Darkness.

Then—pain.

Ren gasped, his body convulsing as raw energy ripped through his veins. His vision blurred. The silver thread stretched before him, vibrating like a plucked string, humming with something vast and unseen.

He hadn't meant to touch it.

He barely brushed against it—

And the world shattered.

The village bonfire dimmed, flickering violently. The air cracked like splintering glass. The entire night seemed to warp inward, collapsing into itself—

Then—

The bandit screamed.

Ren's breath hitched. The man staggered, his body twitching unnaturally. Threads—golden, fraying, unraveling—peeled from his form like unraveling cloth, twisting into the air.

One moment, he was standing.

The next—he was dust.

Scattered in the wind.

Silence.

Ren's heart pounded against his ribs. What just happened?

Around the fire, the remaining bandits stood frozen, their eyes locked onto the empty space where their companion had been.

Then came the shouting.

"What the hell was that?!"

A woman stumbled back, hand reaching for her sword, her face pale. "That—that wasn't magic! That wasn't normal magic!"

Ren took a step back. His veins still burned. Whatever he had done, whatever he had touched—it was still inside him, humming beneath his skin, waiting.

I need to run.

The first bandit snapped out of his daze, pointing with a shaking hand. "It was him! The boy!"

Ren turned—and bolted.

Behind him, the remaining bandits surged forward, their yells splitting the night. The forest loomed ahead, shadows twisting between the trees.

Ren's lungs burned as he pushed himself forward, but his mind spun.

That wasn't just magic.

He had pulled something.

Unraveled something.

And now they were going to kill him for it.

Ren tore through the underbrush, twigs snapping beneath his feet. Branches lashed against his arms, but he didn't slow. He could still hear them behind him—cursing, weapons scraping against leather scabbards.

"Find him!"

"He killed Luth! I want his head!"

His chest heaved. He wasn't fast enough. They would catch him. And if they did—

No. He couldn't think like that.

Up ahead, the forest split into two paths.

To the right—a clearing, too open.

To the left—thicker trees, harder to move through, but easier to hide.

Ren veered left.

The ground sloped downward. His foot caught on a root—his ankle twisted, and he crashed into the dirt.

Pain shot up his leg.

No, no, not now—

He scrambled forward, dragging himself behind a fallen log just as the bandits entered the clearing behind him.

"There!" One of them pointed at the disturbed underbrush. "He went left!"

Ren held his breath.

Their boots pounded past, branches snapping underfoot.

Then—silence.

He waited. Ten seconds. Twenty. The sounds of pursuit faded into the distance.

Ren exhaled slowly.

I need to keep moving.

His leg throbbed as he stood, but he gritted his teeth and pushed forward.

Just get back to the village.

He took a step—

The world tilted.

The trees warped. The ground rippled beneath him. Threads—thin and silver—spun across his vision, drifting through the air like strands of silk.

Then, a voice.

"Pull."

It wasn't his own.

Ren froze. The whisper had come from everywhere and nowhere at once.

A presence unseen.

A command unspoken.

"Pull."

His fingers trembled. A single thread hovered before him, glimmering, shifting as if it knew he was looking.

He didn't know why, but he knew—this was different.

This wasn't like before.

His breath hitched.

He swallowed hard—

Then—he pulled.

It was like grabbing lightning.

A shock ripped through him, searing his bones. The trees bent backward, the air groaned under the weight of something unseen.

And then—

The world shifted.

Ren staggered, his head spinning. The night sky flickered—

For a moment, he wasn't standing in the forest anymore.

He was somewhere else.

A vast expanse of golden strands stretched in every direction, infinite and pulsing.

A glimpse of something immeasurable.

Then, just as quickly—he was back.

The pain in his skull was unbearable. Blood dripped from his nose.

The voice whispered again.

"You were not meant to see this."

Ren's vision blurred.

The darkness swallowed him whole.