The shift from the dungeon wasn't marked by fanfare. It wasn't like passing some grand gate, seeing holy light pour down, or feeling a jolt as you crossed some big line. Instead, the stone just changed. The old, familiar bricks became broken pieces and the smooth floors turned into uneven slabs. Looking up, the ceiling got taller, and cracks spread wide enough to let you see bits of the pale sky.
Zairen kept going, not even slowing down as the ground sloped upward. Before he knew it, the roof above was completely gone. He had left the dungeon behind.
The morning sky was pale and waiting.
He found himself stepping out onto broken stone, surrounded by old ruins. Walls had fallen apart, columns lay half-buried and vines climbed every which way. Birds hopped between tree branches, making sounds that were normal, nothing special to hear.
The world outside didn't care about him or wait for his grand arrival.
Taking another step forward.
His shadow armor started to fall apart. The sharp lines blurred, and the plates came loose. It lost cohesion. It was like something essential was missing. It didn't hurt, exactly—more like a big annoyance. The shadow stuff got thin very fast. It just refused to stay solid in the light.
Zairen stopped in his tracks.
He made some changes.
The armor pulled back into him, reshaping his body. He looked smaller, simpler. The sharp edges faded. The heavy mass reduced. He ended up looking something closer to a human, but still clearly wrong.
He stepped under the shadow of a ruined wall.
Things got a little better.
But not perfect.
He noticed, but didn't react.
Sunlight was now his new reality.
He went forward slowly, staying close to anything that provided cover. There were thin trees not far from the ruins with few leaves. Their shadows were weak and spotty. When he stood under one. His shadow form would hold for a few seconds, then fade again.
He counted the seconds without even thinking.
The instability grew stronger.
Ten minutes.
The shadow couldn't last.
He let it go.
This time, his body didn't resist. It understood the limit.
Zairen walked on, now in a body that was different. He stood up straighter and moved smoother. Everything he had learned in the dungeon still worked. Balance, how to use his muscles, how his weight was spread out.
He could still talk, but he didn't need to.
Something else was now gone.
He knew because he got no response.
His movements didn't trigger anything inside.
He didn't get a confirmation when he adjusted or changed direction.
He never got a nod when he shifted form or figured out a distance.
He paused.
Waited.
Nothing.
The presence that had always been there, a guiding pressure, a bunch of small responses, was gone.
No sound to announce it.
No warning at all.
It wasn't there anymore.
Zairen took it as a new fact, just like the shadow problem.
He started moving again.
The ruins sloped down to a dirt path covered with old grass. There were wheel tracks cutting lines in the dirt. People had been there. Recently.
Next to the path, hidden by a rock, there was something lying on the ground
A body.
A man. Adult. His clothes were torn and there was dried blood smeared around. He was dead. The smell was clear.
Human.
Zairen walked up to him slowly.
He crouched down and put a claw on the body's chest.
He tried to eat the essence.
Nothing happened.
The essence fought back.
It wasn't a weak or lazy resistance.
It truly refused.
It felt different. It wasn't empty or not the same type. It was like there was a wall that he couldn't get past, something not in his rule book.
Zairen tried it again.
Same result.
No essence. No information. Nothing changed.
He took his hand away.
He didn't feel hurt, or shocked, or confused.
Just a new rule.
He couldn't take essence from humans on the surface.
He stored away the fact and stood up.
He heard footsteps coming down the path.
Zairen moved fast, hiding in the shadows behind some rocks.
He made himself smaller. After that two humans went by. They looked like they were traveling, carrying no weapon, talking about how far they had to go and what the weather might do.
They didn't see him.
When they were gone, Zairen came out and walked the other way.
The dungeon was behind him.
The world was working, packed with people, and didn't care one bit about him.
He changed his route to stay off roads.
He kept moving.
No guidance.
No approval.
No dungeon protection.
Just moving under the new rules.
Zairen went on.
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