One piece: Without a system, I have to survive!

The air felt heavier as we moved away from the ruins. Even though the carvings had stopped glowing and the chains had disappeared, I couldn't shake off the feeling that something was still watching us.

It wasn't just paranoia. It was a certainty, a deep-rooted instinct screaming at me that we weren't alone.

shira walked beside me, his movements tense and cautious. "That mark on your hand… It's not fading, is it?"

I looked down. The golden mark pulsed faintly on my skin, like a dormant ember waiting to ignite.

"No," I admitted. "And I don't think it ever will."

Smoker exhaled a cloud of smoke and grumbled, "You better hope that's not a curse, kid."

A curse.

I had considered that possibility the moment the mark appeared. Was it a gift or a burden? A blessing or a trap?

The ruins held secrets—secrets that didn't want to be uncovered. And yet, something deep inside me resonated with the mark, as if it had been waiting for me all along.

We continued walking through the thick jungle, the sounds of wildlife returning as if the ruins had never existed. The sun was starting to dip beyond the horizon, casting everything in a dim orange glow. Shadows stretched across the ground, shifting with each step we took.

Then—

A whisper brushed against my ears.

"Turn back… before the abyss swallows you."

I froze.

The voice wasn't coming from the jungle. It wasn't the wind or my imagination.

It was coming from inside my head.

Tatsuo must've noticed my sudden stop. "Ardan? What's wrong?"

I turned, scanning the darkening trees. My heartbeat quickened as the jungle seemed to darken unnaturally fast. The warmth of the setting sun was fading, replaced by an unsettling chill in the air.

Then—

A figure emerged from the trees.

At first, I thought it was a trick of the light. But as it stepped closer, I realized it was wrapped in tattered black robes, its face hidden beneath a deep hood.

The presence it carried was suffocating. As if the shadows themselves were bowing to its will.

I instinctively reached for my weapon, but the figure raised a hand—or rather, a skeletal hand wrapped in silver chains.

"The Mark of Asmora has been awakened," the figure rasped, its voice like a distant echo. "And with it, your past shall rise once more."

My breath hitched.

I had never seen this figure before.

But somehow…

Somehow, I knew him.

Memories stirred, fragmented and buried deep within my mind. Faint whispers of a life I had long forgotten. Images I couldn't quite grasp. A feeling of loss, of something that had been taken from me.

The mark on my hand suddenly burned, sending a searing pain up my arm. I gritted my teeth, trying to suppress a gasp, but the pain only grew worse. It wasn't just a mark—it was reacting to the presence before me.

"Who are you?" I finally managed to ask, my voice hoarse.

The hooded figure tilted its head slightly, as if amused by my question. "I am the one who was left behind," it whispered. "The one who remembers what you have forgotten."

The wind picked up, rustling through the trees like a chorus of distant voices. Smoker stepped forward, his cigar still lit, but his grip on his weapon tightened. "I don't know what kind of ghost story this is, but we don't have time for riddles."

The figure didn't react to Smoker's words. Instead, it slowly raised its skeletal hand toward me.

And then—

I saw it.

A glimpse of something beyond my comprehension. A storm of memories, blurred and chaotic, rushing toward me like a tidal wave.

Flashes of a burning city.

A symbol carved into stone, identical to the mark on my hand.

A name whispered in a language I didn't understand.

And then—

Darkness.

I gasped, staggering back, my vision swimming. The jungle was spinning, the world tilting sideways.

shira grabbed my shoulder, steadying me. "Ardan! What's happening?!"

I clutched my hand, my breathing ragged. The pain was gone, but the knowledge left behind by that brief vision remained.

The mark was more than just a symbol.

It was a key.

And I had just taken the first step into something far greater than I could ever imagine.