Rafe's vision shattered into pieces.
Not darkness.Not light.Not the Ruins.Not the Primordial.
Something else.
A cold blue field spread out before him, like mist illuminated from below. Shadows formed vague shapes — walls, corridors, silhouettes — flickering like a dream halfway between sleep and memory.
Rafe tried to move.
His body didn't respond.
Only his eyes shifted freely.
A pulse rippled through the space.
Then a woman stepped out of the haze.
Tall.Sharp-featured.White hair curled into a loose braid.Eyes glowing pale blue, like a Fate Hunter's core but… humanized, sharpened, weaponized.
She wore a long coat laced with metallic threads that hummed with mana.
Her presence felt like cold intelligence.Cold purpose.Cold threat.
She studied Rafe with a slight tilt of her head.
"Interesting. So this is the anomaly."
Rafe swallowed.
"Who are you?"
The woman's lips curved into a faint smile.
"You may call me… Director."Her eyes sharpened."Though you do not have the clearance to know more."
Rafe's jaw tensed.
"Where am I?"
"A projected echo," she said simply. "Your body remains outside, near the ravine. Your consciousness is being scanned by a residual imprint in our Pursuer unit."
Rafe froze.
"You're… inside my mind?"
"Hardly," she said. "If I were inside your mind, your mind would be gone. This is only a conversation formed from the last signal your body absorbed."
Rafe grit his teeth.
"So the Hunter wasn't fully dead."
"Oh, it was," the Director said. "But unlike lower-tier units, a Class-Seven Pursuer sends a memory packet upon destruction."
She stepped closer.
"Which means I saw your aura."
Rafe stiffened.
"I saw how you fought."Another step."I saw your affinities."
Her voice lowered.
"And I saw the Primordial's stain on you."
Rafe's breath caught.
The Director smiled thinly, like a scientist discovering a dangerous new species.
"I suspected such a phenomenon could exist. But theoretical research and practical confirmation are very different."
Rafe's pulse hammered.
"What do you want?"
The woman clasped her hands behind her back.
"To observe you."
"No," Rafe said immediately. "Not happening."
Her smile widened — amused.
"You believe you have a choice."
Rafe's stomach twisted.
"What does that mean?"
The Director tapped her finger lightly against the side of her coat.
"Primordial-tainted anomalies produce unique mana signatures. The moment the Pursuer touched you, the broadcast began. My entire division is aware of you now."
Rafe felt the world tilt.
Selene.Mara.Lyn.
They were all in danger.
The Director continued, perfectly calm:
"Your existence is not permitted. You disrupt prophetic frameworks, mana allocation models, and possible-world stability."
Rafe clenched his fists.
"So the Hunters were sent to kill me."
She raised a brow.
"No. They were sent to study you first."
Rafe blinked.
"What?"
"Your death is only step two."
Rafe's pulse spiked.
"You're insane."
"No," she said. "I am curious. A Primordial mark is an exceptionally rare phenomenon. The last recorded case was five hundred years ago."
Rafe's voice rose.
"So what happened to that person?"
The Director's smile didn't change.
"He died. Horribly."
Rafe stiffened.
Her gaze sharpened.
"And you will too, if the imprint inside you grows beyond what your body can tolerate."
Rafe felt his heart pound against his ribs.
"So the Primordial really is inside me."
"I do not have enough data to confirm," she said. "But I intend to collect it."
Her tone chilled.
"In person."
Rafe took a step backward — though his body didn't truly move in this dreamlike echo.
"You stay away from me," he growled.
The Director blinked — slow, mechanical, curious.
"You speak as if you have a say."
Her cold eyes bored into his.
"You are an error. A deviation from the script. The world corrects errors."
She approached him until the blue haze of the echo refracted around her like glass.
"And anomalies like you are the most fascinating to correct."
Her voice softened.
"You shouldn't have survived the Ritual."
Rafe's breath froze.
"The Ruins exist to reject unstable souls. The fact that you endured means your affinity conflict resolved."
She stepped even closer, until her face was inches from his.
"So tell me, boy… how did you stabilize Light and Shadow?"
Rafe inhaled sharply.
It wasn't a question.
It was hunger.
A scientist's hunger.
The same hunger the Primordial had.
"I don't owe you anything."
"Oh, you do," she said lightly. "Your survival ensured that I will have to send something… stronger next time."
Her eyes glowed brighter.
"Something made for you."
Rafe's jaw clenched.
"If you touch Mara or Lyn—"
"Oh, the other children?" she said calmly. "Don't worry. They are irrelevant unless they interfere."
She paused.
"Though the red-haired one has a notable aggression response. I may use that later."
Rafe felt a rage he didn't know existed flare inside him.
"Stay. Away. From them."
The Director blinked.
Then she leaned her head slightly.
"…Interesting."
She raised her hand.
Rafe flinched — but she didn't touch him. She touched the air directly in front of his forehead.
A blue sigil flared into existence.
A mark.
Not physical.Not real.But symbolic.
"Your location is obscured at the moment," she said. "But you cannot hide for long."
Her smile returned.
"You shine too brightly."
Rafe tried to lunge at her —
But the dream cracked.
A sharp sound —A tearing fabric noise —A collision between mana signatures —
And the echo collapsed.
The Director's voice followed him as everything dissolved:
"Grow stronger, anomaly.I want to see how far you can go…before you break."
—
Rafe gasped awake.
He was back in the ravine.Selene knelt beside him.Mara gripped his shoulders.Lyn held his hand tightly.
"Rafe!" Selene shouted. "What happened?!"
He inhaled sharply, chest burning, heart pounding.
The Pursuer's broken core lay flickering beside him.
Rafe whispered:
"…We're in trouble."
Selene's eyes tightened.
"What did you see?"
Rafe swallowed.
"A woman."
Mara stiffened. "A Hunter?"
"No," Rafe said."Worse."
He looked at Selene.
"She controls the Hunters."
Selene's blood ran cold.
Lyn trembled. "…W-What does she want?"
Rafe stared at the broken core.
Then at his hands.
Then at the girls who depended on him.
"…Me."
The wind went still.
The world quieted.
And Selene whispered the truth they were all dreading:
"Then we can't stay in the forest anymore."
Her eyes lifted toward the horizon.
"To survive, we need to go where they won't expect to look."
Mara blinked. "Where is that?"
Selene answered:
"The Academy."
Rafe's breath caught.
And with it —a new arc began.