Riku ran.
His feet pounded broken pavement as lights flickered overhead like dying stars.
Behind him, boots thundered in pursuit—heavy, inhumanly precise.
The black-coated man hadn't given his name. He didn't need to.
His eyes said everything: cold calculation and the hunger to dissect.
Riku gripped the Somnus Staff tighter. It vibrated faintly in his palm, like it sensed danger.
Too bad he didn't know how to use it.
He ducked through a shattered alleyway, vaulted a collapsed billboard, and barely avoided tripping over a sleeping body—another Dreamquake victim.
The city felt… dead. No sirens. No help. Only whispers from shadows.
"There's nowhere to run, Dreambound," the voice echoed.
The black-coated man stepped into view, coat swaying like a crow's wings.
"I don't want to kill you. That wastes resources."
He raised a hand. Behind him, two drones floated into position.
Their cores pulsed red. Their barrels unfolded like blooming steel flowers.
"Comply and you may survive the conversion."
Riku took a step back. His pulse was thunder. His thoughts, static.
Was this it?
He had only just found this world—and now it wanted to kill him?
"Alright…" he whispered, staff shaking. "You want a fight?"
He swung the Somnus Staff wildly.
A blast of raw, dreamlike energy burst forward, but it fizzled mid-air—too unfocused.
The drones didn't even flinch.
Then came a sound like shattered wind.
And something fast—very fast—moved past him in a blur of dark cloth and flashing steel.
One drone dropped, sliced clean through.
The second exploded before it could fire.
The black-coated man spun, a blade drawn instantly.
But his eyes widened. Just for a moment.
A woman stepped between Riku and the man
Black hair, pulled back tight. A long coat darker than the streetlights.
She moved like a weapon—not trained, but born.
She said nothing.
Her brown eyes held no fear. Only decision.
Steel rang. Sparks flew.
Her gauntlet blade met the man's knife with a flash, then twisted, forcing him off balance.
Riku barely kept up.
She fought like the dream-figures he'd seen—fluid, brutal, graceful.
The man backed off, blood dripping from his arm.
"This isn't your concern, ghost," he spat.
"You're off the Creed's leash, I can smell it."
The woman tilted her head slightly. Then vanished in a blur.
A punch landed in the man's ribs—cracking sound. He collapsed.
She turned to Riku.
They stared at each other. He opened his mouth—but she was already walking away, fading into shadow.
"Wait!" he called.
No answer.
Just the scent of scorched metal and the echo of her presence.
Riku slumped to the ground.
The Somnus Staff dimmed, like it, too, was confused.
Who was she?
How did she move like that?
And why did she feel familiar—not in memory, but in dream?
He didn't know.
But the game had changed.
He wasn't the only Dreambound running from the world.