The three returned to the dense rainforest, each one looking focused and prepared. 

The air was thick with tension, and the shadows of the trees seemed to shift around them.

Zach stepped forward, his gaze steady as he took charge. 

"Kazaks, get that war hammer ready. Whatever's out there, we'll face it together, head-on."

Kazaks nodded, his grip tightening around the handle.

"I've been waiting for this, Captain. Whatever it is, I'll crush it."

Zach turned to Leeani.

"Leeani, stay behind us and keep that crossbow ready. Watch our backs and cover us."

Leeani flashed a confident grin.

"You can count on me, Captain. No one's sneaking up on us while I'm here."

Zach took a deep breath, his gaze scanning the thick foliage around them.

"Alright, both of you, stay close. Move carefully. I don't want that anyone or anything catching us off guard again."

They moved forward as a unit, each one hyper-alert. 

The forest seemed alive

Every rustle and shadow making them tense.

Zach squinted, scanning the area with a sharp gaze. 

He murmured. 

"Stay close."

His voice low, laced with a seriousness that made Leeani and Kazaks grip their weapons tighter.

He crouched, running his fingers through the damp earth.

"Look here."

He brushed aside leaves and tangled roots, exposing a path of flattened undergrowth.

"Something's moved through here recently. Heavy... massive even. Whatever it is, it's pushing everything aside, not caring about anything in its path."

Kazaks grunted, glancing over his shoulder.

"Think it's close?"

Zach raised a finger to his lips, studying a branch above them that was snapped clean.

"Closer than we'd like. This... thing, it doesn't hide itself. Every step, it flattens the earth, crushing anything underneath. And it's consistent-no swerving, no hesitation. It knows exactly where it's going."

Leeani's fingers danced along her crossbow.

"So, we're tracking something that doesn't even try to avoid detection? Almost like it... it doesn't need to?"

Zach nodded, his eyes narrowing.

But just then, something strange stirred in his pocket. 

The book, hidden away, seemed to shift, the leather creasing as if alive. 

Suddenly, a dark, eerie eye surfaced on its cover-round, unblinking, and surveying the surroundings with a piercing, unnatural focus.

The eye widened, absorbing the landscape in its gaze. 

And just as quickly as it appeared, it locked onto Zach.

In an instant, Zach's expression went blank, his eyes glazing over as if they'd been drained of thought. 

Without warning, he staggered, then stood still, as if trapped in a dream.

"Without a doubt, yes—"

As Zach spoke, his words suddenly cut off, and his expression went blank.

His face softened into an unreadable neutrality, as if he'd slipped into sleep with his eyes wide open. 

He stood completely still.

Like a statue.

Leeani's eyes widened, and she exchanged a quick, uneasy glance with Kazaks.

"Captain?"

She took a cautious step closer, her crossbow lowering as her gaze fixed on her captain's empty stare.

Kazaks, gripping his war hammer tightly, frowned deeply.

"Captain Zach?"

Leeani reached out a hand, hesitating just before touching Zach's shoulder.

"Do you think something... took hold of him?"

Kazaks shook his head slowly, jaw clenched.

"No way. He's tougher than that. But this... this isn't him. It's like he just... shut down."

Out of nowhere, a bone-rattling roar cut through the stillness, echoing around them. 

Leeani and Kazaks snapped their heads toward the sound, alarmed.

But it was already too late.

From behind a thick tree, Sanaage lunged forward, eyes blazing with murderous intent, his machete flashing in the faint light. 

The blade arced toward Leeani, who, caught off guard, barely had time to gasp.

Kazaks reacted on pure instinct. 

With a roar of his own, he swung his war hammer in a powerful arc, intercepting Sanaage's strike just inches from Leeani.

The impact was brutal, slamming into Sanaage's abdomen with enough force to stagger him back a few steps.

But Sanaage barely flinched, a wicked smile curling at his lips as he steadied himself and rushed back at Kazaks with relentless speed. 

His machete gleamed with a dark, menacing sheen, and he struck out again and again, matching Kazaks' strength with his own ruthless precision.

Leeani quickly shook off her shock, gripping her crossbow tightly.

She began firing arrows in rapid succession, aiming to keep Sanaage off-balance and away from Kazaks.

"Kazaks, watch out!"

Each arrow struck near Sanaage's feet, forcing him to shift his position, giving Kazaks small openings to keep the fight even.

Sanaage snarled, eyes darting toward Leeani with irritation.

"Annoying little pest!" he hissed, dodging another arrow.

Kazaks gritted his teeth, blocking another strike with his hammer, but his eyes were desperate.

"Captain Zach!! Snap out of it!" he yelled, glancing over his shoulder at Zach, who still stood frozen, lost in his trance.

"We need you!"

The urgency in Kazaks' voice broke through the chaos, his desperation hanging thick in the air.

"Captain, what's the matter?! This isn't like you!" he shouted again, his voice cracking.

But Zach stood unmoving, his blank gaze staring off into something unseen, his mind trapped somewhere beyond the physical battle raging around him.

Leeani fired another shot, her hands trembling as she split her attention between fighting Sanaage and keeping an eye on Zach.

"Captain, please! We can't do this without you!"

The brutal clash between Kazaks and Sanaage intensified, each strike growing more vicious, every movement more desperate as they tried to fend off their relentless attacker.

And all the while, Zach remained lost in his own world, their lifeline just out of reach.

Another roar echoed through the trees, louder, closer-like a storm bearing down. 

Sanaage's smirk deepened, eyes gleaming with twisted satisfaction.

"A rematch. But this time, we don't lose."

Xertu lunged first, bursting from the shadows, his machete flashing in a deadly arc aimed right for Kazaks. 

Kazaks barely dodged, the blade whistling past his arm by inches. 

The force of Xertu's strike left a gust of wind in its wake.

Kazaks dug in his heels, swinging his war hammer in retaliation, every muscle tensed, his jaw set.

But Sanaage was on him in an instant, feinting with a blade aimed low while Xertu came in high, his eyes cold and calculating.

Leeani moved like lightning, nocking an arrow, heart pounding as she took aim.

Her arrow shot out, precise and fast, forcing Sanaage to dodge back just enough for Kazaks to regain his balance.

But before she could take another breath, Xertu had surged forward again, slicing through branches and brush with vicious speed, keeping her from getting a clear shot.

Kazaks grunted, swinging with every bit of power he had, hammer meeting Xertu's blade in a clash of steel. The vibration rattled down his arms, his muscles straining against Xertu's relentless force.

Sanaage circled to his side, slipping in with a swift jab that Kazaks barely parried, the knife glancing off his arm with a hot sting.

"Captain!" Kazaks roared through clenched teeth.

Kazaks staggered back as Sanaage's blade cut across his cheek and grazed his neck, blood dripping from the fresh wounds.

Sanaage's cold, taunting voice sliced through the tension as sharply as his blade had.

"While I was out there, putting my life on the line in the worst of conditions just to hunt you down, you're all hiding in your cozy little hideout? Relaxing after that glorious rebellion you think was yours to claim?"

Kazaks wiped the blood from his face with the back of his hand, his jaw clenched, eyes blazing with defiance. 

But Sanaage and Xertu only moved in closer, circling him like predators savoring their prey.

Kazaks tightened his grip on his hammer, knowing that this fight was no longer about victory.

It was about survival.

△▼△▼△▼△

"Huh? Wh-where am I?"

Zach spun slowly, trying to find any hint of his surroundings, but there was nothing. 

Just an endless stretch of... nothing. 

It wasn't even black in a way he could describe.

It was like staring into the absence of everything.

"Leeani? Kazaks...? Ruby?"

Zach blinked, realizing he was stripped—no clothes, no armor, nothing between him and the unending void that stretched around him.

"Anyone? Is someone here?"

The blackness wasn't even a color.

He shivered, folding his arms across his chest, the silence pressing in. 

His voice barely made a sound in this strange place.

Just as he tried to steady his breathing, something appeared out of the corner of his eye-a familiar shape, hovering just beyond reach—his claymore. 

It floated there, suspended in the void, a small gleam against the boundless darkness.

Zach reached out instinctively, fingers trembling, drawn to it like a lifeline.

"What is this?"

Zach drifted, suspended in the vast, hollow blackness. No clothes, no armor-just him, bare and vulnerable.

The silence was crushing.

He looked down, but there was no ground beneath him, just that endless expanse of dark. 

Every instinct screamed that he was alone, yet he couldn't shake the feeling he was being watched.

Then, he felt it.

A faint prickling at his back, like a pair of unseen eyes tracking his every movement. 

His heart raced, but his body wouldn't move. He couldn't look away from the emptiness around him.

Suddenly, a low, echoing voice whispered through the void, circling him.

"Zach... Zach..."

"Who's there? Show yourself!"

His voice echoed back, faint and hollow, but there was no answer-

Only the endless silence of the void pressing in, waiting.

The void suddenly shifted, twisting around Zach as images started flickering across the blackness like ghostly projections. 

For a moment, he was frozen, unable to process what he was seeing-but then, recognition struck, and his heart sank.

Scenes from his past played out before him, vivid and brutal.

A battlefield strewn with fallen soldiers, his own hands stained red with blood. 

The hollow screams of men, women-all people he had crossed paths with, people whose lives he had snuffed out. 

The lifeless eyes, the desperation, the twisted, horrified expressions of his victims lingered in the air around him, flashing closer, each memory clearer than the last.

"No... no, stop."

He tried to shut his eyes, to look away, but his gaze was locked- held open by some invisible force.

The memories tore through him like open wounds, raw and unforgiving. Faces he had tried to forget, all staring back at him, as if asking, Why?

He couldn't bear it.

The remorse twisted his insides, a silent scream rising in his chest. He reached up, clutching at his temples, feeling as if his very soul was unraveling.

"I don't want this... I didn't. I don't want this anymore!"

His voice was swallowed by the void, yet the memories intensified, a barrage of violence and guilt closing in on him like a suffocating fog.

And then, as he looked at his own hands-bare, trembling, and stained red in the vision-he realized his own reflection was watching him from within the dark, a haunted version of himself, eyes hollow and empty.

A whisper echoed around him, like a thousand voices woven into one.

"You chose this path."

Zach voice wavered.

"No! I—"

He looked down, seeing the blood drip from his fingers, pooling beneath him, soaking into the void.

The images faded, but the weight of them remained. In the endless silence, he felt the crushing force of his past like a shackle around his neck. All he could hear was his own shallow breath and the echo of that terrible whisper.

Zach, stripped to his core, hung suspended, the darkness pressing closer as if waiting-

Waiting for him to finally face it all.

The void twisted again, and from the depths of Zach's despair, the creature began to take shape. 

It was simple in form yet hauntingly effective.

A hulking shadow, roughly humanoid but unnaturally elongated, emerged slowly from the darkness. Its skin was a smooth, glossy black, absorbing all light, making it blend seamlessly with the void around it.

The creature's head was almost featureless except for two glowing eyes-cold, pale, and penetrating-staring directly into Zach's soul. 

Their light was a stark contrast to its dark body, piercing the void with an unsettling intensity. 

The creature

It moved with an eerie stillness, gliding rather than walking, its limbs long and disproportionate, hinting at an unnatural strength.

As it floats closer, Zach felt an icy chill wash over him, a visceral reminder of his deepest fears.

The creature didn't need to roar or snarl. Its mere presence exuded a suffocating power that pressed against him like a physical force. 

It radiated a silence that spoke volumes, an echo of all the regrets and horrors Zach had faced.

The creature reached out, one elongated arm stretching toward him, fingers tapering into sharp, claw-like tips. 

It didn't need to make a sound to convey its intent; the air was thick with the promise of violence, a reminder of the lives he had taken and the darkness he carried within.

Zach could only stare, paralyzed by the simplicity of its form and the overwhelming fear it inspired.

It was not a monster of fangs and scales; it was a reflection of his own inner demons, a living embodiment of the guilt he couldn't escape. 

The weight of that gaze felt like a thousand burdens, forcing him to confront everything he wished to forget.

In that moment, he knew this creature wasn't just a figment of his imagination.

It was a reality born from his past, a manifestation of the very thing he feared the most.

Himself.

The creature's voice echoed through the void, low and resonant.

"Why. Why can't you do it? After I gave you all the forces needed for it to be done. Yet, you still can't do it."

Zach's heart raced, confusion swirling with the terror that gripped him.

His voice trembles, a feeble protest against the overwhelming presence before him.

"Wh—what are you—talking about?"

The creature tilted its head slightly, those pale eyes narrowing as it studied him.

As if searching for the remnants of resolve that had once burned within.

"You had the power to change everything... I gave you the strength, the darkness. Yet you hesitate. You cling to your weakness, to your remorse."

Zach felt the weight of its words pressing down on him, each syllable striking like a hammer on the anvil of his mind.

"I—I don't want that anymore. I can't be that person."

The creature loomed closer, its presence suffocating, wrapping around him like a shroud.

"But it is who you are. You think you can escape it, hide behind your guilt? You've already tasted the blood; it will always call to you."

Zach recoiled, the truth of its statement hitting him like a cold wave. Deep down, he knew the creature was right.

"No. No! NO!"

The creature chuckled softly, a sound like dry leaves rustling in the wind.

"You can deny it all you want, but in the end, you'll realize the truth. I am not your enemy; I am a part of you. Embrace me, and you will find the strength you seek."

The line between fear and acceptance blurred, leaving him teetering on the edge of a precipice. He had to decide: would he face this part of himself, or allow it to consume him completely?

The creature leaned in closer, its eyes narrowing as if savoring Zach's confusion.

"You hold the Shroud of Fate in your hands, a tome that reveals the threads of destiny woven through your existence. Have you not seen the truth it lays bare? Your fate is drenched in blood-the sacrifice of millions for the greater good of humanity. To save them from this corrupted dystopia and tyranny, you must be willing to kill, to endure suffering far beyond what you can comprehend."

Zach recoiled at the thought, his breath hitching in his throat.

"No. That can't be my destiny!"

The creature laughed softly, the sound echoing in the void, both mocking and haunting.

"And yet, it is. You've been fighting this battle since you were just seven years old. Each one recruited by your hand-with Gargeal guiding you, shaping your path. You've gathered your tools-Leeani, Gargeal, Nert, Kazaks, Qarek, Andhur, Jiighual, and Yzavynne-each one a piece of the puzzle. They serve you, ready to unleash chaos upon your enemies."

The creature tilted its head, the pale eyes glinting with amusement.

"But what of Ruby? Why recruit her into your band when she is so useless? A burden instead of a weapon. Do you not see? She only serves to hold you back. You waste your strength on someone who can't contribute to the fate I've shown you."

Zach's heart sank at the creature's words, a pang of guilt twisting in his chest.

"Ruby, she's not useless. Don't talk about her like that! She brings hope and compassion. She—"

"Compassion?" the creature interrupted, its voice dripping with disdain.

"Hope is a fragile thing. In a world ruled by tyranny, hope cannot stand against the tide of blood and death. You must understand: to achieve your goals, you need strength, not sentimentality."

Zach protested, desperation creeping into his voice.

"Ruby is the reason we can still see the light in this darkness. She grounds us, pulls us back from the edge. If we cast her aside, we're not just losing her-we're losing the very essence of why we fight!"

"You cling to her like a lifeline. But in the end, she will only be another sacrifice on your altar of destiny. The question is, will you let her die for your weakness, or will you cast her aside for the greater good? Your path is clear, yet you hesitate. Face it. The truth of your journey lies within you, waiting to be embraced."

The creature fell silent, its gaze piercing into Zach as if searching for a crack in his resolve.

Suddenly, with a flick of its wrist, it conjured a material object from the void-a bouquet, vibrant and lush, the very same one Ruby had given him earlier.

The flowers seemed to glow softly, their colors almost too bright against the darkness surrounding them.

With a mocking flourish, the creature held the bouquet in front of Zach, its voice dripping with disdain.

"Will this bouquet help you on your journey, then? Is this what you wish to cling to as the world crumbles around you?"

Zach stared at the bouquet, a wave of emotions crashing over him-joy, love, and a deep-seated anger.

He clenched his fists, feeling the heat of determination rise within him.

"It's not about the bouquet. It's about the promise it represents-of hope, of love. That's what fuels me. You see this as a weakness, but it's the very core of what makes us human. You'll never understand that-because you, wghatever you are, never been human. You've never felt the warmth of a smile, the comfort of a hand held in yours, or the weight of loss that drives us to fight. You are a shadow, a remnant of something lost, devoid of the emotions that give life its meaning."

As Zach stood his ground, the creature tilted its head, a smirk playing on its lips.

"Oh?"

Then, with an air of finality, it leaned closer, its voice low and resonant, sending a chill down Zach's spine.

"We'll meet again."

Before vanishing into the void, the creature's face flickered just for a split second, and transformed into a face Zach recognized instantly.

It was Ybael.

Zach's heart skipped, his breath catching in his throat as he whispered.

"Ybael?"

But the vision vanished as quickly as it had appeared, the creature dissolving back into the shadows, leaving only the lingering, haunting phrase echoing in the darkness.

"In the end, you will choose between the weight of love or the cost of power."

The creature's presence faded into the shadows, Zach's voice trembled with resolve.

He muttered fiercely.

"Whoever, no, whatever you are, I will never be what you want me to become."

Suddenly, a voice pierced through the silence, calling out for him. 

It grew clearer, more urgent, pulling him back from the edge of despair.

"Captain!! Captain!! CAPTAIN!!"

═════ ◆ TO BE CONTINUED ◆ ═════