There's a kind of silence that doesn't bring peace.
It drowns.
It suffocates.
It screams in the back of your mind that something is about to snap — and you won't survive it.
That's what tonight felt like.
---
The woods were thick with shadows, but the air was thick with something else — something sharper.
Minho's faction didn't wait long.
Just past midnight, twelve of them emerged from the black.
Armed with stolen stones, sharpened sticks, even scraps of metal twisted into cruel knives. Their faces were hard, their eyes empty.
This wasn't a bluff anymore.
This was execution.
---
I stepped forward, my voice steady though my insides churned.
"We don't have to do this."
Jiwoon stood beside me, panting, fists clenched.
Arien nocked an arrow, bow drawn, but her quiver was nearly empty — five arrows left.
The others clutched sticks, shadows of weapons, and the last threads of hope.
I scanned our group.
"Where's Ereze?"
No answer.
---
Minho's voice cut through the silence like broken glass, cold and cruel.
"You had your chance," he sneered, stepping into the dim torchlight, the flicker casting monstrous shadows on his bloodstained face.
"You think speeches save lives?"
"You think morals matter?"
"No. Only power decides."
His hand shot up.
The charge came like a thunderclap.
---
I moved first.
Blocked a swinging branch-knife with my forearm.
Elbowed another attacker in the ribs.
Jiwoon stabbed low with a jagged spear.
Chaos swallowed us whole.
Dirt, sweat, blood, and screams mingled in the night air.
One of ours screamed as he fell.
Another dropped their weapon and fled into the dark.
Arien fired two arrows — missed once, hit once.
But Minho just kept coming, like none of it mattered.
And then—
A scream tore through the chaos.
A voice I'd never heard before.
Sharp.
Hollow.
Like the air itself was being ripped apart.
---
Ereze.
She emerged from the shadows, standing tall in the center of the clearing.
Her hair fell loose, tangled and wild.
Her face was pale — almost translucent.
And in her hand — her notebook, burning.
---
"I told you not to touch my story," she whispered, voice cold and low.
No one moved.
Even Minho froze, torchlight trembling in his grip.
She let the burning pages fall to the earth.
And stepped forward.
---
One of Minho's boys lunged at her with a crude dagger.
Ereze didn't flinch.
She grabbed his wrist, twisted it until—
We all heard the snap.
No scream.
No struggle.
She moved on.
---
There was something unhuman about her.
Not wild or frantic.
Just… absolute.
Every step was final.
Every movement precise.
She disarmed two more attackers with brutal efficiency.
Broke one man's leg with a snap of her knee.
Then shoved Minho to the ground.
She knelt beside him, eyes black and empty.
"You're a side character," she said softly. "You don't get to write endings."
With a slow motion, she pulled the metal spine of her ruined notebook from her pocket.
And carved it into his shoulder.
---
> [New Narrative Thread Unlocked]
Unique Trait Revealed: Ereze — Rejection Embodied
"Those who refuse the world will eventually rewrite it."
---
Minho didn't fight back.
He trembled beneath her.
I saw the same fear in all of us.
She rose.
Breathing steady.
Calm.
And then she turned to me.
Eyes like voids, dark and endless.
"I don't want to survive," she said quietly.
"I want to correct the story."
---
For long moments, no one spoke.
The faction dissolved into the trees, leaving only the crackle of dying flames and heavy breaths behind.
Our shattered group pulled itself together, trembling but alive.
Ereze sat alone by the ashes of her notebook, staring as if seeing something only she could read.
I finally stepped forward.
"…Was this always you?" I asked.
She looked up, eyes locking with mine.
For a moment — silence.
Then:
"I read this novel too."
Her voice was softer now.
"And I hated every ending."
Her fingers brushed the blackened pages.
"So I broke into the Tower to change it."
---
I swallowed hard.
"You broke in? But—how?"
She smiled.
Cold.
Beautiful.
Dangerous.
"I've died in here before," she said simply.
"Hundreds of times."
Her eyes glinted with something fierce.
"But this time…"
She paused.
"I remember."
---
The forest seemed to hold its breath.
And so did I.
---
To be continued...