Haa!
"How unfortunate can I be..." Dian muttered, her voice nearly drowned by the sound of her frantic footsteps. She darted through the forest, her once-neat hair tangled and her clothes in tatters. Twigs whipped at her face, and cuts stung her arms, but she didn't stop. Fear filled her chest like wildfire, clawing at her from within. Still, she pushed on.
She was a warrior. She chose this path knowing the stakes—live or die. That was the nature of it. A kill-or-be-killed road. The moment she stepped into this realm, she had gambled with her life. And now, fate seemed to be calling in her debt.
A journey that represents life... and how you defy it. Her thoughts were scattered. Her connection to Merlin was lost. Her communicator stone cracked during the escape. She was alone.
"I felt like... an ant." She gritted her teeth. "Gosh... is there really no way?" Her breath caught. "I'm in the Awakened Realm, and even that wasn't enough. I was... nothing before that thing."
A Shattered God.
Just the memory made her knees weak. Her body trembled.
Then she saw it—tucked between twisted roots and mossy rock, a dark cave. It looked empty. No signs of life. No sounds. She ducked inside and pressed her back to the cold stone, curling her legs into herself. Her arms hugged her knees as she tried to calm her heart. It was pounding too hard.
Then something strange happened.
From thin air, a black hole materialized. Small. Suspended. Silent. No suction. No energy waves. Just... there.
Her eyes widened. "A gate?"
Out of it stepped a man—white-haired, barefoot, topless. A black robe hung loosely around his waist, and every inch of him radiated calm and danger. His body was sculpted, perfect, too perfect. Behind him, a creature followed.
Her heart skipped. *It's that boy... the one with the strange sword.*
She stood up quickly, brushing the dust from her legs, and ran toward him.
"Please! Do you have a way out of here? Where did you come from?" Her voice cracked with desperation.
He stared at her, unmoved. "Sword thief," he said coldly, pushing her back with a firm hand. "Please... refrain yourself."
Her eyes twitched. "Sword thief?" But then she softened, catching herself. "I'm... sorry."
Tina hissed beside him, sharp and unwelcoming.
"Who are you?" Dax asked, his voice calm but edged. He didn't lower his guard. His Origin Eyes focused on her, and immediately, he noticed it—a strange shadow latched onto her.
Inside her chest, her flames burned in two tones—yellow and black. The yellow crackled like thunder, the black pulsed like void. Four elemental flames—two lightning, two darkness—circled in an orbit, forming a dark ring of intertwined chaos.
"Darkness and lightning," he murmured. "A strange combination."
"I am Dian," she replied, suddenly feeling bare under his gaze.
"Wait... how do you know my elements?" Suspicion filled her voice, followed by curiosity. Who was this man? Why did he see through her?
Her eyes shifted to Tina. She froze.
That little lizard... *it* protected him before. But this aura—it wasn't the same. This wasn't some petty creature anymore. This was something refined. Controlled. Powerful.
Last time she encountered Tina, it was just a low-level beast. Now? She could barely breathe near it.
Both the man and the beast... were unnatural.
"You're a Godfall," she whispered, noticing his hair. She tried to smile, but her lips quivered. Beneath the calm mask, she was breaking.
"Yes. I am Dax Godfall," he replied. "Son of Omin Godfall."
Her heart dropped. "….You're that Dax? The Godfall disgrace? How\... how are you still alive?"
His expression didn't change, but his jaw tightened.
"You seem tense," he observed, voice dry.
The mention of tension made the fear return. Her face turned pale. Her hands clenched. Dax's eyes narrowed. Something was chasing her—and it wasn't ordinary.
"Does it have something to do with that... thing on your shoulder?" he asked, voice low.
She looked down quickly, startled. "What is this...?" Her voice wavered.
Dax watched as a faint dome spread from her core, reaching outward. It formed a perfect sphere, about four hundred meters wide.
"I sense... nothing," she whispered.
"Of course you don't," Dax chuckled. "You don't have my eyes." his irises briefly pulsed—hinting at his special eyes.
Her fear returned as anger. "Why are you laughing—is this funny to you?" Her voice trembled.
"If you were being hunted to death by a Shattered God, you wouldn't be so casual," she snapped.
That name again.
"Shattered God?" he asked, intrigued.
She looked away. Her voice dropped. "A Shattered God is the fragment of a dead god. A piece of one. A cursed being that refused to die completely. It exists to drag everything into its grave."
She shivered.
Dax turned away. "Epoch," he said firmly. "Follow me."
Her feet froze. But she obeyed. She hated how her pride crumbled in front of him, how she—an Awakened Realmer—followed so blindly. Fear had carved away her defiance." This is unreal." She couldn't help but marvel.
The world around them shifted.
Dian blinked, trying to grasp her surroundings. "Where... where am I? What is this place?"
"Stay calm," Dax said.
A small metallic sphere floated near her face. It scanned her eyes silently. Another drone flew toward Dax.
"Welcome, Master," it said in a mechanical voice.
"Ceron," Dax replied. "You haven't changed."
"Master, you know I will never serve an outsider."
*Tch. Ass kisser.* Inerous scoffed in his head.
Dian flinched at the machines. She reached out to grab one—just to understand it—but Dax caught her wrist.
"Please don't touch," he said politely, but firmly.
He led her to his isolation chamber and poured her a glass of wine.
She sat in silence, still trying to process everything. The wine trembled in her hands.
---
Meanwhile, in the void beyond—
**"How?!"** A shrill voice echoed from the gap. "Merlin's brat is gone?"
Silence.
Then hands moved—forming strange seals. "Abraka nohime."
A hand ripped through the sky like tearing paper. A massive eye formed in the clouds, emerald green and glowing with demonic light. It scanned the entire realm with divine precision.
But the mark was gone.
Even in death, the mark should remain.
The eye narrowed. *It vanished inside a cave... there!*
"There you are, little ant…" it said, its voice dripping with malice. Then it laughed—a mad, twisted, shrill sound that shook the heavens.