The world felt smaller after the vision.Smaller, darker.
The clearing had the same trees, the same trembling flower, the same marks in the earth—yet Ren felt as if something had shifted place, as if a new weight had settled at the center of everything.
And that weight had a voice.A human voice.A voice that echoed in his mind, repeating a single cold phrase:
"Let him awaken."
Lyra stayed at Ren's side the entire time since he collapsed.She didn't touch him—almost as if afraid he might break—but she watched every breath, every blink, every silence.
"Ren…" she whispered. "Who did you see?"
Ren inhaled slowly, trying to align thoughts that resisted taking shape.
Borin and Draven stood a few steps behind, both visibly tense.
At last, Ren answered.
"I didn't see his face."
His voice was low, rough.
"I only saw the hand… the hand that touched the stone."
Draven stepped closer, careful.
"Was it human?"
Ren nodded.
"Yes. Human."A short pause."And strong."
Borin crossed his arms, jaw tight.
"Strong how? Cultivator-strong?"
"Strong enough to wake that."
The axe nearly slipped from Borin's hand.
Lyra leaned a bit closer, studying Ren as though she could pull more details out of him if she stared hard enough.
"Did the hand have any markings? Any glow? Any… aura? Anything?"
Ren closed his eyes.
Not to remember—but to feel.
The image returned, not crisp, but sensory:
Coldness.Cracks in the skin, like dried stone.Light leaking through the gaps.Something burned.Something incomplete.
Ren opened his eyes slowly.
"It was a normal hand… but it looked…"He searched for the word."…broken."
Draven frowned.
"What do you mean, 'broken'?"
Ren touched his own arm, recalling the texture he felt.
"Like someone who cultivated something they shouldn't have touched."He looked at the staff, as if its wood might confirm the thought."A hand with more power than the body can carry."
A chill crawled up Lyra's spine.
"Ren… do you think this person belongs to the forest?"
Ren shook his head.
"No. There was no forest aura."His voice grew steadier."It was human cultivation."A quiet moment."And not weak."
Borin scanned the forest edge nervously.
"So he could be watching us?"
Ren didn't hesitate.
"Yes."
Draven almost tripped over his own feet.
"WHAT? RIGHT NOW?!"
"Draven."Borin's voice was a low growl."Breathe."
Ren didn't dismiss the fear.
He felt it too—not in the staff, not through the fragment,but through his own instincts…
The silence had a second rhythm.Something artificial.Something breathing where nothing should breathe.
Lyra knelt beside him.
"Ren… do you know his name?"
Ren closed his eyes again.
The stone circle.The ancient runes.The black pillar.The shadow leaning against the wall, watching everything in silence.
And the voice.
"Let him awaken."
It wasn't impulsive.Not desperate.Not emotional.
It was calculated.Cold.Prepared.
Someone using the colossus as a tool.Or an experiment.
Ren opened his eyes.
"I don't know his name," he said quietly."But I know one thing:"
He turned toward the heart of the forest.
"He doesn't want to kill the colossus."Ren's gaze hardened."He wants to see what the colossus does when it's free."
Draven paled.
"So… he's CRAZY!"
"No," Ren said calmly."He's patient."
Lyra's brow furrowed.
"And what does that mean for us?"
Ren tightened his grip on the staff.
The fragment in the box trembled softly—almost agreeing.
"It means he knows we saw."The flower flickered."He knows we have the fragment."The ground gave a faint pulse."And he knows the colossus will return here."
Borin let out a slow, heavy breath.
"And why would he let that happen?"
Ren didn't take his eyes off the trees.
"Because he wants to observe."His voice dropped."He wants to see how we survive."
Silence fell like stone.
Draven swallowed hard.
"So he's treating us like… experiments?"
Ren nodded.
"Yes. We're pieces in his game."
Lyra leaned closer, her voice steady despite the fear underneath.
"And you?"Ren turned to her."What are you in his game?"
Ren tightened his hand around the staff—too tightly.
And finally answered:
"I'm the piece he wants to move first."