He was awakened by the cold.
No, it wasn't a physical chill, but a kind of coldness he had never experienced before.
It was neither wind nor snow, yet it reached deep into his soul.
He slowly opened his eyes, and before him was no longer the fire and blood of his memories.
Above him was not the roof of the medical tent he expected, nor the sky above Gray Tooth Valley, but a… strange light.
He couldn't see the source of the light; it simply illuminated everything.
It was not stars, nor sun or moon; it had no temperature, nor did it cast shadows on the ground.
He blinked, his gaze sweeping around, and he saw more sights.
Beneath his feet—he suddenly realized he wasn't "standing" on anything.
He was suspended above a massive, dark gray rock platform.
The edges of the platform were jagged, like a beast's teeth.
And this rock itself floated alone in an boundless, directionless void.
Further away, he could vaguely see other similar rock platforms, also silently suspended.
Stone steps connected the platforms, but they didn't go straight up and down; they twisted and wound, rising and falling, occasionally even turning inexplicably.
There were many platforms, countless.
The entire world was dead silent, without any sound.
Occasionally, two floating rocks would come very close, their edges gently touching.
At that moment, he could feel a faint vibration transmit through the void, but it was still silent.
Immediately after, the two rocks slowly separated, as if pulled by an invisible rope.
He was speechless for a moment.
This place… it didn't belong to ZulDrak.
He was certain.
But it also didn't seem like the resting place of the dead.
At least, it was vastly different from the scenes depicted by the priests.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but laugh.
He no longer believed the words of those priests; the Loa had long since abandoned him.
Because in Ital'ruk, he had found a new deity, a god willing to shelter and guide him.
Immediately, memories of his final moments surfaced in his mind.
In Gray Tooth Valley, during that desperate rearguard breakthrough, he clearly remembered charging at the forefront, taking three arrows, and then being impaled through the chest by an axe.
As he fell, his last thought was:
"Lord… please bless our victory."
Then, he woke up here.
He suddenly understood.
This was not the veil beyond death.
This was another blessing from the Emberglow Dragon.
It was a destination guided by faith, belonging solely to Its believers.
The moment of realization, he instinctively looked back—
And then, he saw It.
Far, far away, on the largest rock platform, stood a colossal tower.
It seemed not to have been "built," but rather to have "emerged" from space, gradually "recalled" as if time were flowing backward.
The tower was pitch black, impossibly tall, like a black spear piercing the void, extending upward, through the layer of light.
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