The rain had begun violently, as if the sky were trying to wash the filth off the earth itself. Yet in this forest, some stains had sunk too deep to be cleansed by water.
After the battle with the Bonebreaker Alpha and the wild, decayed stench of the woods, the sight before them felt like a mirage. Where the trees ended, an oasis illuminated by neon magic pierced the darkness: Greenhollow.
This was no ordinary town. In the heart of the Forgotten Lands' chaos, it looked as though an entertainment district from another world had been torn out and forcibly stitched into this one. The buildings were carved from flawless white marble. The streets were so clean that rainwater did not turn to mud, flowing instead like crystal. Warm, golden light spilled from the windows, and the chimneys exhaled the scent of cinnamon cookies.
"Wow…" Lypin said, stopping despite her legs trembling from exhaustion, staring at the city in awe. "This place… it's like something straight out of a fairy tale."
Deniz took a deep breath as he set his shield on his back. "Civilization. Hot water. Soft beds. And hopefully food that doesn't try to eat us. Gods, I might cry tonight just because I won't be sleeping on a rock."
But the moment Hope stepped into the city, he hesitated.
He looked down at the paving stones beneath his boots. Then at the wall of the building beside him. And finally at the clock tower at the end of the street, standing in perfect symmetry.
"Wrong," Hope muttered.
"What's wrong?" Lypin asked, still caught in the city's charm. "Everything looks perfect."
"That's exactly why," Hope said, narrowing his eyes as he scanned the area. "You don't get symmetry this perfect in nature. Every stone is identical down to a microscopic level. No erosion. No cracks. No sign of time. It's like this city wasn't built here… it was placed here."
"There you go again," Deniz said, lightly tapping Hope's shoulder. "Maybe they just have really good cleaning crews. Come on, Architect, drop the engineering for once and enjoy life. We didn't die tonight. That's worth celebrating."
"A hopeless case." Bianca sighed with a mocking smile. "What did we talk about again?"
"But seriously, something feels off."
Hope's paranoid behavior wasn't taken very seriously.
At the back, Yaat pulled his black robe tighter around himself. His eyes kept darting from side to side.
"Too many people…" he whispered. "Too many variables. Signs could fall. Carriages could lose control. This place is an accident field."
From the shadows came Kai's voice, carried like a whisper on the wind. He hadn't entered through the gate with the others, instead climbing onto the rooftops."This place is too clean, Architect," Kai said, his voice reaching only Hope. "Way too clean. No sewer smell. No garbage smell. If a city has no trash, where do you think they hide it?"
"Under the rug," Bianca replied dryly. "And under that rug, it's more crowded than the people walking on it."
The group entered the main avenue. It was packed. Nobles, wealthy merchants, and travelers from all over the world… all laughing, drinking expensive wine, spending money like water. No one looked worried. Monsters, hunger, war… it was as if none of it could cross these white walls.
At the center of the square stood a massive circular stage, surrounded by hundreds of people.
The lights suddenly went out.
The crowd fell silent as one body. Breaths were held.
And then she appeared.
Mina.
She burst from the darkness like a firework.
Her pink-white hair spilled over her shoulders, her porcelain-perfect skin glowing beneath the stage lights. She wore a costume adorned with feathers and crystals, innocent and provocative at the same time.
When she smiled, the breath was stolen from everyone in the square. A smile bright enough to make people forget all their troubles, to forgive all sins. Bright… and artificial.
The music began. The sound of enchanted instruments spread across the square.
Mina started to sing. Her voice was as powerful as Lypin's healing magic, but far more dangerous. It carried a hypnotic tone that severed people from reality.
"Love me, break me,Make me your doll in a box…My glass heart, for you,Let it shatter, let it scatter…"
The lyrics were dark, but the melody was so cheerful that no one cared about their meaning. Everyone focused on the rhythm and the beautiful doll.
"She's so beautiful…" Lypin said in awe, her eyes filling with tears. "Look at her, Deniz. She's like an angel. How can someone shine like that?"
Deniz was just as captivated. "Her voice… it stops the war inside you. Like evil doesn't exist in the world while she's singing."
But Hope was unmoved.
He wasn't looking at Mina's beauty.
He was looking at her structure.
He narrowed his eyes. Green flames settled into his irises. The world turned into a black-and-white technical blueprint.
[Architect's Vision: Active]
What Hope saw was not an angel.
What he saw was a ruin on the verge of collapse.
Name: MinaPhysical Condition: 95% (Healthy, Over-Maintained, Under the Influence of Enhancers)Spiritual Integrity: 12% (CRITICAL LEVEL – COLLAPSE INITIATED)Structural Analysis: Load-bearing columns (Self-Worth) cracked. Foundation (Hope) completely rotten. Exterior paint conceals an internal fire. Micro-tremors in the muscles around the eyes: sign of chronic fear.
"She's dying," Hope said in a flat, mechanical voice.
Lypin turned to him in shock, as if the spell had broken. "What? Don't be ridiculous, Hope! Look at her, she's full of life! She's dancing, singing! Everyone worships her!"
"No," Hope said without taking his eyes off the stage. "That building is standing, but it's hollowed out. Defying gravity, waiting to fall. Static balance is gone. One more gust of wind… and everything collapses."
The crowd's thunderous applause drowned out Hope's cold analysis.
Mina finished her song, blew perfectly practiced kisses to the audience, and glided backstage into the darkness.
That was when Hope noticed a man standing at the very back of the crowd, where the shadows were thickest, beneath a streetlamp.
He wore a long, worn gray trench coat. The shadow of his hat hid the upper half of his face, but the ember of the cigarette in his mouth glowed in the dark like a red eye.
The man wasn't looking at the stage.
He wasn't looking at Mina.
He was watching the crowd. The mass of hypnotized people. His gaze was so tired, so empty, that for a moment Hope thought he wasn't a living man at all, but a stone gargoyle watching over the city.
The man pulled a small leather notebook from his pocket and wrote something down. He took a deep drag from his cigarette and exhaled the smoke into the rain. As the smoke dispersed, the man melted into the crowd and vanished.
Midnight. Backstage.
The lights were out. The music had stopped. The magic was over.
Mina exited the dressing room under guard. The glittering smile on her face fell away like a mask the moment the stage lights went dark. Her shoulders slumped. Her eyes dulled. Her steps grew heavy, as if invisible chains were wrapped around her ankles.
She was placed into a luxurious carriage and taken to the isolated mansion at the top of the town.
The guards escorted her to the door.
"Good night, Star," the head guard said with a mocking, unsettling grin, his eyes roaming over Mina's body. "The Boss will have special guests tomorrow. You'd better be ready."
Mina didn't answer. Her right to answer had been taken years ago.
She opened the door and stepped inside.
The house was luxurious. Silk carpets covered the floors, priceless paintings hung on the walls. But to Mina, it wasn't a home. It was a gold-plated cage. And she was its most expensive ornament.
She went up to her bedroom and stood before the mirror.
With trembling hands, she began to wipe off her makeup.
With every touch of cotton, the "Idol" mask melted away, revealing the exhausted, broken girl beneath. A girl who had lost her childhood. Dark circles framed her eyes from sleepless nights. On her neck were old finger marks, concealed beneath layers of foundation.
She looked at her reflection. There was no one in her eyes.
"Just one more year…" she whispered, her voice breaking. "The Boss promised. The debt will be gone. And I'll be free."
She told herself this lie every night.
Because if she didn't believe it, she wouldn't survive the night.
Then there was a knock at her door.
Mina flinched. Her heart slammed into her throat.
"Who is it? The Boss said he wouldn't come tonight…"
No answer.
Only the slow, agonizing sound of the door handle being pushed down.
CREEEEAK
The door opened.
The one who entered was not the Boss.
It was the scrawny man she always saw at fan meetings. The one who wrote her hundreds of letters. The one with obsessive madness burning in his eyes.
He held a bouquet of wilted, rotting flowers and a custom-made dagger. He was soaked from the rain, but his face glowed with sick happiness.
Mina stumbled back, her spine hitting the vanity. Perfume bottles fell and shattered.
"H-how did you get in?" she whispered in terror. "The guards… the door was locked…"
The man grinned. His teeth were yellowed, his breath ragged with excitement.
"The door wasn't locked, Mina," he said, stepping closer. "Someone gave me the key. Someone… said you were waiting for me."
Mina froze.
The world slipped out from under her feet.
The door hadn't been forced. The window hadn't been broken.
The Boss… had sold her.
No. Not sold her.
He had decided to discard her. Mina was tired now, no longer as obedient. A tragic death at the hands of a fanatic would create the legend of the "Immortal Idol." And a dead legend was far more profitable than a living girl who caused trouble.
"No…" Mina said as tears streamed down her face. "Please… don't."
The man drew closer. In his eyes was not just desire, but possession. Like a worshipper finally reaching his god.
"Don't be afraid, my love," he said. "No one can come between us anymore. You're mine. Not just on posters… but truly. Flesh and bone."
Mina wanted to scream.
But no sound came out. Just as before, she was silenced again. Her throat locked shut.
The man lunged at her.
And the stage lights went out forever.
At the Same Time. Inn Room.
Hope sat upright on his bed, staring blankly at the opposite wall.
Lypin and Deniz were already asleep. Yaat was curled beneath his bed, snoring in his safe zone.
But Hope couldn't sleep.
The wallpaper pattern… was wrong. The floral motifs looked as if they were breathing.
Then he heard something.
Not with his ears.
With his soul.
Not far away. From the top of the town.
It wasn't a scream.
It was the sound of a building collapsing. Not stone, brick, or wood.
It was the sound of a soul exceeding its limits and shattering.
A column bursting.
Hope leapt to his feet.
"Did you hear that?"
Deniz jolted awake, his hand flying to his sword. "Hear what? Is there an attack?"
"A structure collapsed," Hope said, rushing to the window.
Outside, the rain had intensified. Lightning flashed, illuminating the town like a ghost for a heartbeat.
Hope saw the shadow in the window of that luxurious mansion. He saw the lights go out.
"A soul…" Hope whispered. "Was erased by its own tears."
He threw the window open and hurled himself into the rainy night.
From the darkness came Bianca's voice, keeping watch on the rooftops.
"What is it now, kid? Another wall bothering you because it's not symmetrical?"
"Come with me!" Hope shouted, sprinting across the rooftops toward the mansion.
The rain lashed his face, but he didn't feel it. In his mind, there was only the image of a collapsing building.
But even an Architect cannot save a structure whose foundation has rotted and been blown apart from within.
And when some things fall, there is nothing left to repair.
Only rubble remains.
And the stench of rotten flesh.