Judith opened her eyes slowly, as if the morning light itself were dragging her back into the world. Exhaustion still clung to her, heavy in her muscles and her thoughts. She let out a short sigh. If there was one thing she truly despised, it was waking up early. But ever since she’d been reassigned to this post, waking up early had become as unavoidable as breathing. Same routine, every single day. No exceptions. A routine she had never imagined for herself.

  She sat up and stretched, bones popping one after another, like quiet reminders that the body had limits and time didn’t forget. When she enlisted under the government, right after integrating into the System, her mind had been a storm of possibilities. She had always loved exploration. She grew up devouring books about the great navigators, adventurers, and pioneers who crossed oceans centuries ago without any certainty of what lay beyond. Men who abandoned cities, families, and comfort to chase after incomplete maps and stubborn belief that something new waited out there.

  The United States had been born out of that impulse—trailblazers and settlers pushing across an unknown continent. The history of her country was carved by people who refused to stay where they were. And the century Judith was born into had embraced that legacy like never before. Humanity was now exploring the New World. A landmass said to be as vast as the entire planet had once been, before the System. And according to rumors, only a tiny fraction of it had been charted.

  New lands. New animals. Impossible ecosystems. Legendary creatures once confined to myth. Monsters from ancient stories now walking with flesh, bone, and hunger. When she enlisted, the recruitment slogan had been: “Come with America and uncover the New World!”

  It had sounded like it was written directly for her blood.

  Spending life behind a desk? That was a slow death. She wanted to cross suspended forests between floating mountains, where gravity was as gentle as the moon’s. She wanted to trek across glaciers and watch ice salamanders slither through ancient cracks. She wanted to plant the American flag on whatever that fortress floating above an active volcano was. Madness? Absolutely. But madness was how legends were written—and Judith wanted to be in one.

  And she got her wish. She joined the American military, was selected, trained, and deployed to the New World. She received her mission before she even stepped foot on unfamiliar soil. “Judith, those damned gods told us and several governments to protect a special place. Go, hold that ground, fulfill this great task.”

  She didn’t ask questions. She was thrilled. A mission handed down by higher beings—important, grand, epic. She imagined massive beasts emerging from the shadows. Wars against dimensional entities. Endless assaults on the border. But when she arrived, all she found was… a forest. A normal forest.

  Except for a huge circle of runes carved into the ground. And it was literally right next to the first city of the New World; she hadn’t even strayed far from civilization. And that was where she stayed for nine years.

  Not alone, of course. Delegations from multiple nations built a small settlement around the site. Americans, Japanese, Koreans, French, Germans, Indians—all gathered for a purpose no one truly understood. They called themselves the Super United Nations. Half serious, half joke.

  The System handled the language translation, so communication was easy. Living together… wasn’t. But Judith lived, learned, and adjusted.

  After a hot shower that did more to wake her up than relax her, she put on the same simple uniform everyone wore. Not quite military, not quite civilian. Something meant to last, get dirty, and still hold together. She grabbed her metal mug, filled it with strong coffee, and stepped outside her small house.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  The morning air was cold, carrying the smell of wet earth and fresh leaves. The sun was only just beginning to rise behind the treeline, bathing the village in that brief golden light that always looked like a promise of a good day. Judith yawned, rubbing her face.

  “Morning, Judith.”

  George spoke first. English, always well put together, short beard, the kind of man who woke up early without hating it.

  “Morning…” she mumbled, still rubbing her eyes.

  “You didn’t sleep well, huh?” Amit asked, his voice half teasing, half sympathetic.

  Before she could answer, slow footsteps approached. Yorimoto, elderly, Japanese, yet sturdier than most of them despite being twice their age. He had this calm way of existing that was both comforting and incredibly annoying, depending on the moment.

  “You stayed up playing cards again,” he observed, not even looking at them. “A clear mind requires proper rest.”

  Judith let out a long breath and grimaced.

  “I don’t want to hear lectures this early…” she muttered. And honestly, she was still a little embarrassed about losing her precious chocolate in the bets.

  They walked through the village together. Simple houses, a fire pit in the center, mismatched flags from different countries hanging like accidental decoration. Strange how this place had become home, even if none of them had wanted to end up here.

  Every morning, without exception, they gathered in the same place.

  The Circle.

  Carved into the packed dirt, covered in runes no one fully understood. Sometimes the markings glowed faintly, sometimes nothing happened at all. And for nine years, nothing truly had.

  But the routine held.

  They stopped in front of the seal, as always.

  “So,” someone asked, breaking the familiar silence, “what’s the theory today?”

  Amit raised his hand slightly, already prepared.

  “I’m telling you, this thing is a seal for some kind of kaiju.”

  George slowly turned his head, giving him a look like he couldn’t believe they were still on this.

  “Kaiju,” he repeated flatly. “We’re doing that again?”

  “Come on, you have to admit it makes sense,” Amit insisted. “Do you know how many times people have asked me about this circle lately? It’s obviously a seal to keep some huge monster locked away.”

  They stared at the runes.

  “I don’t think they’d send us to deal with a kaiju,” Carl said. “We’re not exactly top-tier.”

  Judith took a sip of coffee, letting the heat finally chase away her exhaustion. The theories changed every day. Giant monster seal. Dimensional trap. Divine experiment. Interrupted ritual. And nothing ever happened.

  “One thing is certain,” Judith said quietly. “If it were dangerous, they would’ve sent someone stronger.”

  “Like Hero Serena?” Karen asked.

  The mention of the name shifted the air, even if only slightly. Serena. America’s golden heroine. One of the few people in the world who held the Hero class.

  Younger than Judith. Twenty, maybe. She had already cleared major dungeons, fought rare creatures, represented the nation at official events. Meanwhile Judith… was here. Nine years staring at a circle carved into the dirt.

  A breath slipped out before she could hold it back.

  “Who knows…” she answered, trying to steer the conversation elsewhere—and to not sound like it bothered her.

  “Maybe this seal is for summoning a demon,” she added, a faint edge of irony coloring her voice.

  She waved her hand lazily.

  “You know, weird rune circle, creepy energy, something like a pentagram vibe.”

  There wasn’t a star, of course. Just a ring of unfamiliar runes. But it was enough for the imagination to fill in the rest.

  “A demon…?” Amit repeated.

  “Yeah. A demon.” Judith leaned into it now, mostly to provoke the group. “One of those terrifying figures that command hordes of monsters. Maybe a demon getting summoned here would finally make these nine years worth something.”

  The silence that followed wasn’t fearful. It was the shared, exhausted kind of silence. The kind that said every single one of them had just realized that dealing with a literal demon might actually be less tiring than another identical morning here.

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