The landscape grew quiet.
Too quiet.
No birds. No beasts. Just wind—howling like it was mourning something ancient.
Before them lay the Blood River.
It wasn't a metaphor.
It was literally blood.
Thick. Dark. Crimson. Flowing slowly like it had the weight of history in every drop. Jagged bones jutted out from the banks—ribs of titans, shattered war beasts, and maybe worse. The stench of rust and death clung to the air like a second skin.
Renji squinted at the bubbling current. "...Please tell me that's wine."
Zach snorted. "If it is, someone forgot the grapes and added a whole lot of murder."
Mira crouched by the bank, sniffing it like a curious fox. Then immediately recoiled, tail puffed. "Nope! That's cursed. That's definitely cursed. That's like... drink-this-and-grow-a-third-eye cursed."
Zach picked up a chunk of river rock. It was covered in dried sigils that pulsed faintly with red light.
"This is it," he said. "The boundary. Cross this, and we officially enter the Outlands of the Exile. No more patrols. No more maps. No rules."
Renji stared at the sluggish current. "How do we cross?"
Zach gave a slow, mischievous grin. "By boat."
Renji blinked. "You have a boat?"
"Nope.", Zach quickly replied.
"...Then whose boat?", Renji asked.
Zach pointed.
A shadow emerged from the fog. Long, narrow, carved from obsidian and bone. Silent. Floating across the river as if gliding through dreams. A hooded figure stood at the bow, robed in tattered black, holding an oar made of spine and crystal.
Mira's eyes widened. "That's not a boat. That's a summoning accident."
"Meet the Ferryman," Zach said casually. "Don't look him in the eye. Don't speak unless spoken to. And don't ask for change."
The boat glided to a stop. The Ferryman turned its head—slowly, impossibly—toward Renji.
Its voice wasn't a sound. It was a thought pressed into their skulls.
"He returns... with only half a soul."
Renji froze.
Zach stepped forward, voice calm but firm. "He's here to reclaim it."
The Ferryman stared for a moment longer... then silently extended a skeletal hand.
Mira gulped. "Okay. Definitely cursed. Still getting on."
They climbed aboard, and the boat pushed off into the red current.
The river whispered. Faint screams and chants echoed from below. Hands—too many hands—reached up from beneath the water, grasping for the boat, for flesh, for memory.
Renji sat in silence, staring into the crimson waves. Somewhere deep beneath, something pulsed. Something familiar. Something... calling.
Zach watched him from the side, more serious than usual.
"You feel it, don't you?" he said softly. "That pull. That pain. That part of you buried out there."
Renji nodded, eyes still locked on the blood.
"It's waking up."
The boat docked on the other side and the trio stepped forward.
They reached the village just as the sky turned the color of dried blood.
Mira's ears twitched uneasily as they walked past the weathered huts and bone totems. The people here—if they could still be called that—wore black robes, spoke in whispers, and bowed not in reverence, but in fear. All eyes locked on Renji.
Then the horns blew.
Five knights appeared. Towering. Clad in living obsidian armor with shifting crimson runes. They didn't speak. They didn't ask. They just grabbed Renji.
"What the—?! Let go!"
Renji fought back, but the runes lit up. Magic flared. He dropped to his knees, body burning with pressure he couldn't understand.
"Zach!" he shouted. "Do something!"
Mira growled, baring her little fangs.
Zach didn't move.
He just stood there—arms crossed, eyes unreadable.
The knights began to drag Renji away.
Mira lunged, but Zach caught her by the collar. "No."
"What do you mean no?!"
"If they wanted him dead, he'd already be ash. This isn't execution... it's reclamation."
Mira thrashed. "You bastard! You liar! You said we'd protect him!"
Zach looked away.
And Renji vanished into the black-carved gates of the village's inner sanctum.
---
He awoke to silk.
Black silk. Cold and smooth and expensive in a way that felt oppressive.
The room around him was massive—dark violet banners with the Dark Order's sigil hung like execution orders. Obsidian pillars. Violet fire dancing in iron sconces. The bed he lay in felt like a cage padded in velvet.
Then he saw her.
Throne raised. Legs crossed. Gaze sharp.
Lilith.
Tall. Regal. Wrapped in midnight cloth and silver embroidery. Eyes like frozen rubies, mouth curled in eternal boredom.
She was beautiful.
She was terrifying.
She was his aunt.
"So," she said, her voice like poisoned honey. "The boy finally returns."
Renji tried to speak, but his throat was dry.
She rose. The room seemed to shrink.
"I suppose I should thank the mutt and the fox," she mused. "Though I'm not sure if I'll reward them... or flay them."
She stopped before him, "Welcome home, nephew."
She offered no smile.Only a smirk.
And a crown of bones behind her.