Somewhere far away, in a world where the dawn had never come,
Something new had begun.
Far beyond the quiet blue planet, the soul drifted through an endless dark.
There were no stars.
No wind.
No sound.
Only a silent current pulling it forward.
The pale fragment of light floated aimlessly through the dimensional rift, a pale speck of light, swallowed by a dark that had no end. For a moment, it seemed as though it would dissolve into nothingness.
Then the void trembled.
A ripple spread across the darkness like a stone thrown into still water.
Something had been noticed.
Far away, so distant that distance itself lost meaning, three figures stood in a space that did not belong to any world.
They stood upon a platform that resembled polished obsidian, suspended above a sea of slow-moving galaxies. Streams of faint light flowed beneath them like rivers.
The space was a shard of reality, torn away from the fabric of the universe.
This dark black expanse felt heavy.
Two of the figures were speaking. Voices heavy with the weight of unspeakable secrets.
The third figure remained silent.
She stood slightly apart from both, remained in silent repose, wrapped in long robes of silver and midnight blue. A thin vinyl veil obscured her features, leaving only her calm sharp eyes visible.
Her silhouette was refined, that of a matured woman.
Her presence bent the air around her in subtle ways.
Even the drifting stars below seemed to slow in her presence.
"…How could you lose it?" one of the two figures asked, irritation leaking into their voice.
The second sighed heavily.
"It slipped through a dimensional seam. I told you this one was troublesome."
"Troublesome?" the first scoffed. "That thing wandered through three unstable universes before disappearing. Do you realize how difficult it is to track anything across incoherent dimensions?"
The veiled woman moved forward, said nothing.
She simply raised her hand.
The air before her parted.
Not like a tear.
Not like a portal.
It was as though the fabric of existence had been gently folded aside.
From the opening, a tiny white puffball tumbled out.
The creature floated awkwardly into the strange space, blinking its violet eyes in confusion.
For a moment, the other two figures simply stared.
Their expressions relaxed.
Then one of them groaned.
"Phew… Finally, the troublemaker is back."
The puffball let out a soft squeak as the veiled woman gently caught it in her hands.
She examined it quietly.
Her fingers brushed through its soft fur. Her fingers disappear into creatures' silk-like fluff.
"Troublemaker," she murmured softly.
The creature seemed pleased by the attention.
Behind her, the second figure let out a long breath of relief.
"You have no idea how long I searched for that thing. Do you know how many unstable universes I had to search?"
The veiled woman tilted her head slightly.
"And yet," she said calmly, "you still found it; with effort..."
The second figure winced.
"Well… yes."
The puffball suddenly squirmed.
Its round eyes widened. As if thinking something was missing.
Then the second figure snatched the puffball from her hands, squeezing it like a lemon.
Creature let out a muffled, indignant squish.
She shook her head, looking exhausted.
"I'm going to rest, you can handle the rest, right? I spent eternity tracking this thing. I have no idea how it drifted that far," She said.
"But it's good that you brought it back. It's truly a miracle that you did, as if the distance was just a small hurdle."
"You always manage to surprise me by doing unbelievable things, there's never really a dull moment with you."
She paused, looking at the veiled woman more closely.
"Your Providence... it has grown again, hasn't it? I guess you aren't Magisterium's most adored for nothing. Your essence... it feels even deeper than before…"
She stopped mid-sentence, a look of reverence washing over her face.
But deep beneath her eyes she seems to have a dejected and bitter look.
She turned, tore open a space with a gesture, and stepped through.
She was gone in an instant.
The first figure remained for a moment. He looked at the veiled woman, giving her a slow, respectful nod.
Then he too vanished into the dark.
Once the others were gone, the woman's composure wavered in a hollow silence of void.
She stood alone for a heartbeat, her shoulders shifting as she tried to find her center. Her hands clenched. Then, slowly, they unfurled.
'Something is wrong.' Thought came abruptly.
She had calculated the cost, accounted for distance, instability of the small universe, weight of retrieval, and even unforeseen barriers.
But the drain on her Providence Essence was staggering. It was emptying.
A strange sensation lingered in her spirit. It didn't feel like she had retrieved a single creature.
'It feels like I pulled two beings, she thought.'
She slowly turned her gaze toward the vast darkness below. Shook her head.
Extending her hand once again with struggle.
The fabric of space parted once more.
She stepped into the fissure and disappeared.
Somewhere... Far below, across countless layers of reality, a distant world came into view.
'Aethelgard.'
A vast realm stitched together from countless conquered worlds and dimensions.
Mountains.
Oceans.
Kingdoms.
Empires.
And deep within one forgotten corner of that colossal world…
A forest trembled.
******
In a forest behind an open grass field with thin air, the air suddenly distorted.
The distortion began as a faint shimmer.
Then it grew.
A new shadow began to stir.
The space between two ancient trees warped violently, folding inward like a sheet of glass struck by an invisible force.
A ripple of absolute darkness swallowed the clearing.
For one brief moment ~
The forest seemed to have vanished.
Then it rippled like disturbed water.
Then the ripple collapsed into a small vortex.
Something slipped through the distortion.
A pale soul.
It hovered for the span of a breath... and vanished.
The distortion disappeared.
The forest returned to normal.
Birds chirped.
Leaves rustled.
Sunlight filtered gently through the canopy.
As if nothing had happened.
Beneath the forest canopy, a boy suddenly gasped.
The boy lay motionless.
His chest rose slowly.
Then his eyes opened.
Bright sunlight pierced through the branches above him, forcing him to squint.
With a weak groan, he raised a hand to shield his face.
The arm trembled.
Thin.
Pale.
Weak.
Unfamiliar.
His brow furrowed.
"…What?"
The voice that escaped his lips sounded strange.
Younger.
Weaker.
He slowly lowered his arm and stared at it.
The fingers looked fragile.
His skin was pale and stretched thin over narrow bones.
Confusion flickered across his face.
'These… aren't mine.'
Awareness began to return.
He tried to sit up.
Pain surged through his body.
His muscles screamed in protest.
Not from injury.
Not from wounds.
No.
This was something worse.
Exhaustion.
A deep, bone-crushing fatigue embedded within every fiber of his being.
Still, he forced himself upright.
The world spun violently.
He grabbed the rough bark of the tree, beside the flat stone he lay on to steady himself.
For several seconds he simply breathed.
Slow.
Heavy.
Then he looked around.
A forest.
Lush.
Green.
Alive.
And beautiful.
Sunlight filtered through the leaves above, scattering golden patterns across the forest floor. The gentle rustle of wind through branches carried the distant chirping of birds.
Through a gap between the trees, he could see a wide field of tall grass stretching toward the horizon.
The wind carried the scent of fresh earth.
It was peaceful.
Too peaceful.
The peacefulness felt unreal.
Almost scared.
The boy blinked slowly.
'Heaven…?'
The thought appeared in his mind naturally.
After all, the last thing he remembered was dying.
Starving in a cramped apartment.
Cold.
Alone.
Yet this place felt warm.
Real.
Too real.
Then it happened.
The memories surged.
They struck his mind like broken shards of glass.
Fragments.
Voices.
Faces.
A small village.
A quiet house near the forest.
A tired woman with gentle eyes.
The name:
Skyler..
Skyler Albestar.
The boy inhaled sharply.
His head throbbed.
More memories followed.
They did not belong to Rihito Takasuki.
Yet somehow they felt familiar.
As if they had always been there.
Two lives overlapped inside his mind.
One from a dying world of concrete and neon lights.
The other from a forgotten village on the edge of a vast forest.
Skyler leaned back against the tree slowly.
Then…
He felt it.
A pressure.
Subtle.
Yet undeniable.
It pressed against his chest like an invisible weight.
The air itself felt heavier.
The forest grew quiet.
Even the wind seemed to hesitate.
The world was watching him.
Testing him.
Measuring something.
Skyler lifted his gaze toward the clear sky beyond the branches.
His expression remained blank
Yet deep inside his mind, a quiet realization began to form.
This world was not the paradise he had imagined.
'This place is a different world.'
For some reason this place felt…
Restrictive.
Like invisible chains wrapped around reality itself.
There was a faint hum. It wasn't in the air; it was in his mind.
A vibration that felt like a needle stitching itself into his soul.
[...Awaiting Synchronisation…]
Words appeared etched in a light that felt like cold fire.
After a long moment, he whispered quietly.
'…So it's true.'
His lips curved into a faint, distant smile.
'The dawn… never came.'