Silence.
Not the silence of nightfall, nor that of peaceful slumber.
It was the kind of silence that whispered “You do not belong here.”
I opened my eyes.
At first, all I saw was blue.
A vast sky above me, endless and unbroken, like a canvas painted by winds I did not know. Clouds drifted lazily across it—gentle, white, carefree.
Am I dreaming? I thought.
But dreams had never been this... gentle.
Nor this cruel.
I lay there for several moments, staring upward, my back pressed against something soft. When I turned my head, I saw a carpet of grass—lush, dewy, and vividly green. Each blade shimmered faintly, touched with veins of glowing blue, like mana was alive in every root.
I blinked slowly.
I fell from the cliffs of Ogl.
I remember the pain.
I remember the wind tearing at my skin.
I remember Kalder’s eyes.
So how...?
Was this the afterlife?
Or had I survived the fall only to awaken in a hallucination borne from fractured bones?
I raised a hand—slow, deliberate, cautious.
My arm felt heavier than it should. Not broken. Just... denser. My joints responded with dull stiffness, and when I looked down, I saw nothing changed.
No scars. No blood.
No bruises.
I touched my chest. My heartbeat was there—strong, almost louder than I remembered.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
I sat up, muscles groaning, and took in my surroundings.
The world around me stretched like a dream I could not name. The grassland extended into gentle hills, some crowned with spiral trees whose bark shimmered silver and whose leaves pulsed softly with azure light.
The air...
The air was alive.
I could feel it, like silk brushing against my skin. There was mana here, but it did not move as it did in Midgard. It rolled—flowed—surged like the tide. It licked at my skin and whispered at my senses, as if it were trying to greet me or test me.
This is not Midgard.
The realization struck cold into my spine.
This was somewhere else.
Another realm?
Another layer of the world?
Had I fallen not into death—but into something beyond?
I rose slowly, brushing the grass off my clothing. My robes were torn at the sleeves, singed with a faint violet burn I didn’t recognize.
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I flexed my fingers.
Then my shoulders.
Then my legs.
Everything worked.
Everything moved.
I was intact.
Then why… do I feel like someone else’s skin is wrapped around me?
As I took my first steps, the land responded.
Tiny glowing insects danced through the air like soft lanterns, scattering at my movement. From beneath a curling root, a creature scuttled—its body like a turtle’s but transparent, with swirling lights glowing inside its shell.
It turned and looked at me—truly looked—with eyes that shimmered in patterns I could not decipher.
Then it vanished behind a tree that bent away from me.
Even the trees moved with awareness. Their branches curled inward when I passed too close, as if uncertain of what I was.
I don’t belong here, I thought again.
And yet…
I kept walking.
I walked for what felt like hours.
Time here was slippery. The sun never seemed to shift, but the colors in the air deepened—like the world was breathing in slow rhythms.
I saw herbs that glowed with eerie bioluminescence. Some pulsed, others whispered in faint chimes, their petals open and trembling as though they expected something… or someone.
One had vines that twisted together to form what looked like an eye. It blinked as I passed.
And the creatures...
Some ran on four legs, sleek and glimmering, fur like silver blades. Others slithered with no eyes, only crystal-like feelers that shimmered with mana pulses.
None attacked me.
But none welcomed me either.
Their eyes held curiosity... and fear.
I sighed. A bitter sound.
“Huh... Wherever I go, I must suffer,” I muttered, my voice hoarse.
It was the first time I had spoken since falling.
Even here, far from the cruelty of my tribe, I was still the outsider.
The cursed one.
As the sky dimmed slightly—though the sun never moved—I noticed a ridge in the distance. A jagged line of stone sloping like a broken fang from the earth.
I approached it, hoping for shelter.
I found a cave.
Not deep. Just enough to shield me from the strange winds and unblinking trees. The air inside was cool, dry, and untouched.
Safe. For now.
I sat against the wall, finally letting the weight of the day settle onto my shoulders.
My breath slowed.
My thoughts raced.
Where was I?
What did this realm want from me?
Could I ever return?
Did I even want to?
I had no answers.
Only questions.
And an ache deep inside—an ache that had no name.
As I sat in silence, something strange tugged at my senses.
A pulse.
Soft at first. Faint. Like a heartbeat beneath stone.
I turned.
At the very edge of the cave, half-hidden behind stone and shadow, there was a crevice.
It should’ve been too narrow for me.
But I felt drawn.
Driven.
I squeezed through, ignoring the scrape of rock on my skin. The deeper I went, the more I felt it.
Mana.
Not just ambient mana.
Ancient mana.
Like forgotten fire buried in ash.
I emerged into a chamber.
It was circular.
Roughly carved, untouched by modern hands.
And at its center lay a skeleton.
Slumped over, surrounded by tattered books, rusted artifacts, and softly glowing stones embedded in the ground.
The bones were long, but frail.
Elven?
Human?
Or something else entirely?
I stepped closer, heart pounding.
There was no decay. No scent of death. Only stillness.
One of the books pulsed.
Not with light—but with understanding.
As if it wanted me to touch it.
No, I thought. This feels... wrong.
And yet, my hand moved anyway.
But before my fingers brushed the cover—
The skeleton moved.
Its finger lifted.
And pointed directly to my forehead.
Suddenly, the world dissolved.
Colors split. Shapes melted.
And I was no longer in the cave.
I stood in a vast battlefield, sky torn with fire, and wind screaming like banshees.
There, at the center, stood the figure.
Tall.
Hooded in robes not of cloth but flowing inscriptions. His face obscured, but his presence undeniable.
He turned to me.
He spoke—
But his words were not words.
They were waves.
They hit me like thunder.
I couldn't understand.
He lifted his hand again.
Pointed to my forehead.
Again.
And again.
Until—
Clarity bloomed.
I gasped, my body jolt back into the real cave.
The skeleton was gone.
Only dust remained.
But the books now... I understood them.
Not fully.
But as if a veil had been lifted.
Titles that once shimmered with symbols now read like ancient tongues I almost recognized.
Battle Manuals.
Spirit Diagrams.
Mana Circuits.
I stumbled backward, breathing heavily.
My forehead still tingled.
What had I just seen?
What had he just shown me?
And why me?
That night, I sat near the cave entrance, the books beside me, my mind still dazed.
The world of Vermillion Bird Star was not what I expected.
It was raw.
Alive.
Unforgiving.
But so was I.
“They threw me away like waste.”
“But this realm… has begun to whisper my name.”
“I, Aduin… the outcast… will carve my path in the unknown.”
“Even if it burns me to the core.”
[TO BE CONTINUED...]