The next morning, Elias's first move upon waking was to grab his phone and search for "Iris missing."He found related news articles, but the content had already grown vague:
"A female high school student, named Iris, went missing in the early hours yesterday. Police currently have no leads. Family reports she was an excellent student with a normal temperament. The possibility of a voluntary runaway has not been ruled out."
"...Not ruled out?" he murmured.
The scenes from his dream were so vivid — the red lake, the crack in the sky — still faintly imprinted in his mind.
But reality seemed to be trying to erase all traces.
Even the "red lake" he saw in the dream — when he closed his eyes now, he could still faintly see its rippling surface.
He began to wonder:
Was the dream another world entirely, or a projection of this world's subconscious?Or was it the other way around — was the dream the real world, and reality just a faded echo of memory?
His palm began to heat up again.The markings were glowing faintly, and a dark feather pattern slowly emerged in the center of his hand.
"Have I already been chosen?"
He stared into the mirror.
For the first time, there was a sharpness in his eyes — something that had never been there before.
He had to find the answer.
Someone had to exist who could tell him the truth behind it all.And if no one would — then he would uncover it himself.
Night arrived, right on schedule.
Elias switched his phone to airplane mode, drew the curtains tightly shut, and turned off the lights.
He knew he couldn't resist the call of the dream — so he might as well face it head-on.
Lying flat on his back, his palm rested over his chest.He could feel the feather-like markings pulsating gently, like a second heartbeat.
Sleep came over him with startling speed.
There was no transition.
It was as if he had been kicked straight into a swirl of gray mist, falling directly into a pitch-black forest clearing.
His body had once again transformed into a crow.Wings tucked in close, senses sharpened.
He noticed the ground beneath him was drier than last time, and the sky now had a semi-transparent gray film across it, as though it was beginning to crack.
This time, he didn't take flight immediately.
Instead, he cautiously scanned his surroundings.
There was no scent of a leopard in the air — but a faint, fragrant aroma lingered — something like wood shavings and old book pages.
"You've finally arrived."
A soft but emotionless voice rang out.
Elias turned his head.An owl stood on a withered tree.Its feathers were a light brown, its gaze calm, its head tilted slightly — like it was studying prey.
"You know me?" he asked instinctively.The sound came out as the low caw of a crow, but somehow the owl understood.
"Your first hunt is near," the owl said.
"I won't kill anyone," Elias replied firmly.
"Do you think you have a choice?"
The owl spread its wings and glided down, landing lightly on a stone platform before him.Moonlight filtered through the sky's cracks, faintly illuminating the totem-like patterns hidden within her feathers.
"I'm Adeline," she continued. "The real me — you've seen her before."
Elias paused, a familiar image flashing through his mind —A girl from the class next to his in Grade 10, who had transferred in only two months ago/ Quiet, reserved, always scribbling something in a notebook.
He'd never once spoken to her.
"You're… that owl?"
"You're a crow. You should be able to see through appearances," she said calmly.
Elias fell silent for a moment, then asked:
"Why have you been watching me?"
Adeline looked up toward the sky.
"Because your dream-shadow is an anomaly. The crow, in many previous restart cycles, has always been the final 'preserved vessel.'
You're destined to live long — and destined to face an unavoidable choice."
"Restart cycles?" Elias latched onto the key phrase.
"The dream world isn't naturally formed," Adeline explained. "It's the system's buffer zone, a fragmented space created from cut pieces of reality."
She lifted her wing and pointed toward the growing black rift in the distance.
"Whenever real-world civilization approaches uncontrollable collapse, the system triggers a restart mechanism, and the dreamscape serves as its rehearsal."
Elias felt like his mind had exploded.
All the vague clues connected instantly into a web —Iris's disappearance, the missing posters on the power poles, the fox mentioning the Laws of the Hunt…
The withering lifeforms in the dream, and the cracking sky.
"What happens if I refuse to hunt others?" he asked.
"You'll be hunted."
"And if I do kill them...?"
"You'll survive. And gain their abilities."
Adeline's tone was as calm as if she were reciting a textbook.
"And if you're the last one left alive, you become the dream's 'Residue' — the only one allowed to enter the next version of reality.
As the sole person who knows the truth."
"Sounds like..." Elias swallowed hard. "A system administrator?"
"No," she replied. "An observer from the trash heap."
She paused for a beat.
"I'm only here to warn you — the Devourer has set its sights on you. You must make your choice tonight."
As soon as her voice fell, a violent tremor swept through the forest.
The air distorted with massive waves of ripples.
In the distance, entire swaths of trees began collapsing.
A beast — pitch black as ink, its form shifting and indistinct — charged through the mist.Wherever it passed, decay spread outward like a festering disease.
"A Black Fog Entity..." Adeline whispered."He's here."
"Who?"
"His name is Blade — one of the Devourers. He's already killed thirty-seven dream-shadows."
Elias's eyes widened in shock.
"What do I do?" he asked.
"I can't stop him," she said. "You have only one choice to make: kill — or be killed."