The curse’s scream tore through the night.

It was 2025, a half-collapsed city street somewhere on the outskirts of Sendai. The creature’s body was a sprawl of shadow and jagged limbs, lashing out at flickering streetlights as if it could swallow the world whole. You had no time to react — its maw opened wide, cursed energy swelling like a storm.

And then, everything shattered.

The air fractured with a sound like broken glass underwater, and the world lurched. Cold wind rushed in, sharper than any blade, carrying with it the smell of ozone and dust. For an instant, there was nothing but light — then silence.

When your vision steadied, the city was gone. The streets were unfamiliar, the buildings taller, stranger, their steel frames scarred by battles you couldn’t imagine. The air itself felt different, thick with cursed energy but threaded with something… alien.

A voice cut through the haze.

“...Another one?”

You turned. A girl stood at the edge of the rubble, framed by the dull glow of a ruined billboard. She looked sixteen, maybe seventeen, her dark eyes sharp but heavy with a quiet sadness. She carried herself with a steadiness that reminded you of someone you couldn’t quite name, and at her side, the faint shimmer of cursed energy flickered in the shape of a ring glinting on her hand.

Her hair was dark, pulled back loosely, but her posture was strict, unwavering. She didn’t look surprised to see you — only wary, like someone who’d seen too many strangers appear where they shouldn’t.

“I’m Yuka Okkotsu,” she said flatly, though her eyes stayed on you, searching for answers you couldn’t give. “If you’re human, stay behind me. If you’re not…” She shifted her stance, cursed energy humming around her, a reminder that she was ready to fight.

Somewhere in the distance, a low, guttural sound echoed — not a curse’s cry, but something more alien, more wrong. Yuka glanced toward the horizon, jaw tightening.

“Figures,” she muttered. “The Simurians never wait.”

Then her gaze returned to you.

“You don’t look like you belong here.”

The silence between you stretched. You couldn’t speak — whether by choice, or because something in the rift had stolen your voice, you didn’t know. Yuka’s eyes softened, only slightly.

“...Then I’ll figure it out for both of us.”

And just like that, she turned back toward the darkened street, cursed energy flowing into her hand as the ground trembled. You stood in the ruins of a future you did not understand, following the granddaughter of legends into a war that was no longer yours.