The sky was no longer blue. As far as the eye could see, the horizon had turned into a smoldering crimson, choked by the torrents of fire spewed by dragons from behind the black clouds. The world I knew had collapsed. A civilization built over millennia was now reduced to ash.
Amidst the ruins, the strongest figures in the world once hailed as the pillars of humanity fell one by one. The Top 10, the invincible knights, were slaughtered without mercy.
All this chaos began with a single name: Nathaniel.
Once, he was a man worshipped by all. He was the "Son," prophesied to inherit the throne of Arthur, the world's strongest. Society placed the weight of their hopes upon his shoulders. But now, the man they loved had transformed into the Grim Reaper.
I stood frozen among the piles of corpses. At forty years old, I was nothing more than a low-rank soldier. I possessed nothing. I was merely a survivor, lucky or perhaps cursed enough to still be breathing to witness the end of everything.
From a distance, I saw that bastard. Nathaniel stood there, his cloak drenched in blood, demanding every remaining soul to bow at his feet.
"Worship me!" his voice thundered, tearing through the heavens. "Regard me as your GOD! And anyone who defies me... only death awaits you!"
The screams of the rebels were swiftly silenced by blades of light. I witnessed a cruelty that transcended human limits. Nathaniel roared, crying out a name that sounded foreign yet terrifying: "LONG LIVE ELDORA!"
Suddenly, my chest tightened. The air I breathed felt like glowing embers. I fell to my knees, feeling my internal organs burning from within. My consciousness began to fade, my vision blurred by the encroaching flames.
In my final breath, only one regret remained.
If only... if only we hadn't all trusted him.
Even I was once captivated by his false charisma. We were all deceived by a smile. If there truly is a second chance, if there is justice left in this shattered world... I hope someone comes to kill that false God.
Then, everything went black.
The suffocating silence was suddenly broken by a scent. The smell of musty wood, dust, and the lingering dampness of rain seeping through a leaking roof. This scent... I knew it.
Slowly, I forced my heavy eyelids open.
My gaze was fixed on a cracked wooden ceiling. I turned my head, staring at the fragile plank walls and the cluttered, ancient furniture. This was the dilapidated shack I lived in twenty years ago. A place that shouldn't even exist anymore.
"Did I... come back?" my voice was hoarse, barely a whisper.
For a moment, I thought I was in the afterlife, but a violent wave of nausea suddenly struck my solar plexus. Visions of dragons burning the world and piles of corpses from the future flooded my mind all at once. My stomach churned. I stumbled to the corner of the room and retched, vomiting everything onto the dirt floor.
Heugh!
I gasped for air, cold sweat drenching my forehead. My breath came in ragged gasps as the lingering terror still pulsed through my veins. My entire body shook violently not from the cold, but because my mind could not process this reality.
"This is impossible. I should be dead. My organs... my heart... everything was burnt to a crisp," I muttered, fumbling at my chest, which now felt whole and healthy.
With trembling legs, I forced myself out of the shack. The moment the door swung open, the bright sunlight stung my eyes. There was no red sky. No screams of death. All I saw was a peaceful village and rows of trees.
My knees suddenly gave out. I collapsed onto the ground, letting the dust cling to my skin. I pinched my cheek as hard as I could until it hurt.
"It's real... this is actually real."
Though my logic and my body refused to believe it, the fact that I was breathing in this place proved that I had truly been pulled back twenty years into the past.
I sat there in silence on the dirt, letting the world pass me by. In my head, only one name surfaced: Nathaniel.
If I truly had returned to this time, it meant that bastard was still a teenager. He was still small, and most importantly... he shouldn't be powerful yet. However, just imagining his face was enough to make my stomach turn again. I knew what he would do to this world. I knew how rotten the heart hidden behind his white robes truly was.
"This time," I clenched my fists into the dirt until my nails were stained with grime, "everything must end before it even begins."