ACT I — RYUN

The mind was a curious thing. Its capacity to fill in the blanks, to construct narratives, was unmatched. But that was also the danger, because a broken mind might make mistakes. Tie together events that were unrelated, make assumptions that were false. And when one was in pain, grieving? It made things even worse.

Ryun walked down the forest path, his steps sure and even. And if he forgot where he was going and why, well… It didn’t really matter, he would remember once he got there. He didn’t know for how long he had walked, but eventually he came to the edge of the forest and saw his destination out in the distance.

A city, with walls surrounding it. Ah… yes, I need to… make an example. He remembered why he was walking. He had told them to leave him alone, and they had refused. He needed to show them that there were consequences to their actions. He walked slowly down the path toward the city gate. There were no other travelers around, he alone approached the closed city gates.

He saw people in uniforms standing on top of the walls, looking at him. A few more appeared, and as Ryun reached the gate, they yelled at him.

“Who goes there?” A voice said, but Ryun wasn’t really paying attention. Their uniforms made him remember, they killed Melody. His face hardened, and he thought that he should just kill them all, make them pay in blood what they had done. To get more vengeance for the death of his love, no amount of blood spilled would ever be enough for what they had done.

But then he shook his head, dispelling the thoughts. He would give them a chance, because he knew that the ones directly responsible were already dead. What am I doing here? He lost his train of thought, and frowned in confusion. But then he looked up and realized that there were people on the walls and that they had been talking at him. Ryun narrowed his eyes at them and remembered. Ah, right, I need to give them a warning, a lesson… Ryun remembered and then spoke.

“I’ve given you a warning,” Ryun started. “I’ve told your people to leave me alone. And you attacked me, you intruded on my land.”

Ryun paused, making sure that they were listening. For a moment he wondered if he should ask for someone in charge to come, but there was no point. He didn’t want to argue or negotiate. His words will spread through the city anyway.

“Since you broke my decree, you must be punished. I claim this city as mine, and all the territory surrounding it. Since you do not care to listen, I must teach you. You have until dawn, three days from now to leave this city, to leave these lands. If you do not, I will kill every living thing in this city. This, I promise.”

Ryun watched them for their reaction. They looked at each other, and then they laughed. To them it was a joke, Ryun wasn’t nearly as amused. He felt a headache coming, the pain thrumming rhythmically. They yelled something at him, but he couldn’t hear them. The gates opened, and five people walked out, their weapons ready. Two had bows and arrows, and held back. He saw a few on the walls gather their bows too, but none held them firmly, more as a threat. The five that had walked out came closer, their mouths opening and closing as they spoke and gestured with their weapons.

He didn’t need to hear them to know what they wanted. To imprison him again, to put him in a hole. They were threatening him, he could see from their body movements. They dare to threaten me again? Ryun’s vision went crimson and he moved. He saw flashes, blood spilling around him. His sword deflecting arrows, screams that pushed through the noise in his ears. And then it was done.

He blinked awake, an arrow in his shoulder and the dead surrounding him. He looked up at the alarmed faces, they were firing at him, but he evaded too quickly for them to hit him. He heard a bell being rung, and saw people running toward the open gate.

Ryun looked at them all and spoke.

“Three days, remember.”

Then, he turned around and ran away. He reached the forest, getting far ahead of the people pursuing him. And continued on toward his shack. He walked through the forest and then blinked… Where am I going? Ryun wondered, but then shrugged, it didn’t matter. He would know once he arrived at his destination.

People were following him, into his forest, and that made him remember. Right, this is my land. I should make an example of them.

ACT I — LINDA

Linda looked through the window of her parents’ house in New Dallas, watching her mother play with Rayleigh. They were kicking a small ball around, running and giggling in the process. Linda felt glad and relieved that her parents and Rayleigh got along. Watching them, she couldn’t help but feel happy. She had long believed that her family was dead, finding out that they weren’t had been incredible.

The Framework had brought too much pain and suffering, having these moments of happiness was rare. And then Linda caught herself as she remembered so many people that hadn’t been as lucky as she was. Zach had told her about what happened to Melody and Ryun. She still couldn’t believe that Melody was dead. The two of them had been best friends since they were young, their families had always been close. Linda regretted a lot of what happened between them when the Framework arrived.

She knew that she hadn’t been the best friend, but she had been just so scared. She still remembered the moment it happened. Linda had been standing in next to her car with Melody and Henry, waiting for Zach and Ryun to arrive. Then out of nowhere, everything changed. The cracking sky, the blast of light that washed over everything, the message that had appeared in front of her eyes, and then the terrible sound that chilled her to the bones.

The Dealmaker, the horrible being that had changed everything. She shivered as she remembered being in the Dealmaker’s presence, the way that it made her feel—like she wasn’t herself. It had probably been for the best, she doubted that she could’ve kept a cool head if that place hadn’t made her calm and collected.

She hadn’t been prepared to make a decision, to choose a way of power, but in the end she had made a good one. Her class was Firebug, and it had proven itself to be good. It had saved her life countless times. But Linda hadn’t ever really tried to train her power, mostly because she had been terrified for her life and traumatized. She was a part of a group in Haven, where they tried to work through the things that had happened to them since the Framework arrived.

Linda still woke up from nightmares of the first few minutes of the Framework. When she left the Dealmaker’s world, she had found herself inside a forest along with Melody and Henry. And then they were surrounded by monsters. It had all happened so fast, the monsters attacked them, and Henry died before her eyes. She still remembered the terror in his eyes, as two monsters bit into him, his screams as he begged for help.

For the first few weeks after that, she couldn’t close her eyes without seeing Henry’s body ripped in two as the monsters fought over him. The fact that she remembered everything perfectly made it worse. Even now she remembered the sound his body made as the skin was torn apart, as his flesh ruptured and blood hit the ground. The smell of iron in the air, the stench of the monsters. She had nearly gone insane then. If it hadn’t been for Zach… she didn’t think that she would’ve survived. He had made her feel safe, he was the only one who could calm her when she had nightmares.

But she knew that she had been… harsh toward Melody and Ryun. Part of that had been her fear, every time they went out to fight monsters she would see flashes of Henry’s body being ripped apart and she was terrified that they would find them out there in the forest with their bodies ripped apart. Or that they might lead the monsters back to their camp and that others might die because of them. She hadn’t been well back then. She had been traumatized, as she had realized much later. And by then it was far too late, she had damaged her relationship with Melody. She had hoped that she would get the chance to make things right, but now that will never happen. She still couldn’t believe that Melody was dead, and that she had died because of some criminal scum. Even in this world where monsters threatened everything, people still killed people. It made her sick to her stomach. It was why they needed people like Zach who could punish those that tried to take advantage of others, who could protect those who were weaker.

But, learning about what Ryun had done in retaliation… That made her feel so conflicted, a part of her was happy that the man that had killed her best friend, who had robbed her of the chance to heal their relationship. But another part of her was horrified at the fact that Ryun had killed innocent people. She couldn’t believe that he was capable of that. She had seen how easy living in this world came to him, how reckless he was sometimes. She just never thought that he would be capable of that much unrestrained slaughter.

Zach had shown her the files, after she forced him to show her. And just reading about what they had found made her sick. And yet she understood, if anything happened to Ray or Zach, she would’ve been mad with grief too. She just wasn’t sure if she would’ve been able to go through with it. And she wasn’t sure how she felt about Zach just letting him go. He should’ve at least tried to talk with Ryun more, to console him. But Linda understood why Zach didn’t. He had confided in her that learning just what his friend had done and the fact that the government official was involved had shocked him. Had made him unsure how to proceed.

Linda sighed, there was no going back and changing the past. The only thing that they could do was look forward. Perhaps Zach could go out and look for Ryun after he came to New Dallas. She was sure that he could convince him to come back with him once Ryun had the time to grieve.

A sound made her turn around, and Linda saw her father walk into the room. He wore the blue and black uniform of the Government, rather of the Guard Commander of New Dallas. Her father had never been a violent man, he had been an accountant. Now he was in charge of keeping New Dallas safe, and had a Fighter class.

“Hey dad,” Linda said as he walked over to stand next to her and look out the window at Ray and her grandmother playing.

“Hey,” her father said almost absent-mindedly.

Linda could tell that he was thinking about something else. “Any news?” Linda asked.

Her father blinked and then turned to look at her. “Ah, no… none of them came back.”

Linda closed her eyes. Three days ago, someone had attacked the New Dallas gate, killing five guards. The Guard had sent another team after the attacker once he ran away, and they hadn’t come back. A day after her father had sent another team after them, and now they were missing too.

“Do you think that…” Linda trailed off, but her father understood.

“No,” he said. “No one is crazy enough to attack the city. It has to be the Blood Riders trying to unnerve us. They’ve been raiding in the area for months now.”

Linda had heard about the Blood Riders group, a gathering of bandits led by a powerful Warlord. It made her sad that things like that still happened. But her father had enough guards to protect the city, and Zach should arrive with more people after he dealt with the monster he was hunting.

“I was wondering if you wanted to join me on the wall today?” Her father asked finally.

Linda blinked, but then understood. She wasn’t the highest leveled in the city, but she was one of the higher leveled ones, and her Class was a combat one. “You think that someone is going to show up?” Linda asked.

The attacker had warned the city that he was going to come back and kill everyone in the city if they didn’t leave. The rumors had spread all over the city barely an hour after the encounter at the gates. Some people had even left, the merchants from other cities or others that were panicking. There was of course no need for that. There was no way that anyone could actually assault the city and take it that easily. Even if the Blood Riders come with all of their members they had very little chance.

“I don’t know,” her father answered her question. “I just want—”

A sound of bell ringing filled the air and Linda’s eyes widened. Her father turned and ran out of the room. Linda ran after him and into the yard behind the house while he headed out toward the walls.

“Mom?” Ray asked when Linda ran out.

Linda saw her mother holding Ray. “Go into the house and stay there, I’m going after dad.”

“You don’t think that—” Her mother started, but Linda interrupted her.

“I don’t know, it could be nothing,” she turned around and ran out of the house. It had been three days since the attack on the gate, and now… She couldn’t believe that anyone would be stupid enough to attack a city of this size. She felt her heart beating faster and faster as she ran through the streets, seeing the guards running toward the ringing bell while people retreated into their homes. And then, something shook the ground as a large boom echoed through the city. Linda stopped, frozen in the street.

She hadn’t really been in many fights, and those that she had been in had been against monsters. Zach had insisted that she trained at least a little bit in how to use her abilities, and he had secured her enough Essence Crystals that she was level 25. She could fight and help, but she didn’t know about fighting against other people.

She could hear the noise, the battle taking place up ahead. She could run away, go back to her parents’ house and wait things out. But… she had been so afraid for so long, and she didn’t want to be anymore. She took a deep breath and then continued.

She was close to the large square in front of the gate, so close that she could hear the screams and the fighting. A strange and thin red mist trailed around the corner and she frowned as she stepped into it. Immediately she felt as if she had lost her breath, and a notification appeared in her vision.

You are in the Presence of the Eternal Hunter.

-25% to all regenerative effects

-25% to all stats

Death Mark

She looked at the notification with a blank look on her face. She had never before seen text in that color. It’s a monster? She asked herself, wondering if perhaps it hadn’t been an attack by the Blood Riders, but rather a powerful monster.

She walked around the corner and saw death and carnage. It wasn’t a monster, but a man with a black sword, covered in blood. She saw people stabbing him, cutting him, arrows piercing his back. And he didn’t go down, he killed everyone in his way. Hundreds of guards surrounded him, and he jumped from one person to another, killing them with savage blows of his sword that cleaved them in one or two strikes.

She saw arrows getting rippling out of his back and falling to the ground, cuts and burns that the guards made were healing almost as soon as they were made. How high are his stats? Linda stood frozen, unable to move as she watched the carnage in the distance. Then, the man opened his mouth and a plume of white fire-like substance splashed over a handful of the guards. She heard their screams as they died.

Her heart skipped a beat, her bones freezing. It can’t be… She said to herself, but she recognized the technique. No, it’s not. It has to be something similar. She was yet to get a good look at the man’s face, she convinced herself that she was just imagining things.

There was so much death in the square. Then, she saw her father, jump in, his sword glowing with light. He appeared next to the man, and stabbed his sword through the man’s back and out of his chest. For a moment Linda thought that it was over, but then there was a ripple around the attacker. And then a wave of force blasted out of his body. Everyone within a few meters of him was hit, their bodies shattering and breaking apart as they were thrown back. Her father’s sword in his body was broken into a thousand little pieces along with the bodies of everyone nearby. She saw her father shatter into pieces as his body was turned into a flying blob of blood and broken body parts.

Linda’s eyes opened wide and she screamed.

A second passed, and the people further away, those that still lived were frozen as the wound in the man’s chest closed up after expelling the pieces of her father’s broken sword. She saw only white and she raised her hand and used her [Fire Flare]. The small bolt of fire flew out of her hands and quickly reached the man’s back, connecting. His flesh burned, but he didn’t react overly, he only turned around and met her eyes.

Linda felt her breath leave her as she saw Ryun standing there, his eyes glowing with a red light. One moment he was standing and in the next he jumped toward her. She raised her hands, to protect herself even though she knew that it was futile. There was nothing human in those eyes, only death.

She saw his sword coming down on her head and knew that she was dead.

Instead of death, someone pushed her out of the way with enough force that she was thrown across the street to hit the wall on the other side. She fell to the ground and cried out, her vision dancing as she had hit her head. She blinked her eyes and saw the fight taking place in front of her. Ryun was fighting five people that didn’t wear the guard colors. They were dressed in mismatched armor with only a white band around their hands as identifiers. She knew that they had to be adventurers.

They fought Ryun, and she saw them pushing him back. The four were coordinated, their weapons connecting with his flesh and drawing blood. She saw Ryun grimace, and then move, his form blurring. One moment he was in the middle of the four adventurers bleeding from many wounds, and in the next he was in front of the ranged member of the adventurers. Before she could react he stabbed his sword in her chest and cut upward, splitting her head in two.

Immediately, the wounds on his body started to heal and Linda realized that he was somehow healing every time he killed someone. The four adventurers roared and attacked his back, but Ryun was stronger and faster than them.

She could see that they were going to lose. The guards were trying to organize on the outskirts of the battle, trying to find an opportunity to strike, but the difference between them was too large. They were only going to get themselves killed. Linda knew that she needed to do something, that she needed to try and stop him. She stood up slowly, then nearly toppled over when she put weight on her right foot. She had to have injured it, she could barely keep her weight on it. She grimaced, and looked up, seeing Ryun kill another of the adventurers by burning his face off with his technique.

She couldn’t imagine why he was doing this, how he could’ve turned into this… monster that was murdering everyone. She needed to get through to him. She focused and used her [Fire Step] blinking across the distance and getting closer to the battle.

She saw another adventurer die, and then one more followed quickly after. Ryun was unstoppable, and she was certain that the red mist surrounding him was what made him that strong. All of them had their stats drained, but they couldn’t fight him from outside of it, it covered the entire square.

Linda saw the last of the adventurers die, and she opened her mouth.

“Ryun!” She yelled, and red eyes rounded on her, looking at her without any recognition. “It’s me, Linda! Please, Ryun stop!”

She saw the red light in his eyes flicker, but then he started walking toward her. He didn’t know who she was, and Linda barely had enough time to wonder if he was possessed by some monster before he reached her.

“Ryun, please, I know what happened to Melody but you don’t need to do this,” she said as she backed away from him. She tripped on a broken piece of the pavement and fell on her back.

Upon hearing Melody’s name Ryun stopped, his eyes blinking fast. “They killed her,” she heard him whisper. Then his eyes turned back red and he looked down at her. “You killed her.”

“Ryun, no one here killed her! She was my friend, I understand how you are feeling. But you can’t just murder everyone is the part of the government! The guilty were already dead!”

God, how is he so strong? Linda couldn’t believe what was happening. There was no mercy in his eyes.

“You attacked me, I need to make an example. I made a promise,” he whispered again, almost as if he was trying to convince himself.

“What?” Linda asked. “We didn’t attack you Ryun!”

She could see that he was confused, but she didn’t understand what was happening to him. Did the grief drive him mad? Linda wondered.

The light in his eyes dimmed, and for a moment she could see him inside. Broken and confused. “You did attack me, I sent a message and you came again… An example is necessary, otherwise you will keep coming,” Ryun told her as he raised his sword.

Fear intensified inside her as she realized that this was the moment when she died. And she knew that Ryun didn’t even recognize her, he didn’t know who she was. Her movement ability was on cooldown and she wasn’t strong enough to fight him. The guards around her were just watching, some even running away. She knew that they would be of no help.

And then a small form ran in front of her, and Linda’s mind went blank. She saw Ray standing in front of her, the small and weak child that had no Class, no power.

“Ray!” Linda yelled as Ryun looked down on her with a blank look in his eyes. “Get away, run!”

Ray half turned and looked at Linda, she had been crying, her eyes were wet. She was shaking with fear, but still she stood in front of her, barring the monster’s way. “I promised dad to keep you safe. And I can’t watch it happen again.”

Linda’s heart broke as Ray turned around with her fists in front of her, like how Zach taught her. Ryun tilted his head, the red coming back to his eyes, glowing with such intensity that it made him look like a demon straight from hell. She could see the moment when his mind went blank, when there was nothing behind his eyes that was rational and thinking, just rage and instinct.

He didn’t hesitate. His sword came down and cleaved her daughter in half. Linda screamed in pain and grief, and not a moment after that Ryun’s fist smashed through her ribcage and grasped her heart.

“Zach…” Linda whispered as the monster above her ripped her heart out and all went black.