Jin felt the world return in fragments.
First came the pressure — a gentle, constant weight pressing against his skin from every direction. Then the cold, deep and steady, seeping into his bones. His chest rose and fell once, twice. The motion felt wrong at first, too smooth, too easy. He opened his eyes.
Darkness.
Not the absolute black of his inner world, but a deep, heavy blue-black that stretched in every direction without end. Tiny particles of light drifted slowly through the water like distant stars. He floated, suspended, weightless. For a long moment he simply stared, mind struggling to catch up.
He was underwater. He was alive.
The realization hit him hard. He should have drowned. His lungs should have been full of water. His body should have been cold and still on the shore. Instead, he floated here, chest moving steadily, air filling his lungs as if the water itself allowed it. He turned his head slowly, scanning the endless dark. No surface above. No bottom below. Only the quiet drift of those faint lights and the soft current brushing past his skin.
Did the being from the lake save me?
The thought formed clearly. The half-face he had seen. The voice that had ordered him to run. The wave that had taken him. It had to be the same presence.
Something stirred in the darkness nearby.
The water shifted, a slow, deliberate movement that brushed against the edge of his awareness. Jin's body tensed. He could not see it. He could only feel the current change, the faint sense of something large and close. Fear rose sharp and immediate. He was helpless here — no mana, no weapon, no way to fight or flee. His heart began to race, the sound loud in his own ears.
A woman's voice spoke from the dark, calm and clear.
"How do you feel?"
Jin froze.
The voice was the same one that had spoken inside his mind, but now it carried through the water as if the lake itself had learned to speak. Soft. Female. Slightly hoarse, like something that had not used words in a very long time.
He forced himself to calm, slowing his breathing even though the water made the act feel strange.
"You can speak?" he asked, the words coming out clear despite the water around him. "Did you save me?"
Silence stretched for a moment. Then the voice answered, quiet and certain.
"I did."
Jin floated there, still tense, but the raw panic began to ease. He let out a slow breath.
"Thank you."
The presence in the water shifted again, closer this time. The voice carried a faint note of something almost like amusement.
"You are right about that much."
The darkness around him remained deep and still, but the feeling of being watched no longer carried the same sharp edge of threat. Whatever this being was, it had pulled him from the edge of death and brought him here. For now, that was enough to keep him listening.
Jin turned his head slowly, trying to locate the source of the voice.
"What are you?"
Silence.
Only the quiet movement of water answered him. The faint drifting lights continued their slow path through the deep blue-black, indifferent.
He tried again, voice steady despite the strangeness of speaking underwater.
"How did you enter my mind?"
More silence.
The presence remained, but it offered nothing. Jin felt the weight of it nearby, patient and still.
He waited several long seconds, then asked the question that had been pressing at him since the moment he first saw the half-face above the lake.
"Are you the one responsible for the fog?"
The silence stretched longer this time. It grew so dense that Jin began to wonder if the being had simply withdrawn. He looked around the endless dark, searching for any shift in the current or any sign of movement. Nothing changed.
"Are you still there?" he called out.
The voice returned, calm and close.
"I am still here."
Jin opened his mouth to speak again, but the being cut him off before the first word fully formed.
"You have too many questions. I will ask first."
Jin's body tensed slightly in the water. The tone left no room for argument. He stayed quiet, waiting.
The presence shifted, drawing nearer. The current around him changed, becoming slower, heavier, as if the water itself was listening.
"I have not interacted with anyone in thousands of years," the voice said. "Not until you entered my domain."
Domain?
The word settled in Jin's mind with quiet weight. He did not interrupt.
The being continued, its voice carrying the slow patience of something that had watched ages pass.
"Even in seclusion, knowledge reached me. I have seen countless ones pursue strength. Power. Wisdom. I have witnessed the teachings of the old arts — the ones that shaped the realms long before this world learned their names."
Jin felt the presence lean closer. The water around his shoulders stirred with a subtle pressure, intimate and inescapable.
"And yet," the voice said, disappointment clear now, "I have never seen an idiot quite like you."
Jin's eyes widened. The words struck harder than he expected. He floated there, stunned into silence.
The being's tone shifted fully into that of a stern lecturer, sharp with restrained frustration.
"How could you forget to fortify your body before attempting to enter the inner world? Even the lessers know this. Even the weakest students of the old ways learn it before they ever touch a single rune."
Jin's shock deepened. Not at the criticism itself, but at the depth of knowledge behind it. This being spoke of the upper realm's teachings as if it had stood among the masters.
"You recklessly created three runes," the voice went on. "That much was impressive. Your mind is strong. But your body is years behind. It cannot keep up with the demands of true rune arts. The strain nearly killed you. And it would have, had I not interfered."
A pause.
The current slowed further.
"More importantly," the being said, quieter now but no less pointed, "why is someone like you even in Chaos? Who did you anger in the upper realm to have ended up here, wandering lands that should never have held you?"
The question hung in the dark water between them, heavy and waiting.
Jin opened his mouth to answer.
The being cut him off again, voice calm but firm.
"Who are you?"
Jin fell silent.
Confusion moved through him in slow waves. How did this presence know of the teachings? How had it entered his mind so easily, spoken to him across distance, pulled him from the edge of death? The questions stacked one on top of another until a quiet uncertainty settled deep in his chest. He floated there, the soft current brushing past his skin, mind turning without finding solid ground.
He finally spoke, voice careful.
"How... do you know such knowledge? Why is a being with that kind of understanding down here?"
Silence answered him.
The water remained still for several long seconds. Then the voice returned, quiet and unyielding.
"You should not change the question."
Jin's brow furrowed. He tried a different approach, the words coming slower this time.
"What are you?... Who are you?"
Again, silence.
Then the current shifted.
It began as a gentle pull against his legs, then grew stronger, sweeping him sideways through the dark water. Jin did not resist. The force carried him with steady purpose, turning him until he faced a direction that had previously been empty.
Soft blue lights appeared in the distance.
They lit one by one, small at first, then spreading. Glowing points moved in slow, deliberate patterns, tracing long curves and vertical lines that stretched far downward into the abyss. More lights awakened, dozens, then scores, marking the outline of something immense. The darkness itself began to recede as the blue radiance grew, pushing the deep black outward in every direction.
Jin's eyes narrowed against the increasing brightness. The lights continued to bloom until they formed the full silhouette of a colossal figure suspended in the water. The glow was pure and cold, illuminating vast stretches of the lake that had been invisible only moments before.
The being's voice came again, softer now.
"Open your eyes."
Jin slowly obeyed.
The intense blue light dimmed just enough for him to see.
What floated before him was not human.
It was massive — so large that Jin felt smaller than an ant. The body was slim and elongated, formed of soft, translucent blue that seemed to be made of water itself, the surface shifting gently with the current as if the lake had shaped a living form from its own depths. Long, light-blue hair drifted in slow waves, stretching downward for what felt like miles until it disappeared into the darker water far below. Pointed ears rose from the sides of a refined face. Dark blue lips remained closed. Two large eyes of pure, luminous blue regarded him without blinking, calm and ancient.
The figure's presence filled the water. Light radiated from its form in soft pulses, pushing the surrounding darkness farther away with every gentle beat.
Jin stared, eyes wide, floating motionless before a single enormous blue eye. The scale of it pressed against his senses until words failed him entirely.
Shock held him in place. The scale of the being, the quiet power radiating from its form, the way the darkness itself had retreated — all of it pressed against his mind until coherent thought became difficult. He had expected something ancient. Something dangerous. He had not expected this.
The being's voice came again, calm and faintly curious.
"Did you think I was a monster?"
Jin remained silent. His mind raced, turning over every detail he had ever learned, every half-remembered name from the oldest records. Something clicked into place with sudden, terrible clarity.
No way...!
He finally spoke, the word leaving him before he could stop it.
"Vishah…?!"
The massive blue eye widened.
Jin's mouth snapped shut at once. The realization of what he had just done struck him like cold water. He knew he had made a mistake. A name that belonged to legends so old most of the realms treated them as myth.
The being slowly leaned away from him, the vast form shifting through the water with quiet grace. She stared at him in clear shock. The soft blue light pulsing from her body flickered once.
Silence stretched between them.
When she spoke again, her voice carried a new edge.
"How…?"
Her eyes twitched slightly.
"How do you know my name?"
Jin could not answer. He only swallowed, the motion strange and heavy in the water. The weight of her gaze pressed against him from every direction.
This is bad... I already look suspicious.
A massive hand rose from below. The palm, large enough to hold a small hill, came to rest beneath him. Jin floated above the smooth blue surface as the being carefully drew him closer to her face, filling his entire field of vision. Her tone turned cold.
"How do you know my name, human?"
Still, Jin said nothing. Words refused to form.
Vishah's gaze shifted sideways for a moment, as if searching through memories that stretched across ages. When she looked back at him, something harder had settled in her expression.
"I see…"
Her voice was quieter now, but no less sharp.
"They sent you… didn't they?"
Jin's eyes widened.
Vishah continued, the blue light in her eyes growing brighter.
"Of course. Your appearance here means you were searching for me."
The glow intensified. A sudden, sharp pressure cut across Jin's body in several places at once — thin, cold lines of force that felt like invisible blades resting against his skin. He did not bleed, but the sensation was precise and unmistakable. Her stare alone carried enough power to carve him apart if she wished.
Vishah's voice dropped lower, each word measured and cold.
"Who are you… and how did you find me?"
Jin gritted his teeth as the invisible cuts across his body deepened. The pressure was precise, cold, and unrelenting. Vishah leaned closer. The soft current of the water stirred around them both.
"Ever since you entered my domain," she said, voice low and measured, "I have not felt at ease. Something about your presence felt… wrong from the very beginning."
She paused, studying him.
"I watched you. I watched the way you forced your way toward your core. At first I believed you were simply desperate. Then I saw you attempt to open your inner world. The act was so carefully performed that I allowed myself to draw closer. I revealed myself. That was my mistake."
Jin's thoughts moved quickly beneath the pain.
You're wrong... I wasn't trying to draw you out.
Vishah's tone sharpened.
"Speak."
Jin remained silent.
The silence was not defiance. It was the weight of having no safe answer. If he lied, she would sense it and end him. He was never good at lying. If he told the truth, his identity would be laid bare, and the consequences would be the same. There was no middle path he could think of. The corner he stood in left no room even for frustration — only the cold clarity of being completely trapped.
Vishah's eyes glowed brighter.
"Your silence alone proves you are guilty."
The light from her eyes intensified until Jin could no longer move even a finger. Immense power pressed against him from every direction, holding his body rigid in the water. He could feel the sheer scale of what she was capable of.
"It is fine," Vishah continued, almost gently. "You do not need to speak. I will go through your mind instead."
Jin's eyes widened.
"No... Wait—!"
The glow flared. Blue light overwhelmed everything. Jin's shout cut off as his eyes shut and his body went limp, floating unconscious above her palm.
Vishah opened her eyes inside a dark space.
The silence here was absolute. She could hear her own thoughts without needing to give them voice. Her form was smaller now, a glowing blue silhouette drifting through the void of Jin's mind. She looked around at the empty darkness and smiled faintly.
"I cannot believe I almost let him live. He could have been sent by Them?"
She drifted forward, voice quiet.
"His mind is dark. He must have been desperately trying to force his inner world open. That alone would have eventually led him to me."
She came to a stop and spread one hand forward, fingers open as if feeling for something unseen.
"I cannot believe I fell for his trick. But I will find out soon enough."
She raised her other hand. Blue light gathered at her fingertips with effortless precision. Lines formed in the air — clean, ancient, perfect. She drew a complex rune in a single continuous motion, every curve and intersection exact. The structure settled into place and began to hum softly.
"Are you a spy?... Or are you just another one of those banished from the Upper realm?
Vishah placed one finger against the completed rune.
"Inner World… Open."
Thin blue lines shot outward from the rune in every direction. Cracks spread through the dark space like fractures in glass. The void turned pure white.
Vishah waved her hand once, brushing the white light away as if clearing dust.
What remained took her breath.
She hovered inside a vast galaxy.
Thousands of stars burned in the distance — gold, silver, deep violet, soft crimson. Rivers of luminous violet energy flowed between them like living currents, slow and endless. The space itself felt clean, ordered, and impossibly complete. There were no flaws. No rough edges. No unfinished corners.
Vishah's eyes widened in genuine awe.
"What… what is this?!"
She turned slowly, taking in the scale of it.
A human is not supposed to possess an inner world of this quality. It is too refined. Too perfect!
Unnoticed behind her, in the deeper dark beyond the stars, a pair of massive silver eyes opened and watched in silence.
Vishah smiled faintly as the violet rivers resonated with her own energy.
"This world cannot belong to a human. Not unless this person is something else entirely. I will need to confirm one more thing."
She closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, she stood once more in the dark space. A soft light hovered before her — a small sphere wrapped in subdued blue energy. She recognized it instantly.
"His core."
She drifted closer. The sphere was the size of a small rock, sealed tightly by the Kharatan energy that still clung to it.
Vishah brought both hands near without quite touching it.
"If he is truly from the upper realm… should his core not be twice this size? Or should there not be at least two?"
She extended one finger toward the sealed blue core. The moment her skin would have made contact, the dark space around her vanished.
She stood inside a crater.
The sky above was a deep, violent red, stained with smoke and the glow of distant fires. The ground beneath her feet was cracked and blackened, still radiating heat. All around the crater's edge the world burned — forests reduced to glowing skeletons, mountains split open, rivers turned to steam. The air itself tasted of ash and ozone.
A battlefield...?!
She looked up.
Thousands of sky warriors filled the red sky. Their white and gold forms were scattered across the horizon like broken stars. Many still fought, wings beating hard as they clashed with shapes far larger than themselves. Others lay motionless on the burning ground below, armour shattered, light already fading from their bodies.
Roars tore through the air from every direction.
Vishah turned.
A legion of dragons filled the battlefield. Their scales caught the red light as they dove and twisted through the sky, claws and teeth meeting divine steel. The sound of their battle was endless — a continuous thunder of impact, flame, and breaking armour.
What is this?... A war?!
The thought formed slowly, almost drowned by the noise.
She looked down at herself. The body she wore was not her own.
Silver armour covered her from shoulder to boot, the surface alive with glowing runes that shifted and reformed with every breath. The metal felt heavy and familiar in a way that made her stomach tighten. Long white hair hung past her shoulders, stained with dirt and streaks of dried blood. Her hands were larger. Her frame was broader, built for war rather than the long, fluid shape she had worn for thousands of years.
She raised one forearm and stared at the polished reflection in the silver. Glowing silver eyes looked back at her.
Who... Is this?!
A sudden shockwave swept across the crater.
Vishah threw both arms up to shield her face as dust and heat slammed into her. The ground trembled. When the force finally passed, she lowered her arms and squinted into the thick cloud of ash that now hung in front of her.
Something landed hard inside the dust.
A man's voice cut through the haze, calm and absolute.
"You cannot undo what has already been done, oh little light."
Vishah's entire body went rigid. She knew that voice. She had never forgotten it.
It can't be!
The dust began to thin. A figure stepped through.
Crimson scale armour covered him from throat to heel, each plate edged in darker red. A long crimson cape moved behind him like living flame. Four curved horns rose from his head. His hair was the same deep crimson, falling past his shoulders. His eyes were sharp, golden, and unmistakably draconic. In one hand he carried a massive black greatsword that still dripped with divine light.
Vishah stumbled backward.
"It… It's the D-Dragon King!"
The words left her in a broken whisper. Standing before her was the embodiment of destruction itself.
Indura.
He regarded the form she was wearing with quiet recognition, the golden eyes steady.
"This battle is far from over… Old friend."