Chapter 1. The Forsaken Lands
"Do not offer prayers to a dead god."
Those words echoed in the dwarves' minds.
Even after the man vanished, his cold voice continued to haunt them. No one could drive the phrase away.
But he was already far away.
With a single swift motion, Vince soared into the sky and flew onward — not toward the central regions of the current continent, but to where the heart of the Empire of Nimbus once stood.
To the place where its capital should have been.
Solarinn.
When he reached the location, he froze in midair.
"…What the hell is this?"
The entire area was saturated with overwhelmingly dense mana.
An ordinary human would have collapsed long ago, suffocating under the pressure.
But that was not the worst of it.
Where life once thrived — where a magnificent city had stood — there were now only ruins.
Shattered streets.
Broken towers.
And a silence that tightened around the heart.
The palace, once rising proudly at the city's center, was nearly destroyed.
Vince slowly descended — and at that instant, forgotten memories flared within his mind.
He is sitting on the throne.
The city is alive.
An audience is underway — citizens pleading for help from their ruler.
And then…
The sky above the palace cracks, like shattered glass.
From the rift emerges a figure resembling a dwarf:
a long, thick crimson beard,
armor that looks as if forged from platinum,
and a cold, merciless gaze.
Another image.
The dwarf kneels in the middle of the city.
Screams echo. Blood stains the ground. Children cry, searching for their parents.
Towering over him stands Vince.
"I will take you with me, Vince de Nimbus!" the roar shakes the air.
The dwarf's body erupts in scarlet light, radiating unbearable heat.
"Divine Self-Destruction!!!"
"No— stop!" Vince lunges forward, reaching out—
The memory shatters.
Vince falls to his knees before the ruins of his own palace.
His strength is nearly gone.
Time passes.
He rises at last and looks upon what remains of the city.
"I'm sorry…" he whispers. "Sorry that, even though I swore to protect you… I failed."
A tear rolls down his face.
Then another.
This was the grief of a ruler who had fallen short.
I know I killed Grondal…
So why can't I remember anything else?
Vince ascends the shattered steps leading into the castle.
He walks through familiar corridors, twisted and scarred by time.
The throne room.
The throne still stands.
Vince slowly sits upon it.
"If Grondal's body remained here…" he murmurs. "I will find it."
Even a divine self-destruction cannot completely erase a god.
"Search."
Mana responds to his will.
Moments later, the spell takes hold.
Space distorts — and Vince appears beside a body.
It lies motionless, emanating mana like a cursed wellspring.
Vince places his hand upon the remains and begins absorbing the energy, replenishing what was lost during his long slumber.
At least two hundred years had passed since the battle.
But how did I end up frozen in the northern mountains?
Was I thrown that far by the explosion?
Or did I protect the body myself…?
There were no answers.
When the mana was fully drained, the god's remains held no further value.
I should check the underground vaults. If the artifacts survived…
Clearing away debris, Vince quickly realized that the lower levels of the palace were largely intact.
But the artifacts—
They were dangerously oversaturated with mana.
Too much energy.
The god's body wasn't the source.
Then where did it come from…?
And one question lingered above all others:
Why didn't the other gods retrieve his body?
The deeper Vince moved into the ruins of the past,
the clearer it became—
there were far more questions here
than answers.
Someone is approaching.
And fast.
"Zero Presence."
End of Chapter 1