Hunter Team Sigma-7 had been sent to secure it—standard procedure. Dungeon breaches were rare these days, but protocol was protocol. Lieutenant Eli Callahan adjusted his grip on his plasma-edged sword, his squad fanning out behind him.
"Remember," he said, voice sharp through his helmet comms. "Anything comes out, we put it down fast."
The rift shuddered.
Then—
A man stepped through.
Not a monster. Not a demon.
Just a man.
Tall, broad-shouldered, wearing a tattered coat that looked decades out of style. His skin was too pale, his eyes too dark, like pits of ink.
And his shadow—
It moved wrong.
"Identify yourself!" Corporal Vex barked, rifle raised.
The man didn’t react to the weapons trained on him. He just stared at Eli.
And then he smiled.
It wasn’t a happy smile.
"Eli," he said.
The voice was wrong. Too deep. Too old.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Eli’s finger hovered over the trigger. "How do you know my name?"
The man’s smile faded. He looked—disappointed? Hurt?
"You don’t recognize me."
A beat of silence.
Then Vex snarled, "Last warning, freak—"
The man’s shadow twisted.
One second, Vex was standing. The next, he was on his knees, gasping, his rifle clattering to the ground—as if an invisible hand had crushed him down.
The squad opened fire.
Bullets stopped midair, inches from the man’s face, then dissolved into black smoke.
Eli’s blood ran cold. What the hell is this?
The man sighed. "I didn’t come here to fight."
He lifted a hand—
—and the world bent.
Eli’s vision swam. The ground lurched. When his senses cleared, his squad was unconscious, slumped on the pavement. Only he remained standing.
The man stepped closer. Up close, Eli could see the scars—not just on his skin, but in it, like cracks in glass.
"You look like her," the man murmured.
"Like who?" Eli snapped.
The man reached into his coat. Eli tensed—but all he pulled out was a faded photograph.
A wedding photo.
His mother, twenty years younger.
And beside her—
Eli’s breath caught.
"No."
The man’s voice was soft. "Yeah."
"You’re lying," Eli whispered. "My father’s dead."
The man—Marcus—looked down at his own hands, the fingers too long, the nails too sharp.
"Not dead," he said. "Just lost."
Then the ground trembled.
Not from the rift.
From something deeper.
Marcus’s head snapped up, his eyes flashing black.
"They felt me come back," he muttered.
"Who did?" Eli demanded.
Marcus turned toward the city skyline, where the massive Hunter Headquarters gleamed under the midday sun.
"The things pretending to be gods."
He looked back at Eli, and for the first time, there was something like fear in his gaze.
"And they’re coming for your world next."
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Lena Callahan’s Reaction – The return of a ghost.
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The Hunter Guild’s Secret – What they’ve been hiding about the dungeons.
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The First True Dungeon Lord Arrives – And it bows to Marcus.