The woman froze.
Thud!
Her bucket slipped from her hand and crashed to the ground, water splashing across the cobblestones. Her eyes went wide.
Gasps rippled from the nearby villagers. Men dropped what they were carrying—wood, baskets, tools—and rushed forward.
One pointed a shaking finger at Seth. "Did you see that? He dared to speak to Mira with that tone!"
Another spat on the ground. "He looked her straight in the eyes! Blatant seduction!"
Seth blinked. "…Wait. What?"
The first man jabbed a finger at him. "You think you can waltz into our sacred shelter and woo our women with your… your smooth voice and dangerous grin?"
Seth slapped a hand to his face. "Dangerous grin? Man, chill. I was just trying to ask for directions!"
The crowd grew louder, angrier. Someone picked up a rock. Someone else raised a pitchfork.
Seth backed up, hands raised. "Okay, hold on, time-out! I don't even know her name! How is that flirting?!"
"Mira!" the woman cried, clutching her chest. "He… he smiled at me!"
The mob roared as if she'd declared him a murderer.
"Oh, come on!" Seth's voice cracked. "That's literally what got me killed back home!"
The first stone hit him in the shoulder. Then another. Then a wave of villagers surged forward, fury in their eyes.
"Wait! Stop! I was just—ow!—asking—seriously?!—FOR DIRECTIONS!"
But his pleas were drowned beneath the storm of blows.
Bang!
A club cracked against his skull, and the world spun into darkness for the second time.
When Seth opened his eyes again, he was lying flat on smooth, glowing stone. A different shard this time. The sky was still shattered, but the island beneath him wasn't the village—it was barren, lifeless, eerily quiet.
He groaned, sitting up and clutching his head. "Unbelievable. I can't even ask where the bathroom is without being accused of seduction."
A chime echoed. The golden text returned, harsher than before.
[Mission failed.]
[Penalty averted due to Host's death.]
[New Mission unlocked.]
Seth tensed. "…This can't be good."
[Mission: Avoid women for 3 days.]
[Reward: 500 Points.]
[Failure: Severe system penalty.]
Seth's jaw dropped. "Three days?! I couldn't even survive three minutes!"
He clutched his hair, pacing in frantic circles. "Okay. Okay, think. I just need to stay the hell away from women. All of them. No talking, no smiling, no eye contact. I'll lock myself in a cave if I have to."
The text pulsed.
[Mission Timer: 71:59:59]
Seth froze once agaim. "Right now?! No moment for a break?!"
Silence answered him.
He groaned, collapsing onto the glowing stone. "This world is out to get me. The universe is out to get me. My smile is a weapon of mass destruction and apparently, I'm cursed to die for it."
The timer ticked. Three days. Seventy-two hours. Each second heavier than the last.
Seth buried his face in his hands. "If I survive this, I'm never opening my mouth near a woman again."
He paused. "…Okay, maybe not never. But at least not until this mission's over."
•••••••
The first day was hell.
Not the gunshot kind of hell—Seth had lived through that already. This was the hell of paranoia, of sprinting like his life depended on it every time he caught a glimpse of long hair or caught the faint lilt of a feminine voice.
"Not today," he muttered, diving behind a boulder as a pair of women strolled down a crooked path, baskets in hand.
He stayed crouched until their laughter faded into the distance along with the women themselves. Only then did he creep out, eyes darting in every direction like a hunted animal.
He was a hunted animal. A prey.
Every shadow looked like a skirt. Every echo sounded like a giggle. His heart thumped every time the mission's warning replayed in his head
[Avoid women for three days.]
"Three days," he panted, gripping his knees as he caught his breath. "I can do this. I just… need to avoid half the population of the universe. Easy."
The hours dragged on, measured not by the sun—there was no sun in the Shattered Realms, at least not from what he'd seen—but by his aching legs and dry throat.
He stumbled across warped forests where trees grew in spirals, roots dangling from the sky. He skirted rivers that flowed upward, droplets raining back into the void below. And always, he kept his distance whenever he thought he saw the silhouette of a woman.
By the time the fractured sky dimmed into its strange "night," Seth was delirious with exhaustion. His chest heaved, his clothes clung to him with sweat, and his legs burned like fire.
"Safe," he gasped, collapsing on a patch of glowing moss. "Day one… survived."
The words had barely left his lips when a voice cut through the stillness.
"You run well. For a man."
Seth's body went rigid. Slowly, dreadfully, he turned.
She stood there.
A woman, but unlike any he had seen in this fractured world. Her form was covered in shadows, yet every movement carried a feeling to it that made the air seem to bend around her.
Power radiated from her like heat from a forge—subtly filling the environment, but undeniable. Her eyes, half-hidden beneath a dark hood, glowed faintly like twin fireflies in the night.
Seth scrambled backward, hands raised. "N-nope! Not talking! Not looking! Not even breathing in your direction!"
Her head tilted. "Then why are you running?"
"I—uh—it's a workout routine," Seth babbled. "Cardio's important, keeps the heart strong, you know? Ha… ha…"
She took a step closer. The moss at her feet withered, only to bloom anew the instant she passed. "You're lying. Your fear smells different. Not fear of death. Fear of women."
Seth's throat tightened. He considered blurting out the truth—the system cursed me!—but what if she thought that was flirting?
Before he could stumble through an excuse, another voice rang out, sharp and mocking.
"There you are!"
A second woman burst into the clearing, clad in patched leather armor and a half-cloak marked with mercenary sigils. Her hair was cut short and ragged, her smile cruel. She twirled a dagger between her fingers like it weighed nothing at all.
Seth groaned. "Oh, come on."