Area-73's night was colder than usual.The neon signs hummed weakly, like they were afraid of the darkness settling over the district. Zen kept his hood low as he crossed the crowded alleys. Every shadow felt like it watched him. Every footstep echoed with a memory of the creature that should not exist.
He touched the bruises on his ribs.Still there. Still real.
He wasn't hallucinating.
He reached a rusted metal door hidden behind crates and illegal power cables. He knocked twice, paused, then once more.
A small slit opened.
"Password?"
Zen sighed. "Lysa, it's me."
The door swung open immediately.
A woman in her late twenties—short hair, leather jacket, cigarette between her fingers—smiled wide.
"Zen! You look like hell. Come on, boss has been waiting."
Inside the hideout, warmth replaced the freezing wind.Barrels burned softly. People played cards, cleaned guns, argued, laughed. It wasn't a perfect place. It wasn't safe.
But it was the closest thing Zen had to a family.
A fat man with tattoos across his arms shouted from a couch:
"HEY! Devil of 73 is back! Did ya punch God or something? Look at your face!"
Laughter broke across the room.
Zen almost smiled.
He walked to the back office where Maro, the boss, waited. Maro was old, scarred, half-blind, and smarter than anyone Zen knew. He was the only reason this mafia survived Avalon's shadow.
"You're late," Maro said without looking up.
"Got into trouble."
Maro raised one eyebrow. "The kind of trouble you can fix with fists, or the kind that gets us all erased?"
Zen hesitated.He thought of the glowing fossil in the alley.The creature made of bone and shadow.The faceless being that erased it without a sound.
"…Second type," Zen whispered.
Maro finally looked up.His expression changed.
"Show me."
Zen placed the Genesis Stone on the table. Wrapped in cloth. Not glowing now. Just a strange, heavy thing.
Maro didn't touch it.He leaned closer, studying the faint cracks of violet inside.
"That's no ordinary fossil," he murmured. "That's the kind Avalon hunts."
Zen stiffened. "You knew?"
"Everyone in the underground knows. Avalon buys these for insane prices. Eclipse steals them. And idiots like us try to survive between those monsters."
Zen lowered his voice."Maro… something came for it. Something not human."
Maro didn't laugh. Not even a smile.
"Then it's worse than I thought."
Silence.
Maro stood, placed a heavy hand on Zen's shoulder.
"Listen, kid. You're like a son to me. If Avalon comes for you… we'll protect you. All of us."
Zen froze.
"You don't need—"
"I do. You think I'll let those polished murderers touch my family?"
For a moment, Zen felt warmth in his chest.A feeling he rarely allowed himself.
But deep inside, he knew the truth:
If Avalon wanted them dead… nothing could save them.
Meanwhile — Home
Rey stood in the small kitchen, stirring soup while their mother struggled into her uniform.
"Rey, don't forget to water your little plant," she smiled gently.
"I already did," Rey said proudly.
She kissed his forehead and hurried out.
Rey looked at the tiny tree by the window and whispered:
"Grow strong. Zen needs luck today."
Back at the hideout, Zen left Maro's office.The conversations, the laughter, the warmth—it all felt fragile now.
He looked around at the only people who ever cared about him.
And for the first time…
Zen feared the future.