The two of them slept on the grass by the river. The sound of flowing water was calm, the wind gently rustled through the trees, and tranquility filled the air. Ryoma dreamed of a strange place where he saw an old man standing with a staff. The elder spoke in a calm voice:
"So, you are the one chosen by fate to face a difficult destiny. Prepare yourself - your life will take a dark turn from now on. You will become the world's savior, but at a heavy price with severe consequences."
Ryoma stared at him silently in confusion, observing his long white beard that reached his chest, his short white hair, brown eyes, and the staff he leaned on - he resembled an ancient shepherd. Contemplating the word "destiny," Ryoma asked:
"What is my fate? Tell me... am I the one who will bear the world's weight, or the one who will destroy it?"
The old man looked at Ryoma and laughed:
"Hahaha... Prepare yourself. What awaits you will be extremely difficult. Powerful monsters and the dead will roam everywhere in this world you're trying to save, and what you ultimately discover will shock you deeply."
Shocked by these words, Ryoma replied:
"How can we possibly defeat these monsters without any powers?"
The old man looked him seriously in the eyes and said:
"You and your friends must find the ancient Eternal Weapon forged in the Primordial Era a hundred million years ago. All the weapons lie within the Mist Caves, along with the armor of their previous wielders. The cave is full of deadly traps you must overcome - but only one person may enter. If two enter, both will die. Only the one who enters may claim the weapon."
"I will give you the first eternal weapon: the Ancient Sword. When you awaken, it will be in your hand. You must gain experience by fighting monsters. This sword was first wielded by the original hero a hundred million years ago."
Ryoma awoke with the sword in his hand. That first savior from ancient times had immense combat experience, a fraction of which was transferred to Ryoma through the sword. He trained before fighting - each ten monsters killed would raise his level by one. For example, level ten would become eleven after ten kills.
The sword was long and razor-sharp with a black scabbard, accompanied by combat attire. Wearing the outfit with his long black hair and gray eyes, the black cloak and steel pauldrons made Ryoma look majestic.
Adam woke to sunlight and asked Ryoma:
"Where did you get those clothes?"
At dawn, a crimson moon hung in the sky like a blood-colored omen of coming catastrophe, tinting everything red - though Ryoma and Adam hadn't noticed the atmospheric change yet.
Ryoma replied:
"I dreamed of an old man warning about a coming disaster... he gave me these clothes and this sword."
He chose not to mention the future the old man had warned him about
Returning through the trees, they found a portal had appeared on the village ground - the Great Catastrophe had begun. Everything happened suddenly. Massive monsters emerged, including a mountain-sized frost wolf that breathed freezing ice.
Shock froze Ryoma and Adam in place until they saw Ryoma's little sister fleeing a massive stone bear. Both sprinted desperately to save her as the bear raised its right claw. Each heart-pounding second brought its claw closer to her head - until their friend Evan leaped from the right, tackling Clara to safety.
While focused on Clara, Evan was critically wounded - his kidney crushed by the bear's claw. Seeing this, rage surged through Ryoma as he carried Evan on his back while fleeing the pursuing bear. Drawing his sword mid-run, Ryoma waited until the last moment to sever the bear's arm when it attacked again.
Weakly, Evan said:
"You've changed, Carter... Leave me... I'll just slow you down."
Fearing to lose him, Ryoma replied:
"Don't worry, you're no burden. I'll save everyone - just hold on."
As Evan lost consciousness, Ryoma searched for Sylvas and others. Adam found Sylvas while Ryoma located their last two friends. With a fox chasing them, Ryoma spotted Cain and Luna running nearby. He entrusted Evan to Cain to take to Adam, while asking Luna to treat Evan's injuries.
As Ryoma drew his sword and stood ready, a fox charged toward him. He waited until it closed in, then leaped and brought his blade down on its head. Though the strike was coincidental—the monsters here were far stronger—the fox was decapitated in one blow. The experience he'd gained proved immediately useful: as the fox's head rolled, memories of the beast and of the first person to halt the ancient catastrophe flooded into him. The revelation stunned him—*Carter* had been the one to stop the original disaster.
Ryoma pushed aside his swirling thoughts and hurried to his friends, whose faces were etched with grief and tears. Before reaching them, he called out,
"What happened? Is something wrong…?"
His question died as he saw Evan lifeless on the ground. Ryoma knelt slowly beside him, confirming his death, and began to weep. Rage surged uncontrollably within him, but he forced it down, steadied himself, and declared,
"I'll put an end to this catastrophe."
His friends blocked his path, refusing to let him pass. One pleaded,
"Don't worry about us—you're not weak. Draw your sword and fight your way to the portal's heart. Maybe you can close it."
Ryoma reached the portal, where the massive frost wolf—towering like a mountain—awaited. He stood defiantly before it, waiting for its attack. The wolf lunged with terrifying speed, sending Ryoma hurling into the air. Stunned by its agility, he crashed to the ground, scrambled up, and vaulted onto the beast's back. He drove his sword deep into its hide, but against the wolf's colossal size, the wound was mere scratches. Ryoma clung to its back until, moments later, the portal and all the monsters vanished.
Baffled, Ryoma pieced together the fox's memories: the portals appeared with the crimson moon, lingering from dawn until midday across the world. These gateways were eternal—they'd keep reappearing until whoever orchestrated their return was eradicated.
Ryoma returned to his siblings, his head wounded and heart heavy with failure. He embraced them, while Adam's sorrowful gaze seemed to say, *"The catastrophe isn't over."*
"We'll retreat to the forest," Ryoma announced. "This place is too dangerous now."
He sat brooding, thoughts racing: *How could Carter—me—have saved the world a hundred million years ago? Is he a time traveler… or reborn?*
Pulling Adam aside, Ryoma asked urgently,
"Did Carter ever speak of his past?"
"No," Adam replied, puzzled. "Why?"
"The hero who ended the first catastrophe was *Carter*."
Adam's face paled. "How do you know? Are you certain?"
"When I killed the fox, its memories transferred through the sword to me."
Adam shook his head. "He never mentioned it. After our father vanished, *I* raised our siblings."
Ryoma lowered his voice. "This catastrophe isn't natural—someone's behind it."
Gasps erupted. "What? Who would do this?" someone cried.
"I don't know," Ryoma admitted. "But it's deliberate."
Adam's eyes lit with curiosity. "This sword absorbs memories? How can I get one?"
"We'll arm everyone," Ryoma promised. "But first, we need answers: Why was Carter's role erased from history? Are timelines overlapping? Who's responsible?"
Rejoining the group, they found Sylvas interrogating the monsters' sudden emergence, the crimson sky, and the blood-red moon. Ryoma froze—he hadn't noticed the moon shift from pale blue to scarlet. A strange familiarity tugged at him, as if he *knew* the crimson moon's secret… but the memory slipped away.
Ryoma turned to his friends and said:
"This is only the beginning of the Great Catastrophe. It will reappear every day until someone stops it."
Shock painted their faces. Cain, his friend, asked incredulously:
"Wait—this is just the *beginning*? Are you joking?! And tomorrow, and the day after, someone will stop it? How in the world do you expect us to believe that? How could an ordinary person from this world save us? Where did you even get this information?"
Ryoma replied:
"I can't tell you how I know this."
Cain lunged forward, grabbing Ryoma by the collar:
"How can you keep secrets when our *lives* are on the line?!"
Adam intervened, pulling Cain back:
"Carter's telling the truth."
The group stared in stunned silence. Cain muttered, baffled:
"You knew about this too? Are we the only ones left in the dark?"
Adam explained:
"I only know fragments. Carter refused to share the rest."
Ryoma interjected coldly:
"It's too soon for you to understand. And I'll only say this once."
A heavy pause followed. Ryoma's voice hardened:
"Those who want to survive—follow me. You'll grow stronger to destroy these monsters."
The group hesitated. Adam broke the silence:
"Trust him."
Clara, Ryoma's younger sister, stepped forward:
"I trust my brother."
Sylvas, her brother, and her friend joined her. Only Cain hesitated, muttering:
"Fine. I'll trust you… but I hope I don't regret this."
Ryoma eyed them warily. The memories of the shape-shifting monster he'd slain haunted him—*what if one of them isn't human?*
Later, Ryoma lifted Evan's body and said to Adam:
"Let's bury our friend."
They dug a grave in the forest, laid Evan to rest, and covered him with soil.
Grief weighed heavier on Ryoma and Adam than the others—Evan had died saving Clara. Gathering the group, Ryoma announced:
"Your mission is the Mist Caves. Whoever finds a cave—enter it. Avoid the deadly traps. The weapons you retrieve will grant you fragments of their original wielders' power… and visions of the ancient eras they were used in."
Cain paled:
"Deadly traps? We're supposed to survive those?"
The group turned to Ryoma, awaiting his answer.
Ryoma nodded:
"Yes."
Silence fell. Adam added grimly:
"It's the only way to kill these monsters and save our world."
After a long pause, they agreed. Before dispersing, Ryoma warned:
"Return by midnight. At dawn, the portal will reopen. We meet here afterward."
Adam asked:
"What will *you* do while we're in the caves?"
Ryoma replied:
"I'll search the Ancient World's library for answers about this world's energy and the weapons' origins."
The group scattered to find the caves. Ryoma sprinted westward, driven by Carter's memories of a library holding secrets of the world's history.
The Ruined City.
Ryoma arrived in the western region—only to find devastation. Crumbled buildings stretched endlessly under a pitch-black sky choked with clouds. Sunlight couldn't pierce the gloom, casting the rubble in eerie shadows.
The city was a graveyard of memories. Buildings that once stood tall were now skeletal ruins, walls cracked and scorched by explosions. Streets lay buried under dust and debris, twisted lampposts collapsed like broken bones. The wind howled through shattered windows, a mournful wail echoing the ghosts of the past.
Ryoma wandered through the wreckage. Charred toys, overturned carts, and ash-stained books littered the ground—traces of lives erased. He brushed his hand against a burnt wall, its rough surface whispering tales of the city's fall.
Ryoma gazed at the horizon, where a crumbling tower stood at the city's heart—a final sentinel of a vanished world. The place lay utterly abandoned, as if time itself had frozen here long ago, leaving only ruins as witnesses to the devastation.
He began sifting through the debris, straining his weakened body to lift rocks in search of answers. Beneath the rubble, he found a tattered book and read a passage:
*"The lower gates rise from beneath the earth, bridging the upper and nether realms. Their emergence is random, but those who witness a gate must beware—they become likelier to reopen for them."*
Ryoma dropped the book. "No. I can't lose my family again," he muttered, racing against the approaching dawn.
Meanwhile, Cain discovered a cave entrance. His heartbeat quickened with each step into the fog-cloaked darkness. A hidden trigger snapped beneath his foot, impaling his hand with a spear. He yanked it free, blood soaking his makeshift bandage, and pressed onward.
At a dead end, he scanned the walls. "A hidden switch? Do I need to trigger every trap to find the treasure?"
After agonizing minutes, he pressed a stone with his spear. A floor panel slid open, revealing a staircase. Below lay black armor and a two-meter spear.
When Cain donned the armor, memories flooded him—visions of Carter wielding the spear centuries ago. "Why was *Carter* here? I'll confront him directly," he vowed, emerging as the crimson moon bathed the sky in red.
Cain sprinted toward the rendezvous point, finding Luna still searching. "Give up! The cave's found," he urged.
As they fled, a gate erupted before them. Monsters poured out, surrounding them. Cain fought, hands trembling, while Luna clung to his back.
Ryoma and Adam arrived at the meeting spot. "Where are the others?" Ryoma demanded.
"Still missing," Adam replied.
Ryoma's voice sharpened with panic: "The crimson moon's risen—gates spawn randomly! Anyone who's seen one has a 90% chance of attracting another!"
Horror dawned on Adam's face. Together, they raced into the forest.