Mei suddenly woke up in the middle of the night.
"What a weird dream."
"I can't remember anything at all."
As she spoke, a faint sensation descended upon her.
"Wait… what is this feeling—"
Suddenly, her stomach twisted. A wave of unease hit without warning, and a burning sensation spread across the back of her hand.
A low, hollow sound rose from deep in her throat, as if her body was rejecting something she couldn't see. She bent forward, clutching her stomach.
"Sister! What's wrong with you?!"
Shi Da shouted, having just woken up, already sensing something was wrong.
"What happened?!"
Wang Da rushed into the room after hearing his son shout.
While the chaos was going on, Mei, twisting in pain, caught sight of her brother—
No… that doesn't seem to be her brother.
"Who are you…?"
Her vision faded.
—
At the village healer's hut,
The smell of herbs and incense filled the room. The walls were lined with copper bells and iron tools.
in the dark room At the center, an old man sat in a trance, lighting three sticks of incense. A small girl lay before him, inside a circle drawn with salt.
Talismans marked with unknown script were placed across her body—on both hands, both feet, and one over her heart.
Her head faced east. The old man struck a bell and began chanting incomprehensible words.
The ritual continued for ten minutes before he finally stopped.
"How was it?"
Wang Da asked, unable to hide the worry in his voice.
The old man exhaled slowly before opening his eyes.
"She will be fine," he said. "At most, she came into contact with an ominous spirit."
He reached out, lifting her eyelid and checking her pulse.
"as for mark at the back of her hand There seem to be no signs of possession. No lingering traces either. Her life is not in danger."
"Return to your home. Leave her with me. She needs some rest, and I need to watch over her to ensure she remains stable."
The old man said as he arranged two iron swords near the girl's feet, each with talismans, their sharp sides facing westward.
"These two swords guard the west, where the sun sets and yin energy gathers."
"Any ghost or ominous spirit that wants to reach her will be cut down by the swords."
—
At noon,
"Um…~"
She didn't know why, but something was urging her to wake up. She seemed to smell something bitter, yet fragrant. It reminded her of a routine, as if she had something to do at this time.
She couldn't see any faces. They were all shrouded in mist—gray, brown, blue, yellow, white.
The sound of paper flipping echoed in the air. She could hear people murmuring, along with soft jazz music drifting around her.
It felt like some kind of hallucination. Everything here filled her with unease.
When she saw it—someone who looked almost like her sitting in a café—she seemed to become one with it.
Drinking a warm milk from a cup, blending into the atmosphere. Wearing some kind of suit that didn't seem to fit her, along with a matching unbranded skirt, she was reading an ironwork magazine.
"That's right… this is my routine. this is normal."
As she checked the time, ten minutes had already passed.
Thump!!
Suddenly, a loud sound echoed across the café.
"The ten-minute break is over. I should return to work."
Everyone stopped what they were doing—including her—and turned toward an ordinary man in a cheap suit and a cheap tie.
Even though the words seemed like he was speaking to himself, it was as if everyone acknowledged that sentence.
And together with everyone else, she spoke in unison—
"As it should be."
—
"Ah… why do I feel like I'm facing something normal…?"
"Eh…?"
She said that as she wondered why she had woken up and reacted like this to something that should be normal, even though she couldn't remember what it was.
As she observed her surroundings, the smell of incense and herbs hit her nose.
"This place… the healer's hut?"
"And why are there two swords near my feet… and these talismans?"
She thought as she tried to stand up. As the daughter of a blacksmith, she knew a little more than children her age.
"You're awake already, right? Food is on the table. After eating, return home. Your family is worried about you.
Also, bring those two swords with you and return them to me later."
An aged voice came from the room on the left. It seemed to be the village healer.
As soon as she finished eating, she left the hut.
—
As she walked home with two swords hanging at her side, she felt something—like something bad was about to happen.
After she woke up, everything in the village seemed to have changed.
Every house was shrouded in a faint grayish fog, while a red mist gathered along the ground. No one seemed to notice anything amiss.
"My eyes… what is this… on the back of my hand?"
It was noon. The sun shone brightly in the sky. After staying inside a dark room for the entire night, her eyes struggled to adjust.
As she raised her hand to block the light, she saw it—a mark on the back of her hand.
After everything that had happened, she had almost forgotten about it.
She felt that if she focused on it, she would understand.
[Mark of Desolation]
[Description: Desolation is not the source of disaster or calamity—it is what remains after. The aftermath. What is left behind.]
[Effect: After spiritual contact, the user becomes part of the source of Desolation in this world.
The user can passively sense areas where the Aura of Desolation gathers and pinpoint their location. Can continuously drain [PER] to strengthen the connection.]
The lines of text appeared before her eyes again. After waking up, she had not seen them, so she had almost forgotten.
"What… is the Aura of Desolation? Is my unease coming from this…?"
As she got closer to her home, the burning on her hand grew stronger.
It was as if the mark was responding to something.
The closer she got—
the more it hurt.
"Shi Da…"
In front of her house stood her brother. She didn't know why—
but something about him felt repulsive.
She could see it. No—sense it.
It felt like something was urging her—to activate the mark.
So she did.
The moment she focused on it, a splitting pain shot through her head.
But even that pain could not compare to what she saw. as her eye begin to bleed she saw
The fog thickened until she could no longer see beyond it.
The sky turned faintly red.
The red mist on the ground became thick like blood and surged like a river, rushing toward her.
As for her brother, a mass of gray with a faint tint of red gathered around him, shrouding him like mist. The feeling it gave her was full of dread and bloodshed.
Behind him followed a sea of colored mist like a shadow—a mix of gray, brown, and yellow.
As her vision faded, she understood what that sea of color represented.
A word appeared in her mind:
[Desolation]
—
"So… it's like that."
The moment Mei met with Shi Da, he realized something was wrong with him.
So he guided Mei to use the mark.
Only when she activated it could he see through her.
"Isn't the first performance supposed to be solo work?"
He said as he checked the lines of text that appeared before him.
[Actor: Shi Da][Title: Fierce Spear General]
[Director: Invincible Dao Heart Immortal-Seeker]
[Viewer: 230]