The moon was high when they found the clearing.
Not the ordinary moon the world had known before the System—this one hung with a sharp, pale brilliance that made the forest glow silver, like frost laid over every leaf. Even Ethan felt it: a faint tug, a subtle pressure in the air, like gravity bending sideways.
Dan felt something else entirely.
Hope.
Terror.
A knot in his throat that hadn't gone away in days.
His wolf padded ahead, nose low to the ground. The bear cub lumbered after it, sniffing the air with a low questioning rumble.
Joseph crossed his arms. "So… we're sure this is where Super Witch Lady hangs out? Not gonna lie, the moonlight vibe is giving me 'we get murdered in our sleep' energy."
Ethan didn't answer.
He was reading something only he could see — a faint shimmer of runes glowing along the edge of a tree trunk.
ᚡᚱᚾ
Varyn Sigils.
Deathknight runes.
He touched one rune with two fingers.
It pulsed once, cold and sharp, and a whisper brushed inside his head.
"She sees you."
Dan turned sharply. Ethan dropped his hand.
"What was that?" Dan demanded.
"Nothing," Ethan lied. "Just… system residue."
But his eyes narrowed.
The forest was reacting.
And Ethan didn't like how.
They pushed deeper. The air grew colder with each step.
Dan swallowed hard. "This is it. I can… I don't know—feel her."
Joseph elbowed him. "Like, romantically or magically?"
"Both," Dan snapped.
Ethan raised a hand. "Quiet."
The path ahead opened into a clearing — a perfect circle of stone and moonlit grass. Strange white flowers glowed faintly around the edges, like stars scattered across the earth.
And in the center…
A young woman knelt beside a fallen monster — a twisted boar-like creature with horns made of crystal and a body covered in thorned bark. Steam still rose from its wounds. Moon-pale threads of magic curled around her fingers as she extracted shimmering crystal shards from the beast's corpse.
Her hair, once black, now fell in long white waves that caught the moonlight like strands of ice.
Harlee.
Dan stopped breathing.
"Harlee…" he whispered.
Her head snapped up.
Her eyes glowed — not brightly, but softly, a gentle violet shimmer like moonlight reflected on water. She rose slowly, guarded but not hostile.
Her voice trembled.
"Dan?"
Dan stepped forward, then froze halfway across the clearing.
The System shimmered around her: glowing glyphs orbiting her shoulders like lunar halos. A soft blue aura pulsed in waves, echoing the moon's light.
Joseph whispered, "Holy… okay yeah, she's totally the witch."
Harlee took a shaky breath.
"I thought I'd never see you again."
Dan laughed a broken, relieved sound he had been holding for too long.
"I thought you were dead."
She closed the distance and threw her arms around him — hard enough to make the bear cub squeak in protest. Dan held her like she might vanish again.
When she pulled back, she wiped at her eyes.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't mean to disappear. I—I didn't even understand what happened."
Dan cupped her face. "Then tell me."
Harlee looked at the group and spoke.
"One second we were driving," she began softly, "and the next… the road split apart. Like glass cracking under a hammer."
Her hands trembled visibly.
"I tried to grab you. I really did. But something… some pull grabbed me. I fell through the pavement and then—"
She swallowed hard.
"Everything went dark."
No one spoke.
"I woke up in a cave. A System-generated one. Full of glowing stones. One was cracked — bleeding light like a star leaking through stone."
She placed a hand over her chest.
"When I touched it… it touched back."
A faint pulse of moonlight rippled across her skin.
"My hair turned white. My spells awakened. And the world… felt different. Like I could hear the moon."
Joseph blinked. "Hear the moon. Cool. Terrifying, but cool."
She smiled weakly. "The moon phases change my power. When it's full… I'm strong. When it's gone… I feel empty."
Ethan's eyes sharpened.
"What happens when we have blood moons?"
Harlee's jaw tightened.
"On a blood moon night… I don't know if I stay myself."
Dan's hand tightened around hers.
"You will," he said firmly. "You're strong."
Harlee gave him a trembling smile. "I'm trying to be."
Harlee stepped back, letting her magic rise slightly so they could see its form.
Soft lunar orbs lifted around her like drifting stars.
[NEW LUNAR SPELL UNLOCKED: Moonflare Arc]
A slicing crescent of lunar light that cuts through armor and regenerates at moonrise.
[PASSIVE: Tide of Phases]
Power increases or decreases based on the current moon cycle.
[NATURE SPELL: Rootbind Surge]
Summons roots to entangle enemies; strength doubles in moonlight.
[ALCHEMY: Lunar Infusion]
Can empower potions using moon-charged crystals.
Ethan watched her carefully, eyes narrowing with tactical interest.
"She's strong," he muttered.
Joseph nudged him. "Like, join-the-party strong?"
Dan's hopeful look was impossible to hide.
Harlee glanced between them — Ethan's icy calm, Joseph's ready grin, and Dan's soft desperation.
"…Are you really fighting monsters out here alone?" Dan asked quietly.
Harlee exhaled shakily. "I didn't have a choice. If I stayed still… things found me."
Ethan nodded once. "You shouldn't be alone."
Joseph grinned wide. "So that's a yes?"
Harlee hesitated.
Then she stepped close to Dan and squeezed his hand.
"If you're going…
I'm going too."
Dan's breath hitched — relief flooding him, mixing with something deeper.
Ethan turned away to give them a moment… and froze.
A moonlit rune was carved into a tree behind Harlee.
Not a Deathknight rune.
Something older.
The shape pulsed softly:
ᛉᛟᚱ
Ethan narrowed his eyes.
"Harlee," he said quietly. "Did you carve that?"
She looked confused. "No. Why?"
Ethan touched the rune.
The air went cold.
Varyn whispered sharply in his mind.
"Deathknight… something watches her."
Harlee didn't hear it.
But Ethan's expression darkened.
Whatever had awakened Harlee…
whatever had chosen her…
was not done.
The air around the ruined grove had gone strangely still.
Harlee's voice softened, but the weight behind it deepened.
"Dan… I didn't just sense you. I've been watching you."
Joseph blinked. "Watching… how exactly?"
Harlee lifted her hand. Moonlight pooled in her palm like liquid silver.
"When the system awakened me… something inside me split. One half became tied to the cycles of the moon. The other half—" She motioned toward a puddle near her feet. The water shimmered, brightening with unnatural clarity.
"I can see through reflections. Any still surface. Water… glass… ice. Even polished metal. The clearer the surface, the stronger the vision."
Dan swallowed. "You saw us the whole time?"
"Not everything," she admitted. "Only pieces—moments. When I focus, the world becomes mirrors. I followed your path by glimpses. A reflection on a blade. A puddle in the dirt. A frozen patch of ground Ethan left behind…"
Ethan stiffened slightly.
"So that's how you knew our route?"
Harlee nodded. "Every time you used your sword, you left me a beacon. Varyn's frost holds reflections as if the world stands still inside it."
Her pale, lunar eyes flicked to Ethan.
"That blade is not silent. It echoes."
Ethan felt Varyn hum at his hip—like a pulse, a breath, a reminder.
You hear me now, it whispered.
Before he could respond, the ground shuddered.
A deep, oceanic vibration rolled through the forest—slow at first, then rising like something enormous turning beneath miles of earth. Trees shook. Dust fell like rain. Birds fled in explosions of feathers.
Harlee's expression hardened instantly.
"No. Not yet… the moon isn't aligned for this."
Dan gripped his bow. "Harlee? What is it?"
She raised her staff.
And the world answered her.
All puddles within the grove lit up at once—each ripple freezing mid-motion, forming mirrors of pale lunar light. Dozens of reflections appeared, showing trees, sky… and something else.
A shadow.
Huge. Moving.
Ethan frowned. "What am I looking at?"
Harlee's voice dropped into a whisper.
"Something the system warned me of during my awakening. A Primordial. A creature so strong it bends the environment around it. They… weren't supposed to emerge for months."
Joseph squinted. "So like a miniboss?"
"No."
Harlee didn't blink.
"This is a World Boss."
Dan's face drained of color. "A… what kind of world boss?"
Harlee slowly raised her arm, and the puddles shifted focus—like lenses adjusting. The reflections zoomed across landscapes until they stopped at a gargantuan canyon tearing open the forest miles away.
From inside the widening fissure…
Something climbed.
First, a hand the size of a boulder, made of molten stone wrapped in living vines.
Then a horned head, dripping burning sap like molten blood.
Then a torso taller than the trees themselves.
Joseph whispered, "Dude. That's not a monster. That's a natural disaster wearing pants."
Harlee exhaled sharply.
"The Earthrender Titan. A Raid-Class Entity. It needs… at minimum… fifty fighters."
Ethan stiffened.
"There aren't fifty fighters."
"No," Harlee agreed.
"There's just us."
The Titan let out a roar so powerful the reflection shattered, puddles exploding into mist. The shockwave reached the grove a moment later—a hot wind, thick with earth and ash, rippling the treetops.
A system notification materialized above them all at once:
⚠ WORLD ALERT: A PRIMORDIAL ENTITY HAS AWAKENED
EARTHRENDER TITAN — RAID-CLASS THREAT
DANGER LEVEL: APOCALYPTIC
RECOMMENDATION: FLEE. REGROUP. OR PERISH.
Ethan tightened his grip on Varyn.
The sword vibrated violently—thrumming with ice, anger… hunger.
This is what you were forged for, the blade whispered.
Harlee took one shaky step backward.
"It's heading this way. It… it sees magic. It feels it."
Dan's wolf whined, backing away instinctively. His bear cub hid behind his legs.
Joseph cracked his knuckles, trying to act brave but sounding terrified.
"So what's the plan? Because 'run' sounds good right now."
And then—
The forest around them died.
Leaves wilted. Grass withered. The wind reversed direction.
A massive shadow eclipsed the moon.
Ethan looked up.
Through the branches, a colossal silhouette moved—too close, too fast, too massive.
Harlee whispered, "It found us."
A branch snapped overhead—loud as a building collapsing.
The Earthrender Titan had arrived early.
And it was standing directly above them.