Darkness swallowed everything.
No sound.No air.No sense of the room, the Guildmaster, Mika, or Lucien.
Only a vast, weightless void.
And then—
A single breath that was not Kuro's.
Ah… there you are.
Kuro's eyes snapped open—Except they weren't really open.There was nothing to see.Only the presence.
Cold. Boundless. Familiar in a way that made his bones ache.
{…Who are you?}
The presence laughed.Soft. Ancient.Like wind carving mountains.
You should know.You carry my mark, little fragment.
A cold pressure touched his mind—Not painful, but heavy, like the weight of a forgotten memory.
{I-I don't… remember you.}
You will.
The voice sharpened—still calm, but with something old beneath it.
They tried to erase you. And me.But erasure is only a delay.
The darkness trembled.
When the gate opens… we will be whole again.
The void cracked.
Kuro gasped.
His vision surged back all at once—the floor, the broken crystal orb, dust hanging in the air.
Mika was kneeling over him, eyes wide, hand gripping Kuro's wrist so tightly his knuckles were white.
"Kuro! Kuro—look at me!"
Lucien was on the other side, pale and frantic."Say something! Anything!"
The Guildmaster stood behind them, silent and tense, a thin aura of magic still shimmering around him.
Kuro blinked, breath shaky."I'm… here."
Mika exhaled sharply—half relief, half anger."Don't do that again."
Lucien nodded so fast it looked painful."Yeah! You scared the life out of us!"
The Guildmaster knelt slowly, his expression unreadable.
"Kuro. What did it say to you?"
Kuro hesitated.
Mika's grip tightened—he could tell Kuro was hiding something.Lucien leaned in, nervous.The room felt too small.
Kuro finally whispered:
"…It called me a fragment."
Mika's eyes widened.Lucien's breath caught.The Guildmaster's shoulders tensed.
"And," Kuro added, voice even quieter, "it said the gate would… make us whole again."
Silence.
Then the Guildmaster stood with a seriousness that made the room colder.
"Then we are dealing with something far worse than a sealed deity."
Mika swallowed. "…Worse how?"
The Guildmaster looked down at Kuro.
"Fragments imply division.""Division implies destruction."
He locked eyes with Kuro.
"And destruction implies a force powerful enough to be broken apart by the gods themselves."
Lucien went pale. "B-broken apart? As in—"
"A being not meant to exist in full," the Guildmaster said."Something that threatened this world once. Perhaps more."
He faced Kuro again.
"If it wants to be whole again, then something catastrophic is coming."
Kuro's heartbeat struck painfully against his ribs.
Because the presence's final whisper echoed in his mind:
We will meet again, little fragment.
Mika leaned closer to Kuro's ear, whispering—
"…I'm not letting it take you."
Lucien whispered too, voice trembling—
"I… I'll help too. Even if I have no idea what's happening."
The Guildmaster raised a hand, silencing both.
"For now… none of you leave this headquarters."
Mika tensed. "Why?"
The Guildmaster's expression hardened.
"Because whatever spoke to Kuro knows where he is now."
The lanterns flickered.
Kuro's breath hitched.
And somewhere deep inside him—the cold presence laughed again.
The first crack has formed.