People fear many things. The dark. Insects. Animals. The depths of the ocean. Death, hunger, sickness. But in this age, the thing people feared most could be summed up in a single word: Creatures.
The weather was clear when they left the city.
Before the forest began, a wide meadow stretched out like a sea of yellow-green grass, swaying gently in the autumn wind. In the distance the trees stood dark and silent, as if holding their breath. The path was wide enough for six people to walk side by side.
They did not.
Dusk led the way, his crooked shadow trailing behind him like a living thing that refused to obey the light. Leila followed right behind. Then came Kayra, Orin, Raphael, and Eren. The formation had formed naturally, without a single word.
Raphael broke the silence after a long while — long for him.
"How big is the golem?" he asked.
"Big enough," Leila answered without turning.
"That's not an answer."
"Big enough to kill you if you're careless."
Raphael glanced at Eren. Eren only shrugged.
They kept walking.
The ruins waited inside the forest.
The first sign was the wrongness — a shadow that did not belong, too heavy, too still, breaking the natural order between the trunks. Then the stones appeared: massive, irregular blocks covered in thick moss, once walls, perhaps a tower, perhaps a gate. Now they lay broken on their backs, half-buried in the earth, trapped between ancient roots.
Six figures stepped out of the treeline and stopped.
The ruins sprawled across a wide clearing. In the center, one structure still stood — half-collapsed, roofless, but its walls stubbornly remained. Inside was pure darkness. Even from outside, they could feel it: something massive, ancient, and patient was waiting.
Nobody spoke.
The wind whispered through the leaves.
Then everything went still.
Deep beneath the ruins, in a lightless cave, two figures sat in perfect darkness.
One was seated on a stone block, arms folded, head slightly bowed. Old, torn leather clung to its bones. Arrows still jutted from its skull. A sickly green light glowed in its eye sockets.
But today was different.
The man facing it held out clothing — a long, finely embroidered black coat, narrow trousers, a black shirt, and a heavy belt.
The man was not tall, yet his presence filled the cave. His hair was combed back neatly, his eyes cold and calculating. His hands were those of a scholar — slender, precise — yet they had done things no scholar should ever do.
"Put these on," he said flatly. "You no longer need those rags."
The skeleton remained motionless for a moment. Then it reached out and took the garments.
The act of dressing was eerie, yet it happened. The coat settled over its shoulders. The belt cinched around its waist. The shirt somehow held.
The man stepped back and examined his work.
"Better." A faint, dangerous smile touched his lips. "Crack Skull."
"Sigrum," the skeleton answered, its voice broken and hollow, yet clear.
Sigrum sat beside it on the stone block and unfolded a sheet of paper covered in diagrams and numbers.
"Do you believe we can win this fight and free them?"
Crack Skull did not answer immediately. Its green eyes stared at the empty cave wall as if seeing something far beyond it.
"Our current strength is insufficient," Sigrum continued. "Even if I sealed every team captain and council member… the two of us cannot face Azrael Solarius and Thorian Flint at once. We would fall quickly."
Crack Skull slowly turned its head.
"Do not worry." Its voice carried a calm, terrifying certainty. "Azrael Solarius is no longer a problem. I already defeated him on Moon Eye Island." It paused. "And right now… his power is flowing to our side."
Sigrum stared for a long time.
"I will buy you enough time to free your siblings," Crack Skull said as it rose. The long coat swept the floor like a king's mantle. "As for the other hunters at the Academy… will those devil ice elementals be enough?"
Sigrum stood and slipped the paper into his pocket.
"They are meant for specific individuals," he said coldly. "For the rest… we will fill the Academy with hordes of monsters."
Silence fell.
Somewhere deep in the cave, water dripped — the only sound.
Crack Skull turned and walked into the deeper darkness. Its footsteps made no noise. The coat swayed behind it like living shadow.
The green light in its eyes vanished.
Leila was the first to enter the ruins.
There was no door — only the place where the wall had collapsed. Stone floor, broken ceiling, leaves piled in the corners. The air was damp with earth and something else… the thick, living scent of fresh wood that had no right to exist in such a dead place.
Eren froze.
Something was wrong.
"Stop," Leila whispered, raising her hand.
No one moved.
Silence.
Then the ground trembled.
One powerful tremor — the kind that told every bone in your body that something enormous had just awakened.
The pile of debris in the corner stirred. Slowly. With a deep, wooden groan.
Then it rose.
It was shaped like a man, but it was not a man.
Crude. Massive. Its body was made of thick, ancient trunks fused together — roots and branches twisted into limbs. It had no true head, only a flat, wide upper section. Its arms were unnaturally long, dragging along the ground like spears.
It had no eyes.
Yet it turned toward Eren.
"GET BACK!" Leila shouted.
Too late.
The golem's arm whipped forward — not like a branch, but like a living spear. Stone shattered. The wall exploded outward. Dust and debris erupted in a storm.
Raphael dove sideways. Kayra leapt back, sword already drawn in a silver arc. Orin sprinted for the exit.
Eren yanked out his pistol and aimed — he had no idea if bullets would do anything, but it was all he had.
He never fired.
Because the ground itself began to speak.
Roots exploded from the earth.
Thick, dark, impossibly fast — they shot up through the broken stone floor and wrapped around ankles, wrists, and legs like living chains.
Eren felt them coil around his boots, locking him in place. Beside him, Kayra was already slashing at the roots with her sword, but they held like iron. Raphael cursed violently, yanking with both hands. Orin tried to raise his arms, but roots had already bound his wrists.
The golem turned its massive body with terrifying slowness.
It looked at Leila.
Leila met its gaze.
Without a word, she spread her arms wide.
Fire answered.
Not from her palms — from the ground itself. Thin lines of soil between the broken stones ignited. Orange and crimson flames roared upward, spiraling around her in a perfect circle.
A blazing wall of fire erupted — high, roaring, alive.
Leila and Dusk were inside the ring with the golem. The four rookies were trapped outside.
The golem stepped toward the flames.
It stopped.
Took one more step — then recoiled.
Forest golems fear fire.
Inside the ring, Leila stood with absolute focus, hands raised, maintaining the barrier. Sweat beaded on her forehead, but her eyes never wavered.
Dusk remained perfectly still in the center.
The golem turned, searching for escape, but the fire wall had sealed every direction.
Then it froze.
It was staring at Dusk's shadow.
Dusk's shadow had always been wrong — crooked, independent. Now it was something far worse.
It moved.
While Dusk stood motionless, his shadow stretched and grew like living ink, sliding across the ground until it passed directly beneath the golem.
It touched the golem's own shadow.
The golem stiffened as if struck by lightning.
Dusk slowly raised his hand.
No words. No chant.
He simply closed his fingers — slowly, deliberately — as though gripping something invisible.
The shadow obeyed.
It tore upward.
The golem's own shadow was ripped from the ground.
A horrifying cracking sound filled the ruins — the sound of centuries-old roots and branches being violently torn apart.
The golem's right arm snapped off and crashed to the ground.
Then its left.
Its massive torso split cleanly down the middle with a deafening groan.
Both halves collapsed in an explosion of wood, moss, and dust.
Silence returned.
The roots holding the four rookies dissolved into ash.
Raphael coughed, pushing himself up. "What… the hell… was that?"
No one answered.
Dusk stood in the center of the dying flames. Leila slowly lowered her hands. The fire wall faded away like a dying breath.
Dusk stepped forward, his voice calm and cold.
"Where is the treasure?"
It was in the deepest room of the ruins.
A small, unassuming chest.
Leila opened it, looked inside, and closed it without a word. No one asked what was inside.
The journey back to the Academy was silent.
At one point Raphael opened his mouth to speak, looked at Eren, then at Kayra, and simply shook his head. Some moments did not need words.
The forest ended. The meadow appeared. The city lights welcomed them in the distance.
By the time they returned, evening had fallen.
The chest was delivered. A receipt was signed. The group dispersed.
The corridors were empty.
Eren was heading toward his room when he stopped at the top of the stairs and turned.
Azel was standing there.
Arms at his sides. In his hand was a small orb made of tightly wound branches. A faint green light pulsed from within — not alive, yet somehow breathing.
He extended it toward Eren.
Eren took it. It was cold at first.
Then it wasn't.
"You possess three elements," Azel said, his voice flat. "Darkness. Shadow. Electricity. As far as I know, no one has ever seen this combination before." He paused. "Right now, that is not an advantage. Controlling three channels simultaneously is difficult — each has its own frequency. They interfere with one another. You will never know which one will answer when you call."
He looked at the orb.
"This will help. It will not solve everything… but it is a beginning."
Eren stared at the orb. The green light inside trembled faintly.
"When should I use it?"
"You will know," Azel said simply. He turned to leave, then spoke over his shoulder. "Do not lose it."
He walked away.
Eren remained standing there, turning the orb slowly in his hand. The branches were woven so tightly they looked like one single thing — yet inside, there were clearly many.
It felt… familiar.
He slipped the orb into his pocket and headed to his room.