Flin snapped his fingers in front of Coyote's face.
"Oi, you good?"
Coyote blinked. "Yeah, just… spaced out."
Coyote blinked. The world sharpened again—trees, sky, the dirt beneath his boots—but his mind still echoed with power. Power that wasn't his a day ago.
He glanced once behind him at the empty shrine, now silent. The Dreamweaver's presence was gone… and yet something in him had changed forever.
He could feel it.
He could hear it.
And he knew damn well the world wasn't ready.
"Nothing special here," Coyote muttered casually, brushing his hands together.
"Agreed," Flin nodded. "Let's move."
They hiked in silence until the dirt road gave way to stone streets and roaring life—Godwin's City, the crossroad of guilds, mercs, and madmen. Steel clashed in distant alleys, hawkers screamed prices over the noise, and at the center of it all stood the Wall of Bounties.
An ocean of posters, names, and danger.
"This is how we make coin," Flin muttered, scanning the wall. "Pick a target. Hunt it. Survive. Repeat."
Coyote nodded slowly, eyes trailing across the wanted list—bandits, monsters, murderers. Flin tore off a poster, rolled it, and turned to him.
"Guess we split here."
Coyote nodded again. "Take care."
"You too." Flin vanished into the crowd.
Alone, Coyote scanned the wall again—until his gaze landed on one almost-hidden poster, yellowed with age and pinned beneath layers.
Something about it tugged at him. Like a whisper.
He peeled it off and read the name.
---
WANTED — ARTHUR KERRWOOD
Alias: The Hollow King
Bounty:120,000 gold
---
Coyote narrowed his eyes. "Arthur, huh?"
The name felt distant, like a bell tolling in a memory that wasn't his.
He had no idea he had just chosen a Tier 4 deity as his first hunt.
He folded the poster and slid it into his cloak.
The air shifted.
---
Somewhere in a black citadel surrounded by drifting stars and screaming winds,
Arthur opened his eyes.
A ripple in fate.
A name whispered in arrogance.
The Hollow King rose from his throne of silence, eyes glowing.
"…something feels off."
---
And far below, in the heart of the city,
Coyote walked on—
blissfully unaware
he had just declared war on the hollow king.
As his first hunt.
---