The silence on the abandoned platform was dense, broken only by the distant echo of a few drops of water and the rapid beat of my own heart. The two figures remained motionless in the darkness, their faces hidden by the shadows of their hoods. The tension could have been cut with a knife.
Finally, one of the figures stepped forward. His voice, when he spoke, was surprisingly soft, almost a whisper. "Welcome, Ryu Hyuk. Min-ah. We knew you'd come."
Min-ah and I tensed. How did they know our names? We hadn't told them.
"Who are you?" Min-ah asked, her voice firm though I could notice a slight tremor.
The other figure spoke then, his voice a little rougher. "We are... people who know what you are. People who can help you."
"They said they had information about the Troubles," I said, trying to remain calm. "And how to stop them."
The first figure nodded slowly. "That's right. The Troubles... aren't of this world. They come from a different dimension, a dark and chaotic place. Their appearances here are... tears in the fabric of reality."
This information was new and terrifying. I'd always thought the Troubles were some kind of mutation or failed experiment. But another dimension?
"And why are they appearing more frequently now?" Min-ah asked.
"Something is disturbing the balance between the worlds," the second figure replied. "Something is weakening the barriers. And that's allowing more Troubles to cross."
"And what can we do about it?" I asked.
"You are Marked," the first figure said. "You have the potential to fight them. Your abilities... are a response to this threat."
I looked at my hands. Could my clumsy grip on the metal really make a difference against these monstrosities?
"There are other Marked," the second figure continued. "Many more than you imagine. Some are fighting the Troubles on their own. Others... are being used by forces they don't understand."
"What forces are you referring to?" Min-ah asked, frowning.
"Organizations that want to control them," the first figure replied. "Governments that see them as weapons. Secret groups that study their abilities for their own purposes."
This confirmed Min-ah's warnings. But hearing her voice from these strange figures in the darkness of an abandoned station made it feel even more real and dangerous.
"Why are you telling us all this?" I asked. "What do you want from us?"
The second figure stepped forward, emerging slightly from the shadows. I could vaguely see the outline of his face, young and serious. "We want to help you survive. We want to help you understand what you are and what you're capable of. And we want you to help us fight the Troubles."
"Who exactly are you?" Min-ah insisted.
The first figure also emerged from the shadows. She was a woman, with short hair and an intense gaze. "We're part of a small group," she said. "A group of Marked who have been fighting the Troubles in the shadows for years. We call ourselves... Guardians."
Guardians. The name sounded like something from a comic book. But the seriousness in their voices and the information they'd given us felt very real.
"Why should we trust you?" I asked.
The woman, the Guardian, sighed. "We understand your distrust. We don't expect you to blindly believe us. But we will show you the truth. We will show you what is really happening."
The man, the other Guardian, nodded. "And we'll give you the tools you need to protect yourself. To protect others."
We were silent for a moment, processing everything we'd been told. It was a lot of information to take in. Could we trust these people? Were they really who they said they were?
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