The campfire's warmth didn't just fade; it was devoured.
One moment, the jungle was alive—the rhythmic rush of the river and the frantic pulse of insects filling the heavy night air. The next, the world went tomb-silent. An unnatural, biting frost smothered the clearing, turning Maria's breath into a jagged plume of white mist.
"Adi?" she whispered, her eyes searching the gloom. "What's happening?"
Adi couldn't answer. His muscles were locked in a phantom's grip, his gaze fixed on the earth behind her. Maria's shadow had detached itself from the dirt, rising like oily smoke into the silhouette of a towering, jagged figure. Then, the **crimson eyes** snapped open.
*"Did you really think,"* a voice rasped—not through the air, but vibrating against the inner walls of his skull, *"that a simple reincarnation would let you escape me?"*
The fractured memory of a bone throne and a sky of falling ash didn't just flicker; it locked into place with crystalline, agonizing clarity. Adi didn't just see the throne anymore—he felt the crushing weight of the jagged crown and the biting chill of obsidian stone beneath his palms. He realized, with a jolt of pure horror, that the souls in his visions hadn't been screaming *at* the throne.
They had been screaming at **him**.
Through the haze of the nightmare, a second figure shimmered into existence: the radiant **Goddess** he had met in the Void before his rebirth. Her celestial light offered a desperate flicker of hope against the encroaching dark.
"Y-you," Adi croaked, reaching out. "The Goddess..."
He blinked, his vision swimming. The ethereal light of the Goddess shattered like glass. When his eyes snapped open again, the towering shadow was gone. The crimson eyes had vanished, and the humid, heavy sounds of the jungle rushed back into the silence.
There was no Goddess. There was only Maria leaning over him, her face etched with worry as she shook his shoulder.
"Adi! Wake up!" she urged, her voice trembling. "You were barely breathing... your heart almost stopped."
As Adi sat up, his pupils didn't immediately reflect the firelight. For a fleeting second, his eyes burned with a **vivid, supernatural emerald glow**—the unmistakable mark of a high-tier Soul Link. He blinked, and the light vanished, leaving his eyes a mundane brown once more. He scrambled to his feet, scanning the treeline as if searching for a ghost.
Maria watched him closely, her voice dropping to a low murmur. "Did you... did you actually meet her? The Goddess of Transition?"
Adi stiffened, his pulse still racing from the cold touch of the shadow. "Ah... y-yeah. But please, keep it down. Don't tell the others."
"What was she like?" Maria pressed, her curiosity briefly overriding the terror of the moment.
Dusk, who had been silently leaning against a nearby trunk, chimed in with a faint smirk. "Legend says she's the pinnacle of purity. A holy aura you can feel from leagues away."
Adi looked down, a flush creeping up his neck. "B-basically... I think I love her," he gasped, the confession slipping out under the lingering stress of the vision.
Maria's eyes went wide. "How? You're a mortal—a Reborn—and you're in love with a *Divine Being*?"
"I said don't tell anyone!" Adi hissed, his face burning.
"Relax," Maria laughed softly, shaking her head. "Even if I told them you were pining for a deity, no one would believe a rookie adventurer like you."
Adi turned and began walking away, desperate to distance himself from the conversation and the lingering chill in his bones. But as he stepped into the darkness beyond the firelight, a melodic, shimmering voice echoed in his mind—the very same voice that had guided his soul into this world.
I am glad to hear that you feel that way... my Champion.
Adi bolted.
He started walking faster, then broke into a frantic jog through the underbrush. Behind him, Maria called out his name, racing to catch up as the jungle canopy whispered with the secrets of a past life he wasn't yet ready to reclaim.
Dusk fell into step beside them, his movements unnervingly fluid and utterly silent. Adi whirled around, catching the stranger's gaze. "Who are you... really?"
Dusk looked at him, his piercing blue eyes catching the moonlight. "I am Dusk," he replied simply.
Adi narrowed his eyes, his suspicion mounting. "So, were you listening to our entire conversation back there?"
Dusk offered a slow, knowing nod. "Every word."
A sudden, cold breeze swept through the clearing, catching their hair and sending a fresh shiver down Adi's spine as the jungle sighed around them.
By the time the treeline gave way to the safety of the outpost's borders, Adi turned to check his flank. Dusk was gone. He had vanished into the shadows without a sound.
Before Adi could dwell on it, a group of girls rushed out from the outpost's courtyard, swarming Maria. "Maria! You weren't at the house, we were so tense!" one of them cried, throwing her arms around her.
Taking advantage of the distraction, Adi shoved his hands deep into his pockets and slipped away, making a beeline for the Guild Receptionist stationed inside the bustling, lamp-lit hall.
"Is there any work for me?" Adi asked, leaning against the wooden counter.
The receptionist looked up, scanned her charts, and plucked a relatively safe, low-level bounty from the board. She slid the parchment toward him. It bore a crude sketch of a goblin and specified a kill count of nine.
"If there happen to be more goblins out there, can I kill them too?" Adi asked casually.
The receptionist's face paled. She reached across the counter, seizing both of his hands in a desperate grip. "Don't say things like that! If you go overdoing it and get yourself killed out there, the guilt will literally end me!"
Adi looked at her, raising a single, bewildered eyebrow at her dramatic outburst. Gently pulling his hands free, he took the parchment and turned toward the exit.
*Today, I'll just hit the quota. I won't overdo it,* Adi thought to himself, stepping back out into the cool night air.
Then he froze.
Standing by the courtyard's decorative pond was Dusk. He was gazing down at his own reflection in the dark water. The moonlight caught his face, but his eyes were no longer the piercing blue from the jungle. They were burning with a **familiar, terrifying crimson**.
Adi swallowed hard. Masking his presence, he tried to slip past the pond, his footsteps completely silent against the cobblestones.
But Dusk didn't even need to look. "Where are you going?" he asked softly, turning his head.
Adi stopped, his muscles tensing for a fight. "What do you want from me?"
"Tch," Dusk clicked his tongue, his gaze drifting back to the ripples in the pond. "Why do you mortals always leap to such hostile conclusions?"
Slowly, Dusk turned to fully face him. A dark, wicked smirk crept across his face, and the air around him grew heavy with an unspoken, suffocating bloodlust. "Hmm... Adi..."