“If you truly want to be useful,” the voice said,

“then follow me.”

I hesitated.

My heart was heavy with fear, confusion, and something I couldn’t name. Still, my feet moved on their own. I followed him.

We stepped out of the cave.

It was dark. The desert stretched endlessly around us, silent and cold. I could barely see, but under the faint light, I finally caught a glimpse of him.

He was a man—around nineteen years old.

We walked for a while without speaking. The sand shifted beneath our feet, the night air dry and unforgiving. We were still in the desert.

Suddenly—

A huge creature emerged in front of us.

It looked like a scorpion, but far larger, its body twisted and unnatural. I froze.

Before I could even react, the man moved.

In a single blink, he struck.

The creature collapsed.

He calmly knelt beside it and collected a strange liquid from its body, storing it carefully. Then he turned to me.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

His voice…

I felt like I had heard it somewhere before.

I wanted to ask him who he was—but the words wouldn’t come. Instead, I stayed silent and continued following him.

After a long walk, he finally spoke again.

“Where are you from?”

I didn’t know how to answer.

I said nothing.

He glanced at me briefly, then looked ahead again.

“If you don’t want to say,” he replied, “I don’t mind.”

I couldn’t understand this man.

We walked in silence for a long time. Slowly, the darkness began to fade. The sky grew lighter.

Early morning.

In the distance, I saw it.

A town.

When we reached the outskirts, I finally gathered the courage to speak.

“Where… am I?”

He stopped.

Then he smiled.

“We are in The First Raid.”

My breath caught.

“What…?”

Shock rushed through me.

This wasn’t possible.