Release #35 - The Face I Can’t Remember

The battlefield falls silent as the crowd stares in disbelief—Daunte has vanished. As panic spreads, the story plunges inward, into Daunte’s fractured mind. He finds himself reliving fragmented memories of childhood: three kids playing in a yard, one of them erased—his face violently scribbled out. No matter how hard Daunte tries, he can’t remember who the child was. The memories twist darker. The erased child lies bloodied on the ground. A tall, hooded figure stands over them. Daunte digs deeper, recalling innocent moments—drawing at home, being a kid—only for the vision to shift again. Through a window, he sees the same hooded figure standing at his door, dressed like a grim reaper, before his father rushes him away. Faces remain hidden. Answers stay just out of reach. Daunte is violently pulled from this near-death coma by a voice shouting, “Awake, warrior.” Back in the arena, dazed and disoriented, he sees the hooded man standing among the crowd. Confusion turns to shock when the tournament replay reveals the truth—Daunte survived by dashing behind a rock at the last possible moment. Rising to his feet, Daunte’s aura mutates into something terrifying—SSD3 Rage bleeding into SSD4 Sign. He marches forward, unfazed by flames, and strikes the dragon with overwhelming force, reverting the shapeshifter back to human form. The camera cuts away as blood erupts skyward. When the victory alarm finally sounds, Daunte is laughing—unhinged—before collapsing in agony. As staff carry him away, Daunte scans the crowd one last time. The hooded man is gone.