The echo of the man's words still clung to the walls, like ghosts unwilling to leave.
"Welcome to the world of Harbringers."
Rael stood there, frozen. Trembling.
For a long moment, no one moved. The air in the underground corridor hung thick with unseen weight, heavy with the scent of dust, cold stone, and the quiet hum of blue flame.
Then, finally, Rael found the strength to speak.
"Eidolon?" he whispered. His voice was hoarse, soft, the word catching in his throat as if his body rejected it.
The man who had dragged him here—a figure clad in long, tattered leather, face chiseled and hardened by time—turned his sharp eyes toward the woman standing at the corridor's end. He spoke, not to Rael, but to her.
"Told you. Kid doesn't know anything."
Rael furrowed his brows. The woman, long chestnut hair tied back, her posture regal yet battle-worn, stepped forward slowly. Her long coat swept the ground like a banner, and her boots clicked with quiet authority. Her gaze was like a scalpel—sharp, precise, searching.
She looked him over, eyes narrowing.
"You just grabbed a boy out of nowhere, Ris. No context. No explanation. You think that helps?"
Ris scoffed, eyes rolling toward the shadows. "Didn't say he was the one. Just dragged him here to check. The kid looked weak as hell. I had doubts."
Rael flinched.
The man turned his gaze back to the boy, then looked away again, almost bored.
"Brat, call me Ris," he muttered, crossing his arms.
The woman gave a curt nod. "Mika. My name."
Rael hesitated, then answered, "Rael." The name came out dry, uncertain.
Mika knelt slightly to meet his gaze. "We'll explain everything. But first, answer me something important. Can you see the dead?"
Rael blinked. That question had haunted him his whole life. His voice trembled as he answered.
"Y-yes."
She straightened. "Then you've already seen them. The remnants."
He furrowed his brows. "Remnants?"
"Not ghosts," Mika said. "Ghosts are fiction. Remnants are real. What you see—those hollow, twisted things—are what's left of people whose deaths didn't end their consciousness. They wander. They hunger. They kill."
She continued, voice steady, coldly analytical.
"Forty percent of all disappearances—the people who vanish without a trace, said to have died in accidents or gone missing—they were killed by remnants. That's how many there are. That's why we exist. The Harbringers."
Rael felt his chest tighten.
Mika nodded slowly. "Most Harbringers are born with strong Myre. Think of it as spiritual energy, refined will, force of self. When channeled properly, it becomes power. Those who use their Myre to fight are called Animus-types."
She paused to let the words settle.
"Animus rely on their own spiritual force. But there's another kind. Bounderers."
Ris exhaled through his nose and looked away.
Mika gestured toward him. "They make contracts with remnants. Dangerous ones. In exchange for something—lifespan, a limb, an organ, even memories—they gain control over the remnants. The stronger the Remnant, the heavier the cost. That's the law of binding."
Rael looked at Ris. The man didn't seem injured. No missing arm. No empty eyes.
He opened his mouth to ask—but Ris' eyes cut into him.
"Don't even dare ask it," the man said, his voice a blade.
Rael recoiled slightly.
Mika sighed. "He doesn't talk about what he gave. Not even to me."
Silence settled briefly between them.
Then Mika continued. "But there is a third kind. Rarer than gold. They don't come from bloodlines. They aren't passed down through tradition. They just... happen."
She stared into Rael's eyes.
"They are called Eidolons."
Rael felt the floor vanish beneath him.
Mika spoke with solemn reverence. "They are born not with Myre. Not with Remnants. But as a vessel. A host. Their souls are linked to powerful Remnants—beings whose nature defies understanding. No one knows why. It is as if fate plucks them from obscurity and brands them."
She took a breath.
"Eidolons have no limit. While Animus break their bodies pushing Myre, and Bounderers must bleed to gain strength—Eidolons just... are. They command the inhuman. They warp balance. And they do not pay."
Rael stood, speechless.
Mika's voice grew heavier.
"But they are not saviors."
Rael's gaze flickered.
"The first Eidolon opened a Gate. A portal that ruptured reality and let in waves of remnants we had never seen before. Whole cities disappeared. The second Eidolon tried to rule. He proclaimed himself the new law. Executed thousands. And the third..."
She stopped.
"Let's just say, not all gods stay sane."
Rael swallowed.
Ris chuckled grimly. "And if you side with them—that makes four."
Rael felt something cold spiral in his chest.
He stammered. "So I... really am...?"
Mika nodded. "Yes. We saw it. You have a strong Myre, but it isn't yours. Not entirely. Something's inside you. Watching. Waiting. Your reaction to the spear, the Remnants—everything points to it."
Rael gritted his teeth. He thought of the bird. The belt. The screams. The loneliness.
He thought he was cursed.
He didn't know it was power.
"So what if I don't join you?" he asked.
Ris' gaze sharpened.
"Then we kill you."
The words struck like a whip. No hesitation. No emotion.
Rael staggered back. "W-what...?"
Mika was calmer, but her eyes were ice. "We can't leave a god walking around unsupervised. If you go mad, thousands die. Maybe millions. We end that possibility before it begins."
Rael looked down at his shaking hands.
So that was it.
Be chained or be destroyed.
But...
Maybe the chains were different.
Maybe, just maybe, within this nightmare, he could find meaning.
He had lived in silence, beaten for things he never understood, hated by those who birthed him. Maybe there was something else beyond it.
A place. A purpose.
His voice rose, clearer this time.
"Then I'll become a Harbringer."
Mika nodded slowly.
Ris exhaled. "Tch. Hope you don't regret it, brat."
The blue flames flickered, casting monstrous shadows along the corridor.
In the silence that followed, something shifted in Rael.
Not fear.
Not awe.
But recognition.
A sleeping thing inside him stirred, curling like smoke.
And it smiled.