Forcing her eyelids to part, Nori stirred back into reality, her consciousness returning. The last thing she remembered was the bone-jarring impact of her body colliding with a tree—an agony so immense it pulled her into blackness.
It had not killed her, but it was quite close to doing so, and no mere folk could survive such a blow, except if their bones were restored.
Her vision swam, blurred shapes bleeding into blinding brightness. The light itself stabbed into her skull like blades, and she groaned softly, clutching her head as the pain throbbed mercilessly.
With shaky arms, she forced herself upright. Her muscles and bones ached as though they had been struck a thousand times over, each movement tearing at her strength. Pain was not new to her; she had faced terrifying beasts and survived with a lot of injuries—but this place was.
The forest was gone, the earth on which she stood as well. In its place stretched an endless expanse of white, a world that resembled the heavens themselves stripped bare, nothing but brilliance in every direction.
Nori froze. Her breath faltered. She turned left, then right, her eyes desperate for anything—a path, a shadow, a door. Something to anchor her to reality.
Nothing. Only the emptiness, infinite and merciless.
"Where… am I?" she whispered, her voice faint, broken beneath the weight of her throbbing head.
But the void did not answer. No voices, no movement, no life at all. She was alone in this dimension, her questions vanishing into silence, unanswered and unwanted.
Then it appeared.
At first, nothing more than a flicker—an orb of yellow light bursting into existence with a sudden flash. Nori flinched, throwing an arm across her face, her eyes narrowing against the blinding radiance. What is that? she thought, her heart thudding.
What could be the source of this bright light in this emptiness?
As the glow steadied, Nori lowered her arm, forcing her vision through the haze. What she saw sent a shiver down her core, her eyes widened as she could not fathom what he was seeing.
Suspended in mid-air, untouched by the very force of gravity, hung what looked like a pane of glass wrought by what Nori thought was magic. Its surface pulsed with a faint orange light, dim yet alive, and etched across it was a single word—glowing as though the void itself had chosen to speak.
{Greetings and salutations, player}
Nori froze, her thoughts tangled, her mind racing faster than her body could respond. She whispered, barely audible, "What is this? Player?" The word felt strange leaving her lips, almost as if she were repeating a spell she did not understand.
Slowly, as though entranced, she extended her hand. Her fingertips trembled in the white stillness until the very tip of one brushed against the glass.
At once, the surface shook. Like water struck by a pebble, the glass rippled outward in concentric waves, light bending and breaking as though something on the other side had stirred.
Then the words written on the glass pane shifted, disappearing as a new set of words appeared:
{You have been selected as the holder of the militant system, which will enable you to gain strength far beyond with every battle. Do you accept this offer?}
[Yes or No]
As Nori read every sentence, she couldn't hold back the awe she felt when she saw that this 'militant system' mentioned gaining strength far beyond, something she always craved.
But something held her back, and that was the guilt of being selfish, when men choose power they tend to lose a lot of things dear to them, because power could be something dangerous and can drive many mad.
But something that pulled her in was the fact that in every battle, she would gain strength; when men chose power, it came to them easily, but she would have to work for it. Her mother was a woman who always worked for power, and she needed to learn that example.
"I accept your offer!" she spoke out loud, filled with determination.
The screen quivered once more, the words rippling, then a bright light emerged from it, overwhelming the young woman. The last words she could make from the system before her consciousness slipped away were:
{Welcome, you may now refer to us as the system. Call unto our name when our services are needed.
Nori's eyes snapped open, and a sharp gasp tore from her throat. For a few agonising seconds, she couldn't breathe, her chest heaving until air finally forced its way back into her lungs. She lay there, staring upward at the night sky, her heart pounding against her ribs.
This wasn't her home. She knew that much immediately. Yet… the crisp bite of the air, the smell of the earth, the distant hum of crickets—it was familiar. This was the real world.
Forcing her weary body upright, she glanced down and found herself still dressed in her nightclothes. But the ground beneath her was different—wild soil, rough stone, and trees clawing up from the earth on every side.
"I'm… outside the wall," she whispered, her gaze darting back and forth until it landed on the distant silhouette of the colossal barriers that guarded Evandale.
Her blood ran cold.
That other world—it hadn't been a dream. If she had woken here, outside the city walls, then it was real. It had to be real.
Or… could it be that she was still dreaming?
"No," she muttered fiercely under her breath, shaking her head.
A dream within a dream? That wasn't possible. Was it? Her thoughts tangled into knots. If there was any way to know for sure, she had to try.
"Maybe I could pinch myself," she murmured, bringing trembling fingers to her arm. She dug her nails into her skin until sharp pain flared, biting through her neck
But nothing.
"So, this is not a dream," said Nori with a worried tone, "I need to get back immediately, befo-"
She had spoken too soon, the ground shaking as she took one step. Nori's eyes widened, a clear sign that she knew what was the cause of the earth to tremble.
The night creatures were awake.
In every city, facing each other miles away from the four cardinal points of the world, it was mandatory that slumber was taken as early as possible before midnight as these creatures would awake and cause havoc.
Being lost souls of dead slayers, they were unstoppable, giving even the slayers ranked from A to S a hard time. They were untouched by mere weapons, but magic could do the trick; but now that they had their eyes on Nori, she was bound to be eaten by them.
Bursting out from the earth, rocks and dirt rising into the air as they shattered, a gigantic clawed hand, bathed in shadows, emerged. Nori fell back, the force of just one creature overwhelming her.
She had never seen a night creature, only parts of it, but now she was given the chance to see it in full power, alive and ready to tear her apart.
Watching in shock, Nori saw the being fully as it emerged. It was completely bathed in shadows, half of its torso being only ribcages, it bore no legs, a ghostly strand hovering inches above the ground, arms as huge as her torso and the face was far more terrifying.
With glowing eyes gazing into her soul and teeth as sharp as razors, each tooth bigger than a human head. It bore no emotions, only a rageful expression.
Seeing the monster tower over her, Nori's body began to release liquids from every part of her body. How could this have happened? Nori thought she was only trying to sleep peacefully and return back to work. Life was boring, but it didn't matter.
Why am I here?!! Her thoughts screamed, eyes teared up, her body shaking.
For a moment, her body was stuck, but the idea of being alive was something she had in mind, so she decided to make that idea a reality. Rising on her feet, Nori began to sprint as fast as she could, trying her very best to escape this creature.
The night creature roared, its loud screech causing Nori's ears to bleed. Though it was painful, she had to keep on moving. Then the creature began to move, its arms held out, threatening to grab her.
Nori gazed back, her legs moving quickly as she saw it gaining up on her. But looking back was a mistake as she hadn't realised a tree, colliding with great force, her body falling back as her ears began to ring.
Overwhelmed by the sheer force of the collision, Nori's vision began to beat like a drum, like the atmosphere itself vibrated. Struggling to stand, she could feel the cold, red liquid trickling down her forehead to her face.
Gently touching the area the liquid emerged from, she gazed down at her hand, shock filling her as she saw red. I- It's blood, she muttered in her thoughts, panicked and disoriented.
Looking back, she could see the monster slowly advancing, its eyes filled with a malicious glint. Nori rose to her feet, staggering but determined and confident that she was going to escape, despite knowing her fate.
As she moved, her body aching, her thoughts filled with so many things she wanted to accomplish if she ever escaped. She wanted to be strong, to be the best, as those thoughts dwelled on her, a terrible pain struck her from behind, her back seering with pain.
The creature had slashed at her, its claws swiping at her flesh, her clothes torn at the slightest touch of this creature's claw. Nori was forced to her knees, the pain being to overwhelming, the creature was now toying with her.
The night creatures, or the night monsters as some called it, usually had a habit of torturing before ending the lives of their victims. Grinning widely, it swiped multiple times, with Nori being the target of this abuse.
Nori's body refused to move. She was alive, her heart still pounding in her chest, but her limbs were frozen, her strength stolen from her. This was it—her end. The cruel truth struck her like a blade: she was going to die. And because of her cowardice, no one would even know she had ever existed.
Her family was gone. There was no one left to mourn her. She would die here, alone.
The monster loomed above her, its shadow swallowing her as it raised its claws high, ready to strike. In that instant, her thoughts—wild, frantic, despairing—screeched to a halt.
Wait… that dream.
Her mind snapped back to the strange vision, to that surreal encounter with the glowing pane, the word etched upon it. A system. It had felt too vivid, too precise, too alive to be mere fantasy.
That wasn't a dream… was it?
The answer blazed inside her, sharp and undeniable. No—it had been real. And if it was real, then there was still hope.
The monster's claws cut through the air, a fraction away from rending her apart. With every ounce of will left in her failing body, Nori forced her lips apart, her voice raw and broken yet clear enough to be heard by whatever force lingered in that void.
"System…" she whispered, the word trembling out of her throat like a plea to the heavens.