As Winfred spoke, a shadow suddenly flashed passed and he found himself unable to continue. He tried to speak, but no sound would come out. He turned back to his family, confused, only to be met with their stares of shock and horror. He looked down and saw his chest dyed entirely red, the stain spreading rapidly as he watched. His eyes widened in realization as his vision began to blur, Delia recovering in time to catch him as he collapsed. She gently lowered him to the ground and took out a bandage, but Winfred gently pushed her hands away as he turned to look at Charles who stood in disbelief, unable to understand what was happening. Delia knew what Winfred meant, and she stood as tears ran down her face, turning to Charles to take him away and alert the guards.

As she looked at her son she froze for a moment as her mind blanked, before she suddenly burst into motion faster than what a normal human was capable of, because right behind him was a shadow, a beast known as a Shadow Lynx that was nearly unrivaled in ambushing prey due to its speed and ability to hide itself. This was Charles’ first time seeing his mother use her System, and the last. The wind seemed to propel her forward as she pushed Charles aside, the beast’s swipe that was meant to claim his life instead connecting with her head as its claws that could cut even steel tore through her skull with almost no resistance.

He stumbled and fell, landing on the thorny plant as the pain jolted him out of his stupor. “MOM!” He screamed, his mind almost blanking again as he saw his mother laying on the ground in front of the beast, the grass slowly turning red. The Lynx turned to him once again, but before it could make a move a bright light flashed, blinding the both of them, and thunder roared out. Despite his hazy vision he was able to make out the figure of his father, standing between him and the beast, electricity crackling around his body. Winfred had never been a particularly large man, but at that moment he looked like he could hold up the sky. Charles saw his father try to speak, the word ‘run’ forming on his lips. And so Charles did, tears obscuring his vision as he ran as fast as he could, unable to see the despair on Winfred’s face as he ran, not towards the stronghold, but into the forest. He tripped and stumbled as he ran, realizing he had gone the wrong way, but he knew it was too late to turn back now. So he continued until his tears dried up, his lungs felt like bursting, and he legs were like lead pillars, far too heavy to move. He had run for miles, in fact he could catch glimpses of the tundra through the trees. But alas, his vision went black as he passed out, his body simply unable to continue as he collapsed into a large depression in the forest floor.

Curiously, the ground gave way as he fell on it, seeming like it was covered up on purpose. Down he fell, further and further, tumbling down a steep passageway that slowly leveled out into a large cavern underground. He rolled along the cavern floor before his body came to rest beside an old, rusted lantern. The protective gear had done its job well as he was relatively unharmed, though blood did seep out from some scrapes on his hands and a rather nasty gash on his forehead.

He came to a couple hours later, his entire body immersed in pain, particularly his legs which felt like they were on fire. He lay there for a moment, confused, then sat up to look around, though it was too dark to see anything. He tried to recall where he was, when the day’s events slammed back into his mind like a sledgehammer. Charles curled up on the cold stone floor of the cave as in his mind all he could see were his parents’ figures, drenched in blood as they sacrificed themselves to give him a chance to run. He was barely able to breathe as he choked out sobs, his mind almost breaking, unable to comprehend the reality that he was now alone in the world. Despair and hopelessness washed over him as he curled up tighter on the floor, but as he did so - *thump.* His head bumped into something that was definitely not rock, startling him and interrupting his grief.

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Charles slowly sat up and felt around until he found what he had hit - it seemed to be a book. A large book at that, laying on the floor of this cave out in the wilderness. He stared at it in confusion, unable to properly see it, but he was able to feel out two words seemingly written in metal on the cover - Downfall Compendium. Frowning a bit since he didn’t really understand what it meant, he leaned closer trying to get a better look at the thing. As he leaned forward, blood dripped from the gash on his forehead, splashing onto the cover, and at that moment - BOOM. An explosion went off in his mind and it felt like his brain was being seared, his vision going white as all he could feel was the worst pain he could imagine, before fading to black as he passed out for the second time that night.

In Charles’ sleep, visions flashed through his mind. He saw the fall of civilization after civilization, clans slaughtered, tribes defeated and enslaved, kingdoms burning into ash, vast empires crumbling as their enemies marched through the streets. He saw entire worlds destroyed, the anger and fear of their inhabitants palpable even despite the ages that had passed. Finally he saw a single large continent, its occupants driven near extinction by invaders from worlds beyond their skies. The only constant throughout the visions was the despair - unceasing, unrelenting, unabating despair. Deep in his mind he realized that was what brought him here, in some sick twist of fate, his mind unconsciously drawn here to this book that resonated with his emotions, reflecting the pain he was going through. And then, he opened his eyes once more.

His surroundings naturally hadn’t changed at all, and he still couldn’t see, but he felt… different. His mind felt clear and strong, the mind-numbing grief from earlier had receded, though it certainly wasn’t gone. As he sat there and thought, a chime rang out in his head as a robotic voice spoke out the words that were floating in his vision:

[Congratulations. Resonance with external item Downfall Compendium has awakened the Downfall Compendium System.]

[Passive ability granted: Transcribe.]

[Armament forcefully awakened due to user’s unstable mental state.]

[Congratulations. Armament Downfall Compendium has been awakened.]

[Transcribe emergency activation. User’s negative emotions transcribed into Downfall Compendium, reducing strain on mind.]

[Mission granted: Kill the Shadow Lynx. Reward: 3 stat points.]

What was this? Charles stared in shock at the words, almost unable to believe them. A System? Although he had not yet taken the System Knowledge class, he knew this was not how a System usually awakened. After all, most other System Bearers still had their parents. Regardless, although he was not yet familiar with his System, with it he had the confidence to return to the stronghold. He just hoped he made it in time to prevent more deaths to the Shadow Lynx.