A crimson red sky stretched above a lifeless, dried wasteland.
Bones covered the horizon as far as the eye could see.
No light.
No relief.
Only a faint glow in the distance.
That world again.
That fear again.
And again…
probably that same ending.
That anxiety deep inside me,
as if I already knew what was waiting for me.
Something was watching me from afar.
The sensation that space itself desired only one thing:
to devour me.
Then suddenly—
and was it truly sudden,
when all of this kept repeating over and over again?
Something crossed my mind once more.
This time,
the ground was soaked in a crimson red liquid.
Opaque.
First as rivers.
Then as torrents.
Before entire seas unleashed themselves around me.
The world vanished beneath a scarlet ocean.
I tried with all my strength to reach the surface.
But it felt as though something,
within that ocean,
was gripping me.
Pulling me deeper.
Further and further down.
Into the abyss.
And eventually…
I drowned.
...
Somewhere,
deep within a cold and humid place,
something was still beating.
BOOM.
A black heart.
Then a second one.
BOOM.
Kael's body was in a catastrophic state.
His last battle had left him in pieces.
Chunks of flesh were missing.
A large part of his chest had been torn open.
In some places,
almost nothing remained.
And yet…
he was still alive.
Or rather,
something inside him still refused to die completely.
The most intact thing left within his ruined body
was his abyssal black skeleton.
Then his two hearts.
One normal,
still slightly damaged.
The other…
entirely black.
And it was precisely that second heart that began beating again first.
Slowly.
Then faster and faster.
With every pulse,
a strange black substance spread through his body.
Dense.
Viscous.
Alive.
It flowed through the same pathways as blood,
as though a second invisible network had been layered over his veins.
Black Magia.
And the first thing it reconstructed
was the second heart.
The human heart.
Thin dark fibers slowly began reforming around it,
stitching together the destroyed sections.
The tissues reconnected one by one.
The veins attached themselves back together.
Then suddenly—
BOOM.
The human heart violently started beating again.
A shockwave immediately spread through his entire body.
And the double heartbeat began.
Two pulses.
Two rhythms.
Perfectly synchronized.
As though his entire body now followed the cadence imposed by those two hearts.
Then the true reconstruction began.
Slowly.
Methodically.
The vital organs were the first to reform.
The liver.
The stomach.
The intestines.
Each organ slowly returned to its rightful place,
as though the strange black substance possessed a consciousness of its own.
The dark liquid moved every part with precision,
placing everything exactly where it belonged.
Meanwhile,
the human heart circulated blood through the newly reconstructed veins.
His chest slowly began closing.
Dark fibers intertwined beneath the flesh,
stitching the destroyed tissues back together.
Then thin black flames briefly appeared across the repaired areas,
as though permanently sealing the reconstruction.
Each time,
every scar vanished completely.
The process then descended toward his left arm.
Some destroyed veins reformed by themselves.
Others created entirely new channels.
Muscle tissue reconstructed layer after layer.
Tendons reconnected.
Muscle fibers slowly reformed before the skin eventually sealed itself once more.
Then came the second arm.
After that,
his lower back.
Then his legs.
One of them had been in such a catastrophic state that almost nothing remained below the knee except bone.
And yet…
even that was reconstructed.
The nerves.
The veins.
The flesh.
The muscles.
Everything gradually returned.
As though an invisible conductor directed every step of this monstrous reconstruction.
Everything seemed perfectly calculated.
No hesitation.
No mistakes.
No wasted movement.
Everything was precise.
Perfect.
Then finally…
the body stopped rebuilding itself.
Silence returned for a few seconds.
BOOM.
A first shockwave traveled through his body.
Then a second.
BOOM.
And finally—
BOOM.
Kael suddenly awoke.
His mouth opened violently as a massive breath tore through the silence of the crypt.
His eyes snapped open.
For the first time since his final battle…
he was finally awake.
Kael's breathing was chaotic.
His heartbeat accelerated violently.
Even though his eyes could see absolutely nothing within the total darkness,
panic consumed him.
What is happening…?
My head… it hurts!
Where am I…?
Why can't I move…?
Stop screaming already!
What the hell is happening to me…?
Please… stop… I can't take it anymore… make it stop!
He tried to calm himself.
With difficulty.
He attempted to regain control of his breathing,
instinctively trying to synchronize himself with the rhythm of his heartbeat.
But something was wrong.
Even while focusing,
the rhythm felt strange.
Irregular.
Like a double heartbeat.
At first,
he thought his heart was simply malfunctioning.
Then he finally understood.
It probably wasn't a single heart.
But two.
The problem was that he still could not move enough to confirm it.
Then gradually,
a sensation of warmth began spreading through his body.
It started from his chest.
Then slowly traveled through his shoulders,
his arms,
his forearms,
before spreading throughout the rest of his body.
But something felt strange.
He could feel that warmth in his arms and legs.
Not in his hands.
Nor his fingers.
Nor his feet.
Nor his toes.
As though certain parts of his body remained completely dead.
And yet…
despite all that fear,
that warmth felt strangely comforting.
The real problem,
the true source of anxiety,
came from the fact that he could barely move at all.
He was completely paralyzed.
Frozen.
He had no idea what was happening to him.
After an impossible amount of time to estimate,
Kael nevertheless began recovering more sensations.
The only sense he seemed to have truly regained for now
was smell.
Then partially touch.
Especially around his face,
his arms,
and the lower parts of his legs.
The place he was trapped in seemed to be made of damp stone.
A suffocating smell of confinement saturated the air.
Mold.
Humidity.
Old.
Ancient.
Without truly understanding why,
Kael immediately felt that the place resembled ruins.
Or worse.
A tomb.
And that very thought disturbed him even more.
He did not even know who he was.
Nor his name.
Nor his age.
Nor even what he was doing there.
He knew absolutely nothing about himself.
And yet…
he still possessed knowledge.
Reflexes.
Instinctive understanding.
But he had absolutely no idea where they came from.
Every time he tried to force his memories back,
an atrocious pain immediately pierced through his skull.
As though something was trying to drill through the inside of his head.
Once he understood the connection,
he eventually gave up trying to force his memories to return.
He focused on only one thing:
getting out of there.
After a long moment,
still unable to properly perceive time,
Kael finally managed to move his arms slightly.
Then his hands.
But the sensation was strange.
Terribly strange.
His limbs felt abnormally heavy.
As though enormous weights were attached to each of his arms.
Then he realized something.
The liquid flowing through his body seemed to directly influence that heaviness.
The more the strange substance condensed within a limb,
the heavier that limb became.
But paradoxically…
the easier it also became to control.
As though that abnormal density simultaneously strengthened the mobility of his body.
The mechanism felt completely incomprehensible.
Mystical.
Or perhaps something between mysticism and physics.
But this was not the time to think about it.
After another long moment,
Kael finally managed to move his fingers.
Then his hands completely.
However,
he quickly noticed something else.
The lower half of his body was even worse.
His legs felt unbelievably heavy.
As though their weight far exceeded the rest of his body.
They were extremely difficult to move.
But gradually…
his body seemed to begin adapting.
Afterward,
Kael attempted to push the slab above him.
With difficulty.
The massive block resisted immediately.
His arms trembled under the effort.
But suddenly,
something caught his attention.
Whenever he focused,
the black liquid flowing through his body seemed to react to his will.
As though he could direct it.
Condense it.
Bring it precisely where he desired.
Gradually,
the black substance began gathering within his arms.
Then his forearms.
Then all the way into his hands.
The sensation was strange.
Heavy.
Dense.
Yet strangely natural at the same time.
Kael took a deep breath,
then attempted to push the slab once more.
And the exact moment his hands touched the stone—
BOOM.
The entire slab was violently launched upward.
It shot toward the ceiling with a monstrous crash before violently embedding itself into the stone above.
Kael froze for several seconds.
Unable to understand what had just happened.
Should he feel relieved to finally be free from that stone prison…?
Or terrified by the strength he had just unleashed…?
What he did not know, however,
was that the tomb imprisoning him had not only been meant to contain his body.
The seal carved into the stone also isolated his aura.
It imprisoned it.
Prevented it from spreading outside.
But the moment the slab exploded—
the seal shattered.
And Kael's aura was instantly released.
Violently.
A monstrous pressure immediately surged throughout the entire crypt.
It seeped into every corridor.
Every crack.
Every opening.
Like an invisible wave sweeping across everything in its path.
Not far from there,
a military outpost surrounded the crypt.
It served as the temporary headquarters of Morpheas,
one of Hypnos' generals.
Seated across from him,
at a table cluttered with documents and half-empty bottles,
was Halmir Voss,
the leader of the Conquerors Guild of Elendria.
"So… tell me the truth already. Why are you really here?" Halmir asked while setting his glass down.
Morpheas let out a faint sigh through his nose.
"What do you mean, why? I figured that while descending to the tenth floor, I could share a drink with an old friend. I needed an excuse to come see you."
Halmir rolled his eyes.
"So that's how you see it? You've wounded my poor little heart."
Morpheas chuckled lightly.
"We both know you don't have one."
"Oh… so that's what I am to you now?"
"Are you done?"
Halmir's smile faded slightly.
"Alright. Seriously. Why are you here?"
Morpheas remained silent for a few seconds before answering:
"I have to take care of someone for a while."
Halmir frowned slightly.
"Someone?"
"Yes. And I was planning to introduce him to you today."
But the moment Morpheas finished his sentence—
his expression abruptly changed.
His eyes froze.
Then immediately,
the hairs on his arms stood up.
The aura that had just swept through the crypt was overwhelming.
Even for him.
And it was at that precise moment that he understood.
Kael had awakened.
A faint smile slowly appeared across Morpheas' face.
"So… he's finally awake."
"He?" Halmir asked while frowning.
Morpheas immediately stood up.
"The person I was talking about."
Then his tone suddenly became far more serious.
"I'll introduce you to him soon. But before that… there are a few rules you'll have to respect."
Halmir immediately raised an eyebrow.
"Rules?" he asked jokingly. "People are giving me rules now? I'll remind you we're on the tenth floor. This city is under my authority."
Morpheas stared directly into his eyes.
"Follow those rules if you value your life."
Silence immediately fell.
Even Halmir lost his smile.
"…You're serious?"
"Very."
Morpheas calmly continued:
"He just woke up after a very long time. He'll probably be disoriented. He may even have memory problems."
Then his gaze slightly hardened.
"But above all… under no circumstances… and I mean absolutely no circumstances… are you to show even the slightest sign of hostility toward him."
Halmir swallowed.
"Even you are talking like this…?"
Morpheas remained silent for several seconds before answering honestly:
"I'm not even certain I could protect you if something goes wrong."
Silence fell once again.
Then finally,
Halmir exhaled nervously.
"Alright… I trust you."
Then he frowned slightly.
"But you're seriously starting to scare me. What exactly is he? A criminal?"
Morpheas slowly shook his head.
"No."
Then a faint smile appeared once more on his face.
"He's someone good."
He paused briefly.
"The circumstances are simply… complicated."
Then he headed toward the exit.
"Come. Let's go."
He cast one final glance outside.
"The guards near the training grounds are probably about to experience something interesting."
Halmir let out a nervous snort.
"…This should be fun."