The heat. It's different now.
I can't explain it, but it's alive. Not just the oppressive weight pressing against my skin or the constant crackle in my ears—this heat has intent. Like it's watching me. Like it's waiting.
The First Key pulses in my hand, slow and deliberate, as if it's syncing with my heartbeat. Each thrum reverberates through me, a low hum that seeps into the scorched ground beneath my boots.
"The First Key unlocks more than you know. Be prepared for the cost."
The System's message hovers in the air, jagged and flickering like unstable fire. The cost. There's always a cost.
I mutter under my breath, voice rasping from the smoke I've been breathing for hours—or days, maybe. "More pain, more nightmares, more things trying to kill me. Yeah, I'm prepared."
I laugh, but it's bitter. Hollow.
The forest doesn't seem amused.
