He knew that mist better than most. After all, he'd almost lost himself to it more times than he cared to admit. And truth be told, he wasn't confident he wouldn't lose himself this time either.
"Haa…" He exhaled, glancing around. From what he'd seen of the battlefield so far, there weren't many Saints present. It looked like both sides were still holding back their strongest forces. That was fine by him — Asher had no intention of being caught in the crossfire when they finally joined the fray.
He sighed. For now… survival came first.
"Creature!" a strained voice barked.
Asher turned, hand tightening on his weapon. A figure staggered toward him—humanoid, but not quite human. Scaled skin, eyes dim with exhaustion. A Master, judging by his aura. Blood soaked the man's armor.
"Stall the human behind me," the man rasped. "With your life. The Commander will be here soon to cleanse these pests."
Asher narrowed his eyes. Judging from the man's armor, he was on his side. Wonderful. He sighed again and looked past him — a human was approaching with calm steps.
His gaze flicked to the core. His stomach dropped. A Master.
Yeah. No chance in hell.
Asher turned on his heel and started walking the other way.
"Creature of stone!" the wounded Master shouted, panic edging his voice. "Your going the wrong direction! The Storm God's pest is right behind me!"
Asher slowly turned back, his brows furrowing, "Fuck no. I'm not fighting that!"
Like why the spell would someone fight a unwounded master as a sleeper?! Its bonkers! BONKERS!
The man's jaw went slack as he stared straight at Asher, forgetting entirely about the human creeping up behind him.
"Did you… just speak?"
Contrary to Asher's expectations, anger didn't flare in his eyes. Instead, the shock twisted into something disturbingly joyful.
"No… Creature. You defied my order… YOU DEFIED IT—!"
The rest of his words were swallowed by a wet sound — steel tearing through flesh.
He gasped, blood spilling from his lips, a crooked smile breaking across his face. "L–Lord Nether… you did it…" His voice rose into a manic scream as his final breath escaped him.
"YOU CREATED LIFE!"
Asher froze. His throat tightened.
No time to think. His body moved on instinct, legs pounding the ground, the weight of gravity pushing him to flee. If that human was a Master—
"Fascinating."
Time slowed as Asher turned his head to see abyssal black eyes looking at him.
"It seems," the man said, each syllable deliberate, "your lord has finally achieved what only gods dare claim."
A faint smile crept across his face as he raised his sword, angling it toward Asher's head.
"Shame you'll never be known to him. Goodb—"
Thud.
The sentence died as his head hit the dirt.
Asher stumbled, his boots catching on the corpse as he crashed down beside it. The air around him warped — thick, heavy, suffocating. He forced himself to look up… and his blood turned to ice.
It was a Sovereign.
'N–No way…'
This wasn't supposed to happen. This was a second nightmare. A titan in the first, and now this?
Bullshit. Absolute bullshit.
The being loomed above him — skin ashen-grey, hair like threads of white fire, eyes glowing with blood-red light and no pupils to soften their gaze.
"You."
The single word cracked through the air like thunder. The man's hand twitched — and before Asher could even breathe, his vision went dark.
***
"&#(^@!"
Huh?
"Wake up Sir!"
Asher jolted upright with a sharp inhale. Fatigue clung to him like lead. His entire body ached — or whatever counted as aching for something made of stone. He ran a hand over his arm. Cold. Hard. Rough. Still stone.
The memory of those blood-red eyes sent a shiver through his chest.What… what even happened?
He forced himself to breathe — pointless, maybe, but oddly comforting. His mind steadied enough to piece things together. From what he remembered — Sunny's shadow, the Saints, the Ebony Tower — it didn't take long to guess.
Nether was obsessed with proving that the daemons were equal to gods, so he was obsessed with trying to create life, but all he ended up were stone husks with no emotions and overall robotic and weapons of war. Asher's brief defiance and ability to speak must have startled them.
There was good news and bad news.
Good news: they probably wouldn't kill him.Bad news: what the hell were they going to do to him now that he'd displayed emotion?
"Sir! Please respond!"
'Oh.'
He turned his head. A little girl stood beside him — grey-skinned, like the others, but with bright, glittering eyes that shone with life.
She grinned. "You promised we'd play today!"
"Huh?" Asher frowned. Where was he? And why was this brat—
The girl's smile faltered, her lips trembling. "W–will you not play?"
He sighed, looking away. This was exactly why he hated children…
But damn his flaw.
"…Alright. I'll play."
The child's face lit up instantly, her smile returning tenfold. "Let's go get Folrs and the rest!"
Asher raised what he thought was an eyebrow — hard to tell without a mirror. Still, he followed her.
They walked along a sloping hill, the golden grass brushing against their legs. Below stretched a valley dotted with a small town — quaint, quiet, alive. But when Asher looked up, his breath caught.
No sky. Just a massive dome of rock arching over the world.And hanging in that darkness were seven brilliant spheres, glowing like miniature suns.
"Divine soul shards…" he whispered.
Seven of them. Each radiating light enough to paint the world in gold.
He glanced down at the girl humming beside him, clutching his pinky like it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Kid," he asked softly, "what's your name?"
She puffed her cheeks. "Mister, I told you a hundred times! It's Ari! A–R–I!"
Asher chuckled, a rare sound even to his own ears. "Sorry. Must've slipped my mind."
Still smiling faintly, he looked forward again. But his thoughts refused to rest.
Was that nightmare before… a vision?
Did the Sovereign leave him here?
Or… was this the illusion?
The world felt too vivid to be fake. But then, nightmares always did.
"We're here!"
Ari's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. Before him, a group of children played among the tall grass, laughter echoing through the golden light.
One scrawny boy spotted him and called out, "You finally came, Mister Stoney!"
Asher frowned. "Stoney? Seriously?"
Before he could complain, Ari tapped his leg. "You're it!"
And then she darted off into the grass, giggling, followed by the others.
Asher stared for a moment — then smirked.
"…You know," he muttered, cracking his knuckles, "I've spent most of my life running."
He leaned forward, a grin spreading across his face.
"But I'm pretty damn good at chasing, too."