Alone in the North

As soon as Yuel, Aria, Shiro, and Onur landed, they recognized they were in Frozen Hollows.

Yuel quietly checked the system screen for updates—but nothing new. His spear/magic staff (both, actually) was in his hand.

Shiro had retreated to a corner, muttering something.

Onur's face was still stunned; as a prince, he'd never felt such pressure or fear.

Aria gazed into the distance. Then she spoke first:

"We need to find shelter. We can't survive just by sitting here."

Yuel interrupted her:

"No—shelter won't help here. I read a book yesterday about Frozen Hollows. The only successful mission's record said that unless you keep moving, you die. The deeper we stay, the colder it gets—and already it's unbearable. We must push forward."

Onur, furious and stressed, snapped:

"What the hell were you doing back there? Why didn't you help us earlier! If you had, our captain might still be alive. We should have retreated, damn it!"

Yuel, annoyed, retorted:

"Unlike you, I can use percentages even though I'm Stage 6—and I did. Percentages aren't fireworks you can scatter everywhere, and I've nearly used them all. What did you expect me to do? If I'd used them right at first danger, I'd have proven I'm an idiot—but no, I'm not like you!"

Shiro stood up, turning to them:

"Shut up. Yelling will just attract titans. We'll argue when we're safe. We're in the open plains. To escape, we must work together—and deeply understand each other."

Aria chimed in:

"I agree. Now's not the time or place. Does anyone here have abilities for fast travel?"

There was silence.

Finally, Yuel spoke, not because he had a plan, but because he had to:

"I once tamed a dhune. I can try again—and maybe we can ride it."

Shiro replied skeptically:

"How will you tame a giant dhune? I've heard of people raising baby dhune, but we don't have time to wait for it to grow."

Yuel turned to Shiro:

"That's where you come in. You'll curse abstractionals that slow its growth so it grows faster. Then we can ride it. Think it's doable?"

Shiro paused, then nodded:

"It seems possible."

Aria, Shiro, and Yuel exchanged determined looks.

"Okay, then: we need a dhune that grows big enough to carry us all. Any ideas?"

Another silence.

Yuel spoke again:

"Sorry, I skipped the dhune catalog, so I don't know much—but I believe we can learn how in a few days."

They set off west. They encountered many dhune, which they killed and cooked in Yuel's soul flame. At night, they made camp using Onur's luxurious gear: five sleeping bags and a few chairs.

Yuel was unhappy he hadn't had any sweets before bed, while Aria enjoyed the view.

Clouds hovered permanently over Frozen Hollows—unlike other regions—and often snowed. Even knowing they were inside a cave, seeing clouds made it feel like true sky.

To the west lay massive snowy plains and towering mountains—the border between Frozen Hollows and Inksworn Depths. Yuel had been there before and despite not defeating "Bone," he'd severed its tail and forged a weapon. He could return to Inksworn Depths—but the others couldn't. Half-Troths are rare, and he was the only one in the team. Aria, Onur, and Shiro were human. Humans are ink-dependent: too much leads to madness. They couldn't enter the Depths safely.

Their only option was the mysterious book. Yuel had told them he forgot it, but really, he'd kept it. That night, while Aria fell asleep watching the view, Yuel secluded himself and summoned the book from his inventory.

He wiped away the bloody title cover, revealing a new title underneath:

Memoirs of the Observer: Verdant Requiem

Opening it, he found a small note in faint letters at the top of the first page:

"You're done with the first page—tear it out and discard it. You don't need it. The real book begins afterwards."

He tore out the first page and returned the book to his inventory. If Aria, Shiro, or Onur found it, he'd be accused of lying. But lying wasn't in his nature—he didn't trust them yet, and the book was too valuable.

He skimmed the opening story, which read:

After the war, surviving soldiers found peace. Among them was one living a humble life—that was me. It was believed soldiers needed to awaken a bloodlegacy, so we entered Undergarden. We were shown images and records of the war to awaken it—only those with sufficient trauma could access it.

During the bloodlegacy awakening phase, one soldier mysteriously vanished. No one knew why or where he went—he didn't even know why he was fate-destined.

He was told:

"The observer's fate is to know everything and do nothing."

He became detached from the physical world—only upon death could he return to a body. Over time, he discovered his abilities: he could see the past, glimpse the future, but he couldn't affect the world. Until he died—then his body returned. He could leave books behind after death, appearing only when he died...

But did humanity deserve that? His closest friends forgot him, no one cared. Lost and aimless, he decided to write a book.

With his "Observer" bloodlegacy, he could identify the reader by fate—he observed past and present. But he didn't want the reader to know who they were—he left it as a mystery and didn't check what would happen to his books in the future.

Instead, he used his ability to observe all regions of Undergarden and wrote one book per region. The first volume, "Memoirs of the Observer: Verdant Requiem," begins:

If you escaped that Stage-7 titan and wonder how—it's because that titan allowed humanity to easily discover Verdant Requiem. It devoured all local titans and turned them into fake-tree titans. One such "lost" titan was a Stage-5 with passive mist ability; its body could emit mist that threw anyone who screamed within into a random Undergarden location.

As for the true Stage-7 titan—it is that region's cave. It adapts like a subspace; when you enter, it hides itself. I believe killing all fake-tree titans reveals the real one... but I can't be sure, since I lack a physical form and no one has defeated the entire Stage-7 army.

Also— (and here the text cut off)...

Just then, Yuel felt a scorch of pain across his back—as if hot iron had been pressed there. He slammed the book back into his inventory and screamed, waking everyone.

They rushed over:

"What's wrong?" they asked. Yuel threw off his clothes, needing to press the burning back to air—or water.

In this cold, stripping his clothes wasn't wise—but he had to.

Null had been silent when suddenly, perhaps now he'd speak.

Yuel tried to hold in his cry, but couldn't. He glimpsed his left shoulder—his whisper tattoo was gone.Why? When?

Would he never hear Null again?

Unsure, he tried the system:

Unlock System

He summoned the interface while the others, half-awake, looked at him like he'd lost his mind.

They saw:

< Bloodlegacy:

- Whisper

- Fracture >

< Stage 5 – Flesh >

He'd gained a new bloodlegacy… Whisper was intact, so Null's silence probably tied to the sudden 30% usage. He'd ask about that later.

What was Fracture? Could he communicate with it, and what could he do with that? It sounded like a mental/crystalline break—but he trusted it could complement Whisper.Why did he suddenly advance further in the middle of the night—without defeating a titan?Wait—after using the 30%, what happened? He hadn't fully discussed that with Null.He realized the 30% had triggered a massive effect: a Stage-4 titan that'd adapted into a tree due to its affinity to Whisper-like power had been overwhelmed by whispers and died.

His back bore a massive tattoo of shattered glass fragments from top to bottom—like a broken mirror of shards. Behind the glass, a ghostly hand pressed against the surface. Beneath it, in ancient script, "Fracture."

In ancient usage, like Whisper, it signified both madness and divine transformation—the mind shattering or reshaping. Even if resisted, it was likely his destiny.

Awakening everyone in the cold night wasn't his intention. Shivering, he redressed, crawled into his sleeping bag, and they all managed to fall back asleep. They probably talked more afterwards—but by morning, Yuel forgot it all.