing me this?" Zay asked, looking down at the fur coat in his hand.
"Because my younger brother liked the coat... so I'm trying to do my best here as an older brother," Renzo replied with a smile. Zay gave a small smirk before taking the coat and slipping it on.
"Let's get going," Zay said as he began walking away.
Lily, who had stayed quiet, nodded, lost in thought, and began following him.
Renzo followed behind her, placing his arms behind his head.
"So, where exactly are we going?" Renzo asked, looking ahead at Zay.
"It'll be a secret until we get there," Zay simply replied, placing his hands into the pockets of the coat and closing his eyes for a few seconds, enjoying the wind against his bare chest from the open front of the coat.
As they walked slowly down the steep mountainside, a sudden message appeared from the Resonance Lens in front of Zay before fading within just a second—too brief for Zay to read, as his eyes were closed. There was no sound or any notification to indicate its presence.
[You have obtained a Resonance Name: Forsaken by Dawn.]