Rivers of milk, honey, and wine flowed through flowering meadows that sparkled with stardust. Ethereal fairy creatures with radiant wings drifted overhead, casting down petals like snowflakes. Angelic beings bowed as the pair arrived, offering cushioned seats upon the backs of mythical beasts.
Fruits ripened the moment they were wished for. Goblets filled themselves. The dimension responded to their thoughts, molding itself to their desires. At its heart rose a palace of such exquisite splendor that even kings would weep just to touch its gates.
They flew toward it on a chariot pulled by winged lions.
Inside the palace, divine beauty gave way to serenity. Marble halls glowed with otherworldly light, and shelves were lined with mystical artifacts and weapons—each humming with ancient energy.
Xara paused by one particular pedestal in the Hall of Blessings. Upon it sat a small jade vial, shimmering faintly.
“The guardian angel of this realm gave me that,” she said. “Said it’s the only one of its kind in all of Heaven. That if it’s ever consumed, the heart of the one who drinks it... will never change.”
Taryn tilted his head. “What does that even mean?”
She shrugged. “No idea. But I’ve always kept it nearby—just in case.”
He nodded silently and moved on. She lingered for just a moment, brushing her fingers against the vial’s surface before following him deeper into the palace.
Beyond the horizon, a thick, luminous mist shimmered like a veil—marking the limits of Xara’s control over the dimension. At her level, she could not pass beyond it.
They toured for an hour, but the skies slowly began to fade. The color dulled. The air thinned.
“You’ve nearly exhausted your cosmic energy,” Taryn said softly.
Xara exhaled, smiling through the fatigue. “I’m just glad I could lift your mood, even for a little while. I hope this helped.”
“It did,” he said, with more sincerity than usual.
She reached for his hand.
And just like that, the paradise unraveled. The light collapsed. The mist cleared.
They stood once again in the rose garden.
But what they saw stole the breath from their lungs.
The sky above the academy was black with smoke. The air stank of burning flesh and blood. Screams echoed from every direction. Flames devoured the once-sacred halls of Merlin Sect.
“We... we are under attack,” Taryn muttered, eyes wide with disbelief.
He turned toward the main academy—but the building was gone. In its place was a massive crater, smoldering with ash and smoke. Had they still been in class, they would’ve been reduced to cinders.
Xara stood frozen, her face pale and expression hollow.
Taryn gripped her hand tightly. “The manor—our families!”
They sprinted.
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Bodies littered the paths. Students, elders, guards—some burned beyond recognition, others torn apart. The world that had once seemed untouchable was now a graveyard.
Taryn ducked behind a fallen column, dragging Xara with him as voices echoed nearby.
“Commander, we’ve neutralized the eastern and northern manors. The academy’s central building is obliterated.”
“And the southern and western manors?”
“South’s nearly fallen. The west... the Sect Leaders are fighting there.”
A tremor shook the ground—far off, but immense. The kind of force only someone godlike could wield.
“Scour the ruins. Leave no survivors. Kill every last member of the Merlin Sect.”
Behind him, a group of terrified captives knelt. Women. Some bruised, others bleeding.
With a snap of the commander’s fingers, fire erupted beneath them. Screams filled the air—and then, silence. Nothing remained but scorched earth.
Xara nearly screamed, but Taryn clamped a hand over her mouth, his own eyes wide with horror.
They continued moving in silence, slipping between rubble, hiding from squads of soldiers.
Eventually, they reached the outskirts of the southern manor—but stopped in their tracks.
The manor was completely surrounded. Taryn peered through the enemy lines and froze.
Dozens of sect members were crucified along the courtyard—men, women, even children. Heads were missing. Entrails spilled. Among them, Taryn recognized his own cousins, uncles, aunts.
Xara gasped—and then she was gone.
Her silhouette bolted from cover, charging toward the massacre with wild, trembling steps.
“Mother!!”
A soldier caught her easily, striking her across the back of the head. She dropped like a puppet with cut strings.
The soldier lifted her by the hair, raising his hand to crush her skull.
“Wait,” another voice interrupted. “Check for her cosmic imprint. The one with the S-Class imprint is supposed to be in the southern manors.”
“Tch. Don’t get your hopes up. But... the reward if she’s the one—”
He tore at her robes.
“Stop!!”
Taryn emerged from the rubble, fists clenched, eyes blazing with defiance. He raised his right hand, revealing the mark.
“It’s me. I have the S-Class Imprint. Let her go!”
Laughter rippled through the soldiers.
“Bold. But there’s no cosmic energy coming from him. Must be bluffing.”
One of them sent an ice spear hurtling toward Taryn.
Xara stirred. Blood matted her hair. Her eyes widened. In a burst of desperation, she summoned a blade and slashed her captor’s wrist clean off before sprinting to intercept the projectile—
But she was too late.
The shard pierced Taryn’s chest, freezing his heart.
He staggered.
Collapsed.
“No!!” Xara screamed, catching him as he fell. She cradled his head in her lap, sobbing. “Don’t die, Taryn... Please... We were supposed to spend our lives in paradise... together.”
His hand, trembling, brushed her cheek.
“It hurts... I’m sorry... I couldn’t protect you...”
His eyes began to dim.
Frantically, Xara manifested the jade vial from her dimension. Her hands trembled as she looked down at the boy in her lap.
She didn’t know what the vial truly did—only that its promise was absolute:
Once consumed, the heart will never change.
And if Taryn’s heart was going to stop…
Let it stop whilst loving her.
She uncorked it, drank half, then leaned down and pressed her lips to Taryn’s—transferring the rest to him in a desperate kiss.
The soldiers watched in silence, unmoved. One stepped forward and yanked her away by the hair.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“Let him go!” she cried.
“Don’t care who she is. No one defies—”
He stopped.
Everyone did.
A pulse of alien energy erupted from Taryn’s corpse—dimensional, raw, uncontainable.
The ground split. Space cracked.
And at his side, a beast stood—massive, otherworldly, born of a realm no one dared name.
The cosmic imprint on Taryn’s hand now blazed, no longer dormant. It spread across his body in glowing lines—alive, awakened.
He stood.
The soldiers stepped back.
“He’s alive...”
Xara collapsed, her long dark hair turning silver as her strength faded. She had burned her own life force to summon the vial. She smiled faintly as darkness took her.
Taryn looked up.
His eyes glowed with pure dimensional energy.
The soldier who held Xara panicked and pulled her in front of him like a shield.
“Kill,” Taryn commanded.
The beast lunged, tearing the man’s head from his shoulders in an instant. Blood sprayed into the air, painting the broken ground red.
Taryn stepped forward.
His imprint burned with newfound life.
And in that moment, the boy who once dreamed of paradise—
was gone.