Rael stood at the edge of the city garden, far from the temple and the cheers of the people. Flowers swayed in the breeze, their petals glowing faintly under the moonlight. It should have been peaceful.
But his mind was not.
The dreams were getting stronger. At first, they were short and unclear—just flashes of purple light, the sound of chess pieces moving, and a shadow sitting on a throne.
Now, he could hear the voice.
"Rael. What if your path was chosen for you?"
He tried to shake it off, gripping the hilt of his sword. He had been trained to follow the prophecy. To lead. To protect. That was his destiny.
But lately, everything felt... wrong.
In the last mission, he had hesitated. The monster he was told to destroy had cowered in fear. It had spoken—begged—before the system silenced it.
Rael had watched it disappear into particles, and the cheers of the villagers had sounded distant, hollow.
Was he doing the right thing? Or just following orders?
---
That night, Rael returned to his private quarters in the palace. He dismissed the guards. He needed to think.
He stared into a mirror. His golden armor gleamed, spotless. His face looked confident. But behind his eyes, the questions kept rising.
He opened his system panel. It showed his stats, his completed missions, the path forward.
But there—beneath the usual display—something flickered.
> Hidden Prompt Unlocked:
"What will you do if the light blinds you?"
He blinked.
"What is this?"
The words vanished. The system returned to normal. But Rael's hands were trembling.
Someone had placed that message. Someone powerful. Someone watching him.
---
Later, in the palace library, Rael looked through old records. Books the priests had locked away. He found stories of ancient magic, forbidden skills, and a group that had once questioned the prophecy—only to vanish from history.
One name kept appearing, though often scratched out or blurred: Kurokawa Yuu.
"Who are you?" Rael whispered.
He didn't know it yet, but the answer would shake the very foundation of his beliefs.
And in a shadowed room far below the city, Yuu smiled.
The fracture had begun.
---