The Shadows of the Past
The plaza fell silent.
No breathing.
No footsteps.
Just the faint crackle of burned stone cooling in the night air.
Jin gripped his staff, his heart still pounding from the last fight.
The ground where the Face of Honor fell had turned black, cracks spreading outward like roots. Something shifted beneath the surface, slow and deliberate, and then —
It rose.
The Face of Regret.
Its body wasn't solid.
It looked like a man-shaped shadow, barely holding itself together. The limbs flickered in and out of existence, its face a featureless void, save for a pair of hollow, gray eyes.
It didn't speak.
It didn't move.
It just stood there, its head slightly tilted, watching them like a lost ghost.
Jin exhaled, lifting his staff into a ready stance.
Joon's gloves crackled, and Seul flexed her fingers, her gloves glimmering faintly.
But the creature didn't attack.
It just stood there.