Kai dreamed of traffic lights and rain.
Of spilled noodles on cracked pavement. Of forgotten keys. Of a phone ringing that no one answered.
And somewhere, beneath it all…
A voice.
Familiar.
"Hey, Kai. If you're hearing this… I'm already dead."
He jolted upright.
Breath ragged.
The campfire was out. The forest quiet.
And in his hand — though he didn't remember grabbing it — was a scroll. Faintly glowing. Edged with magic that didn't belong to this world.
[System Alert: External Object Detected – Origin: Earth]
Item: "Temporal Mana-Linked Scroll"
Source: Unknown
Status: Authentic
Playback: Y/N
Kai stared.
Then whispered, "Play it."
The scroll unfurled, floating mid-air.
A projection shimmered to life.
And there, flickering with static but unmistakably real, was a familiar face.
Eli Carter.
Former classmate.
Casual friend.
The quiet, clever boy who used to read manga during math class and once traded Kai a week's worth of cafeteria bread for a busted old game console.
His face was older now. Tired. Gaunt.
His voice… cracked with desperation.
"If this is working, then you're still alive. And maybe — maybe — you've already been chosen."
"I'm going to make this quick, man. Because I don't have time."
The image blinked.
"There's more than one Hero. You've figured that out, right? They summon us — people from Earth — to different worlds. Or sometimes the same one, in cycles."
"I was summoned two years ago. Not to your kingdom — to a place called Velgaeth. Doesn't matter. What matters is this—"
"We're not summoned to save these worlds."
"We're summoned to break them."
Kai's mouth went dry.
[System Warning: Cognitive Dissonance Threshold Surpassed]
Incoming data: World Mechanics
Filtering…
"I don't know what yours told you, Kai, but the system lies. The gods lie. The prophecies? Designed to make us obey. They feed us power, girls, glory—until we tip the balance."
"Until we become the next calamity."
"They don't want peace. They want a reset."
"Every generation… they summon Heroes. And every time, one of us becomes the 'villain.' The system's just choosing which of us dies a hero and which of us becomes a footnote in someone else's quest."
"I don't know what kind of power you have now. But whatever it is—"
The image glitched violently.
"—don't trust them. Don't trust the gods. And if anyone from Earth shows up claiming to 'help'—"
"—it's already too late."
The scroll burned to ash.
Kai sat in the silence.
His hands shaking.
His breath shallow.
His world — everything he'd tried to believe, tried to hold onto — had just tilted sideways.
[System Alert: Hidden Memory Fragment Unlocked]
Eli Carter – Class: Fallen Hero
Status: Deceased
Legacy: Warning Attempt Logged
Elira found him still sitting there when morning came.
"You didn't sleep," she said, crouching beside him.
"No."
"You look worse than usual."
"Thanks."
She hesitated. "Kai… what's going on?"
He looked at her.
Really looked.
And for the first time… he considered not telling her.
Because now he had a new fear.
Not just that one of them would betray him.
But that none of them could understand what he was becoming.
"Nothing," he said. "Just… another bad dream."
She didn't believe him.
But she didn't push either.
Instead, she stood.
"Gear up. There's a village north of here that sent a distress signal."
Kai nodded numbly.
As the group prepared to leave, Lira pulled Kai aside.
"Someone's been tampering with our trail markers," she whispered.
"What?"
"I checked the last camp. One of the rune stones was moved. Slightly. Enough to redirect a scan spell."
Kai's stomach twisted. "Meaning?"
"Meaning," Lira said, "either we're being tracked…"
She looked toward their group.
Then met his eyes.
"Or someone's helping the people tracking us."
[System Update: Trust Degradation Reached Threshold 1]
Passive Unlocked: Paranoia Pulse
Effect: You will begin to sense shifts in behavior — but won't know what they mean.
As they rode toward the next burning village, Kai closed his eyes.
And Eli's voice echoed again in his head.
"They summon you to save the world… but they keep the truth for the ones they plan to destroy."
And Kai wondered:
Which one was he?
The savior?
Or the weapon they were aiming… and waiting to pull the trigger?
End of Chapter 12
In Chapter 13, the group arrives at the burned village — but instead of demons, they find a message carved into the ruins, signed by Zephyr.