I'm an Extra, so What?

Three Days Later – Outskirts of the Southern Wilds

The wagon creaked through thickening mist, the wheels squelching in half-melted moss and mud. Birds didn't sing here.

Even insects had stopped buzzing. The forest wasn't silent—it was muffled. Like sound itself was being drained.

Luka walked ahead, blades at his back, eyes always scanning.

Serene walked beside the wagon, shield on her arm, eyes narrowed, lips pressed into a constant frown.

Gregor, sitting up front with reins in hand, muttered, "I've fought trolls in swamps that felt friendlier than this."

In the back, Arthur sat with his arms crossed and a very obvious tracking rune burned into his right gauntlet—a failsafe enchantment. The guild's idea, not Luka's.

Snow peeked over Luka's shoulder and let out a low, suspicious hiss.

Luka didn't look back. "Something's following."

Gregor's axe came loose instantly. "Distance?"

"Close."

A beat.

Then a rustle.

Then—

"Left!" Luka snapped.

A blur leapt from the trees.

Snow launched first, blasting flame into the undergrowth, lighting up a grotesque shape: a corrupted panther, its body half-transparent, wrapped in mana leeches.

Gregor met it head-on, shield-first, smashing it mid-leap with a sickening crunch.

Three more came from the opposite side.

"Arthur!" Luka barked.

Arthur stood, teeth clenched—and this time, he moved.

He met one of the beasts with a clean diagonal slash, cutting through it in a burst of speed. For all his flaws, he was skilled. He kicked the corpse off his blade with a grunt and turned toward the next.

Serene swept her shield in a wide arc, forcing another into the dirt. Luka caught the final beast mid-pounce, daggers flashing, and buried one into its skull.

The clearing went still.

Burnt moss. Dead beasts.

And that sharp scent of rot again.

Arthur breathed hard, covered in ichor.

"I handled it," he muttered.

"You didn't panic," Serene corrected, wiping blood from her gauntlet. "It's a start."

Arthur didn't answer.

Snow let out a soft puff and landed on Luka's shoulder again, visibly unsettled.

Luka crouched beside one of the beasts and pried open its jaws.

Something glinted in its throat—a glowing rune carved into its tongue.

He frowned. "It was sent."

Serene knelt beside him. "Someone's watching our route."

Luka stood. "Then they'll see this."

He drew a dagger and hurled it at the nearest dead tree, burying it into the bark with a sharp thunk.

A warning.

Let them know he saw.

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That Night – Campsite, Edge of Sector 2

The party had made camp in a shallow ridge surrounded by damp stone.

Snow curled up near Luka's feet, breath puffing softly, belly rising with every little snore. Gregor stood watch while Serene dozed with one eye open.

Arthur sat apart from the others.

Isolated by choice.

He stared into the fire, jaw tight.

Luka tossed him a water flask.

Arthur caught it with a glare. "You watching me?"

"Yes."

Arthur scoffed. "Figures."

Luka leaned back against a stump. "You think I want to babysit you?"

Arthur didn't answer.

The silence stretched.

Then finally, he muttered, "When I touched that shard… it didn't fight me."

Luka opened one eye.

"It welcomed me," Arthur continued. "Like it knew me. Like I was already… broken."

Luka said nothing.

Arthur stared at the flames.

"I hated you for a long time. Still do, sometimes."

"That makes two of us."

"But I get it now. You weren't trying to steal the spotlight. You just… didn't wait for permission."

Arthur looked up, shadows playing across his face.

"I don't know who I am without someone watching me."

Luka's expression softened.

"You could try being useful instead of impressive."

Arthur didn't answer.

But he didn't throw the flask either.

That, Luka took as progress.

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Far Away – Somewhere Deep Beneath

The shattered remains of the second obelisk pulsed quietly beneath a ruin no longer marked on any map.

Hooded figures encircled it, chanting in whispers only the shadows understood.

One stepped forward—a woman, cloaked in black fungus and silver moss. Her mouth never moved, but her thoughts leaked into the air like oil.

"The rot has found fertile soil."

"The knight is cracked."

"And the forest shall bloom again in death."

She reached toward a new seed.

A larger one.

Twisting.

Changing.

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Sector 2 – The Hollowing Glade

By dawn, the forest felt tighter. The trees, once gnarled, now stood unnaturally still—straight, symmetrical, as if posed. The bark had changed from brown to a grayish-white, ashen and dry like husks left behind by molting creatures.

Snow didn't fly.

He stayed curled under Luka's cloak, growling low in his throat. The air was too still. Even the ground didn't crunch anymore. It creaked.

"Do you feel that?" Serene asked, her voice barely more than a whisper.

Luka nodded, blades already half-drawn. "The mana here's thin. Like something's sucking it dry."

Gregor swung his axe into a tree out of habit—just a light chop.

The moment the blade bit into the wood, the tree screamed.

All four adventurers froze.

The scream echoed—not just from the trunk, but from dozens of trees around them. A chorus of shrieking timber, like the forest itself was sentient and suffering.

Luka grabbed Snow and bolted. "Move!"

They dashed through the unnerving corridor of trees, the "bark" on their trunks pulsing like slow heartbeats. Arthur ran beside Gregor, his jaw clenched. Serene took up the rear.

They didn't stop until the shrieking faded behind them and the trees changed again—this time, abruptly.

They stepped into a clearing unlike anything in the region's maps.

A wide basin of polished, black stone—circular and perfect, carved into the forest floor like a wound. At the center stood another obelisk.

But this one wasn't broken.

It stood tall and complete. Bone-white. Veins of red mana pulsed beneath its surface, and in its shadow lay dozens of monsters—dormant, still breathing, as if… sleeping.

Luka crouched behind a mossy rock.

"That's not a camp," he whispered. "It's a nest."

Arthur stared, sweat beading on his brow. "What kind of monsters are those?"

Serene counted. "At least two dire wolves. One wyvern whelp. A corrupted ogre. And what looks like… that's a chimera."

Gregor exhaled. "I don't think we're high enough level for this crap."

Luka pointed at the base of the obelisk.

A glowing crystal sat in a bowl of bark and bone. Runes pulsed around it—feeding power to the structure.

"It's a ley core," Luka said. "That's what's stabilizing this one. If we destroy it—"

"They'll all wake up," Serene finished grimly.

Arthur stepped forward.

"No. Let me."

Everyone turned.

"I can get close," Arthur said. "Use a blink scroll. I'll destroy the core and blink out before they react."

Serene looked skeptical. "That's suicide."

"I owe you," Arthur said, staring at Luka. "Let me do it right this time."

Luka's eyes narrowed. "If you screw up—"

"I won't."

After a pause, Luka reached into his pack and handed him the blink scroll.

"Two seconds," he said. "No more."

Arthur nodded once.

Then he ran.

Obelisk Basin

Arthur's boots hit the polished stone without a sound. He moved like a ghost, careful not to draw the attention of the sleeping monsters around him.

The ley core shimmered—alive and violent.

It almost felt like it was watching him.

He pulled a dagger, reversed it in his grip, and raised it—

The runes around the bowl flared.

The core spoke.

"We remember you…"

Arthur gasped, vision swimming.

Whispers crawled into his head.

"You wanted strength. You wanted glory. You still do…"

His hand trembled.

"Take us. Let them fall. Be the last one standing."

He grit his teeth, fingers tightening—

Then a different voice rose in his memory.

Luka's.

"You're not a villain. Stop trying so damn hard to be one."

Arthur screamed and slammed the dagger into the core.

A shattering pulse erupted.

The basin howled.

Tree Line

Luka saw the flare.

"NOW!"

Arthur blinked back mid-dash, collapsing at Luka's feet, smoking and pale.

The obelisk cracked.

Then split.

Every monster in the basin woke up at once—howling, snarling, confused.

"Scatter!" Luka roared.

Snow leapt into the air, blasting flame to create a wall of fire between them and the basin. Serene raised her shield as the ogre charged—but it was still half-blind, stumbling.

Luka grabbed Arthur and dragged him back into the forest as Gregor took point, clearing the path with wide swings of his axe.

They didn't stop running until the basin was out of sight, and the only sound left was the distant roars fading behind them.

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Later – Safe Hollow, Deeper in the Wilds

The group collapsed near a spring sheltered by rock and twisted trees.

Arthur coughed, still pale, but alive.

"You resisted it," Luka said.

Arthur didn't answer at first.

Then: "Barely."

Serene sat down beside them, exhausted. "We need to send word back. That was organized. Someone's breeding these monsters around the obelisks."

"They're trying to make guardians," Gregor added. "Living defense systems tied to the corruption."

Snow sniffed the air and whined.

Luka followed his gaze—toward the mountain ridge in the far east.

The sky there shimmered faintly.

A new pulse echoed through the leyline.

Another obelisk had awakened.

And it wasn't hiding anymore.