tton, and the first thing I notice is the smell. Dust and rust and someth

e remains of a ruined building, concrete and twisted metal scattered everywhere like the world has been turned inside out. For several seconds I believe I am still trapped

urple and green streaking the horizon, and the air feels heavier than

one. The wounds that should have killed me, the broken bones and internal bleeding and everything else, they have all disap

g, a familiar voice speaks inside my

s completed ho

re darkness, the strange warmth spreading through my consciousness, and the words I did not

mes out rough and cracked, barely above

hicago, Illinois. Host is alive because System 001 ini

my feet, my legs trembling beneath me, and I look around at the devastation surrou

st. One hundred years have passe

ng. "What did

ce The Fall. The current year is 2

rembling as I press them against my temples. "I was just in the tunne

days. The system kept Host's consciousness preserved while the

wrap my mind around it, cannot understand how any

icial behavior and survival instincts made Host an ideal candidate for t

d myself back in the hospital with doctors telling me everything is going to be okay. But

l standing, some of them anyway, but they are now a mess of what they used to be, windows shattered and walls crumbling and nature reclaiming everyt

n while I slept for a hundred years. There is no home for me to return to, no one waiting for me, no familiar faces

detected. Incomin

ing I cannot explain. A creature is moving through the ruins, its body twisted and deformed, its skin

e hell i

caused by residual energ

ming tow

ost is advi

as I dodge and leap over collapsed walls, but the creature is faster than anything I have ever seen. It moves li

tch my breath, but the creature bursts through the entrance with a loud roar and

king as I stare into the creature's hu

e creature attacking me suddenly freezes. Its red eyes widen with something I did not think beasts could fee

imal, every movement precise and deliberate as it approaches the mutated beast. The creature tries to flee, tries to

en at the lion, and I cannot dec

ee something in those eyes that makes my breath catch. This is not just an

ion begins

an. A tall man with silver-white hair and golden eyes and unmistakable animal features that mark him as something f

should no longer exist, and yet here I am, standing in fro

is deep and rough, like

s new world already, that trusting strangers can get you k

ng as I prepare to fight if I have to. "My name is Kae

ng despite my best efforts to stay calm. "I just watched y

s me again, his golden eyes narrowing slight

now what t

hem died out decades ago." He takes another step closer, and this time I do not

ess preservation." I shake my head, frustration bubb

ystem's voice echoes inside my

Unknown compatibility response

out loud, and I see Kael's eye

has not yet awakened. More information w

tity? What are yo

ead, and I feel a strange pull in my chest as he approaches. His golden eyes lock onto

ears, his instincts are tell

n should

she

, his beast

e?" he asks, his

Aria

ounds on his tongue, and I feel that strange pull again, stronge