A realm of infinite possibilities and infinite dimensions, the Ethereal Realm. It was said not even a human could survive more than five minutes due to a lack of oxygen and the mental capacity the super-dimensions demanded. A planet so vast it became the center of the universe. For the group that was transported, they appeared on the lower layer—a place with air, gravity, and rules gentled for mortal minds.
They tumbled out of the portal. Ultima and Aaron stuck the landing; everyone else ate dirt and grass. Heat shimmered across a field ringed with trees no higher than thirty meters, leaves glinting like coins. A breeze carried the smell of rain and... ink?
"Welcome to Sainthood Village!"
They turned. A tall man in a black formal suit and a cartoon rabbit mask stood on the path, one long ear flopping with every tilt of his head. The mask's painted smile never moved, yet somehow did.
Miko stepped forward, eyes wide. "Who are you? And where are we?"
The rabbit's painted grin seemed to brighten. "Isn't it obvious? This is Sainthood, a small city beneath the first layer. Here, monsters and other supernatural beings live in harmony, outside the laws of Genocide."
"Who's Genocide?" Angelica asked.
"A being with unrivaled authority across the super-dimensions." The rabbit-man's neck stretched slightly as he looked past them to Lexia and Ultima. "Say. Have we met before?"
"No," Ultima said simply. Lexia shook her head, jaw tight. "First time here."
"Splendid! Then allow me to be your host." He gave a theatrical bow. "I am a Toonbi—a drawing once, brought to life by a certain being. You may call me C-Rabbit."
Angelica introduced everyone by name. At "Ultima," the rabbit's ear perked.
"A strange name for a mortal."
"I was born with it," Ultima replied, gaze never leaving the rabbit's hands.
"Easy," Miko murmured, touching Ultima's shoulder. "He's helping."
Ultima exhaled. "Alright. You win."
They followed C-Rabbit down a packed-earth road into rolling green. On the horizon, a palisade rose around a town of slate roofs and bright banners. Beyond it, towers of white stone spiraled like shells, and floating lanterns drifted in the day sky as if debating whether to be stars.
As they walked, Aaron kept a pace a step back. "So what are the rules out here, exactly?"
"Simple ones," C-Rabbit chimed. "Don't howl inside the walls. Don't speak that name with reverence. Don't stare at the sky for longer than a heartbeat. And never draw blood in front of the Sainting Obelisk."
"Don't... howl?" Max echoed, side-eyeing Ultima without meaning to.
C-Rabbit's ear swayed. "The air and light here are tempered by oxygen wards and mind veils the city renews each dawn. Mortals can breathe, think, even sleep—provided they don't wander past the wardlines. This is the easiest layer you'll ever know."
They passed under a gate woven with runes. Sainthood breathed around them—market stalls selling bottled moonlight and candied suns; a slime in a newsboy cap hawking broadsheets; a vampire in business attire arguing the price of tomatoes; two children—one human, one scaled—chasing a paper bird that refused to fold properly. Bells chimed somewhere deeper in the city, their tone calm, reassuring.
C-Rabbit gestured toward a plaza dominated by a black stone monolith banded in silver. "First stop: the Obelisk. It stabilizes the layer and tells new arrivals what the Realm thinks of them."
"The Realm... thinks?" Angelica asked, fascinated despite herself.
"The Ether writes a story when you step into it," C-Rabbit said. "It calls that story your Class. You may see Stats and Skills as well. Only yours—never another's. Look now."
Miko frowned as faint, pale-blue letters surfaced in the air before her like frost on glass.
[NAME] Miko
[LV.] 1
[CLASS] Barrier Fighter
[SKILLS] • Pulse Guard (I) • Reflect Veil (I)
[EQUIPMENT] None
Miko squeaked, then grinned. "Okay that's... actually kind of cool."
Aaron's window blinked into existence as he stepped nearer.
[NAME] Aaron Jackson
[LV.] 1
[CLASS] Iron Vanguard
[SKILLS] • Grit (I) • Taunt (I)
[EQUIPMENT] Workman's Bracers (Worn)
He huffed a laugh. "Figures."
Angelica bit her lip, blue light already reflecting in her eyes.
[NAME] Angelica Norman
[LV.] 1
[CLASS] Axiom Scholar
[SKILLS] • Theorem Sight (I) • Variable Bind (I)
[EQUIPMENT] None
"Axioms... so the system's metaphysical mathematics are consistent," she murmured, already analyzing.
Max's screen jittered, then steadied.
[NAME] Max Velasquez
[LV.] 1
[CLASS] Street Strider
[SKILLS] • Blink Step (I) • Low Guard (I)
[EQUIPMENT] None
Max punched the air. "Parkour gets a class? Let's go."
Lexia's turned on with a sharp chime.
[NAME] Lexia Quinn
[LV.] ???
[CLASS] Wildheart Grappler
[SKILLS] • Pounce (I) • Clamp (I)
[EQUIPMENT] Fingerless Wraps (Worn)
Lexia smirked, flexing. "Knew it."
They turned, almost as one, to Ultima.
He hadn't stepped forward. He stood a pace outside the Obelisk's silver band, watching his friends with an expression that was almost fond—and then it wasn't. For a breath, something like resignation crept in. He took one step across the ring.
The air popped.
A pane of light uncoiled before him, then glitched, letters crawling, splitting, reforming. The sound a broken radio makes if it could cry threaded through the plaza. Max took a half-step back.
C-Rabbit froze.
The window tried again.
[NAME] Ultima
[LV.] —
[CLASS] ████ (Sealed)
[STATUS] Anchor Detected
[NOTICE] Administrative Oversight in effect.
The text smeared, became teeth, became a red circle, then stabilized into something the human mind could tolerate:
[TITLE] The Cursed Howler (Suppressed)
[ACCESS] Denied.
Miko's breath hitched. "Ultima...?"
He reached up and closed his hand through the light. The pane shattered like quiet glass and rained down as harmless motes.
C-Rabbit's voice came low, the cheer gone. "I... didn't know. We don't get many Anchors at the Obelisk."
"Anchors?" Angelica asked, tearing her gaze from where the motes had fallen. People around the plaza had stopped pretending not to stare.
"Those whose stories were written before this layer," C-Rabbit said. "Old names. Old teeth."
A horn blew—single, clear, from the far end of the plaza. Every vendor paused. Guards in white-and-slate stepped from doorways, their pauldrons etched with the same silver bands found on the Obelisk. At the horn's second note, the sky above the monolith flashed—a sigil pulsing like a heartbeat.
Sainthood's calm did not break, but it tightened.
"Remain where you are," a captain called, helmet under his arm. His eyes found Ultima the way iron finds a magnet. Not hostile—afraid of being careless. "By decree of the Sainting Council, any Anchor must be assessed before passing deeper into Sainthood."
Aaron shifted his weight, ready. Lexia rolled her shoulders. Max's heel tapped. Miko lifted her hands on instinct; a thin sheen of light rippled over her forearms.
C-Rabbit interposed, palms up. "Captain, they are fresh arrivals. The wards recognized their mortality."
"The wards also rang the Teeth-Bell," the captain said, gaze never leaving Ultima. "We do not choose that tone."
A third tone rolled out—lower, almost subterranean. It reverberated in bone. Somewhere in the crowd, a child began to cry and then stopped, as if the sound themselves swallowed the tears.
Ultima's smile, the gentle one, slipped away. For the first time since the portal spit them out, his expression went serious—not angry, not cold. Aligned. The plaza's shadows leaned toward him like grass toward wind.
The captain swallowed. "We will escort you to the Council Hall. No chains. No harm meant. But we will not debate the law."
Angelica's hand found Aaron's wrist. "We should cooperate," she whispered. "At least until we understand their legal structure."
Miko's eyes searched Ultima's face. "Please?"
Ultima looked from friend to friend, then to C-Rabbit, whose painted smile had become, somehow, an apology.
"Fine," Ultima said, voice even. "We'll walk."
"Thank you," the captain breathed. He lifted two fingers. The guards relaxed a fraction, forming a corridor through the plaza.
They had taken three steps when the sky blinked.
Not cloud. Not light. The firmament itself stuttered, as if someone had tapped the universe and asked it to stop breathing for a second. Every lantern above Sainthood guttered and then burned a shade too dark.
A message wrote itself along the curve of the day, letters a kilometer high that only lasted an instant but seared into retina and thought alike:
WHY DO YOU STILL RUN FROM YOUR PAST?
Lexia flinched as if slapped. The words weren't in any language most in Sainthood knew, but Ultima and Lexia heard every syllable. The same voice from the forest, the one that glitched.
The captain's composure cracked. "Move. Now."
C-Rabbit leaned close to Ultima as they fell into step. "Listen closely," he whispered, mask not turning. "Sainthood can buy you time. Not safety."
Ultima didn't answer. His jaw had set.
As the guards led them toward the high white steps of the Council Hall, the Teeth-Bell tolled a fourth time—something it had not done in a century—and somewhere far beyond the walls, in the softer layers where mortals could breathe, something howled back.
The sound crossed the field, the market, the Obelisk, and pressed a cold hand to the spine of everyone who could feel.
Wrath had heard him.
—End of Chapter 2—