chapter 1 After one hundred years

The rain fell quietly over universe seven.

A boy stood alone in the middle of the battlefield, his hands stained red.

Bodies surrounded him.

Broken weapons. Torn banners. Silence.

The soldiers behind him stared in fear instead of relief.

One of them whispered,

“How did he survive that…?”

The boy ignored them.

His chest hurt.

Not from wounds.

From something else.

Something crawling beneath his skin.

Black veins slowly faded from his hands as if they had never existed.

He slowly pulled his hood over his green hair and walked away from the battlefield without another word.

None of them noticed the clocks nearby had stopped ticking.

----

The air in universe seven felt colder than usual.

Issac walked through the empty streets quietly, ignoring the fearful stares following him from every direction.

People always looked at him that way after battles.

As if they were trying to understand what he truly was.

The rain continued falling softly against his hood as flashes of the battlefield replayed endlessly inside his mind.

Swords.

Blood.

Screams.

And those strange moments.

Moments where everything around him suddenly became silent.

Still.

Like time itself had frozen for only him.

Issac clenched his hand tightly.

That strange black energy had appeared again during the battle.

He hated it.

Ever since he was young, it had followed him everywhere like a curse buried beneath his skin.

Whenever fear or anger consumed him too deeply, the darkness awakened.

And every single time…

people looked at him differently afterward.

Like a monster.

Issac stopped walking once he reached the bridge near the edge of the city.

The river beneath reflected the dim lights of universe seven.

For a moment, he simply stared at his reflection in the water.

Then suddenly—

Pain shot through his chest.

Issac grabbed the railing tightly as unfamiliar images flashed violently across his mind.

A girl with red eyes.

A sword covered in blood.

A voice calling his name.

“Issac…”

His breathing became uneven.

The images disappeared as quickly as they came, leaving only confusion behind.

“…What was that?” he whispered.

----

Far away, in universe eight, a porcelain cup slipped from a girl’s hand.

It shattered against the floor.

The sound echoed through the silent room.

The girl froze.

Her red eyes widened slightly as her breathing became uneven.

After one hundred years…

she felt him.

“Issac…”

The room around her was cold and dark, lit only by scattered candles and glowing maps hanging across the walls.

Hundreds of universe symbols had been scratched into the stone over the years.

Failed portals.

Failed searches.

Failed hope.

Dust covered old books stacked across the floor beside countless unfinished spells.

She had stopped counting how many universes she searched decades ago.

Yet now…

for the first time in a century…

his presence returned.

Star slowly turned toward the glowing spell circle in the center of the room, her trembling hands tightening slightly.

Memories flashed through her mind.

Blood.

A sword.

Issac collapsing in front of her.

His final expression.

Her father’s laughter.

Star shut her eyes tightly.

“This time…”

Dark energy flickered around the portal.

Her voice barely rose above a whisper.

“I won’t lose you again.”

And the portal opened.

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