Soren found himself staring at the grayish-blue globe floating in the universe.
Startled at the sudden sight, he tried to take a futile step back before realizing he couldn’t move like the last dream.
Sighing, he resigned himself to his fate and crossed his arms, relaxing.
He watched as the devastation that befell upon the world in front of him settled before a stretch of time passed within a moment or eternity, Soren wasn’t sure.
Then, the dream accelerated.
What Soren assumed to be centuries passed within seconds, dragging his spectral body into the globe-shaped world.
He landed deep underground in, what he assumed to be, a subterranean vault filled with bizarre stone and thick glass.
Before him, a dim, void-black stone emanated a darkness that seemed to consume all light that touched it.
He reached out to try to touch the strange stone before he froze and retracted his hand back.
A man walked up to touch it, followed by people far behind him taking notes at every action he took.
The man reached out and touched the black stone with steady hands and a confident grin.
The second his fingers brushed against the surface of the stone, a rush of black energy flooded him.
At first, the man seemed to be smiling at the rush of energy before horror seemed to dawn upon his eyes.
He tried to let go, attempting to pull his arm away from the stone with all his might before he started convulsing.
The veins throughout his body started bulging before his eyes rolled back and a black light radiated it from it.
A soundless shriek tore from his throat before he unraveled and disappeared, gone from existence.
Soren grimaced at the sight, feeling bad for the man and forever grateful he didn’t touch the ominous stone—even if he was a ghost.
Time sped on and Soren watched in grim silence as he saw dozens, if not hundreds, of others perish in the same way—some willing, some unwilling.
Realizing that it wasn’t working, the people experimenting with the black stone abandoned all attempts at physical, human contact.
Soren watched in wonder and horror as heavily armored rigs and weaponry wrapped around the stone, forging it into a weapon of absolute destruction.
He saw the weapon being tested and paled at the sight.
It was a harrowing power he thought no mortal should wield—at least, not unless it was checked by an opposing force.
Soren was quickly yanked, pulled across a vast distance in an instant before he finally stopped, dazed.
He quickly orientated himself and looked around, awed at the sight.
Before him was a city of steel and glass—gray and dull—stretching far into the sky at impossible heights.
He turned around and was whiplashed at the sight.
It was a stark contrast of the city he turned away from.
It was a manor surrounded by lustrous, green trees and gardens that brought a contrasting beauty to the steel-like city.
Soren was dragged into the manor where he saw a floating white stone suspended in the air on an altar.
The white stone radiated a blinding white light that illuminated the entire room with its presence alone.
He saw a long line of black haired people in soft, silky clothing and porcelain masks calmly walking up to the stone.
Soren opened his mouth, futilely trying to warn them not to touch such a deadly stone before he stopped as he realized they couldn’t hear him.
The first of the people serenely touched the white stone and a white stream flooded into their body and lit up geometric runes that were inscribed into their limbs and clothing.
For a heartbeat, it looked like they would succeed and harness the divine power—until their mortal vessel buckled under the immense energy surging through their body.
Their body turned pale and metallic, cracking like dry porcelain before a blinding white light erupted from their eyes and mouth, collapsing them into a fine, white powder.
Soren’s heart sank as he watched another warrior inscribe runes into their body and clothing, only to succumb to the same ghastly fate as the previous warrior.
Time flowed faster as he watched countless generations of corpses, tragic sacrifices, and deadly trial-and-error attempts before the survivors learned to craft the right conduits and rituals to tame the white stone without being incinerated by contact.
Soren watched as the people encased it in a familiar accessory—his necklace.
He opened his eyes in shock, trying to get closer to the only semblance of family he had before the world blurred, pulling him once more across the world.
Soren finally landed in a colossal crater, arms and hands outstretched before he grit his teeth and put down his arm.
He was close to uncovering where he came from before he was brutally pulled away from it.
He sighed before taking a look around, embracing his surroundings.
Devastation as far as he could see—the divot was almost as deep as it was wide.
Amidst the ruins, a single man climbed out of a deep hole in the ground and stumbled out.
He was in pristine condition, a tragically hilarious contrast to the absolute destruction of his home—his world.
His eyes were hollow with grief as he looked around, searching for anything that could hint that there was a living soul.
The man stumbled into the nadir of the crater before he tripped against a stone, crashing into the ground.
He looked down and glared at the sight of the offending object—a pulsing gray and golden core stone.
His expression broke before he collapsed onto the ground and struck the object with his fist in an attempt to perhaps shatter it.
The stone flared.
Blinding pillars of celestial light erupted into the sky, tearing the clouds apart until it crashed down back into the man.
The man screamed as the light surged into his chest, but his flesh didn’t shatter into silver ash, nor did it dissolve into black non-existence.
His body adapted.
The light receded, and the crater fell silent.
The lone survivor slowly stood up from the scorched earth.
His eyes glowed with pure, unyielding authority and his gaze wandered up, looking directly at Soren.
“Did you do this?” the man asked, his glowing eyes glaring at Soren.
“Did you cause all this?”
Soren could only stare in horror as the man, somehow, seemed to detect his presence and blame the annihilation on him.
He tried to open his mouth to deny the claim but found that no noise could be produced.
The man walked menacingly towards Soren, the world shuddering with every step.
Soren desperately tried to scramble away before he found he couldn’t move, no matter how much he willed his legs to move.
The man reached out his hand to grab Soren by the throat, mere inches away, before the vision shattered into a fine white mist and flooded into Soren.
Soren woke up with an agonizing gasp, scrambling away to distance himself from the vestige of the man before he stopped, feeling the stone and earth crumble beneath his hands.
Looking behind him, Soren could only stare at the sight, remembering the harrowing moments before he fell into the dream.
He was on an island surrounded by nothing but air.
Looking down, he could only see a crater that was thousands of feet deep—a fall likely to result in certain death.
The island was supported by a diagonal pillar that extended far into the crater.
It was the only testament to Captain Valen saving his life.
“You’ve been asleep for a couple minutes.
You okay?”
Soren looked up and saw Rivor standing, looking at Soren with a masked expression.
“Y—yeah,” Soren replied, calming his thumping heart in his chest.
“We’re back.”
Rivor remained silent.
When Soren looked to catch a glimpse of his face, he quickly turned back.
There was a dark and ugly expression that was forming, targeted at Soren. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
“Yes, WE,” Rivor spit out darkly, glaring at Soren.
“WE got out safely, didn’t we?”
Soren flinched at his tone, feeling his every hair on his body stand straight up as the static in the air choked him.
The presence of an angry Transcendent.
“What do you mean?” Soren questioned, confused on what he did to offend such a Transcendent.
“The Captain didn’t get out,” Rivor replied, glancing at Meric who was still unconscious.
“She died trying to save your friend, Shindo.
She would still be alive if you didn’t tell her to save your friend.”
Horror dawned on Soren as he quickly looked around looking for the two Rivor had mentioned.
He remembered that Captain Valen said that one doesn’t get transported back to the real world if they were still over the Starlight Abyss but he didn’t think about that, too occupied with the horror brought by Abyssal Titan and the dream.
Soren had just reunited with Shindo, eager for answers but just when they were safe, an Entity beyond their comprehension descended upon the realm to simply deliver a message—it could’ve killed them with just a thought if it came with nefarious intentions.
Soren punched the ground in anger, red blurring his vision as the ground shook from the impact.
“They’re dead,” Rivor said, his voice terrifyingly quiet.
Soren slowly unburied his face and looked up.
Rivor was staring down at him, Rivor’s palms humming with residual static lightning—his emotions threatening to slip out of control.
“I didn’t know…” Soren said, clenching his hands into a tight grip.
“I didn’t know anything.
I didn’t know fucking anything!”
He slammed the ground again, shattering the stone beneath his fists.
He saw blood red as he continued to pummel the fragile ground beneath him, trying so desperately to alleviate the gnawing hatred and guilt that threatened to consume him.
“Enough,” Rivor said, stepping closer until the air around Soren grew thick with ozone.
“You didn’t think and I didn’t think.
You might be part of the reason why they died, but I am also at fault for blindly agreeing with Valen.
However, it is ultimately her fault.
Hubris consumes all and it eventually consumes her.”
“Enough, Rivor.”
A soft, weak voice cut through the tension, ending the tangent.
A few feet away, Meric stirred from the stone ground and pushed himself up.
He clutched his chest as a faint, dying flick of emerald radiance flickered over his fingers as he healed himself.
“What’s done is done.
The Captain told us to live so we must live with this regret in our hearts.”
Rivor clenched his jaw so hard his teeth clicked before he turned around and the air grew thick with static and ozone.
It seemed like he wanted to retort before he sighed, his body turning into a storm of lightning and disappearing from Soren’s sight almost immediately.
The fractured islands of Genesity had already ground back together in a chaotic reunion, but the scars were everywhere—an entire district was reduced to mere atoms.
Cries filled the air as people desperately searched for their loved ones.
Sobbing filled the air as people found the remains of their loved ones.
And Soren glared in the direction where the Grand Coronation took place—hatred solidifying in his heart.
He swore that he would kill every soul who took part in assassinating the Divine Emperor.
And after that, he would kill the Abyssal Titan who killed Shindo and Captain Valen.
Soren will never allow himself to be weak ever again.