]The jungle was quieter than usual.
Not calm—tense.
Ren felt it with every step through the soft moss beneath his boots. The trees were whispering again, but not in their usual way. It wasn't birdsong or wind. It was as if something ancient was shifting just beneath the canopy—aware of him now.
Even Gloop was unusually still, clinging to his shoulder like a translucent squishy scarf.
"Alright, buddy," Ren whispered. "We're going low profile. No explosions. No ruins. No touching weird crystals."
Gloop burbled skeptically.
"Okay—minimal touching of weird crystals."
They pushed through a curtain of mana vines—and found a clearing flooded with light.
In its center sat an old stone obelisk, cracked and moss-covered, humming faintly with green mana. Carved symbols wrapped around its base in a language Ren didn't recognize. Nearby, a lone traveler sat on a fallen root, legs crossed, as if she'd been waiting there for hours.
She wore a deep forest-green cloak lined with glinting clockleaf—the rare plant that shimmered with shifting hourglass patterns when touched by mana. A curved staff rested against her shoulder, and a pair of sharp amber eyes tracked Ren's every movement.
He froze.
So did Gloop.
"…Hi?" Ren said, carefully.
The girl tilted her head slightly. "You touched the Collapse Core."
Ren blinked. "I—you—wait, how do you know about that?"
She stood in one fluid motion, her cloak rustling like water over stones. "It marked you. That place marked both of you. You shouldn't be alive."
Ren held up his hands. "I'm starting to get that a lot."
Gloop gave a confused squeak.
She stepped closer, gaze scanning Ren's arm—the faint flicker of residual mana still dancing where the tunnel had nearly folded him out of existence.
"I've seen people try to survive a Collapse Pulse," she said. "None made it out whole. Some didn't make it out at all."
Ren tried to play it cool. "Well. I had help."
Gloop blooped proudly.
Her gaze shifted to the slime. For the first time, something changed in her expression. Surprise? Worry?
"That thing shouldn't exist," she murmured.
Ren narrowed his eyes. "Careful what you call my friend."
"You misunderstand," she said softly. "I don't mean it as an insult. I mean it as… impossibility. That's a fragment of raw mana appetite. Not just a creature—an anomaly."
"…Yeah, well, he eats collapsing tunnels, so he's on my team now."
The girl studied him a moment longer, then nodded. "I'm Lys."
"Ren."
"Welcome to the real beginning, Ren. Cindale isn't just a dream-world or a mana field. It's a witness. The ruins test the foolish. But the obelisks? They choose."
She gestured to the glowing structure behind her. The carvings had begun to shift, responding to her presence… and now Ren's.
It was starting to glow brighter.
"What's it choosing?" he asked.
"Travelers," Lys said simply. "Those the world decides are ready to move on."
Ren's breath caught.
"Wait—move on? Like… leave Cindale?"
She nodded.
"The first gate is opening."