The evening sky of Verlyn turned red when we left the city gate.
The road toward the Eastern Forest was covered with soft soil and wild grass that swayed slowly in the wind.
The sound of birds began to fade, replaced by a silence that was too neat—as if the forest was holding its breath.
Lyona checked the mission scroll once more.
"The target is simple," she said. "Drive away the wild animals that get too close to the settlement. Usually small wolves or boars."
"It should be easy, right?"
"It should be."
Her tone was flat, but her eyes remained alert.
We continued walking.
The closer we got to the forest's edge, the stranger the atmosphere became.
Leaves swayed… but there were no animal sounds.
No lizards, birds, not even insects.
Just… silence.
I stopped.
"Lyo… is the forest usually this quiet?"
"No."
She gripped her sword hilt. "This isn't normal."
A few steps later, we found something even stranger.
The ground at the edge of the forest… was clean.
There were no animal tracks at all.
"If animals were coming and going," Lyona said softly, "there should be claw marks, footprints, or paths. But this… is empty."
"So the monster really got close to the settlement?"
"Either it approached… or it was pushed out from here."
I swallowed hard.
We stepped past the first line of trees.
And that was where I saw it.
Thin mist.
Not morning mist or normal weather fog.
Its shape resembled pale-gray water fragments—still in the air, unmoving even though the wind blew.
As if something was freezing the particles.
I looked at Lyona. "This… is the same as when I appeared?"
Lyona nodded slowly. "Dimensional mist. Usually it appears briefly, then disappears. But this one… is stable."
I approached a few steps.
And when I was only two meters from the mist, my body shivered.
Something vibrated inside my chest—like a distant echo that recognized me.
Lyona immediately grabbed my collar.
"Don't get too close."
"Why?"
"This mist has a different effect on mist strays. It can trigger memories, pull Flux out, or…"
She paused for a moment.
"…bring you back."
I stepped back. "Okay. I don't want to get dragged in again."
Before we could decide what to do, a snapping twig sound came from behind the bushes.
We both tensed.
I hoped it was a wolf. Or a boar. Or anything normal.
But what came out wasn't that.
A deer.
Or… something that resembled a deer.
Part of its body looked fragmented, like a broken image moving with missing frames.
Its feet touched the ground, but its shadow lagged a split second behind it.
Lyona whispered, "Distortion…"
I couldn't answer.
The creature's body trembled lightly, as if part of it was still in another place.
Suddenly, the deer turned toward me.
Empty eyes.
No reflection.
No pupils.
In an instant, the deer ran straight through the thin mist.
No sound of footsteps.
No snapping branches.
It was like it vanished into the air.
A violent chill shot through me. "That… what was that?"
"An animal partially dragged into the mist dimension," Lyona answered. "But normally… ordinary animals can't enter."
She looked at me for a moment.
"That means this mist is looking for something."
I stared at the mist again—
and for a split second, I saw a silhouette inside.
A tall figure.
Standing still.
Facing us.
I narrowed my eyes. "There's someone in the mist—"
"Don't!" Lyona pulled my hand hard. "If you focus on that silhouette, the mist can pull you in."
I blinked.
The silhouette vanished.
We decided to retreat and return to Verlyn to make an additional report.
But before leaving, Lyona stared at the mist for a long time—longer than I expected her to dare.
"Makoto," she said suddenly.
I turned.
"When I found you in the northern rift… your body was extremely cold."
"Well, yeah… I'd just fallen from—"
"Not normal cold."
She looked at me deeply.
"Cold like someone who had passed through the mist more than once."
I froze.
Lyona crossed her arms. Her expression serious.
"That day… when I pulled you out of the mist, I saw a flash. Like the shadow of a man who… looked like you. But taller. Older. And he looked at you… not like a stranger."
I stiffened.
"Lyo… I—"
"I don't need your answer," she said quickly. "I just want you to know… you don't have to pretend to be a newcomer in this world. If you've been here before… I won't be angry."
Lyona walked ahead, passing through the bushes.
I followed slowly.
But before stepping back onto the return path, I looked at the mist once more.
And this time…
the silhouette appeared again.
Clearer.
Closer.
Its gaze sharp.
And its face… was my face.
Makoto B.
He raised his hand, as if mimicking my movement—or inviting me to speak.
But the mist closed over him.
And I knew one thing for sure:
Everything was just beginning.