Arin sat in meditation on the cliff.
Forward, the sea of blood rested in unnatural calm.
Above him stretched a red, starless sky, smothered in cloud.
His eyes slowly opened.
A tree stood ahead of him.
Then something pricked his vision.
His breath froze.
With a slow, steady inhale, he pushed himself to his feet.
Kael stood nearby, one hand gripping a deer by the neck.
Arin frowned.
"What are you doing?" he asked, brow lifting.
He turned.
The others stood scattered around him, each holding a beast—blood dripping, pooling at their feet.
They were staring at him.
Eyes wide.
Unblinking.
The silence stretched.
Arin exhaled through his nose.
"Why are you all looking at me like I interrupted something?" he said flatly.
"Do you think this is normal?"
[I really wished you wouldn't wake up.]
Arin stared at the screen for a long moment.
Then he turned away.
[Which pathway did you choose?]
The screen flickered back into existence in front of him.
He stayed silent. His eyes were dull with fatigue—irritation leaking through only in the slight tightening of his jaw.
A sigh slipped out.
"Bloodline," he said.
He hesitated.
"…and something else. Stillness—no. Drive.
More accurately, Drive."
He glanced back at the screen, uncertain.
[So you chose two foundations?]
The screen jittered violently.
[And you don't even know what you chose?
You absolute idiot.]
"Hey," Arin said flatly. "I'm sure about
Bloodline. I just don't know what the other one is."
[I heard that!]
The screen flared.
[Honestly, you are unbelievable.]
A pause.
[…Let's see.]
[What—or how—did this even happen?]
Arin's scales tightened. A bead of sweat slid down his temple.
His stomach lurched.
A stream of green, bubbling liquid spilled from his mouth—passing straight through the system panel and splattering onto the ground beyond. An ant carrying a crumb was swept away without a sound.
[…] Let's move on.
Arin wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"I was cultivating. Then something went wrong."
He paused, eyes unfocused.
"I woke up inside myself. Or… something like that. Maybe my subconscious."
Silence.
"There were two worlds. One was massive—the bloodline world. A sea of blood."
His jaw tightened.
"The other was being devoured. Or pushed back. I'm not sure."
"A rift separated them."
He exhaled slowly.
"Then something me made that rift and that rift was me?"
He looked up.
"The worlds collided. No restraints."
"And somehow… I didn't break."
"I controlled it."
[And?]
"What?"
[Idiot.]
[Do you even know what you did?]
…
A river flowed, clear and slow, brimming with fish that darted through the current.
In the distance, a group of cultivators walked along the riverbank, unaware.
"Master," Kayu said, not looking up.
"If we die here… there won't be anyone left to care that we tried."
Xue frowned. "Foundation Establishment beasts aren't ordinary creatures. Some can rival even the disciples of Primordial cultivators."
Silence followed.
Long.
Then the old man finally spoke.
"All of you."
Heads lifted at once.
"The future of humanity rests in our hands."
No one spoke.
"People don't realize it yet," he continued, voice calm, unshaken. "Cultivation is the only way we survive what's coming."
They already knew this.
"But knowing isn't enough. Belief matters."
He stepped forward.
"Until now, beasts were manageable. In the future, they won't be."
His gaze hardened.
"Entire populations will be erased in moments by creatures with unknown cultivation."
A pause.
"If people won't believe with words—then we make them believe with proof."
He turned away.
"We kill the monsters."
"And we show the world what happens when humans stand above beasts."
Silence swallowed them.
His voice crept up—
low,
steady.
"We have to fight."
Up the hill ahead, a horned rabbit with oversized paws gnawed on a bone.
The old man's gaze lingered on the distant forest.
Eleven icicles formed in the open sky.
Sharp.
Spinning.
Then they were gone.
The icicles smashed deep into the forest.
"What?" Reya said, frowning.
"Where did you attack?"