I The Weight of Forgotten Gods
The forest pressed in around me like a living thing, its silence heavy, suffocating. Not the calm of dawn or the quiet of snow—it was the silence of death itself, the kind that twists around your bones and burrows into your lungs. Pine resin stung my nose. The metallic tang of blood clung to the air. Every breath reminded me: last night's slaughter had ended only for the world to pause—not for life to resume.
I pressed my back against the gnarled roots of the ancient tree, every jagged edge biting into my spine. My fingers dug into the earth beneath me. Thoughts collided inside my skull like boulders in a storm. Questions I didn't want to ask clawed their way out anyway.
Enough.
I roared into the void where Night's presence lingered.
"Enough with riddles! Who were those demons? Why were they so impossibly strong? And why—why me? Why is my soul this weight, this blue anchor dragging me down with every breath?"
The void pulsed, like a heartbeat that didn't belong to me. Then Night's voice emerged, ancient and indifferent, a predator observing a trapped prey.
"Those demons… were likely Commanders of the Demon Lord's Vanguard."
My jaw tightened.
"But their strength wasn't natural. Something far older, something forbidden… infused them. That anomaly is why they exist—and why you survived them."
"Commanders? Demon Kings? If monsters like that exist, why hasn't humanity been erased already? And you—what are you? Why does your voice echo through my childhood, as though you've been waiting for me my entire life?"
A hollow, almost musical laugh curled around my thoughts.
"Oho… so many questions, Reyansh. Every answer traces back to a singular, blood-soaked truth."
He paused. Weight settled into my mind like molten stone.
"Are you ready?" he asked. "It sounds like a fairy tale… yet it is the foundation of this world, soaked in blood."
"I don't care if it's fairy tale or nightmare. Give me the truth."
Another pause, heavier. He spoke, and each word landed like a hammer striking bone.
"Since you have become my host… my vessel… the knowledge I am about to give you is your birthright."
A beat.
"…And your curse."
I felt the forest bend, the air trembling around me, and then he began.
— The Epoch of the Two Goddesses
"Hundreds of thousands of years ago," Night's voice resonated like it came from the dawn of time itself, "the world was nothing but a playground."
I felt the trees fade, the ground beneath me blur, replaced by something vast, terrifying, yet impossibly fragile.
"The Goddess of Fairies—Light—and the Goddess of Demons—Darkness—ruled their realms with absolute authority. They were eternal, insatiable. Each desired dominion over the Earth."
Mountains shattered. Oceans boiled. Civilization itself trembled beneath the weight of their war.
"To break the stalemate, the Goddess of Demons summoned a Hero from another plane. She infused him with her dark divinity. That man—once human—slaughtered eighty percent of humanity. Cities erased. Oceans dyed crimson. Civilization crushed beneath his blade."
I felt bile rise.
"Seeing her followers destroyed, the Goddess of Fairies acted. She summoned her Hero—another world, another human. When he arrived, he asked only one question."
Night's voice dropped, intimate and chilling: 'What is in it for me?'
The collision of power, divine intent, and human desire… it shook something deep inside me.
"The two Heroes' clash nearly shattered the planet itself. In desperation, both Goddesses fused their entire essence into their champions."
Pressure built inside my skull, like it wanted to split me from the inside.
— The Forbidden Contract
"In the end," Night said, voice soft but lethal, "the Hero of the Fairies prevailed. But the victors, tired of being pawns, forged a secret Contract. No one knows its exact terms, but its consequences reshaped the world."
I swallowed hard.
"The Goddesses were forced to retreat. They could no longer return in their true forms… yet they could influence the world through corruption, fate manipulation, and avatars."
"To oppose this," Night continued, "the Seven Heroes system was created—to maintain balance. I was part of that system… until one hundred and fifty years ago, when the Rank Five Hero uncovered these forbidden truths."
— The Fractured Soul
Something inside me snapped.
Pain exploded—not physical, not metaphorical. My skull throbbed as though the world itself had dropped a mountain into it. My soul shattered. Brilliant blue and black energy cracked across it, leaking in sharp, jagged bursts. I screamed—a raw, animal cry that carried across the void of reality.
BOOM.
The forest convulsed. Trees snapped. The ground tore itself apart in a shockwave fifty meters wide. Grass vaporized into azure sparks. Birds fell silent.
I lay at the epicenter. Consciousness splintered. Body unmoving. Soul bleeding into the soil. The Azure aura flickered weakly, like a dying star refusing to vanish.
The world had changed. I had changed. And yet… the weight remained. Heavy, unyielding, infinite.