The night was wrong. The moon hung low and bruised, and even the stars seemed to hold their breath. No crickets sang, no wind whispered—only the heavy silence of a world that knew something had stepped outside its rightful place.
Then, in the marrow of Je's bones, it began.
[System Error Detected…]
The sound wasn't a sound. It was a weight in his skull, a fracture in reality whispering directly to his mind.
[Warning: Unauthorized Entity Approaching.]
Je froze. His instincts screamed to run, yet his body felt anchored in shadows. "System, what's happening?" he demanded.
No answer. Just static… and then, fleetingly—images. A golden dragon with a crown of fire. A gate taller than mountains, locked by chains made of starlight. A dark ocean where colossal shapes writhed beneath the surface. Names flickered into existence, only to dissolve like smoke before he could read them.
The air shifted. Something—not seen, but felt—slid against the edges of his mind, tasting his thoughts. His vision swam.
The presence grew colder. Hungrier.
[Connection Terminated.]
The system's voice vanished—until, in the black void that followed, it returned, barely a whisper.
> "Never… go to the Void of Death.
If you do… everyone will come for you."
And then—nothing.
The silence was no longer empty. It was watching him.