The Hollow was behind them, but its silence lingered.
By the next morning, Rin and Lumen moved without speaking much. Not out of mistrust — they had said what needed saying. What remained between them was something quieter. Threads tied not by words, but by survival.
A thin fog clung to the trees now, low and cold. The prayer cloths that had swayed the night before hung motionless. The trail had changed too — thinner, sloping downhill, with stones cracked by old heat. Something had burned here once. Long ago.
They followed the smell of water and ruin.
"We're close," Rin said. "Mistshore."
Lumen frowned. "Never heard of it."
"You wouldn't. It's not marked anymore."
The mist thickened as they stepped into the remains of what had once been a riverside village — if you could call it that. Shattered buildings slouched inward. Trees had grown through rooftops. What remained of bridges were little more than ribs of blackened wood jutting from the riverbanks.
"Was there a fire?" he asked.
"No," she said. "System corruption."
They passed a shrine, half-sunken in moss, its central statue long broken. Sigils lined the stone steps — burned, distorted, some overlaid with different symbols like someone had tried to overwrite them.
🛠️ [System Log Error: Corrupted Node Detected]
Location: Mistshore Ruins
Status: Suppressed
Risk Level: Unstable
Lumen paused. "The system's glitching."
"It's not glitching," Rin muttered. "It's remembering."
They pressed deeper.
A whisper drifted through the mist.
Lumen stopped.
"Did you hear that?"
Rin nodded slowly. She drew her blade.
Out from the fog stepped a puppet.
But this one was different. No strings. No controller. Its limbs twitched freely, like it moved on thought alone. Its mask had split down the middle, revealing something like a grin beneath — carved into its wooden jaw.
It did not attack.
Instead, it tilted its head.
"You cut the thread," it said.
Lumen froze.
"You severed the puppet. But not the weaver."
Rin raised her blade.
The puppet laughed — a dry, empty noise.
"We're not here for your death. Not yet. This is… a message."
🛠️ [System Alert: Unauthorized Signal Detected]
Attempting Rejection… Failed.
🛠️ [Voice Override Engaged]
Source: Unknown Host
Then it spoke again. But this time…
It used a different voice.
One that Lumen knew.
"Lumen," it said. "You are being watched."
He staggered.
It wasn't the puppet speaking anymore. It was the System. Or… something using it.
The puppet's body jerked. Sparks flickered from its joints.
Then, like a marionette tossed aside, it collapsed. The fog swallowed it.
They didn't speak again until they reached what was left of the village square.
There, collapsed against a fountain choked with vines, was a man.
His body was bloated. His eyes milk-white. But he breathed.
Barely.
Rin approached first, crouching beside him. "He's not all the way dead."
As if hearing her, the man's lips moved.
"Seam…" he rasped. "The Seam is breaking…"
Lumen knelt beside him. "What seam?"
"The veil… the system… it's leaking… into us."
His eyes rolled back. Blood trickled from his nose.
Then his body spasmed — and with a final breath, a string of sigils etched themselves across his chest like glowing scars.
🛠️ [System Interference Recorded: Echo Host Expired]
Rin stood. "We need to leave."
Lumen stared at the dead man. "What was that?"
"A warning. Or a test. Or both."
Something clattered behind them.
They turned — blades ready.
But it wasn't a puppet.
It was a man in gray robes, mask stitched across his face with thin wire.
He didn't raise a weapon. He only bowed slightly.
"I am a seam-watcher," he said. "And you… are threading the wrong paths."
🛠️ [System Alert: Third Entity Detected | Identity: Fragmented]
Tag Applied: Seam-Watcher
Intent: Non-hostile
Memory Access: Restricted
"Are you with the System?" Lumen asked.
The man chuckled. "No one is with the System. We are under it."
He stepped closer.
"You are carrying something not meant to survive."
Rin bristled. "Say that again."
"I mean no threat. Only knowledge. The Threadbinder Sigil is a flaw. An old one. It was removed from the pattern long ago. For a reason."
Lumen swallowed. "Then why do I have it?"
"Because someone… rewrote you."
He turned without another word and vanished into the mist like a shadow refusing form.
They left the ruins before sunset. Too many eyes. Too many echoes.
As they walked, Lumen whispered:
"Rewritten?"
Rin didn't answer. She was watching the mist.
Not the mist itself — but what moved inside it.
🛠️ [System Thread Drift Expanding]
Observation Status: Unstable
Puppet Control: Lost
░A smile without strings. A dance without hands.░
🛠️ [Thread Marker Placed]