The moment they stepped outside, the peaceful image of Lystern shattered.
Villagers crowded the central path, voices sharp with fear. Mothers clutched children, hunters gripped their bows, and the normally soft glow of the lantern trees flickered erratically, it was as if something in the air disrupted their magic.
Aria pushed through the crowd with the fox at her heels. Faces turned toward them, wide-eyed at the sight of the strange creature by Aria's side, but fear drowned their curiosity.
"The barrier—look!"
A young scout pointed frantically toward the village outskirts, where the protective ward shimmered like a faint dome above the trees.
The fox's eyes squinted, she could sense from a mile away, something was wrong.
The barrier's smooth blue sheen flickered… then warped. Like a bubble under pressure and a single line of crackling silver split across it.
Not a physical crack, but a wound, which also seemed tp be made of magic.
Aria's breath caught at the sight. "No… this hasn't happened in generations…"
The fox felt it before she understood it. A pressure in her skull and a vibration under her paws. She felt a shiver racing along her spine, which made her fur rise on end. The thick, invisible air tasted almost metallic.
Her instincts screamed.
Something out there was wrong, she may not have remembered a lot of things anymore of her past, and she could feel some of her memories erasing, but her survival instinct was still there.
None of it felt just wrong, iy somehow felt familiar as well.
The same cold thrum she had felt inside herself. The same echo of the shard she had consumed.
It pulsed from beyond the barrier.
The villagers didn't feel it, not fully. But she did. Every beat of her heart thudded in time with the pulse—
"thrum… thrum… thrum…"
The fracture widened slightly and Aria froze at the sight. "Why is it silver? Barriers crack blue with mana overload, red with corruption… but silver?"
Someone nearby whispered, "Silver only appears when something unnatural is trying to push through."
'Unnatural? By chance is this related to my presence here?'
The fox lowered her head and the word settled uncomfortably in her chest.
Another pulse of energy rolled across the ground like a chilling wave. The villagers gasped, stumbling. A toddler started crying. Several lanterns went out all at once.
The fox's vision fractured for a heartbeat; it was another glitch, a static flicker in her eyes.
Words whispered across her mind, something she slightly understood, but was not accustomed to.
[Foreign Presence Detected.]
[Resonance: Partial.]
[Warning. Proximity unsafe.]
Her heart slammed against her ribs in fear, her mind already going to the worst-case scenario.
'Was the thing outside… like her? If it was, she did not want anyone here to suffer because of her.'
Another pulse hit the barrier, harder this time. The dome shook, rippling like water struck by a stone. More silver lines spiderwebbed across its surface.
Elder Rean pushed through the crowd, her staff glowing faintly. "Everyone, stay back. Hunters to the front. Shield bearers form two lines!"
Aria stepped forward as well, determined, but the fox blocked her path again, her ears twitched, her body low, every nerve taut.
Aria blinked in confusion. "Little one? What's wrong?"
The fox glanced at the barrier, then back at her. Her throat tightened. She didn't know how to speak, not in this body, not yet… But she tried.
A sound left her. Not a bark or a whimper.
But a low, trembling growl. Warning. Fear. Recognition.
Aria's eyes widened. "You… know what's out there."
The fox didn't look away, but before she could do anything else. Another pulse struck and this time something pushed against the barrier from the other side.
The dome bent inward, stretching like thin glass. The villagers gasped. A few stumbled back in terror.
For one brief second, the silhouette pressing against the dome became visible.
Tall. Wrongly shaped. It looked humanoid… but twisted.
Limbs too long.
Edges blurred like smoke.
Eyes glowing faintly silver.
Seeing it, her body went still, fear gripping her; after all, it was only realistic. These things she would easily accept in games, but now her life... made things that were only supposed to exist in fantasy become real.
She glared at it through the bartrier and her paws shook.
The silhouette flickered. Like it didn't belong to the world it was touching.
Elder Rean's voice cut through the panic, trembling for the first time:
"That… thing isn't a monster."
The fox's head snapped in her direction, waiting for her to continue.
"It's a distortion."
The word meant little to the fox, but the villagers reacted in immediate horror. Several backed away. One shield-bearer nearly dropped his shield.
Aria spoke quickly, "Elder—what does that mean?"
Rean's face was grave. "Distortions do not originate from our realm. They appear only when the boundary between worlds weakens. When something breaches from… elsewhere."
Hearing that, realization washed over the fox.
Her old world?
Her death?
The voice before she fell into darkness?
What called to her?
Did this creature come from the same place?
Her vision flickered again, more static, more white noise, then the system's voice whispered softly.
[Warning.]
[Trigger Reaction Imminent.]
[Form Unstable.]
[Instinct Override Possible.]
The fox staggered back, paws slipping against the dirt, she knew deep down, maybe this was because of her.
Aria caught her gently before she fell completely, hands warm on her back. "Hey—hey, it's okay. Stay with me."
But the fox wasn't listening, her body trembled uncontrollably.
Another pulse hit the barrier and this time the crack split wider with a loud, ringing chime. The distortion's hand pressed through the fracture, stretching reality like a curtain.
The villagers around them screamed and Aria stepped in front of the fox, sword drawn even though she was shaking.
"Don't touch her," she whispered to the creature beyond the barrier. "Whatever you are… don't come near her."
The distortion turned, its silver gaze fixed directly on the fox.
Not on the village.
Not on the barrier or on any other living soul.
Only her.
The fox's breath caught. Because somewhere deep in that twisted gaze, something whispered to her again:
"Come back."
Her body jolted violently and the ground beneath her paws shuddered. A burst of heat erupted from her chest, spreading like fire under her skin.
And the system's voice turned cold and mechanical.
[Inhuman Core Activation: 3%]
[Instinct Override Approaching Threshold.]
[Warning. Evolution Path Unstable.]
[Foreign Presence Attempting Link.]
Aria snapped her eyes to the fox. "Little one?!"
The fox couldn't answer. Her body was no longer entirely hers. Heat surged, while pain followed.
The distortion's hand pressed deeper into the crack and the barrier finally split with a sharp, crystalline scream.
A flood of silver light burst inward.
And the fox felt everything inside her snap awake, she was in trouble and if she did not fight, if she did not find a purpose, it would drag her back to the world of the dead or worse, since now she was certain she was not supposed to be alive.