Cracked Pillars of Fate

Chapter 7: Screams of the Streets

"Five dollars, Miller. Not a cent less. This pocket watch is an antique, not some junk you found in a gutter."

El Joe wiped the surface of the silver pocket watch with a dull flannel cloth. Around him, Crossings Market pulsed with its usual frenzy. The smell of cheap cooking oil, exhaust fumes, and the scent of rusted metal mingled in the hot air. The shouts of vendors called out to one another, trying to drown out the music from loud, old radios.

"You're squeezing me, Joe. This watch doesn't even tick," grumbled Miller, a middle-aged man wearing a greasy flat cap.

"It doesn't need a tick to give you style, pal. It has a soul," Joe grinned, revealing a row of neat teeth. His sharp eyes watched every movement in the market. Joe wasn't just a trader; he was the anchor for this small community in a forgotten corner of the city. If there was trouble with local gangs or corrupt cops, Joe was the first person they looked for.

Suddenly, the laughter and bargaining stopped. Not because it slowly faded, but as if someone had just pressed the mute button on the entire world.

Joe looked up. The blue sky above the city suddenly turned pale, then cracked. A neon purple line split the horizon, followed by a sound like giant glass being shattered by a sledgehammer. An unnatural cold wind blew hard, flipping over vending tables and blowing away shade cloths.

"What is that? Joe? What’s happening?" Miller asked, his voice trembling.

Joe didn't answer. His instincts screamed at him to run, but his feet were frozen. In the middle of the torn sky, a massive black hole appeared, pulsing like a giant, diseased heart. Black light radiated outward, sweeping across high-rise buildings until they crumbled into dust in seconds.

Then, a voice echoed inside his head, cold and mechanical.

[Initiating Arcana Dimension Integration...]

[Subject Detected: El Joe. Kategori: Class A Leadership Potential.]

[Adjusting Location... Rift Zone Fixed.]

"Joe! Help!"

That scream jolted Joe back to reality. The bustling Crossings Market had turned into hell in an instant. The buildings around the market were distorted, as if space and time were being squeezed by an invisible hand. Debris fell from the sky, and thick dust began to shroud his vision.

"Everyone get down! Take cover under concrete structures!" Joe shouted, his voice booming through the deafening roar of the wind.

He pulled Miller under his sturdy wooden table just before a large chunk of asphalt hit where Miller had been standing. The world shook violently. Joe closed his eyes, feeling the vibrations tearing at the foundations of the earth. When the shaking stopped, a haunting silence enveloped them. Not a peaceful silence, but a deadly one.

Joe crawled out from the wreckage of the table. Dust covered everything, making the market look like a gray cemetery. Miller lay unconscious beside him. Joe stood up, gasping for air, staring around.

The city's skyscrapers were gone, replaced by strange geometric structures floating in the air. The sky was no longer blue, but a dark purple with flashes of energy striking across it.

"Miller? Hey, wake up!" Joe shook his friend's shoulder, but the man remained still.

Suddenly, Joe felt a piercing chill down his spine. From behind the fog of dust, a shadow emerged. Its shape was indistinct, like distorted black smoke, yet it had eyes that glowed a pale white without pupils. The creature hovered low, emitting a hissing sound that sounded like thousands of overlapping whispers.

[Warning: Memory Eater Detected.]

[Threat: Identity Erasure.]

"What the hell is that?" Joe took a step back, his hands fumbling on the ground until he found a rusted iron pipe.

At the end of the street, a young woman ran out from the ruins of a bakery, her face full of panic. "Help! Anyone!"

The shadow creature spun quickly and lunged toward the woman. Before Joe could think, his legs were already moving. "Hey! Over here, you damn smoke!"

Joe threw the iron pipe. It passed through the creature's body with no significant effect, but it succeeded in diverting its attention. The creature turned, staring at Joe. As those white eyes met his, Joe felt an overwhelming wave of sadness. He saw the memory of his mother fading, his father's face becoming blurred, and the street names of this city beginning to vanish from his mind.

No! You won't take anything from me! Joe growled internally, biting his lip until it bled to maintain his consciousness.

[Leadership Synchronization: Detected.]

[Awakening Skill: Environmental Adaptation (Level 1).]

Instantly, Joe's vision changed. Lines of green light appeared around him, highlighting cracks in walls, stable piles of rubble, and safe paths through the ruins. He could see air currents and weak points in the structures that were still standing.

"Over here! Get into this alley!" Joe shouted at the woman.

He ran to meet the woman, grabbed her arm, and pulled her into a narrow gap between two buildings that his vision indicated was the safest spot. The Memory Eater floated closer, its long, smoky hands trying to reach them.

Joe saw an overturned gas tank near the mouth of the alley. He could see a red line in his eyes marking the pressure point on the tank's valve.

"Cover your ears!" Joe commanded.

He grabbed a gas lighter from his pocket, lit it, and kicked the gas tank valve just as the creature entered the blast radius.

BOOM!

The explosion wasn't large, but the pressure of the fire was enough to scatter the creature's smoky form. The creature shrieked with a heart-wrenching sound before finally evaporating into black dust.

Joe slumped to the ground, his chest heaving. The woman beside him was shaking violently, tears streaming down her dirty cheeks. "It... it almost took my memories. I almost forgot who I am."

"But you didn't forget," Joe said firmly, standing up and extending his hand. "My name is Joe. Who are you?"

"Sarah," the woman whispered, taking Joe's hand. "I'm Sarah."

"Nice to meet you, Sarah. Now, we have to find the others. We can't stay here."

Joe helped Sarah up. With his Environmental Adaptation skill, he began to navigate the ruins of the market. He found Miller, who was starting to regain consciousness, then a young boy hiding inside a trash can, and several other injured traders.

Every time he met someone, Joe gave clear orders. He didn't ask; he led. His calm yet authoritative voice became the only anchor for people who were nearly driven mad by fear.

"You two, gather water bottles from the ruins of that shop. You, find any cloth to bandage wounds. We will gather in the open center area. No one goes alone!"

In less than an hour, Joe had gathered about thirty people in the middle of the destroyed market square. They sat in a circle, surrounded by small bonfires made from pieces of wooden vending tables.

"Who did this to us, Joe?" asked an old man named Marcus, who had lost his entire antique shop. "Is this a war?"

Joe stared at the still-pulsing purple sky. "Not an ordinary war, Marcus. Something called the Arcana System just turned Earth into its playground. And those creatures earlier... they were just the beginning."

"We're going to die here," sobbed a woman in the corner. "The world has ended."

Joe stood up, climbing onto a pile of concrete so everyone could see him. The light from the bonfire reflected in his eyes, giving the impression of a weary but unyielding hero.

"Listen!" Joe's voice cut through the sobbing. "I'm scared too. I was just a junk trader who wanted to sell a pocket watch this morning. But look around you. You're still breathing. You still remember your names. That means we haven't lost yet."

He pointed toward Sarah. "Sarah fought that creature. Miller survived the rubble. We are all still here because we chose to survive."

Joe paused for a moment, letting his words sink in. "I don't know what will happen tomorrow. I don't know if help will come. But I promise you one thing: as long as I am still standing, not one of you will be left behind. We will build defenses. We will find food. We will fight whatever comes out of that mist."

The people stared at him. The fear in their eyes didn't disappear, but there was something new there: hope. A small seed beginning to grow in the middle of a field of death.

[Leadership Points Gained: 100.]

[Unlocking Development Path: Community Leader.]

Joe felt a heavy weight pressing on his shoulders. Not a physical weight, but the moral burden of thirty lives that now depended on him. He remembered his father, who always said that a real man is not judged by what he has, but by how many people he can protect.

Father, I think I finally understand what you meant, Joe thought bitterly.

Night began to fall over the torn zone. The atmosphere grew colder, and strange sounds began to echo from the distance—the growls of monsters, the thrumming of cosmic machinery, and the cries of a torn dimension. Joe did not sit. He kept walking around their makeshift camp, ensuring the barricades were in place and everyone had their share of water.

He stopped for a moment at the edge of the camp, staring into the thick darkness. In the distance, far beyond the reach of his sight, he felt a strange vibration. The same vibration he felt when the system's voice appeared.

It was as if somewhere out there, there were others like him. People who were forced to become more than just human.

"Joe?" Sarah approached him, bringing a glass of warm water. "You should rest. You've been working since this afternoon."

Joe accepted the glass, feeling its warmth seep into his palms. "I'll rest once I'm sure there are no Memory Eaters lurking around here."

Sarah looked at him softly. "Thank you, Joe. If it weren't for you, I would have... I don't know what would have become of me."

"Don't thank me yet, Sarah. Our journey is still long," Joe sipped his water, his eyes remaining fixed on the horizon.

Just then, a flash of blue light appeared in the northern sky, far behind the ruins of the office buildings. The light pulsed three times, similar to a distress signal or a massive heartbeat.

Joe felt it. A strong premonition that the light was his destination. That there, lay the answers to all this madness.

He looked back at the civilians who were now fast asleep around the bonfire. Their faces, full of hope and despair, became the chains that bound him to this duty. He was no longer El Joe the junk trader. He was the pillar for them all.

I will get you out of here, Joe promised silently. Even if I have to tear this system apart with my own hands.

Joe clenched his fist, feeling the Environmental Adaptation energy flowing through his veins. He knew this was only the beginning of a much larger nightmare. However, as he looked into Sarah's eyes reflecting the firelight, Joe realized that he could no longer run from the destiny that had been chosen for him.

That night, in the midst of the silent and deadly ruins, a leader was born. And somewhere in another dimension, the architect of the system smiled as they saw the third pillar begin to take shape.