The world was silent.
Not out of peace—but because everything had been obliterated.
The valley, once filled with moonlight and whispering winds, had become a crater of silver ash and molten stone. Ripples of prismatic aftershock still hummed through the ground, faint but terrifying in their lingering power.
Qi Shan Wei lay unconscious in Xueya's lap, breath shallow, skin pale, body trembling with internal backlash.
And yet—even unconscious—seven faint halos circled him like orbiting galaxies.
Xueya brushed silver hair from his forehead with shaking fingers.
"Shan Wei… don't scare me like that…"
Her voice broke on the last word.
The Empress, kneeling nearby, stared at him through trembling hands.
"He used a forbidden fusion technique. Even Abyssal Kings don't gamble with that kind of power… He should've died."
Xueya shot her a glare sharp as frost.
"But he didn't."
The Empress swallowed.
"Because… that wasn't his first time."
Both Xueya and the Observer turned toward her sharply.
"What do you mean?" Xueya demanded.
The Empress hugged her arms tightly around herself.
"That voice… that aura… I've felt it before. In my childhood. In the Abyssal Court.Every statue, every altar, every prophecy stone—"
Her voice cracked.
"—all speak the same warning:
'Beware the return of the Red Emperor.'"
1. The Red Emperor — A Forbidden Name
A cold wind passed over the crater.
The Observer's pupils shrank.
"No… no, no, no… That's impossible. That being was erased from existence."
Xueya stared at him.
"Explain."
The Observer trembled visibly.
"The Red Emperor… was a sovereign who once claimed dominion over fate itself.A cultivator whose power rivaled creation.His existence warped karma, destiny, and the laws of heaven."
He swallowed.
"And yet—he vanished. Records say he was erased, not killed. Removed from the flow of time by the heavens."
Xueya's breath hitched.
"And you're saying Shan Wei—?"
"I'm saying…"the Observer whispered,"…that the Abyss recognized something inside him. A shard. A resonance. A soul-mark."
The Empress hugged herself tighter.
"And the Court fears him. More than anything."
2. Inside Shan Wei's Mind — A World of Ruins and Stars
While the others argued, Shan Wei was drifting.
Floating through a dream of broken stars and burning skies.
He saw—
A throne made of dying suns.A sword forged from the last breath of a universe.A crown dripping in crimson starlight.A silhouette—tallregalterrifying—sitting upon that throne.
The silhouette turned.
Shan Wei's heart froze.
Because the face he saw—
Was his own.
But older.Colder.Eyes like collapsing galaxies, streaked with red and gold.
The voice echoed through the void:
"You have awakened too early."
Shan Wei staggered backward, breath choking.
"Who… who are you?!"
The figure rose from the throne.
Cosmic chains broke with each movement.
"I…am what you were.What you will become.What the heavens tried… and failed… to erase."
Shan Wei shook his head violently.
"No. I'm not you. I'm not—"
The figure raised a hand.Space cracked like glass.
"You cannot reject what you are."
The vision shattered.
A heartbeat—
Then silence.
3. Back in the Real World — His Body Reacts
Shan Wei's body arched violently, golden eyes snapping open.
But they weren't normal.
Not prismatic.Not golden.
Red.Crimson.Like the heart of a dying star.
"SHAN WEI!!"Xueya grabbed him.
Jin Wei stepped forward instantly.
"ALERT: UNIDENTIFIED CONSCIOUSNESS SIGNATURE.MASTER CORRUPTION RISK— 37% AND RISING—"
The Empress gasped.
"That's the Red Emperor's gaze—!!"
Shan Wei didn't hear them.
His mind was still half-submerged in that cosmic memory.
He whispered, hoarse and shaking:
"…someone… someone is watching us…"
The Observer froze.
"From where?"
Shan Wei slowly raised his trembling hand—
And pointed upward.
Beyond the sky.Beyond the clouds.Beyond the world itself.
Toward a crack in the heavens—
Where a golden eye the size of a mountain was watching him.
The Observer nearly fainted.
"That— That's impossible— the Heaven's Tribunal shouldn't be aware of him yet!"
The eye blinked once—
And the entire sky trembled.
Shan Wei's red pupils flared painfully.
He clutched his head, screaming.
Xueya held him desperately.
"STOP IT—LEAVE HIM ALONE!"
The sky-eye flickered—
And vanished.
Shan Wei collapsed into her arms, unconscious again, but breathing.
Xueya hugged him tightly.
"Just… rest. I'm right here."
4. Drakonix's Cocoon — Cracking
A deep, resonant CRRRAAAACK echoed from the cliffside.
Everyone turned.
Drakonix's cocoon—
Once dormant, silent, waiting—
Now shuddered violently, blazing with seven-colored fire.
The Observer's voice broke in terror and awe.
"He's reacting to Shan Wei's awakening."
The Empress clasped her hands.
"No… he's reacting to the Red Emperor."
Another crack.
Then another.
Drakonix was no longer evolving.
He was awakening.
And not as a beast—but as a being whose destiny was once intertwined with the Red Emperor himself.
Xueya held Shan Wei tighter, eyes blazing with determination.
"Wake up soon.Because whatever is coming next…"
She looked at the cocoon—now splitting open with divine fire—
"…we'll face it together."
The light swelled—
exploding outward—
and something inside began to emerge.
To be Continued
© Kishtika., 2025
All rights reserved.