Nakate stood in a dark void. No sound. No light. Only the sensation of something thick and cold lapping against his waist. A dark liquid, neither water nor shadow, rippled faintly around him.
He looked down but couldn't see his reflection, only the endless black.
He took a cautious step forward, each movement sending slow waves through the darkness. When he dipped his hands into the liquid, there was no resistance, no sensation and his fingers passed through it as if through air.
A strange stillness pressed on his ears, heavy and absolute.
Then, something brushed his hand.
He froze. Slowly, he reached down and grasped the object. His fingers closed around something flat. When he lifted it, a dim light shimmered across its edge.
It was a card.
Its back was a deep brown crossed with sleek black stripes, a pattern that seemed to shift as he tilted it, like flowing ink.
When he turned it over, faint golden letters flickered to life beneath an image of a silver spear.
'The Silver Spear of an Angel.
Acquired through stealing a Hollow Angel's weapon and binding it to your soul by escaping the Depths.'
Nakate blinked, confusion tightening his chest. "What is this…?"
The words glowed once, then faded.
He crouched down again, his hand brushing against something else submerged in the black. Another card.
This one bore the same back design, but the front showed a single black feather suspended in the air. The text beneath it was faint, nearly swallowed by the darkness.
'Void Feather.
The lost soul of a Visionshaper absorbed by the hivemind.
It can take form of two items, an armor piece or a weapon, chosen by the fallen soul.'
Nakate stared at the feather on the card. For a brief, impossible moment, he could swear it moved, a tiny twitch, as if it wanted to lift from the paper and escape into the dark.
Then the cards began to melt. Their edges dissolved without a sound, fading into the black liquid until only faint ripples marked where they had been.
He hesitated before reaching down again. His hand passed through the cold nothingness until his fingers brushed something new.
Another card.
Its back was the same, but the front shimmered faintly, the ink alive like breathing metal.
'Rags of a Celestial Corpse
Soulbound to the Pathfinder, Nakate Ashen, who also goes by the alias P̶̱̬̫̎h̵̗̟͐͐̈́ͅo̸̳̪̫̾̒̃̀e̸̫̬̓́ṅ̶̜̠͍̓͠í̵̲̻̃̀͜x̵͎̌̒͝ ̸͚͐̉̒̆A̸̱͛̈̇̇s̶̡̼̟̤̿̐̾̕h̷̻̖̻͉̃͆̍e̷̛̫̱͗̊̏ť̷̜̦̚͝.
Brings protection to those too weak to stand against the Godstorm.'
The last word shimmered and bled into the surface like spilled light.
From the liquid at his feet, something began to rise.
A black heart, glistening as though made of glass and shadow. It pulsed slowly, rhythmically, but no sound followed. Only the faint motion of a heartbeat that shouldn't exist.
He stepped back, watching as the heart quivered once, twice, then burst in perfect silence.
The liquid scattered in weightless droplets, suspended in the air like frozen rain.
From the space where the heart had been, a single white feather drifted upward. It descended slowly, twisting in the dark until it brushed Nakate's face and came to rest against his cheek.
The void rippled.
***
Nakate lay on his back in the grass, right beside the entrance of the dungeon he'd once burned alive in. The earth beneath him was cool, soft, almost welcoming.
'It feels… nice. I can finally rest. 'He let out a slow breath. 'Teh ground is so soft I just wanna sleep here. Just… stay here for a while.'
He didn't move for a long time. The breeze brushed over him, rustling the grass around his arms and legs. The air smelled fresh, green, untouched by smoke or blood or the crushing weight of the Depths.
Eventually, the sun began to lower, dipping toward the horizon. Its orange glow washed gently over the hills. Nakate rolled onto his side, then onto his back again, lazily shifting around as though he had all the time in the world.
"How come there's no bugs…" he muttered, squinting at the empty sky. "Feels weird. Maybe it's another funky Lumen thing. Way better than back home though. No mosquitoes trying to ruin my life."
His voice blended with the quiet of the field.
"Right… I should try to get back home, shouldn't I? "He paused. The thought didn't hurt… but it pinched something in his chest. "But how? It's not like I've heard of a way out of here. So… why not just set up a new home? Here on Owlisland, or somewhere else in Lumen. Live peacefully, I guess."
He sat up slightly, leaning back on his hands as he stared at the setting sun.
"Looks cool," he said softly. "Seeing a sunset after being in the Depths for that long."
A small laugh escaped him as a memory surfaced.
"Oh—right. The desert. The sun there looked like a four-handed cross, not a sun at all… I guess that was just dreaming. Or hallucinating. Or…"
He frowned.
"Maybe I actually died of a heart attack and that desert was the afterlife."
He lay back again.
"I didn't really feel anything before dying though," he murmured to the empty field.His voice drifted away, carried by the soft wind.
He turned his head toward the ancient stone entry, it was cracked and silent, like it had been abandoned for centuries.
"Why not just leave now…" he whispered. "Go back to the guild. Tell them what happened."
He sat up a little, staring at the doorway.
"Maybe tell the news about… about who died here."
The words caught in his throat.
A chill slipped down his spine, he felt something inside him twisting.
"Who… died here?" he said again, slower this time.
Silence answered him.
Nakate blinked. The grass swayed gently around him while his heartbeat quickened.
"No. No, c'mon." He pressed his fingers to his forehead. "How do I not remember? I was just... There were people. There were… faces. I know there were."
His breathing sharpened.
"I- I can't remember them at all."
The horizon's golden light felt suddenly colder. The entrance behind him seemed to loom, like it was holding a secret he should never have turned his back on.
A single dark feather drifted down from the sky, then it landed just in front of the dungeon entrance.
Nakate stepped toward it, his eyes narrowing. Before he could kneel to pick it up, something flickered at the edge of his vision—a shape perched on the ruined archway.
'An owl?' No… the silhouette had been too still. Too smooth. Almost like a mask staring back at him.
He blinked and the shape was gone.
He scanned the treeline, the stones, the fading shadows. Nothing. Not even the wind stirred.
"…I'm seeing things," he muttered under his breath.
***
The path leading back to the small kingdom was narrow and winding, flanked by cliffs on one side and trees on the other. It should've felt familiar, comforting even… but Nakate kept glancing over his shoulder. Every now and then, a leaf rustled with no breeze.
When he reached the front gate, two guards stood at the entrance. Or should have stood.
Today, only one remained.
Nakate forced a friendly grin. "Hey, y'all! Do you guys still remember who I was?"
The lone guard jolted upright like a startled rabbit. "I— I- Sorry! No, sir, I don't… I'm new here, you see!" His voice cracked with nervous sincerity.
'A kid? Maybe sixteen at most. Crazy how I'm calling him a kid, being around that age myself.'
Nakate looked around again. The towers were empty. The post that usually held two or three rotating guards was silent. The bustling chatter he expected from the shift-change was nowhere.
Just the boy… and Nakate.
That uneasy tug returned at the back of his skull.
"Where is everyone?" Nakate asked, his voice low, cautious.
The boy straightened his posture, swallowing hard. "Oh—well, most of the city went out in search of two adventurers. And, um… a third new member with them."
Nakate's stomach tightened.
The guard continued, fidgeting with his spear. "T-They haven't come back. So… everyone capable of fighting went to look. Only a few of us were left behind. The new S-rank adventurer duo stayed here, and an A-rank. You see, our kingdom's pretty small so… losing people matters."
He glanced away, his expression dimming.
"We wanted to find Murd. He was our only blacksmith… and the elf girl who traveled with them—she was nice too. Helpful." The boy's voice softened with something close to sorrow. "They were important to the kingdom, I think."
Nakate felt the world tilt slightly beneath him.
He couldn't remember their faces. Couldn't remember their voices. He tried but the images slipped through his mind. And yet… something deep in his chest ached. An echo of familiarity he couldn't grasp.
The feather he'd seen earlier flickered through his thoughts.
Something about it felt wrong, Nakate just couldn't tell why it felt dangerous.