---
Days passed, then a whole week searching for Adlof. No trace of him. But they did not stop. The three left the kingdom's walls, chasing any clue that could lead them to the truth. Monsters blocked their way, but their swords and axes carved through them swiftly. Each strike ended with blood splattering on the grass, the smell of iron mixing with the damp earth.
Then the hybrid feral hound appeared. Massive, its eyes glowing, its jaw dripping thick saliva mixed with scraps of human flesh.
They raised their weapons in a defensive stance. But then…
The world changed.
Aldein was no longer in the forest. He was seated on a wooden chair in a small cabin. His little daughter sat before him, eating from the warm soup he spoon-fed her. His wife placed a plate of rice and meat before him with a gentle smile. The air was pure, the sun shone over their fields. It was the very dream he had spoken of only last night.
For the first time, he felt peace.
But when he walked into the fields, he saw it.
The hound. Standing in the middle of his farm. Like a stain of blood upon a perfect painting.
Aldein trembled. He grabbed a small sickle used for weeds, standing before it like a farmer, not a warrior.
The beast lunged.
His daughter's scream pierced his soul as she was torn apart before his eyes, reduced to nothing but a bloodied piece of cloth.
His wife screamed—then fell, devoured.
The villagers ran to help, but they followed the same fate. Blood soaked the crops, the sound of chewing flesh filled the fields.
Aldein collapsed, pounding the ground with his fists until his knuckles split and his hands drowned in his own blood. He cried out:
"Why? Why is nothing ever whole? Why can't there be anything complete? I just want peace! A single moment of peace!"
The sky split apart. The illusion shattered.
---
He was back in the forest. The blood around him was real this time.
He saw Kim first. His body shredded, his face unrecognizable—just flesh torn across bone. One of the beasts chewed on a piece of him, then spat it out as if it wasn't enough.
Aldein picked up his body, set it aside, but his hand shook so violently he nearly dropped him.
Then he saw Sam. He was laughing. Laughing like a man in a beautiful dream. In his mind, he was a great inventor, celebrated by crowds, letters of thanks pouring in. But his real body was being eaten alive, piece by piece, the hound savoring his torment.
Sam smiled until the very last breath… then fell, his eyes still open.
Tears burst from Aldein's eyes. Hot tears he couldn't stop. His scream tore through the silence:
"I will tear you apart, beast!"
---
He charged at the hound.
The first strike of his axe hit its side, but the creature blocked it with its claws.
The second blow was stronger, yet blocked again.
The hound leapt, slamming him down with crushing weight. His bones cracked, blood spilling from his mouth.
He tried to rise… but realized his left leg was gone. Torn clean off.
The pain was unbearable, beyond any battle he'd fought before.
He crawled, gasping, until he found a broken branch. With a blood-soaked rag, he tied it to the stump of his leg. Struggling, trembling, he finally stood.
"Not yet… I will not fall yet."
He began to run. Every step was fire burning through his nerves, but pain became his fuel. Bit by bit, he touched something different… the Physical Perception.
He grew faster. Stronger. His muscles pulsed with boiling blood.
He leapt high, raised his axe with all his strength. The first strike tore through the beast's body, blood spraying like rain.
The hound howled, tried to regenerate its torn limb—but Aldein did not stop.
The second strike severed its leg.
The third split open its chest.
The monster fell. Its blood drenched the earth, reeking foully, as though the ground itself rejected its death.
---
Aldein stood trembling, sweat and blood mixing on his skin. Around him, no one remained. Kim, Sam, the entire expedition—they were gone.
He sank to the ground, his eyes empty. Slowly, he raised his head to the dark sky.
"Even victory… is incomplete."
Then came a broken laugh, the laugh of a man who had realized that peace did not exist in this world.