BREW

Valen was startled—his heart skipped—when he saw what seemed to be a living person in this place.

"Come in. It's dangerous outside," he said, instinctively stepping aside.

The small figure limped through the doorway, her uneven gait accompanied by the soft drag of her feet across the dusty floor. Valen noticed her twisted shoulder, sunken eyes, and distorted spine, hidden partially beneath a torn, gray hooded cloak that barely reached her waist.

He motioned to the corner. "I don't have any chairs. You can sit here."

She sat slowly, her legs folding awkwardly. Something about her presence was unnerving—fragile yet unnatural.

Valen crouched beside her. "Kid… what's your name? Are you lost?"

"I'm Lenlen, mister. I travel through places, but I'm not lost," she said with a soft, almost hollow voice. "When I came near here, I smelled the scent of the things you're making. I'm sorry for disturbing you."

"Don't worry about it." He studied her. "But how did you manage to survive out there? Didn't you… see them?"

She gave a small nod. "I can feel it… when someone wants to hurt me. That's how I avoid places."

Valen wasn't surprised. People in this world probably all had abilities—gifts twisted from trauma or survival.

"Lenlen… do you know where the others are? I haven't seen many people here."

She looked away. "I—I don't know where they are. The natives… they travel alone."

Valen paused, sensing sorrow beneath her words. "Do you have a place to stay?"

"I can't stay too long anywhere," she murmured. "If I stop moving, the seals on some dangerous monster… might come undone."

Her voice was small but her meaning was heavy. Something—something horrifying—was tied to her presence.

Then, her tone shifted. "Mister, can I trade for the thing that makes that nice smell?"

Valen smiled gently. "You can have it. You don't need to give me anything."

But Lenlen stood, wobbling. "I must trade. That's the rule."

She exited without another word. Seconds later, she returned, holding something in her trembling hands: an old brass scale—the kind held by statues of justice, only rusted and covered with faint ash.

"This is all I have," she whispered. "It knows the value of things."

Valen took it carefully, feeling a strange pull from the object—like it breathed with ancient weight. The girl took her coffee, cradling it like something sacred, then smiled innocently and turned away.

She waved. "Thank you, mister."

He didn't stop her. Something about her felt… too fragile to question.

But outside, as she walked farther into the thickening fog, a deep, ominous sensation crept behind her.

From the darkness, a black, syrupy liquid began to pool—rising, shaping itself into a featureless humanoid. It oozed with the scent of scorched coffee, each step leaving behind a trail of smoldering sludge.

It followed her, silent and relentless, leaving behind the message:

Something has awakened.

—

Back inside, Valen examined the scale. He placed his kitchen knife on one side and a cup of brewed coffee on the other.

The scale didn't move at first. Then, slowly, the side with the coffee sank—the knife rising like it weighed nothing.

"So this brew… has value. Even here."

His mind began racing. If people exist in this world, could he start a business? Would value mean trade, not money?

"Maybe… I don't need to survive just by selling fishballs anymore."

He gripped the scale.

"Maybe I can build something here."

But far away, in the direction Lenlen went…

the smell of burning coffee grew stronger.

And something was hunting in silence.

A towering, headless anomaly—ten meters tall—emerged from the darkness. Its entire body was an abomination of fused human remains: a bloated stomach formed from clenched hands, a misshapen forearm made of severed legs, and a spine twisted downward to serve as legs. Nothing about it looked natural. It was as if someone had violently assembled a puzzle of corpses, each piece forced into place without logic—grotesque, chaotic, wrong.

Drawn by the scent of something burning, it began to stir, its massive limbs twitching in unnatural rhythm. But before it could act—

a figure of thick, black liquid emerged from the foggy way.

Humanoid in shape, but lacking any features, the viscous entity moved silently. Step by step, it walked straight through the monstrous anomaly. Then—

A violent surge of heat imploded from within the giant, and the towering anomaly dissipated into a cloud of ash and vapor, as if it had never existed.

It dropped an Item and a coffee beans.