The giant face of the preaching old man filled the space beyond the gate, grotesquely stretched as if the world itself had been forced to bend around his features. His skin looked cracked and dry, pulled too tight over bone, and his eyes rolled wildly before fixing onto Kaeya with chilling precision.

Then his mouth opened.

"THE MORTAL DISASTER IS COMING."

What followed could not be called a voice.

It was pressure.

The air itself seemed to rupture, collapsing outward in a violent surge. Kaeya barely had time to register the sound before her body was torn from the ground. The shockwave slammed into her chest like a solid wall, crushing the breath from her lungs and snapping her senses apart.

The stone beneath her feet exploded. Cracks raced across the street as she was hurled backward, her body spinning helplessly through the air, weightless and out of control. Pain bloomed everywhere at once, sharp in her ribs, searing along her spine, numbing in her limbs.

Her ears rang so violently that the world dissolved into a high-pitched roar. Blood rushed to her head, her vision swimming as sky and stone blurred together.

She struck the ground with brutal force.

Her body skidded across the street, scraping against shattered stone before finally coming to a stop in a cloud of dust. The impact knocked what little air she had left from her lungs, leaving her gasping uselessly as pain radiated outward in slow, crushing waves.

The chanting did not stop immediately.

It echoed, distorted and hollow, lingering in the air even as the massive gate slammed shut on its own. The sound reverberated through the empty street like a final verdict being pronounced.

Then silence fell.

Not peaceful silence, but the kind that rang painfully in the ears, heavy and suffocating.

Kaeya lay on her back, staring up at the pale sky above the narrow street. Her heart hammered violently, each beat sending a dull ache through her chest. For several seconds, she could do nothing but breathe shallowly and wait for the spinning world to settle.

A shadow crossed her vision.

Tyler stood over her, his expression calm in a way that felt almost unreal given what had just happened.

"Looks like we can’t leave the city," he said evenly. "The other gates are the same."

Kaeya let out a weak, irritated sound.

"You could have warned me before I opened it," she muttered, pouting despite herself.

Tyler reached down and helped her sit up, supporting her weight until she could stay upright on her own. Without making a show of it, he produced a small vial and held it out to her.

Kaeya hesitated only briefly before accepting it. Her body hurt too much to argue.

She drank.

Warmth spread through her instantly, seeping into her bones and muscles like sunlight after a long winter. The pain receded almost immediately, fractures knitting themselves back together, bruises fading as if they had never been there. Within seconds, she felt whole again.

She blinked, surprised.

"That’s a good potion," she said, flexing her fingers and rolling her shoulders. "Did you make it with your skill?"

Tyler looked genuinely puzzled.

"My skill can make potions?"

Kaeya stared at him in disbelief.

"You really forgot everything," she said slowly. "That’s exactly why you were part of the Hero Party. They relied on you for potions, temporary boosts, healing, recovery, all of it."

Tyler frowned slightly, clearly processing the information.

"Then how do I make them?" he asked.

Kaeya took a breath and explained, her tone shifting into something more thoughtful.

"You start with a potion, any kind. Then you put in a seed from a plant that can sprout in water. After that, you activate your skill, i.e, mixing blood. The seed absorbs both and begins to sprout."

She gestured lightly with her hand as she spoke.

"You plant that sprout in the ground and use your skill again to grow it. Every leaf the plant produces carries the potion’s effect. You can harvest the leaves and use them like potions. And the plant can be regrown from the cuttings several more times."

Her voice carried genuine admiration by the end.

"It’s ridiculous, honestly. One potion turns into many. That’s why your skill was considered invaluable."

Tyler’s mouth twitched faintly.

’Or I could just copy the potion using my copper pot.’, he thought.

He kept that to himself and instead let his expression shift into something appropriately impressed.

Satisfied, Kaeya’s demeanor hardened again as she glanced toward the streets beyond the gate.

"Whatever is causing this isn’t going to stop on its own," she said. "We need to find out who’s behind it."

Tyler nodded in agreement.

Together, they turned back toward the town, stepping once more into streets filled with preaching old men, knowing full well that whatever awaited them would not reveal itself easily.

---

A few hours later, Tyler and Kaeya found themselves inside the Adventurers’ Guild, standing amid overturned chairs, abandoned tables, and half-finished drinks that had long since gone cold. The building felt wrong in a way that was difficult to explain. It wasn’t empty in the usual sense. It was as if everyone who had once been there had simply stepped out of existence mid-moment, leaving behind impressions of movement without the people themselves.

And then they saw him.

Someone who was not an old man.

Tyler stopped walking the instant he recognized the figure crouched near the guild’s inner counter, nervously peering toward the entrance.

"It’s you," Tyler said quietly.

The person flinched, spinning around with a startled expression before relief flooded his face.

"You know him?" Kaeya asked, her hand resting loosely near the hilt of her sword.

"He’s the stepbrother of the receptionist who works here," Tyler replied. "We met once."

He didn’t elaborate further, and Kaeya didn’t press him. There was enough tension in the air already.

The man straightened slowly, still wary, his posture that of someone who had been hiding for far too long.

"My name is Neto," he said. "I was... watching my sister earlier having fun with....." He hesitated and didn’t continue. But Tyler understood, she might have brought another man into her bedroom again.

Neto jaw tightening he continued. "But suddenly, she disappeared. Everyone disappeared. When I walked outside, the streets were filled with the same old man saying the same thing over and over again. I came here hoping to find my sister or someone else might still be around."

Kaeya crossed her arms, thinking.

"It sounds like the three of us might share something that the others don’t," she said. "That’s probably why we didn’t disappear. The townspeople aren’t gone forever. They’re just... stuck somewhere else."

Neto looked at her with dawning understanding.

"You’re smart," Tyler said, offering her a faint smile. "I think I know why Neto wasn’t affected. He has an anti-perception skill."

Kaeya nodded slowly. "That would explain why he slipped through whatever is doing this."

She turned toward Tyler then, her gaze sharpening. "And you?"

Tyler shrugged lightly. "Maybe I’m simply stronger than whatever is causing this."

Kaeya raised an eyebrow. "I can believe that about myself. You, though?"

"It’s your choice whether you believe me or not," Tyler replied calmly.

He turned back to Neto. "While you were moving around, did you notice anything unusual? Something other than those old men?"

Neto frowned, thinking carefully. "Actually... yes. There was one old man who wasn’t preaching. He was running. Just running through the streets like he was trying to get away."

Tyler and Kaeya exchanged a glance.

"Where did you see him?" Kaeya asked.

A few minutes later, the three of them were crouched behind the corner of a closed shop, peering out into the street beyond. The chanting echoed endlessly, the identical old men wandering aimlessly, muttering about disaster and apocalypse.

Then they saw him.

An old man sprinted down the street, breath ragged, eyes wide with panic. He didn’t stop to preach. He didn’t look at anyone. He simply ran.

"He’s just... running?" Kaeya whispered, uncertain.

"Is he circling the same route?" Tyler asked quietly.

Before either of them could say more, the old man vanished down a side street.

Moments later, another old man came running from the opposite direction.

Kaeya frowned. "Is that the same one?"

"That’s what we need to confirm," Neto said. "Should we follow him?"

Tyler shook his head immediately. "If we chase him directly, we’ll draw attention. Those preaching things will surround us."

He glanced toward the nearby shop they were hiding beside and stepped inside. It appeared to be an ink merchant’s store, shelves lined with glass bottles filled with thick, dark liquid.

Tyler grabbed several bottles and returned to the street.

Without hesitation, he hurled them toward the center of the road.

Glass shattered loudly.

Ink splashed across the stone pavement, spreading into dark pools. Several preaching old men turned their heads toward the noise, glanced briefly at the mess, and then walked away, muttering the same lines without any sign of curiosity.

A moment later, the running old man appeared again.

He sprinted straight through the ink, his feet splashing through it as he fled.

Tyler waited.

Seconds passed.

Then, from another direction entirely, the same old man emerged again, running just as frantically.

Kaeya’s eyes dropped to his feet.

Black ink stained his soles, leaving clear footprints behind him as he ran.

"It’s the same one," she said quietly. "But how did he appear from the opposite side so fast?"

"That’s the question," Tyler replied. "Whatever this is, it doesn’t obey normal movement rules."

Neto swallowed nervously. "Then what do we do?"

Tyler’s gaze followed the running figure as it disappeared into the crowd of chanting old men.

"Whatever is happening here," he said, "this one is different. And different means useful."

He straightened, eyes sharp with intent.

"Let’s start with him."