The world of Dynas is infinitely vast, home to countless kinds of creatures and beings.
Some possess strange powers, while others are highly intelligent. But the strangest things in this world are completely unexplainable.
The Kingdom of Luch, one of the most powerful forces in Dynas, is ruled by supreme vampires and angels who possess no weaknesses.
In a quiet field, a teenage girl with blooming white hair and glowing blue eyes lay flat against the grass.
"Princess, why have you escaped the palace again!?" Hana, a holy knight, marched up with her arms crossed.
Caught in the act, the princess looked up with a gentle smile.
"It is so boring there. All I have to do is study, train, and stay isolated inside my room." The princess picked a blade of grass, twirling it between her fingers.
Hana let out a sigh, her rigid posture softening at the innocent smile. "Okay, okay."
The sky abruptly turned a dark, bleeding red. An unknown source of heavy, negative energy slammed into the earth from the heavens above.
{What is that? Have the heavens forsaken us?} Hana's eyes widened. {How could such devilish energy fall even through the seven heavens' protection?}
The princess's eyes sparkled as a wide grin spread across her face. Hana caught the look right away and narrowed her eyes. "Don't get any weird ideas."
Ignoring the warning, the princess jumped to her feet and sprinted straight toward the smoking impact area.
"Aghh, not again... Wait for me!" Hana kicked a chunk of dirt aside and ran full speed after her.
...
Under direct orders from high authority, a squad of elite hunters moved out toward the crash site.
The warriors halted outside the mouth of a dark cave, where a heavy pressure rolled out that dwarfed the strength of immortals.
"Prepare yourselves. We are going inside!" The squad leader, Ye Leo, drew his longsword, pointing the blade toward the entrance.
Deep inside the cavern, their eyes locked onto a dark figure near the back wall. Its knees shook, barely able to hold its weight.
"ATTACK NOW!" The hunters charged down the stone path with weapons raised high.
Ye Leo ran ahead of the group. Broad grins broke out on the faces of the men behind him.
"We will be rich if we can harvest its body for rare resources!" One warrior tightened his fingers around his spear shaft.
"What if it turns out to be stronger than we expected?" A younger hunter slowed his pace, looking back over his shoulder.
"Don't worry, newbie. Ye Leo is the greatest swordmaster alive. His 'Undefined Arts' are capable of cutting through any type of immortality." An older hunter slapped the young man's back.
Leo swung his sword, slicing into the creature's neck. "Di...e?"
Steel sliced through cold air. The figure vanished completely, standing upright right behind Leo's heels.
Cold sweat ran down Leo's cheek as he spun on his heel to guard. {How did it move so quickly? I can comprehend everything beyond time and space... but I didn't catch a thing.}
"If you had slashed me, you would have died. You should be grateful." The dark figure stood completely motionless. "Leave me alone, although I know you won't. My master has told me to show mercy."
Leo sensed an opening and unleashed his ultimate essence attack, but the wave of power passed straight through the form without leaving a mark.
"You may be able to kill immortals, but not what I am." The dark outline dissolved into the air.
Tremors ran through Leo's legs while he stood frozen. Blind to what just took place, his disciples rushed over with wide smiles. "Great job, Master! You defeated it effortlessly!"
Crouched behind a tall stone, the princess watched the entire fight, her hands gripping the rough rock edge.
The dark figure appeared right behind her shoulder. Her body went stiff. He leaned close and set a tiny spinning puff of smoke right onto her open palms.
"Take care of it until it disappears." The quiet voice came right next to her ear as her eyes rolled back into pure white, locking her frame in place until he vanished.
Her blue color snapped back into her eyes as a violent shiver ran through her chest. {How did that thing know I was here... even though my presence was fully sealed and invisible?}
"Sir, did it drop any loot?" One disciple kicked aside a loose rock with his boot tip.
While Ye Leo and his men eagerly searched the cave, the invisible princess slipped around the stone wall and ducked out toward the exit.
Outside, Hana paced back and forth near the guard line. The princess grabbed her wrist, dragging her along in a sprint before her mana ran out completely.
"..." The guards blinked at each other, scratching their steel helmets in silence.
"Huff... huff..." Both girls dropped against a wide tree trunk. The princess's invisibility shattered as both girls bent over with hands resting on their knees to draw in air.
Hands still shaking, the princess opened her palms to reveal the spinning cloud.
Hana tapped it with one finger, and the smoke darted into the air, swirling around their heads.
{Wait, it is not a magical core?} Hana pressed her lips together, her forehead creasing. {Then why can't I sense its presence when it is right in front of me?}
Hana turned toward the girl, watching the gray mist drift back and forth. "It doesn't seem to possess any source of energy. It is not even a living being."
"But it is moving around and reacting to our movements." The princess pointed a finger, following the smoke's path. "What is it, then? Something from far beyond the heavens?"
"I wouldn't know. But at best, you can use it to practice however you wish endlessly." Hana folded her arms and let out a long breath.
Hana reached out to grab the mist, but her palm sliced straight through air. {Maybe it is some kind of essence or a broken soul.}
"What a waste." Hana shook her head, watching the cloud float in place. "I have never seen a cursed being like this."
...
Inside her bedroom at the palace, the princess sat cross-legged on her mattress, staring up at the smoke. "What even are you? Can you speak?"
The cloud drifted without a sound past her forehead. Within its center, it picked up another heavy soul tucked deep inside her body.
"Maybe not." The princess rested her chin on her knees before her eyes lit up. "Oh, right! Let's give you a name!"
Her blue eyes rolled back in her head, glowing a harsh white while her posture locked up completely.
"Nx. That will be your name." The words came out of her lips in a flat tone.
She blinked rapidly. As her eyes returned to normal, she gave her head a quick shake. "Huh? Why did I think of a name like that?"
She waved her hand through the air, letting out a small laugh. "Maybe I can have you as my familiar."
She held both hands open around Nx and closed her eyes tight, pushing her inner power out to link their essences.
The wooden floorboards groaned as every item in her bedroom started to rattle.
Nx felt the second soul inside her surge up, fighting against her consciousness to seize her arms and legs.
The princess clutched her head, her face twisting in pain. "Why are you trying to stop it?"
A harsh voice thundered inside her head. {What are you doing? Stop this now! It is dangerous!}
"Why? What do you mean?" The princess gritted her teeth, keeping her hands held firm.
{That thing is missing half of its essence! It does not even exist properly, and the other half is a composite of everything!} Her hands trembled from the internal force.
"So what?" The princess tilted her chin up, ignoring the pain.
{If it is stronger than I expect, it will gain authority over your memories, your thoughts, and everything you are!}
A burst of white light snapped across the bed. The bond locked into place, forming the contract.
"Oops..." The princess put a finger against her lips, looking around her messy room.
{You... I told you to stop!!!!}
"But I am perfectly fine, see?" She held out both hands, spinning side to side with a grin.
{That... is also true...} The voice faded down, retreating back into her subconscious.
The princess looked across her overturned desk and torn sheets. "Uhh... I need to clean this up."
...
The princess gave her head a quick shake, leaving the old memory of the red sky behind as she stood in the present day.
"Hey Nx, let's go outside." She opened her room doors and stepped out toward the gardens.
Nx drifted behind her path. As they crossed the gravel walkway, thoughts turned over inside the cloud.
{She doesn't know, but I can read her thoughts because of the familiar contract.} The cloud hovered closer to her neck. {That is how I learned to speak by manipulating sounds around me.}
{But even so, I learned to manipulate things using her energy through the contract.}
{I made it appear that I learned slowly to avoid suspicion from her other soul.}
{Today is the day she will try to pour her mana into me so I can awaken my essence, allowing me to create my own source of energy.}
She sat down on the grass, resting her spine against the bark of a tree. She shut her eyes tight and sent her mana straight into Nx.
Every bit of movement stopped dead in an instant.
The breeze vanished. Fallen leaves stopped mid-air, stuck in place.
"There you are." A twisted voice broke through the quiet, pressing against the stillness.
A dark shape formed out of bare space. In one second, a burst of harsh curses slammed into Nx, tearing through his form while he hung locked in frozen time.
The dark shape raised its hand to strike him down for good. "Die."
A split second before the hand hit, Nx vanished from the spot.
"Hoho. It seems TEoEAN is still there." The shape dissolved away, and the flow of time snapped back with a sudden rush.
The breeze rushed back through the branches. The frozen leaves dropped onto the grass.
The princess snapped her eyes open as her mana stream snapped in half. The contract bond felt warped and broken.
"Nx?" She turned her head side to side, her hands feeling across the turf.
Cold fear hit her chest as her eyes darted across the bare lawn.
"Where are you?" She pushed up onto her knees, shouting out into the empty garden.
"NXXX!" Her voice cracked as she screamed into the open air.