Footsteps Through Forgotten Stone
The girl didn't run.
She walked. Barefoot. Silent.
Her black fire eyes left no trail, no scent.
Yet Cain followed.
The trees bent away from her.
The world blurred like fog behind glass. And when Cain stepped after her, he felt the change immediately—
[Location Transition Detected]Crossing Dimensional Layer: Sub-Realm of the Moonlink RuinsStability: 14%Core Drain: Passive – SevereWarning: Not meant for the living
Cain stumbled forward.
The ground beneath him was glass, with stars swirling beneath.
Above him: ruins that hung in the sky, held up by nothing.
And all around him, in every direction?
Whispers.
"Binder.""Thief.""He walks with the shadow wolf."
The girl stopped at the edge of a broken bridge that led into floating ruins shaped like beast skulls fused with temples.
She turned, finally speaking.
"You shouldn't be here yet.""Tough. You brought me.""No. The Codex did."
She raised a hand and Cain felt the Codex Umbra inside him tremble.
[Codex Sync Progress – 78%]
"You triggered an echo path. This place remembers the first fusion.""So show me.""You'll bleed for every truth."
Flashwalk Memory – The Day Fusion Broke
She touched his forehead and the world shattered again.
Cain was no longer in his body.
He was standing in a crowd of a thousand beastbinders, watching a man kneel before a throne made of scales and bone.
On that throne sat—
The Beast-God.
Shapeless. Made of fused forms, ever-shifting.
He whispered:
"You love me. So I give you my name. Fuse with it."
The man screamed as he was devoured. Not by fire.
By connection.
His mind torn apart and rebuilt as a bridge.
Cain screamed back into himself.
Blood ran from his nose. His claws spasmed.
[Codex Sync: 80% – Beast-God Fragment Unlocked]⚠️ Mental Instability Rising
The girl knelt beside him.
"This city was built to worship the fusion. Then it was abandoned. Because fusion isn't a gift.""It's a curse?"
"It's a weapon. We were made to fight gods with it. And something worse."
Cain met her eyes.
"Who are you?"
She didn't smile.
"I'm what's left of your sister."
He staggered back.
"Liar."
"You knew her as Arin. She fused with something older than me. Then she walked into the Moonlink… and never came out."
Nyx snarled.
"She smells like her. But wrong. Hollow."
The girl held out her hand.
"Come with me, Cain. Before the Codex finishes syncing. Before they find you again."
Behind them, the ruins groaned.
Something enormous stirred in the floating vaults.
A chained skeleton, fused with a broken city, began to move.
[New Entity Detected – Devourer-Class: Eater of Pactwords]➤ Purpose: Erase all memory of fusion➤ Status: Awakening
Cain had seconds.
Stay with the Moonlink girl. Let her show him the city's final memory.
Escape now with what he knows.
Fight the Eater and risk everything for deeper knowledge.
"One more memory," he growled.
She nodded.
"Then you choose what kind of binder you'll be."
Final Flashwalk – Arin's Last Words
Cain saw her.
His sister.
In chains. Eyes glowing with a symbol that pulsed like a second heartbeat.
"Tell Cain… I'm sorry. I had to do it. I had to fuse with it. I saw what's coming. And only monsters will survive."
Then she turned to dust.
The city began to collapse.
Cain roared as the memory faded.
The Codex screamed with him.
[Codex Sync: 100% – Archive I Complete]➤ New Passive: Memory Leech – Gain beast echoes from slain fused enemies➤ New Active: Soulbind (Locked) – Requires Beast-God Fragment integration
The girl reached out.
"You carry the shard now, Cain. You can open the second Codex. But only if you survive the Eater."
Behind them, the sky broke.