Blood.
It soaked the earth, warm against his skin, clinging to his clothes.
A sky of impossible blue stretched above, and the sun burned down like the unblinking eye of a god.
Beside him lay another body—motionless, drenched in red.
Endi could not move.
His limbs felt carved from stone, his breath trapped in his chest.
He didn't know this place.
He didn't know why he was here.
And yet… grief swelled in him, sharp and raw, as if he had just lost the most precious thing in his life.
It was only a dream.
So why did it feel like the truth?
⸻
He woke as if ripped from the depths of darkness.
A sharp scent—blood. No… impossible.
His heart pounded against his ribs; cold sweat beaded on his brow.
His breath came ragged, like a drowning man clawing for air.
The inn's small, dim room smelled faintly of dust and old wood.
A thin blade of morning light slipped through the shutters, sketching the outline of the rough bed.
The tired springs groaned as he sat up, running a shaky hand through his hair.
The dream clung to him—too vivid, too real. Like a fragment of some other life carved into his soul.
He dressed quickly and stepped out.
Crude as the room had been, at least it had kept out the wind and rain. For that, he felt a fleeting gratitude.
Outside, a sea-scented breeze brushed his cheek, and sunlight forced his eyes to narrow.
Above him, the midday sky spread so clear it seemed to mock the heaviness lingering in his chest.
"What the hell was that…? Whatever."
He muttered and forced his feet forward.
This was a quiet harbor town on the far edge of the Nakatahm Kingdom—
A corner of the world's greatest military power, yet more alive with earth and sea than the glitter of any capital.
Farmers split the soil with their hoes.
Fishermen's nets cut the waves.
In the market, the scents of fruit and fresh-caught fish tangled in the wind.
Endi liked it here.
Or maybe… he simply liked walking through places unknown.
A street he'd never seen before.
The whisper of leaves in the breeze.
The weathered scars carved into ancient stone walls.
These things hurled questions into his heart, and even without answers, they filled his soul.
Yet today, his steps dragged.
The shadow of that dream still clung to him.
The noise of the market crashed over him—
Merchants shouting prices, fish scales catching the light, children laughing.
Then—
A sharp thread of conversation froze his steps.
"They say a servant of the royal court's been kidnapped. Dangerous times…"
"How awful…"
Two women, baskets in hand, spoke with voices laced with both fear and curiosity.
Endi glanced back, then turned away.
But their words left a thorn lodged in his chest.
An unfamiliar unease brushed against him.
Still… it was the dream that weighed heavier.
In it, he lay sprawled upon barren ground, his body slick with blood, arms flung wide, as if life itself was draining into the soil.
There had been no pain—of course not, it was only a dream.
And yet, the warmth of blood, the metallic taste in the air—so vivid they smothered his senses.
Above, an endless blue sky.
A golden sun, watching like the unblinking eye of a god.
And beside him—another figure.
Equally blood-soaked. Motionless.
He had tried to turn his head, desperate to see that face.
He had to know.
Who was this person?
Why had they fallen here?
But his body was locked, stone-still.
And then—tears.
Heavy, unstoppable tears streamed down his cheeks.
He didn't know why.
But from the depths of his soul, a nameless regret surged up to crush him—
As if his spirit screamed to reclaim something lost.
Just before the tears ran dry, he woke.
Bathed in the light of the waking world, Endi steadied his breath.
Was it only a dream?
Or was it a past he had never known, bleeding through the cracks of his soul?
The more he thought, the deeper the mystery grew.
The fragments of memory vanished into mist, as if mocking him.
Only one thing was certain:
That dream was no ending—it was a beginning.
From here, the story would move.