Elion and Jordan stood outside the cave, staring into the vast darkness of the forest. Hours ago, they would have been unsettled—nervous, even.

  But now? That fear had dulled.

  Maybe it was because they had seen Ronan take down the beast-men with an almost effortless air, even while injured.

  Maybe it was because Jordan, ever the thrill-seeker, was too excited to be afraid.

  Or maybe—just maybe—Elion himself had started to crave this kind of rush.

  Neither of them had a real answer.

  Jordan stretched his arms, letting out a slow breath. “Man, who knew running for our lives would be this fun?” He turned to Elion with a grin. “Admit it, this beats any regular night in New Orleans.”

  Elion scoffed. “Oh, sure. Running from mutated freaks, fleeing with a cowboy, and possibly never seeing my family again. Absolute blast.”

  Jordan chuckled. “See? You get it.”

  Before Elion could snap back, Ronan’s voice cut through the quiet. “You two, get inside. Now.”

  The cowboy stood at the cave entrance, his expression unreadable.

  Neither of them argued.

  The fire burned quietly in the cave, casting long shadows on the walls. It was cold outside, but as of now, the cave provided warmth and protection to the three of them.

  Elion glanced at Ronan, noticing how much better he looked. His skin no longer had that pale, blood-drained look, and his movements were stronger and more stable.

  “You’re healing fast,” Elion observed.

  Ronan smirked. “Faster than you would. But still too slow for my liking.”

  Jordan plopped down on a rock, grinning. “Alright, cowboy. You called us in. Spill. What’s the big secret?”

  Ronan sighed, rubbing his temples. “You two are seriously exhausting.”

  Elion shrugged. “We’ve been told.”

  Ronan exhaled sharply. “I need your help.”

  Jordan smiled broadly. “Oh-ho. Looks like we're getting somewhere. What kind of help? Combat training? Infiltration? Assassination?”

  Ronan gave him a flat look.

  Elion, who was always careful, leaned in. “Before we agree to anything, you need to tell us everything. Especially with what we're dealing with right now.”

  Ronan studied them for a moment before nodding. “Yeah. That’s what I was about to do before loudmouth over here started fantasizing.”

  Jordan raised his hands and acted innocent. “I just want to say that if we are in an action movie, I want to be the main character.”

  "Well, whatever." Ronan preferred not to entertain Jordan because, most of the time, Ronan did not really understand what was being said to him.

  Ronan then raised his left hand. There was something on his finger. A golden-black ring gleamed faintly on his finger.

  Elion and Jordan both leaned in, eyes locked on the object.

  “This,” Ronan said, “is a Beast Ring.”

  Elion frowned. “I believe you've mentioned that before, but... what exactly is it?”

  Ronan turned the ring slightly, watching the light from the fire reflect on its shiny surface. “The Beast Rings were made a long time ago."

  He paused as if he was choosing the right words. "They are filled with the power of beasts. It was hard for humans to fully understand how it works."

  He exhaled hard before adding, "I'll get to the history and the mechanism later."

  Jordan’s eyes widened. “So… people can actually use them?”

  Ronan’s expression darkened. “Yes. But not all of them are safe.”

  Elion narrowed his eyes. “Meaning?”

  Ronan sighed. “The ones you saw tonight—the rings worn by the bear-man and the bull-man—those were corrupted.”

  That made both Elion and Jordan tense.

  “Corrupted?” Elion repeated.

  Ronan nodded. “Normally, a Beast Ring grants its user a controlled link to the creature’s power. Strength, agility, heightened senses, and others. But someone...” his voice lowered, “...has been tainting them. Turning them into weapons of destruction.”

  Jordan frowned. “You mean… they’re not supposed to turn people into monsters?”

  “Yes and no,” Ronan confirmed. “The transformation and the massacre you saw? That’s not what the Beast Rings were made for.”

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Elion’s breath hitched. “Then who’s doing it? Who’s corrupting them?”

  Ronan’s expression darkened. “The one your bull-man friend mentioned. The so-called ‘Lord.’”

  Silence filled the cave.

  Elion felt something heavy settle in his gut.

  Jordan, for once, looked uneasy. “…And what does he want?”

  Ronan’s jaw tightened. “Destruction.”

  "Of what?" Jordan asked.

  "This world and a few other worlds."

  Both Elion and Jordan were silent. Destruction of their world and other worlds? What kind of destruction? And there were really other worlds aside from this world?

  "How is he planning on doing that?" Jordan asked again.

  "With his army of beast-men."

  Elion swallowed. “How many of them?”

  "For now?" Ronan met his gaze. “More than a thousand rings.”

  The words hit like a sledgehammer.

  Jordan paled. “Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. You’re saying… there are thousands of those things? And they’re all like the ones we saw tonight?”

  Ronan exhaled. “The ones you saw tonight were the lower-tier ones.”

  Elion’s stomach dropped.

  "No..." Jordan shook his head in disbelief. “No way. Just two of those things caused this much destruction. If there are thousands out there—”

  “Then this world is doomed,” Elion finished, a voice barely above a whisper.

  The weight of it all settled in their chests.

  The bear-man alone had turned a club into a massacre. The bull-man had nearly flattened an entire alley.

  Now imagine thousands of them—or higher-level ones.

  Jordan ran a hand through his hair. "Wow, this is much worse than I expected."

  Ronan replied in a calm tone, but there was an edge to it. “And that’s why I need your help.”

  Jordan blinked. “Help? How?”

  Ronan sighed, rubbing his forehead. “Those rings that scattered earlier? Those were Lower Beast Rings. If normal people find them…”

  Elion clenched his fists as he finished Ronan's words. “They’ll end up just like the bear-man and the bull-man.”

  Ronan nodded. “Exactly.”

  He leaned forward and looked serious. “That’s why we need to ret as many as we can—before they end up in the wrong hands.”

  Jordan exhaled. “So we really are going on a ring-hunting adventure.”

  Ronan smirked. “If that makes it more exciting for you.”

  Elion shook his head. “How do we even find them? It’s not like they come with GPS tracking.”

  Ronan’s smirk faded slightly. “Not normally, no. But I have my ways.”

  Jordan grinned. “Oho. Now we’re talking. First step?”

  Ronan glanced toward the cave entrance, his expression unreadable.

  “First step?” He exhaled. “We survive the night.”

  Neither Elion nor Jordan argued with that.

  Because despite how safe they felt earlier… They weren’t stupid.

  Something was coming.

  And by morning?

  Everything would change.

  Elion frowned, the weight of everything settling into his mind. “Alright… so you need to retrieve these rings before they fall into the wrong hands. I get that. But what exactly do you need from us?”

  Jordan leaned forward, intrigued. “Yeah, because I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Elion and I are severely underqualified for ‘ring retrieval missions.’”

  He gestured to himself dramatically. “I mean, look at me. Do I look like a beast-hunter to you?”

  Jordan was intentionally luring Ronan into his trap, hoping to fulfill one of his desires—to wield the power from the beast ring.

  Ronan smirked but didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he leaned back against the cave wall, crossing his arms. “You two don’t exactly scream ‘survivors’ right now.”

  He paused before adding, "You guys have the traits of the Slayer."

  Elion raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

  Ronan ignored the question. “Look. I can’t be everywhere at once."

  He took a deep breath as if this was a very hard decision for him to make. "And since I doubt you wanna sit around waiting for the next beast-man to tear through your front door, I figured you might wanna learn how to actually handle yourselves out there.”

  "Now we're really talking, Ronan," Jordan’s eyes gleamed with excitement. “So you’re saying we’re getting training?”

  Ronan sighed. “I wish not to say yes, but it is something like that.”

  Elion, however, still had more questions. “Before that… You said you were sent here to retrieve the rings, right?”

  Ronan nodded.

  “Then… why are you the only one here?” Elion pressed, his curiosity growing.

  That question made Ronan’s expression darken. His jaw tightened slightly, and he let out a slow breath before answering. “Because the idiots back in my world messed up. And instead of fixing it, they decided to pretend it’s not their problem.”

  Silence.

  Jordan and Elion exchanged glances. That was never a good sign.

  Ronan continued, his tone sharp, edged with something deeper—frustration, maybe even guilt. “The higher-ups back home? They were supposed to regulate who gets to travel between worlds. Monitor it. Keep things balanced.”

  He scoffed, shaking his head. “But someone got lazy, or someone got greedy. Either way, they let people slip through. And not just the good ones.”

  He tapped his ring, the golden-black metal glinting in the firelight. “These rings? They weren’t meant to be here. They were created in my world—for our own fight and survival. But now?”

  He flicked a speck of dirt off his sleeve. “They’re scattered. And they’re turning people into monsters.”

  Elion narrowed his eyes. “So… your world basically caused this mess?”

  Ronan exhaled, rolling his shoulders. “Yeah. And the best part? They’re not lifting a damn finger to stop it.”

  Jordan scoffed. “Wow. Sounds like real responsible folks.”

  Ronan smirked, but it wasn’t amused. It was the smirk of a guy who had long stopped expecting people to do the right thing. “They don’t care about right or wrong. They care about power. Control. And as long as the destruction stays far away from them? They’ll let it happen.”

  Elion felt something cold settle in his stomach. “And the Lord?”

  Ronan’s expression darkened further. “That psycho? He saw an opportunity. The moment the barriers between worlds weakened, he figured out a way to exploit it. More worlds meant more souls to sacrifice. More energy to take. He’s not just trying to rule. He wants to consume everything.”

  Elion clenched his fists. “And no one back home is stopping him?”

  Ronan exhaled sharply. “No one’s willing to. Except me.”

  Jordan studied him for a long moment. “You volunteered for this, didn’t you?”

  Ronan didn’t answer immediately. He just glanced at the fire, his smirk fading.

  Then, finally, he said, “Yeah. Someone had to.”

  Elion felt something was off about that answer. It didn’t quite sit right.

  Someone from another world choosing to throw himself into this chaos... alone? It didn’t add up.

  But Elion didn’t press further.

  Instead, he asked the more immediate concern. “What if the rings have already been found? What if people have already awakened them?”

  Jordan nodded. “Yeah, because if that happens, there’s zero chance Elion and I are fighting some super-beast-powered lunatics for them.”

  Ronan shrugged. “That would actually be less of a problem.”

  Elion stared at him, incredulous. “Less of a problem?”

  Ronan held up his ring. “My ring absorbed half the power from the ones that scattered. Any beast-men that emerge from those rings will be weaker than the ones you saw tonight. Half as powerful.”

  Elion wanted to let out a breath of relief—but then he imagined it.

  Half of what they had fought tonight.

  Half of that bull-man’s strength. Half of that bear-man’s rampage.

  Even at half, they could still kill people.

  Elion trembled slightly.

  Jordan groaned, rubbing his temples. “Yeah, that still sounds like death for us, man.”

  Ronan chuckled. “That’s why I’m not sending you in blind.”

  Jordan smirked, his excitement kicking back in. “Oho? So you do have a plan.”

  Ronan’s smirk mirrored his. “Of course. You two need preparation. And that means…”

  He held up his ring, twisting it slightly between his fingers.

  “…I’m going to teach you how to use a Beast Ring.”

  Jordan practically vibrated with excitement.

  Elion?

  He swallowed hard.

  This was really happening.