Darkness.
Not the peaceful kind—the kind you sink into during sleep, gentle and quiet like a lullaby.
No, this was the kind that gripped you by the throat. The kind that pressed down on your chest like a slab of stone. Heavy. Suffocating. Endless.
Scar opened his eyes slowly, breath ragged and uneven, as if each inhale had to claw its way into his lungs.
He expected light. The system's voice. The tower. Back to earth. Maybe even the usual flare of level-up screens, skills acquired, or bonus stat allocations.
Instead…
He saw sky.
A sky so alien it took his breath away. Crimson clouds churned above like boiling blood, their edges tinged with violet lightning that crackled soundlessly across the heavens. They swirled like a wound that refused to close. It stretched endlessly, a canvas of pain and fury smeared across the horizon.
Around him, the land stretched in every direction—jagged and twisted. Blackened trees stood tall, leafless, their branches curled like claws reaching for something long gone. The ground was cracked and dry, broken into a thousand fault lines, each one oozing a faint glow as if the planet itself bled from ancient wounds.
The silence… was wrong.
No birds. No wind. Not even the buzz of distant insects. Just an oppressive stillness that made his skin crawl.
Scar tried to move—but pain answered.
His back screamed. His shoulders ached. And when he looked down…
Blood.
Dry. Caked across his chest and arms like paint on cracked stone. Some of it flaked off as he moved. Some had already scabbed over. The scent of iron clung to him, metallic and thick.
He groaned and pushed himself up, using his greatsword . The blade—once pristine—was chipped along the edges, its surface dulled with old ichor and grime. It had served him through hell. Now it looked just as ruined as he felt.
Then the message came.
Flat. Unfeeling. Projected in glowing white letters mid-air—like a divine judgment passed down.
[Error. Faild to transfer Error. Faild to transfer Error. Faild to transfer Error. Faild to transfer Error. Faild to transfer...]
It repeated. Again and again. Dozens of times. Glitching. Looping. Mocking.
He stared. Heart pounding. A ringing sound filled his ears—a high-pitched whine, sharp and invasive.
"…What?"
His voice sounded distant. Smaller than it had ever been.
He wasn't dead.
But he wasn't accepted, either.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN FAILED TO TRANSFER!?" he shouted, rage tearing through his throat. "WE CLEARLY FINISHED THE DAMN TUTORIAL!"
His fists clenched. Veins stood out along his arms.
"AFTER ALL THAT BLOODSHED AND SUFFERING!!IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF YOU, SELENAAAA!"
He slammed his fist into the ground and screamed until his chest burned. But the sound vanished into the empty air. No one answered. No system voice responded. No comfort came.
[Error. Faild to transfer Error. Faild to transfer Error. Faild to transfer...]
"Okay okay, just shut up already!" Scar tried to wave with his hands at the message.
[Error. Faild to transfer Error. Faild to transfer...]
"STOOP!!!" he screamed.
[System error. Warning: Due to an error in the system, the system can't work properly. Warning: Status Can't be updated.]
"What the... well, at least this thing isn't going to ring anymore," he muttered. He didn't seem to care much. He accepted reality.
Scar's eyes adjusted as he scanned the land around him again. And this time, he saw more.
Bones—hundreds of them. Some human. Some not. Skulls with twisted horns. Ribs from beasts larger than wagons. Rusted armor half-buried in ash. Blades jutting out of the soil like forgotten gravestones.
A wasteland. No, worse. A grave.
He opened his status window.
════════════════════════════════════════
STATUS WINDOW
════════════════════════════════════════
Name: Scar
Race: Human
Class: Warrior
Rank: N/A
Title: None
World: Earth
───────────────────────────────
Status Effects:
• Severe Blood Loss
• Extreme Fatigue
• Aura Exhaustion
• Multiple Fractures
───────────────────────────────
Notes:
> Body Condition: Critical
> Unknown Variable Detected
════════════════════════════════════════
His lips tightened into a thin line.
"...Inventory."
The word triggered a dull flash in the air, and a familiar panel appeared—ghostly and welcome.
At least that still worked.
He pulled out some bandages, painkillers, and healing potions. His hands moved automatically—years of survival instinct kicking in. He cleaned the wounds, drank the bitter liquid, and wrapped what he could.
Minutes passed. Maybe hours. The crimson sky didn't change. There was no sun. No movement. Just endless blood-colored clouds swirling above like a haunting eye.
Eventually, the trembling stopped. The pain dulled. His breath steadied.
And Scar stood.
He didn't know why. No system quest guided him. No rewards waited. No companion beside him.
He began walking. No direction. Just forward. Boots crunching over dead leaves and broken glass. Each step felt heavier than the last, as if the air itself resisted movement. The land seemed to fight him. The very ground clawed at his feet.
He passed a broken sword embedded in the dirt. A cloak still wrapped around skeletal remains. A sigil he didn't recognize burned into a rock face, half-faded from time. Strange carvings lined some of the stones—warnings, perhaps. Or confessions.
Still, he walked.
Hope wasn't what moved him.
It was something else. Something quieter. Angrier. A stubborn flame that refused to go out.
He was supposed to die here. Forgotten. Crushed by despair.
But Scar didn't die when he lost.
He didn't die in the tutorial.
And he sure as hell wasn't going to die in a graveyard of cowards and corpses.
He stopped at the edge of a small cliff, looking out across the landscape—miles of sand, ash, bone, and twisted metal. In the far distance, he thought he saw something rise from the horizon—a dark silhouette, like a broken tower.
He tightened the bandages on his wrist, gripped the worn hilt of his sword, and looked up at the bleeding sky.
Scar's lips curled into a faint, bitter smile.
He took another step forward, into the cursed horizon.