When Hinata woke, the world was quieter.
He lay inside a cave, soft torchlight flickering across jagged stone walls. His shirt was gone, his ribs wrapped
in rough but expertly tied bandages. Every breath still hurt, but he was alive.
Alis sat nearby, polishing her blade. "Took you long enough."
Hinata groaned. "Am I dead?"
"Nope. Just very close. Again."
He tried to sit up but winced. "What happened?"
"You survived. Barely. That spark in your eyes... you channeled something. Something that made a demon
back off. That's not normal, Hinata."
He leaned back. "Figures. Nothing about this place is normal."
She glanced at him. "The Nether is... layered. There's more than just demons and monsters. There are ancient
things--cults, gods long forgotten, soul-eaters, cursed dreams made flesh. Some think this whole realm is a
memory that refuses to fade."Hinata stared at the cave ceiling. "And I'm just supposed to live here?"
"Survive. Learn. Adapt. Or die."
Comforting.
That night, the whispers began.
At first, they were just echoes. Half-formed thoughts brushing the edge of sleep. Then, they grew louder.
Hinata...
Come...
He jolted upright, heart pounding. Alis was asleep, snoring softly, a dagger still clutched in her hand.
The voice pulled at him, not through his ears, but deep in his chest. Against better judgment, he followed it.
Outside, the Nether was awash in sickly light. The forest they had camped near was twisted--trees made of
bone and glass, roots like clawed fingers. Yet the path before him was clear.
He walked.Time blurred.
Eventually, he came upon a ruin. Ancient stone pillars, half-buried in black moss, formed a circle around a
cracked altar. Symbols older than memory pulsed faintly in blue fire.
And at the center stood a figure--tall, cloaked in shadow.
"You again..." Hinata whispered.
The being turned, and though its face was hidden, he felt the smirk.
"You heard me," Val'Kyros said. "Good."
"Why are you in my head?"
"I left a seed in your soul. A memory. A tether."
Hinata stepped closer. "What do you want from me?"
"I want you to want power. Enough to defy this world. Enough to rewrite it."
Val'Kyros reached forward. A symbol ignited in blue flame between them.
"This is a fraction of a forbidden truth. A proto-soul mark. Born not of blessing... but of refusal."The mark burned into Hinata's hand. He screamed, and the world split--visions flashing in his eyes: dying
gods, broken thrones, rivers of ash.
Then darkness.
---
Hinata awoke in the cave again. Alis stood over him, arms crossed.
"You went out last night."
He looked at his hand. The mark was still there, faint but real.
"Yeah," he said. "And something came back with me."
She stared at the symbol. "That's not divine."
"No," Hinata whispered. "It's something else."
She nodded slowly. "Then we train harder. Whatever you touched... it's not done with you yet."
Hinata clenched his fist, the mark pulsing. For the first time, he didn't feel powerless.But he did feel afraid.