The air around the throne moved, but the throne didn't.A slow distortion spread outward from the seated figure, bending light and space in subtle waves. Axel stood still, staring at the version of himself sitting on the black-rooted throne. The hybrid girl stayed slightly behind him, tense, her fingers lightly gripping his sleeve as if anchoring herself to something real.The figure on the throne tilted its head again. This time, it smiled. Not mockingly.Not aggressively but like recognition.“I was wondering when you would arrive,” it said again, voice identical to Axel’s.Axel’s eyes narrowed.“Who are you?”A pause.Then the figure leaned forward slightly, resting its elbow on the arm of the throne.“I already told you.”Its gaze deepened. “I am you.”The hybrid girl stiffened immediately.“That’s not possible,” she whispered.The throne figure glanced at her briefly. “It is.”Axel didn’t move. His voice stayed calm.“You’re not me.”A faint silence followed.Then the figure exha

The following morning, the group left the underground shelter before the shifting landscape could change again. None of them wanted to remain near the hollow survivor they had discovered the previous night. The image of the man sitting against the wall, unable to remember even his own name, lingered heavily in everyone's thoughts. The hybrid girl walked quietly near Axel, her expression distant as she occasionally glanced at the broken toy she still carried. Markus led the way through the gray wasteland, maintaining a steady pace while keeping watch for changes in the terrain.The Second Layer seemed different that day. The air felt denser, almost heavier than before. Strange distortions shimmered across the horizon, and entire sections of land appeared to bend unnaturally. Mountains that had been visible hours earlier no longer existed. New structures had appeared in their place. It was becoming increasingly clear that the deeper they traveled into this layer, the less stable re

The destruction left behind by the Memory Hunter lingered long after the battle ended. Although the creature had been destroyed, the encounter had left an uncomfortable weight hanging over the group. Nobody spoke much as they continued through the fractured streets of the Second Layer. The city around them seemed quieter now, as though even the shifting ruins were observing them from a distance. The hybrid girl remained close to Axel while Markus walked several paces ahead, his expression darker than usual.The memory of temporarily forgetting his own name continued bothering Axel. Every few minutes, he found himself unconsciously repeating it in his mind. Axel.The simple act felt strange. Necessary.As if he feared the memory might disappear again if he stopped holding onto it.The Second Layer wasn't trying to kill them.It was trying to erase them.That realization had become impossible to ignore.Hours passed as they crossed another section of unstable terrain. The landscape gr

The instability began without warning, not as an explosion or visible rupture, but as a subtle wrongness spreading through the Second Layer. At first, the group only noticed small inconsistencies in the environment. A distant structure would appear solid, then flicker into incomplete ruins a moment later. Paths they had just walked across no longer existed when they turned back. Even the sky seemed to lose continuity, with fragments of light misaligning like broken reflections that refused to match each other.Axel slowed his steps as the changes intensified. The system inside him reacted faintly, but instead of offering clarity, it only produced fragmented warnings that dissolved before they could be understood. Markus had already stopped speaking entirely, his attention fixed on the shifting horizon as if trying to interpret something that only he could partially recognize. The hybrid girl stayed close to Axel, but even she looked unsettled, her eyes scanning the environment as if

The Second Layer no longer felt like a collapsing world. It felt like a battlefield that had finally chosen its sides.The change started subtly at first, with distant movement across broken horizons. Axel noticed silhouettes gathering in places where nothing had existed moments before. Not random survivors, not scattered anomalies, but structured formations. Groups moving with intention. Coordination. Purpose.Markus noticed it too.His expression darkened immediately.“This is organized,” he said quietly.The hybrid girl tightened her grip on Axel’s sleeve, scanning the horizon with growing unease.More figures appeared. Then more.And within minutes, the emptiness of the wasteland had been replaced by movement on all sides.Axel felt it before anyone spoke again.The Memory Hunters had changed.They were no longer isolated predators drifting through instability. They had become factions. Structured groups.Units operating with shared rules.And they were moving like they understood