"The Eleventh Member."

  As they snapped their eyes open, their vision was immediately filled with a wall of armored backs.

  The Eight Siblings had already formed a defensive crescent formation around the siblings. Weapons were drawn, safety tches clicked off, and energy shields hummed with a low, threatening vibration.

  Before they could assess the environment, a voice drifted from the other side of the shield wall.

  "Why are you being so suspicious?"

  The stranger rubbed his forehead, looking more annoyed than threatened by the elite kill squad pointing heavy artillery at him.

  "We are just going on a hunt together. Is this level of aggression really necessary?"

  The Hunters didn't flinch. They didn't lower their weapons.

  Brother Six gnced over his shoulder at Aryan and Amara, who were struggling to stand on wobbly legs.

  "Something is wrong," Six reported, his voice low and tight. "Actually, too wrong. The atmosphere, the pressure... it’s off. How do you want to proceed?"

  Hearing the assessment, Amara and Aryan forced themselves upright. They looked past the Hunters and frowned.

  The forest greeted them with the heavy, metallic stench of blood.

  But when they looked, there was no carnage. The forest was pristine. It looked like an ancient, untouched Amazonian paradise. The leaves were a vibrant, glossy green, and the air was clear.

  "Do you feel the same?" Aryan asked inside his head.

  "Same," Amara replied, her eyes scanning the foliage. "The forest is too clean. It feels artificial."

  "Right," Aryan agreed. "I can even hear the sound of distant waterfalls. If not for the scent of blood and the floor looking like an award-winning evergreen garden, I would have built a vacation house here."

  "Sure. You would," Sam’s voice cut in, nding a dose of reality. "But we have no such luxury."

  "Of course. I'm talking about a hypothetical scenario where we aren't dying," Aryan retorted quickly ending the conversation. "Anyways, let us greet the friend before us."

  Aryan nodded at the Eight Siblings. It was a signal to hold fire but remain alert. The Hunters split slightly, creating a gap for the duo to step through.

  "So," Aryan asked, gritting his teeth. The vile taste of the nutrient sludge—the Liquid Despair—lingered in his throat, mixing with the phantom smell of blood from the pristine forest. "Who is the welcoming committee?"

  The stranger blinked, looking them over with mild curiosity.

  "Oh. Right. Sorry about that. I'm Jay. Call me J or Jay."

  He shrugged, acting as if standing in a blood-scented alien ruin was a casual Tuesday.

  "I was informed that ten people would be joining me for the hunt. I counted heads. Ten of you. So, here you are. You came through a portal. Standard procedure."

  Aryan gnced at Amara. She gave a microscopic nod.

  "What are the details?" Amara asked, stepping forward.

  "Uh, before that... will you introduce yourselves?" Jay ughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. "I can't just call you 'You,' 'You,' and 'You with the big gun,' right?"

  The Eight Siblings furrowed their brows. The more casual Jay acted, the more dangerous he seemed. In the wild, only the apex predator is this rexed in the presence of a threat.

  "Call me Aryan," he said curtly. "This is my sister, Amara. And these are the Eight Hunter Siblings."

  "Good. The details match."

  Jay pulled out a device that looked like a thin sheet of gss. He folded it neatly like a piece of paper—advanced tech—and turned the dispy toward them.

  "See? The brief says: 'Ten individuals, siblings, Rank 5, will join at the coordinates.' And apparently, some others will join us ter in the journey."

  He handed the device to Aryan.

  Aryan and Amara scanned the text, their hearts skipping a beat.

  "Oh, sure. There it is," Aryan thought, his mind racing. "The details list ten people of Rank 5. We are definitely not Rank 5 yet, the greed vessel ruined it. If a fight breaks out, we are the weak links."

  "Let us observe for now," Sam’s voice echoed in their heads. "This 'Jay' scans as a Rank 5 entity. We outnumber him, but he is strong."

  "Still, be careful," Nine warned. "Ask him about the 'Hunt.' The name itself is suspicious."

  "Okay. You didn't finish the details," Brother Five interrupted, his patience wearing thin. "What is the objective?"

  Jay sighed, taking the device back.

  "Oh. You don't know either? I was hoping at least you guys would have the answers. Since there are ten of you and only one of me."

  "I can't detect any lies," Aryan transmitted through the connection. "Is he acting?"

  "We can't be sure," Amara replied, her mental voice sounding strained. "Our sensing abilities are degrading. As soon as we rejected the Greed Vessel, our faculties started dulling. This is the curse Markus warned us about."

  Aryan suppressed a sigh. He looked at the confused stranger.

  "Where do we need to go? Do you have any information?"

  "See for yourself," Jay said. "A message was just pushed to the local network group. I can see your device numbers in the log. Check your phones."

  "Oh. Gosh. Okay."

  Aryan rexed his posture slightly, pulling out his phone. The Hunters did the same, checking their wrist-comms.

  A new message fshed on the screen. It wasn't a standard System Quest. It looked like an encrypted broadcast.

  “MESSAGE BROADCAST”

  TO: The New Arrivals & The Guide

  SUBJECT: The Hunt

  Go through the forest. Seers.

  The war has already begun.

  If you are not already Seers, you will be granted the ability as you proceed.

  WARNING: Do not stay in one pce. You are new here. Stagnation is death. You will understand soon.

  Start moving.

  The message ended abruptly.

  "This is crazy," Jay muttered, reading the same text.

  "What is?" Aryan asked, pocketing his phone.

  Jay looked up, his eyes wide with genuine panic. He looked like he was about to cry.

  "I thought you guys were natives. Or at least... I thought you knew the geography."

  "What are you talking about?" Aryan asked, finally losing his patience. "Isn't this Pnet Sean? We just teleported from the Capital Sector."

  Jay stared at him. Then he ughed—a hysterical, terrified sound.

  "Pnet Sean?"

  Jay pointed a shaking finger upward, toward a massive crack in the ancient ceiling that revealed the sky above the forest canopy.

  "Buddy... look up. Does Pnet Sean have two violet moons?"

  Aryan froze. He looked up. Hanging in the dark sky were not the familiar celestial bodies of home, but two massive, glowing violet orbs.

  "We aren't on Pnet Sean?" Aryan whispered.

  "Forget that. Move now!"

  Amara’s voice cut through the shock like a whip. Her eyes flickered rapidly between their natural color violet and the glowing golden of her Seer ability.

  Before Aryan or Jay could answer, the ground beneath them lurched violently.

  It wasn't an earthquake. The ground itself—the pristine floor of the forest—was moving. And so were the eleven people standing on it.