The moment Lucian stepped through the gate, an eerie sensation crawled over his skin.
A dense darkness blanketed the land, the sky veiled in endless black clouds. A crimson moon loomed overhead, casting a dull, blood-red glow over the landscape. The air was thick, charged with an unexplainable energy, and the silence was suffocating.
A chill ran down Lucian's spine as he muttered, "So this is the world of Day... Wimbledon."
He tightened his grip on the daggers as he stepped forward. His boots pressed into the strange soil beneath him—ashen gray, dry, and cracked, like the land itself had been drained of life. Towering dead trees stretched toward the sky with twisted, skeletal branches, resembling claws frozen in agony. The wind howled through them, whispering voices that sent a shudder through his very soul.
But before Lucian could process the unnatural sight before him, an unsettling noise reached his ears.
Rustling. Snarling. Low, guttural growls.
Lucian's muscles tensed. From the shadows beyond the trees, multiple pairs of glowing amber eyes emerged, fixated on him. Their bodies remained hidden within the darkness, but their presence alone made the air grow heavier.
Then, suddenly—
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
The ground trembled as they charged toward him.
From the shadows, monstrous creatures revealed themselves—beasts unlike anything he had ever seen.
The first lunged forward, a creature that looked like a fusion of a wolf and a reptile, its body covered in jagged obsidian scales, its fangs dripping with venom. It moved unnaturally fast, a blur in the darkness.
Lucian barely had time to react. He twisted his body and dodged, feeling the wind from the beast's claws swipe just past his neck. Before he could counter, another shot toward him—a massive serpent-like creature with glowing runes pulsating across its hide, its long tongue flickering as it let out a bone-rattling hiss.
Lucian gritted his teeth. "They're fast!"
He adjusted his stance, gripping the Celestial Wolf Daggers tightly. The first beast lunged at him again, its claws extended to rip through his flesh. But this time—
Lucian countered.
In a split second, he ducked low, then spun with a sharp slash—
SLASH!
The dagger tore through the beast's thick scales, spraying black blood into the air. The creature howled in agony but refused to go down. Instead, it thrashed wildly, swiping at Lucian with a renewed frenzy.
He barely dodged, but before he could regain balance—
The serpent attacked from behind.
Lucian sensed it. He threw himself forward, rolling across the dirt just as the serpent's gaping maw snapped shut where he had been standing.
No time to rest.
Lucian flipped to his feet, his body moving instinctively. He dashed toward the wounded wolf-reptile, dodging another claw swipe before leaping onto its back. With a roar, he plunged both daggers deep into the beast's spine.
CRACK!
The creature convulsed violently before collapsing into the dirt, its amber eyes dimming as it drew its last breath.
Lucian panted heavily. One down.
But before he could celebrate, the serpent let out a deafening shriek and coiled around him in an instant, squeezing with bone-crushing force.
"Damn it—!"
His ribs groaned under the pressure, his breath caught in his throat. The beast was trying to suffocate him.
Lucian clenched his teeth and focused—
In a desperate move, he twisted his dagger's grip and stabbed into the serpent's flesh, dragging the blade upward in a violent arc.
The effect was instant.
SLASH!
A deep gash tore across the serpent's side, black blood spilling in torrents. It screeched and uncoiled in agony, its body convulsing wildly. Lucian took the chance—he drove his second dagger straight through its skull.
The serpent jerked once... then went still.
Lucian stumbled back, panting. His arms trembled from exhaustion.
That was too close.
He had fought monsters before, but nothing like these. Their movements were too precise, too relentless. It felt almost as if—
Lucian's eyes flickered to the corpses.
"These monsters... had mana rings."
He crouched beside the wolf-reptile's corpse and pressed his palm against its body. A faint glow pulsed beneath its flesh. Then, just as the Guardian had instructed, he concentrated—
WHIRR!
The beast's mana ring rose from its body, floating into the air like a crystalized core. It was a deep crimson hue, pulsating with wild, untamed energy.
Lucian repeated the process for the serpent, extracting another mana ring—this one a dull sapphire color, brimming with eerie static energy.
"I should cultivate them."
Lucian sat down, crossing his legs. He placed the mana rings before him and began to absorb their energy.
As the first ring's power seeped into him, he felt it—his mana ring, still cracked and broken, pulsating faintly.
Then, a sudden rush of heat and pressure filled his core.
His mana ring was... healing.
Lucian's eyes widened.
"It's actually working..."
The pain that had tormented him for months—the dull ache from his fractured mana ring—eased ever so slightly. The cracks had not fully disappeared, but for the first time in three months... they were no longer worsening.
His breathing steadied as he opened his eyes. The world around him still looked like a twisted nightmare, but a new thought nagged at the back of his mind.
Why is the world of 'Day' so dark?
Wimbledon was supposed to be a land of diverse races living in harmony. If so, then why did it feel... cursed?
Lucian's grip tightened around his dagger.
"I have to find Xeran."
Because something was very, very wrong with this world.
And he needed to know why.