The passageways of Raezthera's capital laid out to be a bit ice formed for eternity and stone immortalized by nature too. Yunrei and Kurojin strolled quietly, their steps reverberating from the walls made of crystal.
Both Trueborns had lived for centuries, had witnessed countless deceptions, had seen through lies that would fool lesser beings.
But this felt different.
Kurojin broke the silence first.
"He was telling the truth."
Yunrei nodded. "That's what concerns me."
They passed beneath an archway of living ice, its surface pulsing with soft blue light. The light dimmed as they moved deeper into Yunrei's domain.
"Is it right to accuse a fellow trueborn? I mean, for all we know, that is like accusing ourselves," Yunrei said while opening the doors to his chamber.
"That is true, but no one should be marked out as innocent, even us trueborns."
Yunrei looked at the glowing butterflies scattered in his chambers, all of them with different colors shining brightly and beautifully. They were made to warm the heart.
Yunrei closed his eyes and entered the time stream—a place only he could enter to see the past, present, and future. He remained motionless for the next five minutes as Kurojin stood there and watched. The butterflies crowded him as they were attracted to his pure essence.
Kurojin stretched out his hand to touch one, and it changed color from green to blue. These butterflies were made from the timestream and only existed within Yunrei's chambers.
Yunrei opened his eyes. His facial expression didn't change even after what he saw.
"The future is unaffected. Everything is going as it should be," he said, wiping his face.
Kurojin nodded and disappeared into the shadows between one moment and the next, leaving Yunrei alone with his growing certainty that nothing about this situation was what it seemed.
Yunrei thought to himself: the beast falling from the sky was not in the past. Something was off. Events playing out in reality weren't what he saw in the timestream.
For someone to deceive the timestream, the being must be more powerful than any trueborn.
Yunrei stood up and walked to his study. One of his servants saw him and asked,
"Lord Yunrei, may I bring some tea for you, sir?"
Yunrei turned and smiled. "Yes Lina, please do."
Meanwhile in the middle of nowhere,
Itsuki's eyes fluttered open, His consciousness returning slowly.
He raised his head to look around. But all he saw was white.
Everything was white in all directions. He pressed his palm against the ground—the surface felt like hardened snow.
Above him stretched an endless expanse of nothing. He looked up and there was no sky, no trees, or anything in sight.
His breath misted in the air. "Where..." His voice shivered as he tried to speak.
Itsuki pushed himself up on shaking arms, his black hair falling across his eyes.
"Hello?" he shouted. His voice sounded unnaturally loud in the silence, each word seeming to hang in the air longer than it should.
But no echo came back.
He waited, straining his ears for any response—a voice, a sound, even the whisper of wind.
There was only complete and suffocating silence.
This has to be a dream, he thought. Or some kind of illusion.
He reached for his essence, trying to activate Abstract Shift, to change the nature of this empty space, to give it meaning. But nothing happened.
His power felt distant. Like trying to grab smoke with numb fingers.
Panic clawed at his chest.
"Hello?!" he shouted, his voice cracking. "Someone! Anyone!"
Nothing answered back. The words just... disappeared into the white.
Itsuki started walking. One step. Then another. He kept going, not sure if he was actually moving or just going in circles.
The ground beneath his feet was solid, cold but not quite frozen.
He walked and walked, but his footsteps made no prints. Nothing to show he'd been there.
It was like he didn't exist.
How long had he been walking? He couldn't tell. There was no sun, no shadows, nothing to measure time by. Just white and the sound of his own breathing.
His legs started to hurt. With each step, his body grew heavier.
After what felt like hours of walking, he finally collapsed to his knees with the silence pressing against his eardrums.
"Please," he whispered to the void. "Someone... anyone... help me..." But no answer came.
Only the sound of his own ragged breathing, unnaturally amplified in the perfect stillness.
His life started flashing before his eyes. He saw his room. His mom was moving around, cleaning it up.
Tears started dropping from his eyes. At that point in his life, he truly gave up.
There was nothing he could do in this endless space. He lay there for the next hour watching the scenes of his life unfolding and all he could do was cry.
What did I do to deserve this?
Who did I offend?
Itsuki tried to lift his head, but his body wouldn't obey.
Then suddenly,
CRACK!
The space in front of Itsuki was tearing open, and something was struggling to get in, bleeding shadow into the pristine emptiness. The edges of the tear writhed like living flesh. From within that darkness, something massive stepped through.
It came in the form of a nightmare. Six arms ending in talons the length of sword blades and a skull that split into mandibles lined with rows of razor teeth.
And the aura it emitted was truly terrifying. This was a tier 4 verythra.
As it stared down at the crumpled form of Itsuki, contempt radiated from every part of its body.
Then it spoke,
"You." The trembling tone of its voice reached Itsuki's heart making it beat ever faster.
"You are the one they fear?" The beast raised its head laughing.
"Pathetic."
Itsuki's pure instinct screamed at him to run.
But run where?
How far will he ever get??
Itsuki though to himself as he watched the beast approach him slowly.