Not the kind that lulls you to sleep, but the kind that watches.
It was vast. Voiceless. Endless. A void pressing in—not on the body, but on the soul.
He floated.
Or was he falling?
Then—sound.
Screams. Metal. Fire.
---
Flash.
He was on the battlefield again.
Steel clashed. Blood sprayed. The air reeked of death.
He ran—no, charged—through the mud and flame, his blade screaming with him. Around him, comrades fell. Behind him, orders faded into silence. Before him: the final line. A wall of enemy steel. The end of the war.
And something inside him cracked.
Adrenaline surged, pounding through his veins like thunder. Rage filled him to the brim. Not fear. Not glory.
Just pure will to break through.
Then—
Stillness.
A second. A breath. A blink.
Something… shifted.
His heart skipped.
His mind split.
And suddenly—he felt it.
> Not magic.
Not instinct.
Something deeper.
Something older.
Aura.
It surged inside him like lightning trapped in flesh. His blood boiled. His breath became mist. Time slowed. The war quieted.
For the first time in his life, he felt everything—the blade, the earth, the hatred, the pain, the fear of the men in front of him. He felt real.
---
Flash.
He was back in the void.
Floating.
Shaking.
Then came the presence.
A thought not his.
> "Do you know where you are, Son of Human?"
He tried to speak. No sound.
Then it opened.
A slit in the black. A blink that split the sky.
An Eye.
Colossal. Terrible. Infinite.
Its iris shimmered like broken glass reflecting dying worlds. Its gaze pierced not flesh, but existence.
> "You have been seen."
The Eye did not blink. The world bent around it.
> "You were not chosen by Earth."
> "You were cast away."
> "Rejected… for you Awakened."
And then the visions came—
Chains made of time.
A sword that cut through fate.
A man with no name—The Severer.
> "All Eyes are upon you."
> "Run."
The sky cracked.
Beneath him, a world unfolded—floating islands, endless storms, roaring dragons, shadows of Titans.
Advance Earth.
> "Run until the end of this world…"
> "…and you will see the truth."
He reached out.
The Eye began to close.
> "Awaken the Severed…"
> "…Or be Severed yourself."
And then—
He fell.
Through light.
Through screams.
Through silence.
And finally—
Into Layer One.