Yuko opened his eyes to a bed bathed in emerald green light.
At his side sat a graceful woman, her presence calm and gentle. She held an old book in her hands, reading a fairy tale in a soft, soothing voice. For reasons he couldn't explain, the sound of her voice filled Yuko with a strange sense of peace.
It felt… familiar.
Like a mother's voice.
But—
Mother?
Yuko didn't remember his mother.
In fact, he didn't remember anything.
"Yuko…"
The woman called his name again.
And that was when a question echoed in his mind:
Who is Yuko?
The room began to fade.
The woman.
The bed.
The warmth.
Colors blurred, shapes dissolved, and the world quietly collapsed—
—
Yuko's eyes snapped open.
He was submerged in a glass tube filled with a strange blue liquid. His lungs burned as panic set in. He pounded on the glass, kicked wildly, his body screaming for air.
Crack.
The tube shattered.
Blue liquid spilled everywhere, evaporating into mist within seconds.
Yuko collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath.
When he looked around, what he saw made no sense.
There was no laboratory.
No walls.
Only towering trees, moss-covered rocks, and the sound of flowing water nearby.
A forest…?
Yuko turned back—
The tube was gone.
No shattered glass.
No liquid.
Not even a trace.
As if it had never existed.
Then—
Voices.
Footsteps brushing through bushes.
"Hey, how many did you catch today?"
"Not my lucky day. Only three. What about you?"
"Ten. My wife's gonna love them. They'll serve her well."
Yuko froze.
Catch? Serve?
He peered through the leaves.
Two massive creatures with red skin and bulky frames walked past, carrying large sacks on their backs.
Those aren't… humans.
His foot slipped.
The bushes rustled.
"What was that?"
"Another human, maybe?"
"Don't be stupid. Probably a rabbit or a squirrel."
"Yeah, yeah… Says the guy going home with only three. I'll take a look."
The smaller of the two creatures slowly approached the bushes.
Just as it reached out—
A girl in a crimson cloak appeared out of nowhere.
She grabbed the creature by the arm and hurled it straight into the other. Both crashed to the ground with a heavy thud, their sacks spilling open.
People fell out.
Humans.
Yuko's breath caught.
So this was what they meant by "servants."
But the humans didn't run toward their savior.
They screamed.
They backed away in terror.
"She's one of them!" "A Ritualist!"
The girl didn't respond.
She slowly removed her cloak.
Long azure-blue hair cascaded down her shoulders, and her emerald green eyes glinted sharply as she stared at the fallen creatures.
Yuko felt it then.
A sensation he couldn't name.
Hunger.
Not fear.
Not anger.
An overwhelming, terrifying hunger.
The way she looked at them—
It wasn't as if she wanted to kill them.
It was as if she wanted to consume them.
And in that moment, Yuko understood one thing clearly:
He knew absolutely nothing about this world.
Chapter 1 – End