"We weren't chosen.
We weren't summoned.
We just… slipped."
There was no light.
No holy circle.
No system message.
No voice from the sky calling us heroes.
There was only a soundless crack in reality—
like something ancient blinked—
and the ground beneath our feet disappeared.
I didn't scream.
I didn't even breathe.
Because the only voice I heard through the fall…
was yours.
> "Sahir… you still there?"
We crashed into the world like afterthoughts.
No fire.
No glory.
Just two specks swallowed by a dying sky.
When I opened my eyes, the sky was gray—
not cloudy, but pale, like ash had been smeared across the heavens.
There was no sun.
No moon.
No wind.
Just silence.
And fog.
It crept across the ground like it had been waiting.
Like it knew we were coming.
You were already up. Kairon—bruised, bleeding, but steady.
You didn't panic. You scanned the horizon like a soldier in hostile territory.
We didn't speak right away.
Not because we didn't want to.
But because the silence was wrong.
Like even time had stopped to observe us.
> DING.
> [Unknown World Detected.]
[Breath Detected: Two irregular lifeforms.]
[…Survival Probability: 0.37%]
[Initializing Emergency Interface...]
> [You have been assigned the Resonance Path.]
[Welcome to the World Beyond Names.]
"…System?" you muttered.
I didn't answer.
Because I was watching the fog.
It wasn't just mist. It had form. Shape.
It moved around us in circles, slow, deliberate, like a predator stalking familiar prey.
The landscape was a cemetery of bones.
Ruins of creatures far too large to be human.
Ash dunes piled like war graves.
And in the far distance, a tower suspended in the sky—
held up by chains that stretched into the horizon.
Something inside it was breathing.
Or remembering.
> "Do you feel that?" you said, low.
> "The fog?"
> "No… the quiet.
It's like the world's holding its breath."
> "…Or waiting for us to die."
That's when the fog shifted.
And a shape stepped forward—
long-limbed, cloaked in threads of black, its face covered by a mirror-like mask.
No footsteps.
No sound.
But it was smiling.
> [Entity Detected: Hushed Apostle – Lv. ???]
[Danger Rating: [REDACTED]]
[Recommended Action: Run.]
We didn't run.
Because there was nowhere to run.
And because Kairon didn't move.
He clenched his fists. His blood dripped onto the bone-littered ground.
His stance said everything:
> Come.
The thing moved.
Faster than thought.
A whisper of air, and it was already inside our guard.
I barely twisted aside as its claws cut through where my throat had been a second ago.
Kairon stepped in with a broken rib of some dead beast—swinging like it was a blade.
> CLANG.
It hit the Apostle's mask.
No damage.
But the fog shivered.
> HUMMMMMMM.
The sound didn't come from outside.
It came from within.
Like something inside me had turned… awake.
And then:
> [Resonance Level: 1 Activated]
[Initial Synchronization Detected]
[Power: Fogtrace] unlocked.]
I raised my hand.
No training. No idea. Just instinct.
And the fog moved.
It snapped forward like a chain, coiling around the Apostle's arm—
ripping it clean off.
No blood.
Just silence.
The thing looked at us… not in pain.
In recognition.
Then it dissolved into ash—
and vanished.
We didn't speak for a while.
We just stood there, side by side, breathing hard.
The system whispered again:
> [10 Minutes Survived.]
[Reward: Soul Trace Initialized.]
[Resonance: Acknowledged.]
> "That wasn't luck," I said.
> "No," you replied. "That was survival."
> "…You okay, Kairon?"
> "I'm still standing, aren't I?"
Somewhere above us, the floating tower pulsed once.
Chains rattled against the sky.
Something opened its eyes.
It saw us.
And it whispered a name buried by history:
"Sahir…"
"Kairon…"
"…So it begins again."