Derukan stood still, the battlefield silent behind him. Bodies of monsters lay broken, steam rising from their wounds. His mechanical arm flickered faintly with a crimson glow, syncing with his heavy breath. The portal he had just closed behind him left the air humming with static energy.

  He looked down at his arm—part living metal, part monster flesh, part unknown tech. It wasn’t just a weapon anymore. It pulsed like it had a heartbeat.

  > [Core Sync: 43%]

  [Alert: Dimensional energy detected nearby.]

  Just as he turned to leave, the wind stopped. Everything slowed. A strange pressure fell upon the world like the weight of a collapsing star. Time itself seemed to hold its breath.

  From the shadows, he emerged—a tall man cloaked in energy too vast to comprehend. His presence made the system flicker and glitch. Derukan instinctively raised his arm, but the man simply held out his hand.

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  In it—a small locket, ancient yet strangely futuristic, pulsed with eerie light.

  “You're not ready,” the man said, his voice echoing as if spoken across time and space. “But when the time comes… this will remember you.”

  He pressed the locket into Derukan’s palm. The moment it touched his skin, a pulse rushed through his body—like a memory awakening inside him.

  > [Unknown Artifact Acquired: Echo Locket]

  [System Message: Hidden Sync Route detected.]

  Derukan looked up—but the man was gone. No trace. No sound. Nothing but his voice, fading like a dream.

  > “When the time comes…”

  Time resumed. The battlefield’s silence returned. The wind picked up once again, carrying ash and dust from the ruins.

  Derukan stared at the locket.

  “What… are you trying to prepare me for?”

  He tucked the locket inside his coat and walked away. But the questions followed him.

  Who was that man?

  Why did time stop?

  And what was the system hiding from him?

  As he climbed over a ridge, the red sky above roared, and a new rift cracked open in the distance. He could already see shadows pouring out—ogres, wyverns, and things he didn’t have names for.

  Derukan narrowed his eyes. His arm flared red.

  “Doesn’t matter.”

  He leapt down toward the chaos.

  “I’ll break through it all.”

  To Be Continue

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