Night had fallen.
The training ground was quiet. Perin slept curled beside Arin's leg, rising and falling with rhythmic breaths.
But Arin wasn't asleep.
He sat on his bed, holding the jet-black folder Commander Aisha had handed him.
No title. No seal. Just a faint, vertical line that resembled a scar.
It felt… wrong in his hands, like it rejected being opened.
He hesitated.
"Why are you nervous?" he muttered to himself. "It's just paper…"
But something deep inside him whispered:
Open it… if you dare.
He flicked it open.
A single page.
Top header: [Trial Code: 27-B | Graveyard of Failed Prototypes] Authorized Personnel: Om Sai | Commander Aisha | SRO-Level
His eyes froze at the words beneath it.
Participants:
Primary Candidate: ARIN (Classified – Unknown Origin)
Supervisor: Commander Aisha (MEU Division).
Field Oversight: Om Sai (Special Rank: Hazard-Class)
Support Unit: Combined Unit 3 & Unit 4 (Restricted Involvement)
Objective: Survive within Zone 27. Duration: 72 Hours. Failure Condition: Death / Catastrophic Awakening / Breach of Containment.
There was a final line, hand-written in red ink.
"If the candidate loses control, execute immediately."
Arin quietly closed the file.
His heartbeat didn't spike. His breathing didn't tremble.
But something in his chest shifted… like a quiet flame had been lit.
A scarlet memory flickered—
Blood. Screams. Kalink laughing.
Then darkness again.
Arin set the folder down.
He didn't feel fear.
Just… a strange emptiness.
A quiet voice lingered.
Walk or die. No middle ground.
The next morning, fog blanketed the training ground.
Arin walked toward the designated departure zone, wearing the MEU coat that now felt slightly heavier than before.
Perin sat on his shoulder, oddly quiet—almost sensing what was coming.
Unit 3 stood assembled.
Unit 4 stood across from them.
Whispers sparked the moment Arin approached.
"...That him?" "He's going in that zone?" "They're using him for that trial? Is that even legal?" "He's the one who—" "Shut up! He might hear!"
Goru crossed his arms, unreadable. Miran bit her lip, uneasy. Riku kept watching Arin's every move.
Then Shivani arrived.
She looked at him calmly. Too calmly.
"You got your file?" she asked.
He nodded.
"You read it?"
He nodded again.
"And you still came?"
He looked straight at her. "The file didn't tell me to run."
For a moment—just a moment—something flickered in her eyes. Something like… reluctant respect.
Then she looked away.
"Tch. Just don't die."
He Arrives Aisha stood at the perimeter gate, flanked by two SRO guards.
Om Sai stood beside her, yawning.
"You look half-awake," Om Sai teased.
"I slept fine," Arin replied flatly.
"That's worse," Om Sai said, smirking.
Aisha glanced at the file in his hand. "Once you step beyond this gate," she warned, "your status changes from 'soldier' to 'subject.' If something unexpected happens… policy allows immediate termination."
He looked at her directly.
"Then I won't let anything unexpected happen."
There was no smile. No arrogance. Just raw certainty.
Om Sai's grin faded slightly.
Not fear. Not concern. But acknowledgment.
Aisha turned to the gate operator. "Open it."
A heavy mechanical sound began as the barrier slid open.
Beyond it, thick mist. Dead trees. Silence.
Zone 27.
"Your trial begins now," Aisha declared.
Arin stepped forward.
Perin clung tighter to his shoulder.
The gate began to close behind him.
Shivani's voice suddenly cut through.
"…Arin."
He glanced back.
She didn't look away.
"Come back alive," she said quietly, "before I catch up and drag you out myself."
A faint smirk appeared on his face.
"Then I guess I'll have to make sure I'm still standing."
The gate closed.
The world ahead swallowed him.
And his trial began.
The first step inside Zone 27 felt… quiet.
Too quiet.
No wind. No birds. Not even the crackle of leaves.
Just a deep, uncomfortable stillness—like the whole place was holding its breath, waiting for him to make a mistake.
Arin paused beside a dead, withered tree. Its bark was blackened—not burnt, but drained, as if something had sucked every bit of life out of it.
Perin remained close, tail lowered, ears twitching in quiet anxiety.
The air inside the zone felt heavier… like pressure on the lungs.
Arin inhaled slowly.
There was no Astra flow here. No natural energy like outside.
Instead, what lingered was… hollow.
Like a place that had forgotten what life used to feel like.
Faded Remnants of the Past As he walked deeper, shadowed structures emerged through the mist.
Broken pillars… cracked platforms… half-buried runes.
Like a forgotten battleground.
Arin crouched beside a chunk of stone with strange markings.
It wasn't just old—it looked like it had been violently erased by something.
This place… was fought over.
He didn't know how he knew. But he did.
And it wasn't just humans who had fought here.
Perin growled lowly.
Not at danger, but at memory. As if the creature had been born instinctively fearing this kind of silence.
Somewhere ahead, a faint metallic ringing echoed, like chains scraping stone.
Clink… clink… clink…
Arin straightened, cautious but composed.
He walked toward the sound.
A Strange Trail Footprints appeared in the dirt—deep, irregular, humanoid but wrong. Too long. Too sunken.
Not fresh… but preserved here unnaturally. Whatever walked here did so long ago… yet the marks did not fade.
Arin touched one.
It was cold.
Then a faint whisper brushed against his ear, like something passing through him.
"...fail...ure… discard…ed…"
He turned sharply.
Nothing.
Perin clung tighter to his shoulder, shaking faintly.
"Calm down," Arin muttered. "I'm still here."
But even as he said it, he wasn't sure who he was reassuring—Perin or himself.
A Memory That Isn't His A crumbled wall stood nearby, its surface stained. When Arin brushed a hand against it, a strange static sensation crawled through his skin.
For a heartbeat—everything changed.
The ruins flickered with ghostly remnants.
Screams. Torches. People running. A giant figure roaring, Astra exploding outward like wildfire.
Arin's pupils shook.
Then it vanished.
He stood still.
Breathing deeply.
This place remembers things… even if it shouldn't.
The Watcher A rustle.
Behind him.
He slowly turned.
The mist wasn't empty anymore.
Someone—no, something—stood there. Far in the fog. Unmoving.
Just a blurry silhouette, human-like… but too still. Too tall. Limbs slightly wrong.
Watching.
It didn't approach.
Didn't flee.
Just stared.
Arin didn't move either.
Seconds stretched.
A subtle, unwanted instinct crawled through his chest—Do not engage it yet.
Finally, the figure slowly turned.
And disappeared into the mist without a sound.
Perin whimpered.
Arin spoke under his breath. "…I know."
He pressed forward.
A Whisper in Scarlet As he walked further through the hollow terrain, a familiar chill ran down his spine.
Not from this place.
From him.
A faint voice echoed deep in his mind.
"Ahh… so they threw you here. Interesting."
Arin didn't react outwardly—but his jaw tensed.
"Zone 27… where they dump the ones who didn't survive becoming something greater. A graveyard of failures."
Kalink.
His voice rippled through the silence like tainted smoke.
"Walk carefully, boy. The dead here may not be dead enough… and not all of them are quiet."
…What are they?
Kalink chuckled faintly.
"Children who reached for power they couldn't carry."
The voice faded, leaving only the crushing silence again.
Arin looked ahead, eyes firming.
Whatever was waiting here—it was tied to something darker than just a survival test.
Something… deliberate.
He kept walking—alone, but not truly alone anymore.
The trial had begun.
But Zone 27 wasn't just testing him.
It was remembering him. he deeper Arin went, the quieter Perin became.
Not just quiet—fearful.
The small spirit-beast who had once cheerfully hopped on his shoulder now stayed flattened against Arin's neck, body trembling like it could feel every wrongness in the air.
Arin gently patted its head.
"I'm here."
But the air felt like it wanted to devour those words.
A Lake That Doesn't Reflect A faint glow appeared ahead, pale blue, like moonlight caught in water.
As Arin approached, he realized it was water—a still, circular pool in the center of a decayed stone platform. The liquid shimmered silently, yet it gave off no actual light source.
He looked into it.
No reflection.
His face was not there.
Only darkness.
A ripple formed in the center.
Not from wind. From… breath?
Perin hissed sharply, digging claws into Arin's shoulder as if saying: We should go.
Arin took a step back—
Drip.
A drop of black liquid fell into the pool from somewhere above.
But there was no ceiling.
The water turned dark.
The silence broke.
Creak… Creak… Something was crawling out.
Slowly.
Painfully.
Like broken bones being forced to move again after long decay.
A hand—no, something shaped like one—emerged first. Long, unnaturally thin fingers, entirely black and ridged like cracked stone.
Another hand.
A head, hairless and without a distinguishable face, just sunken depressions where eyes should have been.
It dragged itself out of the pool, dripping unnatural darkness that evaporated into mist.
Arin felt nothing from it—no Astra. But something deeper. Older. Wrong.
The creature did not breathe. Did not blink. Did not hesitate.
It simply stood.
Facing him.
Waiting.
Perin hid behind Arin's neck, trembling uncontrollably.
Arin flexed his fingers slightly, ready if needed—but he felt no killing intent from it.
More like…
Recognition.
Like it knew him.
Or something inside him.
"A remnant." Kalink's voice echoed faintly in his mind, distant but resonant.
"…One that tried and failed."
Arin's eyes widened slightly.
Failed… what?
"To ascend as we did." Kalink's words echoed through Arin's skull like a curse.
The creature finally moved—not to attack, but…
It knelt.
Right there on the stone before Arin, lowering its head as though in submission… or recognition.
A cold shiver ran through Arin's spine.
Not fear. Not pity. Something darker.
Like witnessing a nightmare acknowledge him.
The creature raised its head slightly, as if seeking approval—
Then its body began to erode.
Bit by bit, like ash carried away by an unseen wind.
One finger. An arm. Half a torso.
All dissolving without a scream, as though it was relieved to finally disappear.
Perin peeked out, visibly confused but still alert.
Arin stepped forward despite the instinct telling him not to.
Only a faint trace remained—dark residue like scorched dust.
A whisper drifted in the windless air. Not with sound, but directly in his chest.
"Another… comes…"
Then it was gone.
Completely.
The pool of water that birthed it faded too, shrinking and evaporating as though it had never existed.
Only Arin and Perin remained.
But now the air… felt thinner.
Like something had been watching. And was now aware. Awake.
Arin exhaled slowly. Perin climbed back onto his shoulder, still shaking slightly.
He stared at the empty platform.
"That thing… wasn't just a monster."
He didn't know how he knew. But he was certain.
"That was a message."
And somewhere, buried beneath the fading echo of dread…
Kalink was laughing.
Arin turned away from the fading ashes, preparing to leave.
But Perin tugged lightly on his collar.
"Hm?"
Perin pointed—not with a paw, but by shifting its gaze sharply toward a narrow stone pathway hidden behind hanging moss.
"…You want me to go there?"
Perin nodded.
Arin hesitated, then walked.
The path was quiet. Too quiet.
No wind. No rustling. No sound of life.
It led him into an open circular clearing—ancient, untouched.
In the center stood a broken stone monument, half-buried under roots and time.
It wasn't large. But something about it demanded attention.
A symbol was carved on it… burned deep like someone had etched it with blazing power.
A crescent twisted around a single eye-like flame.
Something about it rattled his memory.
An imprint of Kalkin's aura stirred violently.
His heartbeat quickened.
"This… feels familiar."
A distant voice inside him whispered—not Kalink, not anyone he knew.
But old. Ancient. Sorrowful.
"First Flame… Forgotten Crown… Forsaken Echo…"
Arin's jaw tightened. The deeper he stared, the more it felt like the monument was staring back.
A faint whisper brushed against the back of his neck.
"Zone 27 was once… a cradle."
He didn't know what that meant.
A cradle… for what?
Perin's fur stood up all over as it slowly backed behind Arin's head.
A sudden gust of cold wind swept through the clearing—even though there had been no wind before.
It didn't feel natural. It felt like a warning.
"…We're leaving," Arin muttered. He backed away, eyes still locked on the monument as though it might move.
But it stayed still.
However, he knew—something in this place had awakened because of his presence.
And it had recognized him.
He stepped out of the clearing.
As he did…
The symbol on the monument gave one soft pulsing glow—
As though acknowledging.
Then fell silent again.
The forest around the lake fell into an unnatural quiet—too quiet. No wind. No insects. Just a soft glow cast by the moon rippling across the surface of the clear water.
Arin sat by the lake's edge, fatigue washing over him like a heavy blanket.
Seventy-two hours in Zone 27. Alone. No backup. No mistakes allowed.
He laid back slowly, staring at the sky. How long has it been? One day? Maybe two? My sense of time is gone.
Perin curled beside him, small breaths rising and falling. Strangely comforting.
…Shivani's gonna yell at me if I come back looking like a corpse.
He let out a tired chuckle.
A faint rippling sound broke the silence.
"…Huh?"
He sat up.
The surface of the lake shimmered—as though something beneath it was staring back. For a second, he thought he saw an eye beneath the water.
Then it was gone.
A gentle breeze brushed past, carrying with it… a soft whisper.
"…Arin…"
He froze.
"Who's there?"
No answer.
He scanned the forest. Nothing.
Am I hallucinating already?
He inhaled deeply, trying to calm himself.
The exhaustion was heavy… too heavy.
His eyelids fluttered… then fell.
Darkness.
He woke to the sensation of someone watching him.
Slowly… he looked up.
A figure stood at the edge of the lake.
Shivani?
"...Captain?" he muttered, still groggy.
She didn't speak.
She only smiled faintly and stepped closer, her movements unnaturally smooth… dreamlike.
Arin exhaled in relief—until something felt wrong.
Her boots didn't leave footprints. Her shadow didn't match her form. And the reflection in the lake showed not Shivani… but something with glowing blue eyes… and long, flowing hair like water itself.
Arin's breath caught.
"…You're not her."
The smile faded.
Water surged around the fake Shivani's feet like living tendrils.
Perin growled, fur bristling, eyes glowing faintly green as it leapt in front of Arin defensively.
Arin stood, fists tightening.
"Who… or what are you?"
The illusion shimmered.
Her body flickered—then broke apart like water, reforming into a girl with silver-blue hair, skin faintly glowing like moonlight, eyes as deep as a lake at midnight.
She looked terrified.
"I-I… was told to kill you," she whispered shakily, backing away.
Arin blinked.
"…What?"
Tears formed at the corners of her eyes.
"I'm not supposed to speak. If I fail… I will be consumed."
She clutched her chest, trembling.
"The Mother will devour me for disobedience."
Arin felt something twist inside him—not fear, but anger.
"Consumed?… You're being forced into this?"
Her nod was small. Broken. Hopeless.
Perin stepped closer to her, sniffed once… then sat calmly, as though understanding something Arin couldn't.
Arin stepped forward slowly—not threateningly—but steady.
"…What's your name?"
She hesitated, like even saying it might break her.
"…Vayushri."
The lake rippled.
Her body shook violently, as though some unseen force was tightening chains around her soul.
Arin's voice remained calm… soft… but firm.
"Vayushri."
She froze.
"I'm not killing you."
She looked at him in confusion and fear.
He took one step closer.
"And if Mother Nature wants to consume you…"
His eyes hardened.
"…then let her come try it herself."
Vayushri's eyes widened—not just in fear…
But in something else she may have forgotten long ago.
Hope.
She sank to her knees, tears falling silently.
"I… don't want to disappear."
Arin sighed, rubbed his neck awkwardly, then glanced at Perin, who chirped approvingly.
"Well… then don't."
A pause.
"Come with me."
She froze.
"…Huh?"
He shrugged like it was obvious.
"Better than dying, right?"
She stared at him like he had spoken an impossible language.
Then, very softly…
She nodded.
The contract wasn't spoken, but something shifted in the air. The lake calmed.
The forest exhaled. And somewhere, far beyond Zone 27, a powerful presence stirred…Watching. Waiting. Angered.