The mist lingered around Akari’s body, coiling like unseen hands reaching for her. It felt cold, yet oddly familiar.

  > New Summon Available: Veilbound Stalker.

  Her breath hitched.

  The creature she had just killed—it was now hers.

  The old man stepped forward, his cane pressing into the dirt. His sunken eyes, once tired, now held an eerie sharpness.

  “You don’t realize what you’ve done, girl.”

  Akari’s wolves stood at her side, their glowing eyes fixed on the mist writhing around her. She clenched her fists. “I survived.”

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  The old man let out a dry chuckle. “Survived? No. You’ve been marked.”

  The words sent a chill through her spine.

  Marked?

  The villagers—silent, still—had been watching her from the moment she entered. But now, their hooded heads turned away. Avoiding her gaze.

  She felt it.

  A shift.

  The world had changed for her in a way she didn’t yet understand.

  Akari turned back to the old man. “What do you mean?”

  He sighed, tapping his cane against the ground. “This village exists between the cracks of reality. Those who step inside without permission… never leave.”

  Akari frowned. “Then how do you—”

  “I was born here,” he interrupted. “Like the rest of them.” He motioned toward the villagers. “Bound by the Veil’s Curse.”

  Veil’s Curse.

  She looked around. The villagers didn’t move, didn’t react. They were alive, yet… something was off.

  Trapped? Controlled?

  The old man’s voice dropped to a whisper. “You killed a Veilbound Stalker. That means…”

  Akari’s stomach tightened. “Means what?”

  His eyes bore into hers.

  “…that the Veil has acknowledged you.”

  A sharp wind tore through the village, carrying whispers that weren’t there before.

  > System Update: Veil’s Gaze Upon You.

  Akari stiffened.

  Something unseen was watching.

  The mist around her feet coiled tighter.

  She swallowed. “And what does that mean?”

  The old man hesitated. For the first time, fear flickered in his tired eyes.

  “It means that you are no longer just a player in this world, girl.” His grip on his cane tightened. “You are a piece of it.”

  The wind howled.

  The Veil had noticed her.

  And it would not let her go.