The fog hung over Vyrithane, low and thick as a shroud, curling through the skeletal remains of the city. Gas lamps flickered along the cobblestone streets, their light swallowed by the fog before it could reach the top of the iron-clad towers looming overhead.
Steam continuously gushed from pipes buried underneath the pavement, its hissing sound blended with the distant clatter of machinery and occasional scream—human or otherwise.
This was the Lower Ward, where the less privileged clung to life and the body of the dead still clamped unto the Earth's surface, refusing to get buried.
It was also where I, Kael Arcturus Veil opened my eyes for what felt like the first time.
I lay sprawled on the cold floor, the damp seeping through the threadbare coat I didn't recognize to be mine. I felt this pain in my skull, sharp and fleeting, as if a blade was withdrawn before I could scream.
My breath came in ragged gasps. Above me, the fog churned, and for a moment, I thought I saw shapes—hands reaching down, maybe, or faces even before they dissolved into nothing.
A memory? A dream? I couldn't tell. My mind was just blank, filled with jagged lines that refuses to form understandable words.
Then came the burning.
It started in my left hand, the heat from the burn jolting me upright. I clutched my wrist, gritted my teeth, as the sensation clawed its way up my palm.
There, etched into my flesh was a sigil, which glowed of silver-blue, designed to look like a clock's gears, pulsing with each moment like a heartbeat. I could only stare at it, transfixed, not until I heard this voice inside my head.
★System of Hordes: Player Designation Initiated.★
★Name: Kael Arcturus Veil.★
★Class: Unbound.★
«★Welcome to Eryndral.★»
The words glimmered in my vision, floating in the air like flying flowers before fading into the fog.
I blinked, my chest tightened. "Unbound?" I muttered with a low, hoarse voice.
The sigil dimmed but still didn't vanish. The light it emits was now a faint glimmer beneath my skin. I flexed my fingers, expecting they were going to crumble to dust, but they fixed firm.
And then it dawned on me. Whatever it was, it wasn't a dream. It was too real.
Who was I? Why am I here? And what in the hells was the System of Hordes?
A low growl snapped me out of my daze. It came from the shadows at the alley, where the fog thickened into a wall of gray. Something moved, its silhouette shifting unnaturally, as if it was unsure of a shape.
I scrambled to my feet.
The growl continued, joined by a second, then a third, until the air was filled with its chorus.
I backed away, weakeningly scraping my boots against the cobblestones, until my shoulder hit a rusted lamppost.
There was nowhere to run to. The alley was a dead end, flanked by brick walls too high to climb.
★Quest Initiated: Survive the First Night.★
★Objective: Endure until dawn.★
★Reward: 10 Fragments | Penalty: Death.★
That was the return of the voice I had heard. A system's voice, just like in the fantasy novels I read. I love fiction, you know.
But then, fragments? Dawn? I didn't have the time to process it before the shadows lunged. They were hounds, maybe, but their form was beyond nature.
Their flesh was stitched with sinew and metal, their eyes a sickly yellow glow. They snapped their jaws, revealing rows of jagged teeth dripping with black ichor.
Three of these hounds, each the size of a man, lunged at full speed towards me. But how? With their bulky size?!
My instincts screamed at me to move, but my legs froze. I was simply terrified.
Then something clicked.
The lead hound charged, but it faltered in mid-air. Beside it, I saw words flickering before hovering bright enough for me to see.
★Entity: Shadowstitched Hound.★
★Threat Level: Low.★
★Weakness: Core at base of skull.★
I didn't question it. I couldn't cause I didn't have a weapon, but looking beside, the alley did. There was a broken pipe jutted from the wall, looking like it had been neglected for years.
I yanked it loose from the wall, and swung it with all my strength as the first hound reached me. The pipe connected with a wet crunch, striking the base of its skull.
The beast's body convulsed as it yelped, before collapsing into a heap of twitching limbs, generating smokes into the air. Immediately, the sigil on my hand flared briefly.
I only stared in confusion.
The other two hounds didn't hesitate. One of them leaped, raking its claws in the air, while the second circled to my flank.
I ducked under the jumper hound, swinging the pipe upward to connect with its underbelly. Ichor sprayed, staining my coat but the blow wasn't lethal. The hound only landed, snarling, while its packmaye lunged from the side.
I twisted, barely dodging a snap of the teeth that gazed my arm, tearing my coat and drawing blood.
★Weakness: Core at base of skull.★
The words from before, came forming beside this hounds.
I didn't have to think twice. I charged, with the pipe raised, then brought down upon the second hound's head. The crack echoed through the alley, and the beast dropped, emitting smoke from its corpse.
The third hound hesitated, before turning and fled into the fog, its growl fading into silence.
I stood there, heaving my chest with the pipe I held in my hands dripping black sludge onto the stones. The sigil pulsed once, then stilled.
★Quest Progress: 3/5 Shadowstitched Hounds neutralized.★
★Good feat. Continue until dawn.★
"Five?" I found it hard to contend, glancing at the two dissolving bodies."There's more?"
I tightened my grip on the pipe, blood trickling from my arm, as I took a step forward.
"If it is a game, I will play it. If it is nightmare, I will wake up. Either way, I will not die here—not yet," I resolved.
Hours passed, or maybe minutes. Time blurred in the Lower Ward, where the fog swallowed the sky. I fought on, taking down each hound that crosses my path.
The fourth hound ambushed me from a rooftop, nearly tearing my throat out before I smashed its core. The fifth cornered me in a dead-end courtyard, forcing me to climb a pile of debris and dropped the pipe onto its skull from above.
By the end, my coat was shredded, my body was bruised, and my hands were trembling—but I was still alive.
As the first gray light pierced the fog, the System's voice returned.
★Quest Complete: Survive the First Night★
★Reward: 10 Fragments granted.★
★Additional Reward: Ability Unlocked—Echoes of the Unseen.★
The sigil on my hand flared, and a rush of warmth flooded my veins. My vision flickered, and for a moment, I no longer saw the alley, but a vast chamber of stone and shadow, where a figure amidst the fog held a clock with no hands.
I narrowed my eyes to see who, or what it was. But, it was gone.
I slumped against the wall, my mind reeling with thoughts. Fragments? Echoes? A world that wanted me dead? I didn't understand any of it at all.
I forwarded my eyes to notice the fog had parted slightly, revealing a street beyond the alley. Footsteps approached, belonging to a human.
Then, a rough yet curious voice calls out. "You alive down there, stranger?"
"..."