"So that's how it is".

Levi's hands rose, fingers brushing the frames resting on his face. The glasses— taken from his previous body rested on the bridge of his nose.

He didn't need them anymore. His sight had sharpened beyond what the lenses were ever crafted for. Yet… he couldn't bring himself to discard them.

He now knew what the secrets the text held.

The text told the story of a civilization, a civilization different from Earth.

The murals told it plain.

There was once a race that served the Mother of Souls. She was not only their goddess— she was a traveler, always moving from place to place.

When she was about to leave, the people begged her to stay. They prayed, wept, and bowed, asking not to be abandoned.

And in her mercy, she listened. She tore one of their continents free and shaped it into a great ship. Upon it, she gathered all who were faithful and took them with her, drifting through the endless skies.

For seven hundred years they sailed. Generations were born, grew, and died upon that ship. But the children of the faithful were not like their parents. They began to doubt. They learned how to control the ship. And in their pride, they chose to rebel.

They broke her laws, sinned against her. They turned their backs on her name.

When no punishment came, they grew bolder and desecrated her temple.

Then they took what was most sacred— Star Gaze, the pearl she had given them. It was meant to protect them, a blessing of her love. But they saw it as nothing more than a stone.

They lived above the skies themselves, and in their arrogance, they thought to cast it down into the starry abyss.

But when they carried it to the edge of the ship and looked below—

Something moved.

From the stars, something crawled forth.

It was not meant for eyes. Its shape was not shape. Its presence was not presence. It was wrong in every way a thing could be wrong.

Those who gazed upon it found their mouths betraying them. Their lips tore and sealed, sewn shut by their own flesh, as if their bodies refused to name what they had seen.

Their eyes wept blood, then closed forever, not in blindness but in shame— because to see that being was itself a sin.

*****

Levi's eyes flashed with greed.

'If I can locate the Star Gaze…'.

His breath caught, ragged in his throat. That pearl was no mere ornament. It was the shield that had kept an entire drifting continent safe from the horrors crawling in the void between stars.

If he could wield it— if he could claim it— what could touch him in this world?

The thought burned like fire in his veins. He would be invincible, untouchable. He could walk through storm, fire, and nothing would dare reach for him.

His fingers twitched, as if already feeling the smooth weight of the pearl in his palm.

But then, the echo of the murals pressed against his mind again— blood-sealed mouths, eyes shut in shame, a civilization destroyed by its own arrogance.

The greed in him warred with the warning.

His lips parted, whispering to himself—

"Where… is it now?".

Levi's brows furrowed, thought clawing at him as he replayed the murals in his mind.

According to the story, they had tried to cast Star Gaze into the stars. That meant… it could be anywhere now. Either lost in the stars, or fell into the city.

His gut twisted at the thought. A treasure like that, gone forever?

His gaze drifted back to the wall, tracing the details. Then he saw it. The edges of the carvings weren't smooth chisel-work— they were ragged, curling inward, as though something had scraped them into the stone.

'Claw marks'.

A chill crawled down his spine. Could it be… someone, or something, drew these with their own claws?

The more he stared, the less far-fetched it seemed. The gouges were too wild, too raw, too furious to be the work of a careful hand. And then, following the lines, he noticed it— at the bottom of one mural, the marks didn't end. They dragged down, curving toward the floor.

Levi's imagination painted the picture clearly— the being that etched these horrors hadn't stopped after carving the walls. Its claws had kept dragging, kept tearing, sinking deeper, gouging a path downward.

He narrowed his eyes, pulse quickening. If that's true, then…

"Go". Levi whispered, sending the leech forward.

It slithered across the dusty stone, creeping to the gouges. When it reached the spot, Levi's will tightened.

'Jump'.

The leech obeyed.

Levi had already calculated— if there was a hidden hollow compartment below, the impact would ring it out. The leech was strong enough to trigger it.

But he overestimated the ruin's strength.

The moment the leech landed, the floor gave way with a guttural crack. Stone crumbled, dust surged like a dying breath, and the creature tumbled into darkness.

The sound roared through the temple, drowning Levi's heartbeat.

By the time the dust settled, Levi realized in shock that he was already halfway back toward the chapel doors, chest heaving.

The system gave a sharp, derisive hum in his mind, like a chiding laugh.

Levi froze, grimaced, and coughed into his fist. "...Damn it. It was so sudden". He muttered inwardly, voice tight.

Despite seemingly calming down, his body was still tense. Hense his swift escape, disregarding the safety of the leech.

He forced himself to stop, spine rigid. His body was still trembling from the instinct to flee. Even now, his nerves screamed to turn back, to leave this place to rot.

But beneath that tension… something else burned.

Curiosity.

.

.

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[Who else like his cowardly character]

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