‘….How is this possible?’
I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the thin red leaf that sprouted from the ground. I couldn’t believe my eyes, and upon thinking about the scene from before, a thought occurred to me.
‘When the old man was coughing, a little bit of the blood spilled.’
Could it be that…
‘Wait, is that even possible?’
The idea seemed absurd, yet as I stared at the scene unfolding before me, I felt my convictions begin to overturn.
But even so, that wasn’t all.
In spite of my attempts at trying to move, I was still stuck in place.
I couldn’t move, and all I could do was stare blankly at the small leaf on the ground beneath me.
‘How long…’
Beneath the arid air, I stood while watching the leaf grow taller. Find your next adventure on empire
The earth spread and the thin stem connected to the leaf grew taller. A small sapling appeared shortly after. Carrying several red leaves, the sapling stood at the same height as me.
I had lost count of how much time had passed.
The earth stayed unchanged, the air dry, and above all, the sun remained eerily the same—unchanging and oppressive in its whiteness that seemed to swallow the entire world with just its gaze.
I felt suffocated standing beneath it and staring at the sapling in front of me, I could see it also felt the same way.
…It was suffocating.
And yet, despite the harsh conditions, the sapling continued to grow.
Over time, it grew into a towering, full-fledged tree, its blood-red leaves spreading wide and casting a canopy over the surroundings, faintly fluttering in an unseen breeze.
I stood on the spot, mesmerized by the scene presented in front of me.
But for how long could I remain mesmerized for?
‘When is this going to end?’
‘Why is it not stopping?’
‘….Is something else supposed to happen?’
‘This is too much.’
Surely, I wasn’t supposed to just stand here and watch the tree grow. That would be too much.
That would be—
“Hey, look!”
A certain voice suddenly jolted me out of my thoughts.
Turning my head, a group of people appeared over a distant hill, their faces and clothes worn out. Their faces displayed hints of shock and apprehension upon catching sight of the tree.
“What is that?”
“….I don’t know, but it looks like a tree.”
“A tree? But aren’t those things…”
“No, be careful.”
Blocking the path of the group, a young man with flowing black hair and brown eyes stared at the tree with deep apprehension.
“Looks can be deceiving, don’t fall for its look. It could very well be a trap. For now, we should keep track of its spot and warn the others about it. We can’t let anything mess with our preparations. It won’t be long before we can get out of this place.”
Preparations?
Preparations for what? I strained my ears to listen more carefully. It felt like I was close to learning something new.
My heart raced at the thought and I started to get excited, but..
Pursing his lips, the young man noted down the tree before turning around with the group.
‘No, wait!’
I reached my hand in their direction.
Preparations for what?
‘You still haven’t finished saying what you wanted to say!’
I tried to scream, and reach for them, but neither my voice nor touch could reach them. I could only watch in despair as their backs started to fade from my sight.
‘No, wait…!! What were you going to say, what were…!’
It was useless.
In the span of a few seconds, they all faded from my sight. I could neither see nor hear them anymore.
Rustle~
The only thing that stayed with me was the small tree before me, its blood-red leaves gently rustling in the arid, lifeless air.
It was just the two of us…
I waited and waited and waited for something to happen.
At that moment, I lost my sense of time. With the tree no longer growing, there was nothing for me to focus on. Everything felt so mundane, and monotone.
It was boring, and the very air itself felt suffocating.
This place…
‘It’s hell.’
How could anyone even want to live in this place?
Who would—!
‘…..!”
It was then that it happened.
Cr— Crack!
I heard it—a faint, yet unmistakable sound of glass shattering. My head jerked toward the distance, and there it was.
A faint, delicate crack etched itself into the very fabric of the air as if reality itself was beginning to fracture. Beyond the fracture, I could see a distant world, one that was very different from this world.
There, vibrant green dominated the landscape.
A vivid blue sky stretched endlessly above, and below it lay breathtaking scenery—a place teeming with life and color, starkly contrasting the world around me. It felt so…
‘Beautifu—Ah.’
I quickly snapped out of it.
Staring towards the distance, I recalled bits and pieces of the world’s history I had learned in the past;
Era of the Sovereign Ascendance; The Era in which the Four Empires were founded.
The Age of Umbral Dominion; The Age of the Mirror Dimension expansion.
And lastly,
‘The Era of the Shattered World.’
The oldest known era and the era where the Mirror Dimension appeared.
Could this be…?
‘Haa.’
I started to recall the prior encounter and my heart suddenly stopped beating.
‘We can’t let anything mess with our preparations.’
‘It won’t be long before we can get out of this place.”
The words echoed loudly within my mind, and my head started to throb as I heard the loud and rhythmical thumps of my own heartbeat as the pieces started to fall together.
‘It can’t be, right?’
It made no sense, and yet, I thought back to the old man I had met and I felt a lump form in my throat.
Cr— Crack!
My ears tingled once more, and right as I turned my head, a new crack appeared in the very distance.
‘Ha… Ha…’
I wanted to laugh, but I couldn’t.
I could only stand on the spot, staring at the scenes with a blank expression.
Rustle~
Beside me in my daze stood the same tree, its blood-red leaves rustling softly in the dry, lifeless air.
They continued to rustle until they didn’t.
Tak—!
Hearing the faint sound of a step, I turned my attention toward a figure emerging in the distance, their gaze fixed intently on the tree.
No matter how hard I tried, their features remained obscured, shrouded in an impenetrable guise that seemed to defy the very light around them.
“!”
In the blink of an eye, they appeared right before the tree, and an invisible pressure overtook the surroundings, leaving me in a state of total paralysis.
“…How interesting.”
A deep, yet hoarse voice echoed in the air.
“This does indeed look like a tree, but it’s different. I feel a certain life force forming from within it. Is it trying to evolve into a monster?”
Rustle~
The leaves of the tree rustled softly, almost as if responding to the question, and in that fleeting moment, I could almost sense an imperceptible smile forming on the figure before me, though their expression remained hidden.
“No, this is a bit different. I can feel… Ah.”
As if coming to a certain understanding, the man placed his hand over the bark of the tree.
“….So you must’ve absorbed his blood. That is why you were born and created. This is interesting. A very interesting thing to think about.”
Woom!
A powerful glow suddenly manifested over the man’s hand, enveloping the entire surroundings.
“Regardless, this won’t be necessary anymore.”
Cra Crack!
Cracks started to form around the bark of the tree, their number increasing by the second.
I stood in silence, watching the entire situation without daring to move a single muscle. I knew this was a vision and I knew that I wasn’t present, and yet, under ‘his’ presence, I felt like that even in my current state I was vulnerable.
That he could do something to me.
Bang!
Eventually, the tree shattered into a thousand different pieces that flew in all sorts of directions.
The color red vailed the sky as the leaves floated in the air.
Basking in the sight, the ma… No, his identity was clear.
He was none other than…
‘Sithrus.’
Basking in the sight, Sithrus stared at his hand for a short moment before bringing his hand forward, grasping onto the very fabric of the space in front of him.
Cr— Crack!
A familiar cracking sound echoed in the air.
Holding my breath, I stood frozen, my mind racing as I watched Sithrus tear through the very fabric of reality, unveiling a crack that was all too familiar—one I had stepped into countless times before. The sight of it sent a shiver down my spine, as memories flooded back.
‘A Mirror Crack.’
This was none other than a Mirror Crack.
Voom!
Shortly after, a figure appeared from behind the crack.
It was a short and bulky figure that resembled a tiger.
“Roar—!”
Right upon spotting Sithrus, the tiger roared, but Sithrus remained unmoved. Staring at the creature, he brought his hand forward and nudged it in his direction.
Without hesitation, the tiger was yanked from its stance, hurtling toward him with incredible force, only to stop mere meters away, its massive body frozen in mid-air as if bound by an invisible force.
“Rooar!”
In spite of its best attempts at trying to resist, under Sithrus’s power, it was rendered helpless, and casting his gaze in the direction of where the tree once was, Sithrus suddenly brought his hand above the figure.
“…I wonder what will happen if I try using my blood. Our blood is different, so I should be able to create something different.”
Slicing his hand, blood dripped down onto the tiger.
Drip, drip!
Instantly, changes occurred to the figure.
“Roa, Roooar—!”
The tiger’s body began to shift, its figure expanding, muscles popping and tearing.
Gradually, the color of its coat darkened, transitioning into a deep, foreboding shade of gray.
A noticeable pressure emanated from its body, suffocating the air around it as its features continued to morph into something different and soon enough, in place of the tiger, an entirely new creature now stood before Sithrus—its eyes changing into a hollow white color.
‘….’
I stared at the scene at a complete loss for words, my mind blank as some of Sithrus’s blood dripped onto the ground.
‘No, this makes no sense.’
How could…?
How can…
“Not bad.”
Sithrus mumbled, staring at the creature before him.
“Not…”
Pausing for a second, his head turned and in that moment, I felt myself paralyzed completely.
That was because…
He was looking directly at me.