The new world was a graveyard.
Dead gray rocks jutted out of the ground like broken teeth, and twisted, petrified bushes clawed at a bruised sky. The air was thick and stale, tasting of dust and old metal. Every time Blue took a breath, a gritty film coated his tongue. Even the wind seemed tired, blowing in weak, exhausted gasps that did nothing to clear the heavy silence.
Blue stood on the edge of the barren expanse. In his right hand, the stick felt dry, brittle, and completely ordinary. It was hard to believe this piece of trash had just ripped through time and space to save his life.
He rubbed his thumb along the rough bark. For a second, nothing happened. Then, the wood began to hum.
The vibration grew stronger, turning into a deep, rhythmic pulse that vibrated straight into his bones. The stick groaned. Right before his eyes, the wood didn't just break—it folded inward. It imploded, compressing itself as easily as a piece of paper crushed in a fist. A bright flash of blue light flared, and the stick vanished.
In its place, a single ring hung suspended in the air.
It was a perfectly smooth, unadorned band of dark metal. No engravings, no gems, no flashy details. But the moment Blue reached out and touched it, his hand dropped an inch. The tiny ring felt heavy, pulling at his fingers with a strange gravitational force.
He slid the band onto his index finger.
His heart skipped a beat, then slammed into a heavy, powerful rhythm. Suddenly, his mind exploded with a new sensation. Inside his head, an infinite, empty void unfurled. It felt like an entire pocket universe had just opened up inside his brain, a vast storage locker waiting to be filled with whatever he wanted.
The ring pulsed against his skin, matching the beat of his heart. It felt right. It felt permanent. Blue instinctively knew that no blade could scratch it, no fire could melt it, and no force in this world could take it off his hand. It was indestructible. It was his.
He flexed his hand, and a chill ran down his spine.
Nine more rings, invisible and silent, materialized on his other fingers. He couldn't see them, but he could feel their phantom weight resting against his knuckles. They responded to his thoughts instantly. They were conduits. He could store weapons in them, supplies, or anything else he could touch. The building blocks of reality were sitting on his hands, waiting for a command.
Suddenly, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
The oppressive silence of the wasteland broke. The cracked ground beneath his boots vibrated, a low tremor that rippled through the dirt. Something was coming.
The ten rings pulsed in unison, sending a shock of hot adrenaline up his arms.
Blue turned his head toward the horizon. The long, skeletal shadows of the rocks seemed to twist. Far in the distance, a dark shape was sprinting toward him with terrifying speed.
It looked like a wolf, but it was massive, deformed, and wrong. Its muscles coiled and moved beneath pitch-black fur like liquid night. Its eyes burned with a bright, amber hunger, locked entirely on Blue.
Blue didn't move. He stood perfectly still against the gray landscape, his face a cold mask. He didn't run. He didn't panic.
The beast closed the distance in seconds, launching itself into the air. Its jaws snapped open, revealing rows of sharp, obsidian teeth slick with saliva. The air grew thick with the smell of wet fur and raw aggression.
Blue remained a statue until the wolf was inches from his face.
In a fraction of a second, the world stuttered.
The wolf's jaws snapped shut on empty air. Blue vanished in a flicker of blue static, leaving nothing but a ghost-image behind. The beast slammed hard into the dirt where he had been standing a moment before, its razor-sharp claws tearing up the dry earth.
The wolf spun around, its amber eyes tracking Blue's new position a few yards away. It let out a low, guttural snarl and coiled its powerful hind legs to spring again, faster this time, moving with vicious intent.
But Blue was already ahead of it. He didn't give it the chance.
He flexed his fingers, tapping into the power of the rings. He didn't throw a punch, and he didn't cast a glowing spell. Instead, he simply manipulated the space around the monster.
The air around the wolf buckled. An invisible, crushing pressure collapsed inward, slamming into the beast from all sides like a hydraulic press.
The wolf spasmed violently, trapped mid-air. Its limbs twisted at sickening, unnatural angles as it fought against a force it couldn't see or touch. The air shimmered and warped, bending reality out of shape.
Then, with a sickening pop, the wolf imploded.
Its entire body folded in on itself and vanished into nothingness. No blood, no bones, no mess. It was completely erased from existence, leaving behind nothing but a faint ripple in the stagnant air.
Blue lowered his hand. His face was completely blank, his eyes cold and distant as he stared at the empty patch of dirt. The wasteland fell back into its dead silence, as if the forest itself was holding its breath.
He flexed his fingers again, feeling the reassuring weight of his ten invisible protectors. They wrapped around him like an armor made of pure will. Ten rings. Ten weapons. Complete control.
But as the adrenaline began to fade, a cold drop of doubt dripped into his mind.
The wolf had been fast. Disturbingly fast. If he had been a second later with his teleportation, those obsidian teeth would have torn his throat out. The rings made him powerful, but they didn't make him immortal.
What if something bigger comes out of the dark? a small voice whispered in his head. What if ten rings aren't enough?
Blue exhaled slowly, blowing the dust from his lips. He pushed the thought away. Hesitation was a death sentence in a place like this. He couldn't afford to doubt himself. Not now. Not ever.
The rings thrummed against his skin, a constant, low-frequency hum that reminded him of the power at his disposal. He turned his eyes back toward the endless, gray horizon.
The wasteland was quiet for now. But Blue was quickly learning that in this world, silence didn't mean safety.
It just meant the next nightmare was quiet on its feet.