S stared deeply into her eyes.
"Take a seat."
The room fell silent.
"...Twenty thousand years ago," he began, voice echoing faintly, "the world as we know it fell. Consumed by distractions — from them. The beings of the Void. The Other World."
His tone darkened. "They weren't beasts or mindless things. They were intelligent. Far too intelligent. They tore through our kind… wiped out sixty percent of the world. And for centuries, they ruled what was left."
He paused, eyes distant."Until Lord Ange and the white rose. The only ones who could end them. They destroyed some… sealed the rest. And for a time, we believed it was over."
A bitter breath escaped him. "But something devastating happened. The Lord is gone. Vanished."
He leaned forward slightly."And now, we — the disciples — must hold the line. Stop the Void from taking rule again."
He turned his gaze to her, calm but heavy."As for your city…" he said quietly, "it's mostly overrun. But I'm certain Torin is handling things there as we speak."
Silence swallowed the garden.Only the faint hum of the wind through the marble arches filled the air.
Anya's throat tightened. "Overrun?" Her voice cracked. "You mean—everyone there—"
S raised a hand, cutting her off. "Alive or gone, their fates are not yet sealed. Torin acts fast. You'll see for yourself soon enough."
Kael stepped forward, fists clenched. "You talk like this is normal. Like losing a whole city is just... another report."
S glanced at him with lazy eyes. "You think this is new? This has been happening long before you were born, Kael. Before any of you."
Verya's jaw tightened. "Then why now? Why resurface after all this time?"
S looked away, watching the sky ."Because the seal is breaking."
The team exchanged uneasy glances.
"What seal?" Ren asked, his tone low.
S sighed. "The one that kept the void and the living world apart. Ange's seal." He tapped his temple with a faint smile. "And guess what? The crack widens just a little more with death.
Lyra felt her stomach drop. "You're saying… death is feeding it?"
He nodded slowly. "In a way. Life and death were never meant to mix with what lies beyond. But the cycle's broken now. The Void's learning. Adapting."
Kael's voice hardened. "Then what are we supposed to do?"
S looked at each of them, his silver coat rippling in the soft light."You don't fight the void head-on," he said softly. "You anchor it. Bind it ,even destroy if possible. That's why you're here. That's why i brought you."
A pause.
"Because one of you, or all of you" he said, eyes narrowing slightly, "are carrying something that doesn't belong to this world."
He looked at Ren. "And the recent event was no coincidence. You were at the center of it."
Ren's jaw tightened. "It wasn't supposed to happen. We were just—"
"I know," S interrupted gently. "Wrong place, wrong timing." He exhaled. "But something happened in that chaos. The energy that tore through space — it reacted to you. It split, scattered, and the rest of you caught fragments of it."
Kael leaned forward. "Fragments? You mean… his power?"
S nodded once. "Pieces of him. Small, incomplete — but living."
Lyra's breath caught. "You're saying we have parts of Ren inside us?"
"Not just parts," S said, his voice low. "Echoes of what he is. They'll grow with you. Change with you. In time, they'll stop being fragments — and become you."
Anya frowned. "And Ren?"
S's eyes softened. "He's what's left when something gives too much."
No one spoke. The garden wind stirred again, gentle but heavy, carrying the scent of earth and iron.
Varya broke the silence, almost whispering. "So this wasn't the Void's doing?"
S shook his head. "The Void created the moment. The rest… was fate's choice."
He stepped back, letting his gaze wander to the horizon. "You've all been changed — but not by darkness. What you do with it will decide what it becomes."
The team exchanged glances — uncertainty, fear, maybe even guilt — while Ren stared at his reflection in the fountain, as if trying to recognize who he still was.
"Your city," he said finally, "was the only one left sealed."
Ren's brow furrowed. "Sealed… by what?"
"Not what," S replied. "Who."
He turned, gaze distant — as though he were looking through time itself."Your ruler wasn't just a leader. He was a Dictate
Kael's fists clenched. "He knew what was happening outside… didn't he?"
S nodded. "He knew everything. The wars. The fall of the continents. The rise of the Void beyond the borders. But he believed humanity couldn't handle truth. So he caged his people in illusion — a city forever untouched, forever calm. A perfect world… built on denial."
Ren's voice was quiet. "You said the Dictate created that dream."
"He did," S replied, turning his gaze toward them. "He inherited a gift — an ancient bloodline, blessed with the ability to shape perception. To turn fear into comfort. Despair into stillness. He used it to hide the truth… to make peace eternal."
Lyra's jaw tightened. "You make it sound noble."
"It was," S said softly. "At first. But gifts like his don't last forever. Something — no one knows what — began eroding him from within. His strength, his will, his mind. Year by year, the cracks spread. He kept the illusion alive through sheer resolve, long after his body and power started failing."
Kael frowned. "So that's why everything felt… strange. Like the city was alive, but fading."
S nodded. "He was fading with it. The illusion was his pulse. When it slowed, so did the world around you."
Anya spoke, hesitant. "And then someone finished it. Ended him."
S's eyes darkened. "Yes. The moment he was struck down, the illusion collapsed. Everything he built — the comfort, the silence, the lie — shattered. The Void didn't destroy your city. It simply filled the space the dream left behind."
The group fell silent. Only the rustle of the garden remained.
Varya looked toward the horizon — though here, there wasn't one. "So what happens now? The people back home…"
"They'll wake slowly," S said. "Most will deny it. Some will go mad. Others will cling to what's left of their dream until it crumbles completely. Acceptance is a slow poison — one that has to run its course."
Ren swallowed, his voice a whisper. "And us?"
S studied them, a faint, almost sad smile flickering across his face."You're already awake. Whether you wanted to be or not."
He turned, hands behind his back as the garden began to dim — colors bleeding into dusk.
The garden felt unreal now — too still, too symmetrical — like it existed only as long as S willed it.
Ren spoke first, voice low. "If the city was the last one still asleep… what's the rest of the world like?"
S didn't answer immediately. He walked past them, fingers brushing along the edge of a marble bench, eyes distant."Different," he said finally. "Older. Harsher. The rest of the world never stopped changing. Never stopped bleeding."
Kael frowned. "Bleeding?"
S looked over his shoulder. "You've seen the sky crack. You've seen the ground move. Those aren't storms. They're scars — remnants of the first Collapse, when the Void tore through the old order."
Anya's throat tightened. "How long ago was that?"
"Long enough that most who remember are dust," S murmured. "The continents fractured. Nations became territories. Faiths turned into weapons. And through it all, humanity learned to adapt — or vanish."
Varya crossed her arms. "Adapt how?"
He smiled faintly, though it never reached his eyes. "By forgetting what came before. By pretending survival was purpose enough."
Lyra stepped closer. "Then why us? Why show us this now?"
"Because," S said, turning fully toward them, "you've already changed."
Their expressions froze.
"You think what happened near the breach was random?" he continued. "It wasn't. When the Dictate's illusion collapsed, the void energy didn't just destroy — it reacted. And you… were standing too close to its center."
Ren blinked. "We absorbed it?"
S shook his head. "Not it. Him."
The team stared.
"Ren carried traces of the breach — the energy that once separated dream from reality. When it collapsed, the boundary between both bled through him… and into you."
Anya's hand trembled slightly. "So what does that make us?"
S tilted his head. "That's the question, isn't it? You're no longer what you were — but not yet what you're becoming. Fragments of something old cling to you now. They'll shape you… eventually. Whether you like it or not."
Kael muttered, "So it's because we were there at the wrong time."
"The wrong time," S echoed softly. "Or the right one. Depending on who's watching."
A long silence followed. Only the faint hum of the wind, distant and rhythmic — like the heartbeat of a world too vast for them to comprehend.
Ren finally spoke, voice barely above a whisper. "And what happens next?"
S looked at him for a long moment before replying. "That depends. The Void never comes without reason. Whatever's stirring now… it isn't done. And neither are you."
..........................
Ash drifted through the air like snow, painting the ground in dull gray.The trees were half gone, split clean through by something too fast to see, their roots still smoldering.
At the center of the clearing lay the dragon — a behemoth of metal scales and ruptured light.Its wings were torn, veins of gold leaking from cracks along its body.The ground beneath it steamed, molten where its blood had hit.
Torin walked through the haze, calm, his boots crunching over burned leaves.No blade in hand, no spell running — just a faint, steady pulse of energy trailing around him like thin smoke.
His eyes locked on the corpse once more."Should've stayed asleep," he muttered.
The dragon's chest gave one last twitch — a dying pulse of power — before collapsing inward, the light inside it flickering out completely.
Torin didn't flinch.He turned, coat brushing against the air, and the remaining aura around him surged — small ripples of gold and blue, rising, fading, then disappearing into him like breath returning to lungs.
The forest groaned. Birds still refused to sing.All that was left was the sound of the wind and the hum of fading magic.
Torin stopped once more, looking back only once.His expression unreadable — but his eyes heavy, distant."Ren…"
He exhaled slowly, the glow around him dimming to nothing, and walked off into the smoke.