Black stone, ash falling from the dark crimson sky like endless rain, and molten rivers casting a blood-red light across their bare skin.
Ayomide walked in front, keeping his golden-crimson eyes locked on the horizon.
Every step across the hot obsidian reminded him that they had only barely escaped the lava salamanders from the riverbanks.
His throat burned with dry heat, and his calves throbbed, but his jaw remained set.
At least we’re alive, he thought, his chest tightening slightly as hot ash brushed his bare shoulders.
Adesewa walked beside Success, her breathing slightly heavier than usual in the oppressive heat.
She subtly positioned her body to shield the embarrassed girl, while Success, her dry lips parted and her knees trembling from exhaustion, walked closely in Ayomide’s shadow.
They had been walking for a long while under the suffocating sky.
Hot ash stuck to their damp skin, and the scorching rocks beneath their bare feet forced them to constantly adjust their footing.
As they dragged themselves up another jagged incline, Ayomide lifted a hand, brushing a dark lock of hair away from his ear for the fourth time.
This is getting annoying, he thought, shifting his shoulders.
He still hadn’t gotten used to the extra weight falling around his neck.
Success, squinting at the back of his head, rasped through her parched throat.
“…Now that I just notice…
it seems your hair has changed.” Ayomide didn’t stop walking, though he brushed the strand away once more.
“What?” She pointed toward his neck.
“It is now longer.” “No wonder I don dey feel something dey touch my ear,” Ayomide muttered in a dry, low tone.
“But because of that monster wey dey pursue us, I no get time to notice.” His eyes then drifted past her shoulder, landing on Success’s head.
He raised a single eyebrow.
“…Whoa.
Now that you mention it, I just also notice yours.
The colour has changed to that of a grandma.
No wonder you no fit carry yourself again.” Success froze mid-step.
Her hand slowly reached up, her fingers trembling as she pulled a lock of her own hair into view.
White strands, interwoven with radiant crimson, glinted in the volcanic light.
She stared at it in utter shock, her face twisting as if she were on the verge of crying.
“…I’m not that old…” she stammered, her face burning with embarrassment.
Ayomide almost smiled.
Almost.
He caught himself before the corner of his mouth could lift, keeping his face calm as he inspected her.
“Your eyes don change too,” he added.
“But no be only you.
E be like say na the three of us changed after waking up.
Did that river we fell into do this?” Adesewa remained silent, but Ayomide caught her pausing near a small pool of stagnant water trapped between two obsidian rocks.
She looked down at her own reflection.
Her dark hair remained mostly black, but thin, thread-like crimson lines ran through the strands—subtle, almost invisible, yet undeniable.
She looked away from the water without a word, her expression unreadable.
“Whatever happened in that river…” Success whispered, looking down at her bare hands, “it changed all of us.” A few moments later, as they continued traversing the jagged pass, Success stumbled over a small ridge of black stone, her exhaustion showing.
Ayomide glanced back, watching her recover.
She keeps stumbling, he thought.
Is it really because she’s still weak…
or is her balance different now?
His eyes briefly dropped toward her bare torso for a fraction of a second before he looked straight ahead again.
“…Well, I was just wondering why someone your age is still struggling to walk and stumbling so much,” Ayomide said, his voice entirely composed.
Success’s eyebrow twitched.
“What are you trying to say?” Ayomide’s gaze flicked back down for a brief beat.
“…Maybe those are slowing you down.” Silence fell over the volcanic pass.
Success’s face exploded into a deep, furious crimson.
“W-What are you talking about?!” Ayomide kept walking forward, his posture completely unbothered.
“I was only thinking if cutting them off would allow you to move freely.” “Don’t you dare!” Success squeaked, her voice cracking in utter disbelief.
Beside her, Adesewa’s lips twitched.
For the first time since they had entered this nightmare zone, a faint, near-invisible smile touched the corner of Adesewa’s mouth.
*So he really has changed,* Adesewa thought silently, her eyes lingering on the back of Ayomide’s head.
Ayomide happened to catch the shift in Adesewa’s face out of the corner of his eye.
“E be like say this quiet girl own sef no small…” he said aloud.
The moment the words left his mouth, he realized he had spoken his thought out loud.
Adesewa turned her head, her calm, observing gaze locking directly onto his.
Without breaking stride or changing his deadpan face, Ayomide quietly looked straight ahead and pretended he hadn’t said a thing.
After another grueling stretch of walking under the relentless heat, they found something unusual.
Tucked between two towering obsidian cliffs was an opening.
It wasn’t natural; the entrance had clean, deliberate angles, as if carved into the living rock by human hands.
Ayomide’s expression slowly changed.
His posture grew rigid.
*Someone had made this,* he thought, stepping closer to the smooth stone edges.
*Someone had stood where I’m standing right now.* He raised a flat hand, signaling the girls to stop.
Sensing no immediate movement inside, Ayomide reached down, picked up a heavy jagged stone, and tossed it into the darkness.
*CLACK…
clack…
clack…* The sound echoed once before vanishing into the depth.
Silence.
He exchanged a swift glance with Adesewa and Success before stepping across the threshold.
The two girls followed closely behind his flank.
The cave wasn’t deep—more like a crude, desperate shelter someone had carved to hide from the hell above.
Then…
they saw them.
Success stopped breathing for a moment.
Ayomide said nothing; he simply stared.
Skeletons.
Adesewa didn’t gasp.
Instead, she stepped forward silently, crouching beside one of the skeletal frames resting against the stone wall.
Her eyes systematically tracked the damaged bones—a shattered ribcage here, a severed leg there, a skull fractured by immense pressure.
She was analyzing *how* they died.
Near one frame lay a broken, rusted sword.
Beside another lay ruined leather pouches and small, decayed personal belongings.
Success lowered her eyes, her voice barely a whisper.
“…What is this place…?” Ayomide’s eyes swept the cave floor, searching for anything that could keep them alive.
“It looks like people reached here long before us,” he said quietly.
“From their position, it looks like hunger or poison killed them, not monsters.” He picked up a surprisingly preserved cloak resting near a corner skeleton and began shaking off the thick dust.
“They don’t need this anymore,” Ayomide muttered, his tone entirely practical.
“We do.” Success stared at him for several seconds, her lips trembling slightly.
“You’re not human,” she whispered.
Ayomide paused.
He looked back at her over his shoulder.
“…Wetin?” “Who sees dead people and immediately starts checking what they left behind like this?” Ayomide glanced down at the skeleton, then back at her with a flat expression.
“A living person trying not to become another skeleton.” Success went quiet.
She swallowed hard, unable to find a single counter-argument.
Ayomide turned his attention back to the gear, but his hand hovered over a faded leather bag for half a second.
*They’re dead,* he thought, suppressing the knot in his stomach.
*Feeling bad won’t bring them back.
Right now, we need clothes, food, weapons…
anything.* “Besides, shey make I join them ni?” Ayomide added dryly.
Meanwhile, Adesewa had picked up a cluster of items from beneath the broken sword.
“Ayomide,” she called out softly.
Beneath the blade lay four identical rings crafted from dense, pitch-black metal.
Each bore a sharp, engraved sigil—a coiled chain surrounding an empty geometric eye.
Ayomide stepped over and picked them up.
The moment his fingers closed around the black metal, the ring bound to his own hand suddenly became warm.
A faint vibration thrummed against his skin.
Ayomide’s expression hardened.
He stared down at his palm.
*Why is it reacting?* he thought, his brow furrowing.
*What are these?* Beside the rings lay a faded, leather-bound map fragment.
Ayomide picked it up, brushing away the thick coat of ash.
The geography etched onto the parchment didn’t match the region they were supposed to be in.
His fingers tightened around the brittle map.
“We’re far from where we fell,” Ayomide said, his voice low.
“The Crimson River dragged us into an entirely different zone.” Success’s face went pale.
“Then…
where are we?” Ayomide looked up from the map, his golden-crimson eyes calm, but cold.
“I don’t know.” Among the remains, they managed to salvage a few usable pieces of ancient leather gear and coarse cloth.
Only one set clearly belonged to a female traveler.
Success walked over to the stack of clothes.
She picked up the leather tunic, paused, and looked toward the skeleton in the corner.
Her chest tightened with a flicker of guilt.
“…I’m sorry,” Success whispered softly to the bones.
Then, shaking off the chill, she quickly turned her back to pull the worn garments over her body, breathing a massive sigh of relief as her nakedness was finally covered.
Adesewa silently assisted her, helping her tighten the straps.
Ayomide and Adesewa used what remained to wrap their waists and shoulders into rudimentary wraps.
Ayomide picked up the broken sword.
It was shattered near the midpoint and pitted with rust.
*It’s terrible,* Ayomide thought, testing the balance.
*But it’s still a blade.
Good enough.* Success sank onto a smooth stone near the cave wall, letting out a long, exhausted exhale.
She wiped sweat from her forehead.
“At least we fit get place to rest small…” Ayomide glanced back at her from the cave mouth, testing the sword’s weight.
“Don’t relax yet—” *BOOM…* The ground beneath the cave floor shuddered violently.
Dust rained down from the ceiling.
Success’s moment of relief evaporated instantly.
A low, guttural growl echoed from outside the cave entrance.
Then another.
Then a third.
“What is that…?
Is it that thing from before?!” Success whimpered, scrambling to her feet.
“No,” Ayomide whispered, stepping toward the cave mouth with the broken blade held low.
“It brought company.” Forming out of the darkness of the pass came a pack of beasts.
They were covered in thick obsidian scales, with crimson cracks glowing like flowing magma along their spines and burning orange eyes locked onto the cave entrance.
The creatures were elite-level monsters of the volcanic region, their obsidian scales and molten cracks making their presence feel eerily intimidating.
Every instinct in their bodies screamed the same thing: these creatures were just as deadly as the Crimson Guardian they had fought on the bridge.
“Make una shine una eye!” Ayomide snapped quietly.
The lead monster lunged forward, its massive, molten-dripping jaws snapping toward Ayomide’s throat.
Ayomide reacted instinctively.
His feet planted, his center of gravity shifted effortlessly, and his arm whipped forward before his brain even finished formulating the command.
*SLASH!* The broken sword cut clean through the beast’s thick obsidian scales, drawing a spray of scalding black blood across Ayomide’s hand and chest.
Ayomide stared at the black blood on his hand for half a second.
He waited for the hesitation or panic that used to come whenever he drew blood or hurt a living creature.
Nothing came.
He simply tightened his grip on the broken blade.
The creature shrieked, retreating a step.
Beside him, Adesewa’s eyes briefly moved toward Ayomide, her quiet gaze taking in his lack of hesitation.
She said nothing, her attention shifting instantly back to the pack.
A blur passed Ayomide’s left side.
It was Adesewa.
She moved with speed that defied human limits, appearing beside a secondary beast with her right fist already coiled back.
She struck the monster directly in the ribs.
*CRACK!* The impact sounded like a cannon going off.
The ground beneath the beast shattered, launching it violently backward into the rock face.
Adesewa pulled her fist back, looking down at her knuckles.
She flexed them once, her eyes narrowing slightly.
*Too much power,* she thought silently.
*I didn’t even use full strength.* Beside them, Success’s heart hammered against her ribs.
She watched Adesewa shatter rock, then looked at Ayomide cutting through obsidian hides without blinking.
*Adesewa doesn’t need me to protect her,* Success realized, a sharp, painful tightness squeezing her chest.
*And Ayomide definitely doesn’t either.* *I can’t keep being the one they have to protect.* *Move,* Success told herself furiously, digging her fingers tightly into the sharp obsidian shard she held.
*Don’t freeze again!* As the adrenaline surged, something broke open inside all three of them.
Energy erupted from their bodies like leaking pressure.
A radiant, dense golden aura flared around Ayomide, making the air around him feel immensely heavier.
Beside him, a pale, cold gold energy enveloped Adesewa, almost completely silent in its flow.
And around Success, a chaotic, deep crimson light erupted, pulsing in rhythm with her heavy heartbeat.
The battle turned into a desperate brawl.
Ayomide fought with cold precision, using the broken sword to deflect claws and strike at glowing cracks in the beasts’ armor.
Adesewa moved like a silent predator, her strikes breaking scales with terrifying force.
Success stood her ground, dodging and driving her sharp obsidian shard into a monster’s eye.
*THUD.* Together, they brought down the lead beast.
The massive creature collapsed onto the cave floor, its orange eyes fading as its life extinguished.
The remaining beasts hesitated, growling low as they circled the entrance.
Success stood over the corpse of the lead monster, gasping for air.
Her heartbeat thundered in her ears—*THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.* A pulse resonated deep inside her chest.
Without her realizing it, the crimson aura surrounding her body flowed downward, creeping across the stone floor like liquid threads…
straight into the eyes and mouth of the dead beast.
*Twitch.* The dead monster’s claw jerked.
Success’s hands trembled violently.
She instinctively took two sharp steps backward, her eyes wide with terror.
“Stay away from me…” The beast’s massive head snapped upward.
Its eyes slowly opened—glowing not orange, but a pure, eerie crimson.
The molten cracks along its scales filled with the same dark crimson energy.
The beast didn’t attack her.
It stepped forward and turned its body toward the remaining wild monsters, shielding her.
Success gaped at her own shaking hands, her breath catching in her throat.
“…Did…
did I do that?” On the other side of the cave, Ayomide felt an overwhelming pressure snap inside his soul.
The world around him lost all color.
The frantic sounds of growls and wind vanished into absolute silence.
A resonance—the exact same sensation he had felt drowning inside the Crimson River—surged into his chest.
His golden-crimson eyes narrowed with a cold light.
His lips moved.
Ayomide hadn’t consciously decided to speak, yet the words forced themselves out anyway, enforced by his very existence: **”You have a debt.”** The remaining wild monsters froze in place, their muscles locking up as if crushed by an invisible mountain.
Their claws dug uselessly into the stone floor.
None of them could move a single inch.
Ayomide took a slow step forward.
His own voice echoed strangely, carrying a weight that didn’t belong to any ordinary human command: **”You owe a debt.
Pay what you owe.”** *SNAP.* The crushing pressure vanished as quickly as it had appeared, snapping the world back to normal color and sound.
Ayomide blinked, stumbling half a step as his vision cleared.
He stared down at his palm and the broken sword in his grip.
*That voice…* he thought, his knuckles turning white around the hilt.
*It’s the same resonance from the river.
Existence Debt.* The remaining beasts didn’t flee into the dark.
Though panic flickered in their orange eyes, the crushing pressure was gone.
One of the pack members lowered its body, letting out a guttural snarl.
Another took a cautious step forward, its glowing claws scraping against the rock.
They were surrounding the cave entrance once again.
Uncertain, furious, but waiting.
Ayomide stared at the pack, his golden-crimson eyes locking onto the leader’s snarling jaw.
His grip tightened around the broken blade.
Whatever had just happened hadn’t ended the fight.
It had only made them angry.