_Chapter Begins_
William stood frozen.
"This... was not what I was expecting."
A vast expanse of shattered glass stretched as far as his eyes could see.
Some shards soared high into the night sky, while others were small and unassuming.
However, William could tell this glass was not ordinary—the shards looked like mystical gems.
He took a step forward and knelt down. A small shard lay on the ground before him.
He picked up the palm-sized piece and studied it closely.
"Well... looks like I was right."
William had sensed that these shards held some kind of mystical property, and now that theory had been proven with one glance.
Covering the shard were countless symbols deeply carved into its surface.
As he examined them, however, William suddenly frowned.
A flicker of confusion passed through his eyes, and he slowly rose to his feet.
"Why do I feel like this...?"
He couldn't explain it, but for some reason, an overwhelming sense of dread gripped him.
How could dread be difficult to describe? It was a feeling all humans experienced at some point.
But no... this dread was different.
It wasn't his body or mind trembling—it was his soul.
Cold sweat coated his skin as he began scanning his surroundings, twisting his neck from side to side, looking for any threat among the sea of glittering shards.
Then, he felt it—a pull of force coming from his chest.
"Ah—what the hell?!"
The purple orb had finally made its presence known.
But it wasn't just awakening... it was urging him to do something.
What exactly, he couldn't tell.
His eyes drifted toward the shard in his hand.
"Maybe this?"
Before he could act, however, something else happened.
A sharp, faint sound echoed—a single shard of glass falling to the ground, maybe twenty or thirty meters away.
That was all the warning he got.
Before William could react, an abomination appeared in front of him, swiping at his head with blinding speed.
It was so fast that he couldn't even see its body clearly.
All he could make out were two long arms, two long legs—and strangely enough, a form seemingly made of wood.
The creature's claws connected with William's head.
Instantly, he was decapitated. His skull burst into a sickening mess of bone, flesh, and blood.
The scene was gruesome, to say the least.
But William couldn't dwell on it—because he was dead.
Again.
This was the second time William had died... and maybe—just maybe—it would be his last.
Wouldn't that be nice? To finally rest in the embrace of death, with no more pain, no more struggle—only peace.
But of course, fate wasn't finished with him yet.
Once again, William came to be.
First the skeleton, then blood vessels sprawling over the bones, then organs, muscles, and skin—all forming in sequence.
He was back.
"That's... a disturbing sight."
He stared at his decapitated corpse lying motionless on the ground.
And standing next to it was the culprit.
"Gods... how revolting."
William wanted to gag at the sight of the abomination.
Its body was so grotesque that it defied comparison to any animal he'd ever seen. The closest thing might be a horse—if the horse's legs were shattered and then stretched to impossible lengths.
Its body was entirely made of wood, its two long arms ending in razor-sharp claws, and its legs—only slightly shorter—bent at unnatural angles.
Those were the details William had glimpsed in the brief instant before dying. But now, with a moment to actually look, he could see more.
Its skull resembled a twisted mix between a dog's and a horse's. Two carved holes sat where eyes should be—and within them burned faint purple lights, alive with fury and madness.
But the detail that truly caught his attention was carved into the creature's wooden skin.
"Huh... so it's not just the glass shards that have symbols on them."
And then, William died again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
It was almost funny, in a cruel way. Did he really think the gods would let him off with just two deaths? No—that would've been far too merciful.
It took several brutal deaths before William finally began to understand.
_Chapter Ends_