Darkness gave way to silence.
When Yevhen opened his eyes, the character creation screen had vanished.
Instead, he found himself standing beneath a crimson sky.
A cold wind swept across an endless battlefield.
His breath caught in his throat.
The earth was stained black and red, scarred by countless craters as though the land itself had suffered for ages. Broken banners fluttered weakly in the wind, their emblems long forgotten. Everywhere he looked, countless corpses lay motionless—knights clad in shattered armor, towering giants, winged beings with broken halos, dragons whose massive skeletons stretched across the horizon, and creatures unlike anything he had ever imagined.
Scattered among them were weapons that radiated overwhelming power.
A sword engulfed in eternal flames remained embedded in the earth.
A spear crackling with violet lightning pierced the body of a colossal beast.
A bow woven from silver branches glimmered beneath the blood-red sky.
Each weapon released an aura so immense that Yevhen instinctively avoided looking at them for too long.
"...Where am I?"
His voice disappeared into the empty wasteland.
Then he noticed it.
Far ahead stood a lone figure.
An elderly man, dressed in a weathered gray cloak, leaned upon a wooden staff. His silver hair danced in the wind as though untouched by the passage of time.
Yevhen's heart skipped a beat.
"...Grandpa?"
The old man slowly turned.
His familiar smile remained unchanged.
"You've grown, Yevhen."
Tears welled in Yevhen's eyes.
"It... it can't be you."
"Perhaps."
The old man chuckled softly.
"Or perhaps this is only the echo of someone long gone."
Yevhen hurried toward him.
"I don't understand."
"You will."
The old man looked across the endless battlefield.
"This place is older than mankind's oldest memory."
He gestured toward the fallen warriors.
"Every corpse here once shook the heavens."
"And every weapon scattered across this land once belonged to beings called gods."
Yevhen stood speechless.
"I thought Divine Nexus was just a game."
The old man's smile faded.
"That is what your world believes."
He knelt and picked up a handful of blackened soil before letting it slip through his fingers.
"But no game could create memories."
"No game could preserve souls."
"No game could conceal history."
He turned toward Yevhen.
"What humans call **Divine Nexus** is merely the doorway."
"A doorway..."
"...to an ancient world that refused to die."
Yevhen's breathing grew heavy.
"You mean..."
"This world truly existed."
"It still does."
Before Yevhen could ask another question, his grandfather raised a hand.
"There are truths you are not yet ready to bear."
"The Primal Codex chose you for a reason."
"But even I cannot interfere beyond this point."
The wind suddenly stopped.
The battlefield trembled.
An overwhelming pressure descended from the heavens.
The crimson clouds split apart.
A colossal hand, forged from radiant divine light, slowly emerged from the sky.
Its fingers were larger than mountains.
Its presence alone made the battlefield shake.
Yevhen instinctively stepped back.
"W-What is that?"
His grandfather looked upward, his expression calm.
"The laws of this world."
The divine hand descended.
Golden chains of light wrapped around the old man.
Yevhen lunged forward.
"Grandpa!"
The old man smiled one last time.
"Do not seek power, Yevhen."
"Seek understanding."
"The strongest are not those blessed by the heavens..."
"...but those who rewrite them."
The chains tightened.
His body slowly dissolved into countless motes of light.
Before vanishing completely, he looked directly into Yevhen's eyes.
"We will meet again."
The divine hand then turned toward Yevhen.
He couldn't move.
A single finger gently touched his forehead.
The battlefield disappeared.
The corpses.
The divine weapons.
The crimson sky.
Everything dissolved into blinding white light.
A familiar voice echoed through the void.
> **Synchronizing Player...**
> **Assigning Starting Region...**
> **Destination: Novice Village.**
The light swallowed him whole.
A cool breeze brushed against Yevhen's face.
He slowly opened his eyes to the cheerful sounds of birds singing and children laughing.
Gone was the endless battlefield.
Gone were the corpses of gods.
Before him stood a peaceful village nestled between rolling green hills and dense forests wrapped in a gentle morning mist.
A weathered wooden sign welcomed every newcomer.
**Mistvale Village.**
Small cottages with straw roofs lined narrow stone paths. Farmers tended their fields, blacksmiths hammered glowing iron, merchants called out their wares, and adventurers carrying worn wooden weapons eagerly prepared for their first quests.
It looked exactly like the beginner village of any ordinary virtual reality game.
Yet after what he had witnessed...
Yevhen knew it was anything but ordinary.
His hand instinctively reached for the necklace beneath his tunic.
The crystal had become quiet once more.
"So that wasn't a dream..."
He looked toward the distant mountains hidden behind a sea of mist.
Somewhere beyond them lay the battlefield.
Somewhere in this world existed the answers his grandfather refused to reveal.
What was the Primal Codex?
Why had the necklace chosen him?
And why did everyone believe this ancient world was only a game?
Yevhen took a slow, determined breath.
"I don't need all the answers today."
A faint smile formed on his face.
"But I'll find them."
One step at a time.
No matter how long the journey took.
With renewed resolve, the ordinary boy took his first step into Mistvale, unaware that every legend begins with a single, unremarkable beginning.