Chapter 5 – The Girl No One Can See

Ruins like these weren’t meant to be found.

Twisted stone, bent metal doors, and fragments of cracked columns jutted from the moss like the skeletal fingers of some ancient titan trying to claw its way back to life. The walls were half-swallowed by nature—but unnaturally so. Ivy grew in rigid lines. Moss crawled away from certain surfaces. Riku didn’t like it.

He’d learned to trust his instincts. And they screamed at him now.

Something watched him from within.

He stepped lightly through the main arch, careful not to trigger anything obvious. His hand never left the hilt of his chipped black dagger, a weapon that had tasted blood for days and was beginning to feel like an extension of his will.

Then—click.

He dropped flat just as five darts shot over his head and embedded themselves in the rotting wood beam behind him.

“Traps,” he whispered.

He pushed forward anyway, muscles tense. The system hadn’t warned him. That worried him.

A glowing vine pulsed briefly as he passed—then dimmed.

Then he heard it.

A voice. Soft. Female.

“You almost died just now, you know.”

Riku’s blade was out in an instant.

He turned—nothing.

“Who's there?” he demanded.

No response.

Then: “Wait… you can hear me?”

The voice was closer. Still unseen.

Riku froze.

A second passed. Then two. His grip tightened.

“Yeah,” he said. “I hear you. Where are you?”

Another pause. Then a breathy, broken sound. A laugh. Half-sob, half-disbelief.

“You can… see me, too?”

There was a shimmer—like heat rising from stone.

Then she appeared.

Out of nowhere.

A young woman. Taller than he expected. Slender. Hair like pale silk, cascading over one shoulder in soft waves. Her robes were once beautiful—embroidered in violet and silver—but now charred, tattered, and faded. Her boots were worn to the sole. Her face… beautiful, yes. But weary. Eyes the color of frost.

She stared at him like he was salvation and madness all at once.

And then she did the last thing he expected.

She crumpled to the ground and began to laugh.

It took her a while to calm down.

They sat across from each other in the ruins, half-hiding behind a fallen beam. Riku watched her with wary interest. She stared at him like he might disappear.

“I haven’t spoken to anyone in years,” she whispered.

Riku stayed quiet.

“I tried everything. Writing. Magic flares. I even screamed once until I passed out. People just… walked through me. Like I was a ghost.”

“Who cursed you?” he asked eventually.

Her expression darkened.

“A divine mage. One of the Flame Queen’s favored.”

“Why?”

She shrugged bitterly.

“Jealousy. I was… talented. Respected. Some said beautiful. That’s enough to earn a blade in the back in the courts of Del’Varn.”

The name meant nothing to Riku, but her pain didn’t need translation.

“Her magic was different,” she continued. “God-touched. She bound my presence from the world. Not death. Not banishment. Worse.”

He leaned forward.

“And I’m the first one who can see you?”

Selene nodded, slowly. Then her voice dropped, hesitant.

“You’re not from here, are you?”

“No,” he said.

She sighed. “That makes sense. I think your soul isn’t bound by this world’s laws. My curse filters perception, but if you’re not tethered the same way...”

Riku blinked.

“I’m a loophole.”

Her lips curved into a small, tired smile.

“The best kind.”

[SYSTEM ALERT: UNIQUE ENTITY DETECTED]
Name: Selene — Cursed Mage of Del’Varn
Status: Soul Shielded, Dimensionally Displaced
Curse Type: Perceptual Lockout (Divine Origin)]
Override Source: Godhunter Anchor Recognized
Note: You are the only known conscious link to this entity.]

“So,” Selene said, crossing her arms, “now what?”

Riku stood.

“We move.”

She blinked. “You… want me to come with you?”

He nodded.

“You see traps. You know magic. I don’t trust anyone. You don’t exist to anyone else. That makes you perfect.”

Her face flushed faintly.

“That might be the worst recruitment speech I’ve ever heard.”

“Wasn’t trying to impress you,” he replied.

Her smile widened.

“Good. I’d have been worried if you were.”

They moved through the ruins together.

Selene pointed out glyph traps, invisible pressure plates, cursed artifacts disguised as loot.

Riku didn’t speak much. He listened. Absorbed. Calculated.

When they passed a small magical rift in the wall—a shimmering fracture that hummed—Selene paused.

“That… wasn’t here before.”

Riku turned. The system blinked red.

[MAGICAL DISTORTION DETECTED – WILD ANCHOR SURGE]
Source: Bound Soul Proximity – Entity: Selene]

The rift pulsed.

And for a brief moment, Riku saw two timelines split—one where he had walked alone. One where he’d never heard her voice.

And died.

He clenched his fists.

This girl—this cursed, forgotten soul—had just saved his life again.

“You helped me,” he said. “You’ve already earned your place.”

Selene looked away.

“No one’s said that to me in a long time.”

“I’m not no one.”

She smiled softly. “No. You’re not.”

That night, they camped in a hollowed cave behind the ruins. Riku set the traps. Selene watched.

When he lay down to sleep, he paused.

“I’ll break it someday,” he said, eyes closed.

She looked over.

“What?”

“Your curse.”

She snorted. “Right.”

“I will.”

She said nothing.

But hours later, when she thought he was asleep, she whispered:

“…Thank you.”