The wind hit harder outside Lesser Dane.
Ren moved like a fugitive beneath an iron sky, feet aching, stomach clenched. Days without food and nights without rest had blurred the cities together. No one helped him—not with bloodstained clothes and haunted eyes. The system had healed his body, but not the parts that mattered.
He wandered east, following old maps to the last holy ground to fall—Callistor, a half-forgotten sprawl of clay towers and copper statues. At its center stood Temple Arkenza, shattered and overgrown, once dedicated to the goddess of war, fortune, and glory.
Legend said Clark Half-brother, the tyrant-king of old, tried to replace her image with his own—only for his armies to vanish overnight, devoured by the land's curse. Now, street urchins danced where saints once bled, and no priests remained.
Ren didn't believe in gods. The entire continent of Thelos had abandoned them. But Callistor was as good a place to die as any.
Crunch.
He bit into a stolen apple, its sweetness bitter on his tongue. Perched on the rim of a broken fountain, he watched traders hawk wares to passing merchants. He had water and that single apple—his only sustenance for days.
''All debts must be paid, even the forgotten ones,'' the system whispered.
Ren closed his eyes. He knew what came next.
[MISSION RECEIVED]
[Target Acquired: Stevan Gorr]
[Objective: Kill within 12 hours]
Ren's head sank. He'd failed once. Now the deadline was halved—and the punishment more severe. Why must his fate hinge on a man he'd never met?
"No," Ren muttered, fury igniting. ''It's the bad people who should die,'' he echoed, perhaps in naïveté.
He raised his gaze.
He spotted Stevan Gorr by accident—or perhaps the system guided him. A man in a tailored blazer, the name stitched on a lapel:
"Stevan Gorr – Director, Fort Arsa Orphanage."
Gorr's laugh was a blade's whisper as he yanked a child by the wrist across the plaza. Ren's stomach lurched. He followed at a distance, silent as a shadow.
Behind the orphanage's rusted gate, Ren crouched beneath a cracked window.
"—get them ready for pickup. Eastern dock. No bruises this time," Gorr instructed.
"Sir… they're children," a trembling assistant protested.
Slap.
"They're inventory," Gorr replied, voice colder than steel.
Ren's knuckles whitened. The system rewarded cruelty—but Gorr was far worse. A child trafficker; the kind of monster that made even gods weep.
''Kill him,'' the system demanded. Or was it Ren talking. He wasn't sure. It was the kind of conflict that he was slowly becoming no stranger to.
Ren shook with conflict. He wasn't a killer. Not yet.
The next morning, Gorr emerged alone, fumbling at the side gate. Ren approached, voice steady despite his pounding heart.
"Excuse me—are you Stevan Gorr?" he called.
Gorr twisted, eyes narrowing. "Who's asking?"
"I have a message for you," Ren said.
Gorr's grin was a razor's edge. "From whom?"
Without warning, a hidden blade flicked upward, grazing Ren's ribs. Gorr moved lightning-fast.
"You little rat," he spat. "Thought you could sneak in like one of the mothers? Or was it Robert who sold me out?"
They crashed into wooden crates. Ren's knife skittered away, but his instincts took over. Gorr swung a shard of glass—no mercy, no hesitation.
Crack.
Ren's fist connected with Gorr's temple against the fountain's marble lip. The man collapsed in a spasm, then lay still.
Ren stared at his blood-slick hands as a hum filled the air.
[MISSION COMPLETE]
Target: Stevan Gorr—Deceased.
[ REWARD UNLOCKED]
Widow's Clarity: +2 Perception | +1 Reflex | Emotional Override Enabled.
Ren blinked and the plaza snapped into Focus Mode. Ren saw every splintered tile, every falling leaf, every drifting mote of dust. His senses burned bright—but his heart was a void.
Like a widow who'd lost her child, he now saw everything—and felt nothing.
He buried Gorr behind the orphanage, marking the grave with a fallen signpost. By nightfall, Ren stood in the shadow of Temple Arkenza. The broken statue's gaze followed him with empty eyes.
"I didn't want to do it," Ren whispered. "But I'll keep doing it… as long as you demand it."
Silence answered.
Only the system spoke again:
[ NEXT MISSION LOADING…]
Stand by.
Ren exhaled. Then he turned from the ruined temple and walked on—no gods, no glory, just grief… and the echoes of a killer.