Asterion Forest, Asterion Duchy.
Moonlight filtered through the branches and leaves that formed the canopy, creating moving shadow patterns on the forest floor. Amidst the tense silence, a luminous silhouette darted nimbly among the trees and undergrowth. Its breath was shallow, and blood flowed from its wounds, soaking its tattered cloth. From afar, the sound of footsteps shattered the silence; a group of masked men, half-faces hidden, continued their relentless pursuit.
Crack! Crack!
The sound of twigs breaking and dry leaves being trampled became a terrifying rhythm in the night. Suddenly, a blazing fireball shot from behind, crashing toward the glowing silhouette.
Braak!
The fireball slammed into the energy shield that had suddenly appeared, exploding in a burst of thick green smoke that obscured vision. The smell of sulfur assaulted my nostrils.
"Chase! Don't let him escape!" a hoarse voice shouted from behind the mask, shattering the silence after the explosion.
The attacks were relentless. Cold ice bullets pierced the air as earthen golems rose from the ground, shaking the ground beneath their feet. The glowing silhouette—Bellios—staggered. The constant fighting and fleeing had drained his energy and worn away his mental strength. His body was drenched in blood, and every breath felt like a knife to his lungs.
Suddenly, his feet slipped on the edge of a cliff. A giant cliff gaped before him, the darkness at the bottom seeming to swallow all light. Bellios froze, his heart pounding. Across the terrifying chasm, a magnificent mansion stood majestically. Its marble walls reflected the moonlight like jewels.
"Just a little more..." he hissed, his voice hoarse with a mix of hope and despair.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
A masked hunter leaped out of the shadows, his sword glinting coldly in the moonlight. "Haha! You finally surrender, Bellios!" he sneered, his voice filled with an infuriating triumph.
Another followed. "Come on, accept your fate! Hero... Bellios," said another, mocking the title bitterly. "Your job is done. Now it's your turn to be meat at the slaughterhouse!"
The word "hero" hit him like a slap in the face. Bellios held his breath, a bitter taste filling his mouth. Hero? The once-glorious title was now a bitter joke. He had been abandoned, betrayed, hunted.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
The other hunters began to arrive, pinning him to the edge of the cliff. Bellios was completely trapped.
He closed his ocean-blue eyes and took a long, deep breath. His gaze once again drifted to the Asterion mansion across the ravine. At that moment, a familiar voice echoed from the darkness.
"Still not finished?"
Bellios turned around, his heart nearly stopping. From behind the bushes, a man appeared, impeccably dressed. The Asterion family's butler.
"Ah, the Butler," the masked hunter leader greeted with a slightly surprised and humble tone. "There's no time limit on this mission. We were simply ordered to retrieve Bellios's body. What business do you have here, sir?"
The butler stepped gracefully, his cold, emotionless eyes fixed on Bellios. "My Lord Duke Astra awaits news from the Whisper Guild. Please complete it immediately."
Duke Asterion... Guild Whisper...
The puzzles that had been scattered throughout his eight years of escape suddenly fell into place in Bellios' mind. The return of the victorious hero who fought against the Demon King... The mysterious deaths of his comrades one by one... The betrayal that made him a most wanted fugitive... All fingers pointed in one direction.
"Ahaha..." Bellios burst out laughing, bitter and full of pain. His gaze was fixed on the ground, his hands clenched so tightly that his nails dug into his palms. "So that's it... Duke Asterion is behind all this?" He stared intently into the Butler's eyes, his gaze suddenly calm and cold. "What did I do wrong? It can't be just because he fears my power, can it?" A small, bitter smile played across his lips.
The Butler returned it with a thin, cynical smile. "Your intelligence is worthy of a hero and a strategist," he said, his voice soft but piercing. "Unfortunately, that's also what makes you dangerous. The youngest daughter, Lady Imelda... she loves you. And that," the butler paused, "is unforgivable."
Love? That reason was more despicable than fear. A deep pain pierced Bellios' heart, more painful than the wounds on his body. Anger, betrayal, and bitterness erupted into one. Without thinking, he gathered the last of his energy. His hands moved swiftly, tracing symbols of light in the air. The air around him vibrated, hissing with pure, terrifying power.
"Magic Circle... Level Ten!" cried one of the masked hunters, his voice panicked. "But... anti-magic potion! He shouldn't be able to cast such advanced magic!"
The butler glared, his usually calm face contorted in anger. "Fools! What are you doing? DESTROY HIM! NOW!" he shouted at the stunned hunters.
Magical and physical attacks were launched, but too late. A shield of pure light enveloped Bellios, deflecting everything like a breeze.
Bellios opened his eyes. His ocean blue pupils had turned a fiery gold. His black hair had instantly turned white, adorned with a pattern of golden light that spread across his forehead, down his neck, and across his wounded body. The light from his body radiated so brightly, it was blinding, burning his retinas.
"I will take you... all of you... WITH ME!" he shouted, his voice echoing with vengeance and final liberation.
It was no ordinary explosion. It was utter annihilation. A blue and white light brighter than the sun exploded from Bellios's body, obliterating everything in a wide radius. Trees, rocks, masked hunters, Butler, even the air itself. The tremors shook the very foundations of the continent, sending shockwaves that could be heard hundreds of kilometers away. A thick blue plume of smoke rose into the night sky, visible throughout the empire. At the center of the explosion, the fertile region of Asterion was reduced to a gaping, barren crater.
Bellios no longer felt pain. As his physical body dissolved into particles of light and ash, all that remained was a cold emptiness and a strange peace. "They say... before death... the past will flash back..." he murmured in his fading consciousness.
And the flashes came. Not just images, but voices, laughter, warmth. The faces of his comrades, the six heroes who had been lost before him by the same cruel plot. They laughed, argued, encouraged each other in battle. Beautiful memories marred by the Emperor and his nobles' fear of their absolute power. Tears, no longer formless, welled up at the edges of his fading consciousness. Eight years of flight, revenge, and loneliness, ended in destruction.
.
.
.
The Void Between Dimensions.
Bellios' soul, or what remained of it, drifted like a thin, deformed, painful cloud of smoke. Its form was thin and fractured, its energy dim, and riddled with spiritual wounds of resentment and despair. Within this infinite void, a voice echoed. Not through his ears, but touching the very core of his being.
[A soul... mortally wounded...] The voice echoed, deep and filled with ancient power.
[You have done something extraordinary... and terrible. The world you left behind screams. Gaia wails, begging for mercy... pleading with me.]
Bellios's soul trembled faintly, not understanding what the voice meant.
[Hmm...] The voice murmured, as if examining it more closely. [Your condition... is more dire than I expected. Wounded, cracked, nearly destroyed. Why does revenge hold you so tightly?]
A silence fell in the void.
[I am the Guardian. The Guardian of the Universe and the Corridors of Time.] The voice introduced itself, yet remained mysterious.
[Your reckless courage or your desperation has caught my attention. Breaking the laws of cause and effect is a grave risk...] The voice sounded as if considering. [But... seeing the devastation in your soul, and Gaia's cry for balance... perhaps this is the only way.]
Before Bellios's deformed soul could respond, or even comprehend, a light warmer than the sun, softer than the full moon, enveloped him. It seeped into every crack in his soul, feeling like an elixir healing deep wounds.
[Fight on, Wounded Soul. Your journey is not over. May... good fortune be with you.]
And gently, but surely, the light carried Bellios' deformed soul away from the void, into a rapidly spinning vortex of light, toward a new uncertainty.
***