The world was quiet.
Keghan could hear nothing. No rain, no wind, not even the sound of his own heartbeat. It was as if the storm, the hospital, and the pain had all been washed away. He tried to open his eyes, but the light was too bright. It felt like he was staring at the sun through a thin veil. Slowly, shapes, shadows, colors, and movement began to appear.
He was lying on soft grass. The air was cool and smelled faintly of flowers. When he pushed himself up, his head ached, and his body felt heavy, but there was no sign of injury. His hospital gown was gone. Instead, he wore simple gray clothes that looked old, like something from a storybook.
He blinked several times, trying to understand what he was seeing.
He wasn't in a room. He wasn't even on land.
He was standing on a floating island, hanging alone in the middle of a boundless sky. Clouds drifted slowly below him, and far, far away, other small islands floated like lost pieces of the world. The wind here was gentle, yet it carried a strange silence, one that made his chest tighten.
Then he saw them.
Nine other people around his age were lying on the grass just like he had been. Some were waking up, rubbing their eyes, confused. Others were already standing, looking around nervously. Their faces were unfamiliar. No one spoke for a long time.
At the center of the island was a round pond, its surface perfectly still, reflecting the endless sky above like a mirror. Around it stood ten white candles, each one burning quietly even though there was wind. The flames never flickered.
Keghan stared at the candles, feeling something strange stir inside him. Each flame seemed alive, glowing brighter whenever someone looked at it.
"Where... where are we?" a voice finally asked.
It was a girl with short black hair, dressed in a white tunic like everyone else. Her hands trembled as she looked around.
Another person, a tall man with messy blond hair, shook his head. "I don't know. I was at home... and then-"
"Thunder," Keghan said quietly. "I remember lightning."
Everyone turned to him. Their eyes were filled with the same fear and confusion he felt.
Before anyone could speak again, the wind changed.
A sudden bright and pure light filled the sky. The ground trembled softly beneath them, and the pond's surface began to glow. The candles flared higher, their white flames reaching toward the sky.
Then a voice echoed, not loud, but deep enough to be felt in their bones.
"Awaken, my chosen."
Keghan froze. The voice sounded neither male nor female. It was calm, almost gentle, but it carried the weight of something ancient, something that didn't belong to mortals.
The pond rippled. From its surface rose a tall, slender, and blindingly bright shape. The light formed into the figure of a being that towered over them, its body shimmering like sunlight through water.
It had ten white wings, spreading wide across the sky. Each feather glowed faintly, and when they moved, it sounded like a soft hymn. The being's face was hidden, covered by an array of shifting light, yet two blue eyes shone through, sharp and endless, like pieces of the sky itself. Long white hair flowed down its back, glimmering like silver threads.
Its robe was pure white, with a golden cross in the middle that pulsed like a heartbeat.
The group stepped back, some falling to their knees. None dared to speak.
Keghan stared, unable to breathe. There was no doubt, this was no human.
The being's voice echoed again, calm and powerful.
"Do not fear. You have been called to this place, a world between worlds. You stand upon the Isle of Selection, where fate is measured and purpose is given."
The blond man from earlier raised his voice, though it shook. "W-What are you? Where are we really?"
The being tilted its head slightly.
"I am the Keeper of Balance, the one who watches over the realms of sin and virtue. And you..."
Its blue eyes swept across all ten of them.
"You are the candidates, chosen souls from the broken worlds. Each of you has been touched by death, yet not fully claimed by it."
Keghan's breath caught. Touched by death...
He remembered the lightning. The hospital. Jeyan.
His chest tightened painfully. "Where is she?" he whispered. "Jeyan... she was with me. Did she-"
But the being spoke again, its tone calm and unbroken.
"Each of you carries a story, a bond, a loss. In time, you will understand why you were brought here. For now, you must listen."
The wind around them grew stronger, lifting dust and petals into the air. The candles flickered, not from the wind, but from the being's power.
"The world you see below this sky is abandoned. It once shone with life and faith, but now it lies drowned in darkness ruled by the Seven Nations of Sin, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride. They have devoured their lands and souls, spreading corruption beyond redemption."
The blue eyes glowed brighter.
"You ten have been chosen as the candidates to cleanse this fallen world, to eliminate the sins and restore what was lost. But only one among you will be worthy of the final light."
A chill spread through the group.
"Only one?" the short-haired girl asked, her voice shaking. "What happens to the rest of us?"
The being's wings moved slowly, like the waves of an ocean.
"The unworthy shall return to the void. Their souls will fade, forgotten by time. Such is the price of failure."
Silence.
Keghan's hands tightened. He looked around at the nine others, at the empty sky, at the endless drop below them. His heart pounded fast, but he couldn't speak. The idea of "fading" felt heavier than death itself.
Then the being's gaze fell on him.
"You, Keghan Lengard."
His eyes widened. "You know my name?"
"Names are the roots of souls," it said softly. "You carry one bound to another, a soul connected through love and storm."
His breath caught again. Jeyan...
"Your path will be tested beyond the others. For where love once protected you, sorrow may now become your chain."
Keghan didn't understand, but his chest ached as if the words pierced him directly.
The deity turned, spreading its ten wings wide. The sky behind it cracked with light, like the birth of a new sun.
"The trials begin when the tenth flame dies."
The ten candles flared all at once, burning brighter than before. The air trembled with invisible energy.
"You are bound by fate now. Walk with faith, or fall into despair."
The light exploded outward, white, pure, endless.
Keghan covered his eyes, but the brightness was too strong. He felt the ground shake beneath him, the wind tear through his hair, and the sound of wings filling his ears like thunder.
And then silence again.
When he opened his eyes, the island was gone.
The pond, the candles, the sky, everything had vanished into blinding white.
He was falling.
Falling through clouds and light, through warmth and cold, through nothingness and everything at once.
The last thing he heard was the echo of the being's voice — calm, distant, almost like a lullaby.
"Eliminate the sins... and find the truth that sleeps beneath them."
Then, darkness swallowed him once more.