Awww-oooooh!!

The long, piercing howl shook the entire Ash Forest. It wasn't coming from just one monster. Dozens of them. Perhaps hundreds.

Surya gripped the Ancient Ash Sword tightly. His gaze remained locked on the dark figures weaving through the trees, which were now growing larger. Their skin, which had previously resembled charcoal, began to crack, emitting a fierce red glow from within the fissures.

Their claws elongated. Their jaws parted wider. And most terrifying of all... Two red pinpricks slowly opened across their faces.

"They... they have eyes?" Dimas whispered, his voice trembling.

The Relic in Surya’s hand thundered softly.“They have passed the first stage of evolution.”

“Run.”

For the first time, the Relic’s voice sounded urgent. Surya didn't argue. "Run!"

They didn't need to be told twice. The eleven remaining survivors bolted, abandoning the rocky plateau. Behind them, the pounding footsteps of the monsters hammered the earth.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

Trees crashed down one by one, trampled under the weight of creatures now vastly larger than before.

"They're gaining on us!" Mr. Yusuf nearly tripped while vaulting over a fallen log.

Surya glanced back. The distance was shrinking rapidly. The lead monster was barely fifteen meters away.

"At this rate, we're going to get caught!" Rina screamed.

Surya clenched his jaw. His mind raced. There was no way they could win against dozens of monsters at once. The only option... Find shelter.

About ten minutes later...

The trees began to thin out. The blanket of ash that had choked the forest slowly faded. And right ahead of them... Appeared something that forced everyone to skid to a halt.

A city. Or more accurately... The remnants of an ancient metropolis.

Stone walls a dozen meters high ringed the settlement, partially collapsed by the ravages of time. The buildings within still stood, though nearly every wall was spiderwebbed with deep fractures.

No sound. No smoke. No signs of life. Yet compared to the Ash Forest... This place felt infinitely safer.

"It's a city!"

"Get inside, fast!"

Without a second thought, they bolted toward the main gate. Strangely... The monsters giving chase abruptly halted.

The creatures stopped at the edge of the tree line. They growled. They roared. Yet not a single one dared step foot inside the city limits.

"Why did they stop?" Dimas muttered.

Surya narrowed his eyes. There was something about this place that terrified those monsters. Or perhaps... They refused to enter.

"Don't let your guard down," he murmured.

They crossed the massive stone threshold. The moment Surya’s boot crossed the gateway... The atmosphere shifted instantly.

The air turned biting cold. The wind stopped blowing. The silence blanketing the city was far heavier than the Ash Forest. As though this place... Had died thousands of years ago.

The main avenue was choked with dust. Stone houses lined both sides in neat rows. Some doors stood ajar. Wooden carts remained parked outside, trade goods still neatly arranged on abandoned stalls. It was as though the entire population had simply walked away on a whim.

Then, after a few steps—

Rina let out a muffled gasp.

"That..."

Everyone turned. Standing before a house stood an elderly man. His posture was upright. His right hand still clutched a broom.

Except...

His entire body had turned to stone.

Surya stepped closer. The old man’s face still bore an expression of shock, as though he had frozen at the exact final second of his life.

"It's not a statue..." Mr. Yusuf whispered. "It's a human."

They kept walking.

And discovered more.

A mother cradling a baby. A group of children caught mid-play. A merchant still gripping his scale. A soldier clutching a spear.

All of them...

Turned to stone.

Not one. Not ten. But thousands.

The entire city was populated by stone people.

A chilling dread settled over the group. No one dared speak above a whisper. Even the sound of their own footsteps felt deafeningly loud.

Crunch...

Crunch...

Every footstep echoed between the hollow buildings.

"Do you guys..." Dimas swallowed hard. "What do you think turned them into this?"

No one had an answer.

Surya studied the statues more closely. There were no slash marks. No blood. They looked as though... they had frozen in a single blink of an eye.

He rubbed his chin. "If everyone turned to stone at the exact same time..."

"That means whatever caused it happened instantly."

Surya’s words made the hairs on the back of everyone's neck stand on end.

They continued down the main street until they reached a vast central plaza. In its exact center stood a towering black monolith, its peak swallowed entirely by the shroud of mist above.

The tower looked far better preserved than the surrounding structures, as though time itself lacked the power to touch it.

Yet before anyone could approach, Surya spotted something near the plaza gate. A stone stele. The inscriptions upon it remained legible, though partially weathered by age.

He gently brushed away the dust, then read the carved text aloud in a quiet voice.

"Hear this, whoever comes after us..."

"Never gaze upon the tower."

"Whatever you hear..."

"Whatever you see..."

"Never raise your head."

Silence swallowed the group whole. Dimas turned pale.

"That's..."

"A warning."

Surya nodded slowly. "And if you ask me..."

He glanced back toward the thousands of stone statues.

"...they all failed to obey it."

Not a single person dared look at the tower again. Instead, they cast their eyes downward to the ground. Instinct told them one simple truth:

That warning...

Was real.

Yet not everyone shared that conviction.

A young man named Rio let out a soft scoff. "Ah, you guys are way too cowardly."

Surya snapped his head toward him. "Don't."

Rio chuckled lightly. "Since when does just looking at a tower kill you?"

"It's just writing."

"Probably a trap to scare us off."

"Rio!" Mr. Yusuf tried to stop him.

But the young man had already stepped forward. "If there really is something up there..."

"I want to see it."

"Stop it!" Surya barked.

Rio glanced back with a smirk. "Watch."

Slowly...

He raised his head.

Everyone else instinctively looked away. Not a single person dared glance toward the tower.

Only Rio.

His eyes slowly drifted upward. Higher. Higher still.

Toward the peak of the black monolith hidden behind the fog.

A few seconds passed.

Rio laughed. "See? Nothing happ—"

His sentence cut off. His smile froze. His eyes widened. His body suddenly began to shiver.

"Ri... Rio?" Dimas called out.

Rio didn't answer. His gaze remained hollow.

Slowly...

The skin at the very tips of his fingers changed color. Gray. Then it hardened.

Cracking...

No. That wasn't a crack.

That was the texture of stone.

"Surya..." Rio’s voice rasped. "I..."

He looked down at his own hands. Sheer terror flooded his face.

"Help..."

The transformation rippled outward with terrifying speed. From his fingertips. Across his palms. Creeping up his forearms. His flesh turned to stone, inch by agonizing inch.

"HELP MEEE!!" Rio screamed at the top of his lungs.

Yet his voice abruptly turned heavy. Rigid. Emerging as though forced from the mouth of a statue.

Surya clenched his sword. His heart hammered wildly.

That stele...

It hadn't lied.

And now...

All they could do was watch as Rio’s body slowly turned to stone.