As Elric sank deeper into the frigid lake, time seemed to lose all meaning. The water dragged him down, the pressure crushed his chest, and the world around him seemed to have blurred into a hazy swirl.
Just when he thought he would lose his consciousness, an odd sensation washed over him. His entire body had become weightless, and he was left in a state of disorientation. Blinking against the darkness, Elric found himself no longer submerged in the lake but suspended in a void.
Confusion clouded his mind as he tried to make sense of his surroundings. Was this a dream?
“Where…?”
“You’re in Limbo,” a voice interrupted.
Startled, Elric immediately looked at where the unfamiliar voice came from. “Wh-who are you?”
Before him stood a boy, no older than eighteen, his body translucent white and covered with countless cracks. He appeared fragile, as if a mere touch would shatter him.
“Haha, it’s been a long time, old friend. You didn’t keep your promise after all,” he said with a sad smile.
“...?”
Elric stared at the boy in pure confusion before shaking his head. “Can you please explain what’s going on? What is this place, why am I here, and… who are you?”
“As I said, this place is Limbo," replied the boy. "It’s where souls linger when they haven’t fully embraced death.”
“Souls…?” Elric examined his own translucent form, which was glowing rather than cracked. “Are you saying what’s here isn’t my body, but my soul that has left it?”
“Precisely. And the reason why you’re here is because your soul isn’t solely yours.”
“What? What does that mean?”
“The reason you haven’t fully embraced death was something decided five hundred years ago.”
“Huhh?? That's not any clearer!”
The boy sighed. “I don’t have much time. You can already see the cracks I’m enduring; I’m at my limit. I’ve been keeping an unimaginable amount of mana at bay, and my task is to give it to its rightful owner—you.”
Mana? Owner? Elric almost laughed. How could he, someone who has been powerless his entire life, be the owner this boy is talking about?
“No… You've got the wrong guy,” Elric replied.
“Elric Sinclair. Only child to Maurim and Elia Sinclair. Your parents died in a public execution, and your aunt Serena was–”
“Stop!” snapped Elric. He gave the boy a harsh glare. “How do you know all that?!”
“It doesn’t matter how I know. This power belongs to you, Elric. Live on the legacy of Asterion.”
“Asterion? Who’s that?”
The boy grew another sad smile. “I apologize. I wish I could tell you everything. Become friendly with the leaders of Egon and Vozar; they have the answers you seek.” As he spoke, the boy’s cracked skin slowly fell and began to disintegrate.
“You’re disappearing!” said Elric with a panicked look in his eyes. The boy calmly approached him and placed an almost-gone hand on his chest. “I see. There was another power inside you.”
“What are you talk–”
The boy’s translucent body began to emit a strange purplish glow. “Goodbye, old friend,” he said with a half-disintegrated face. “The future never looked so bright.” His body continued to fall off in larger pieces, and soon he no longer bore any resemblance to a boy.
“Wait!” Elric shouted. “You never told me who you are!”
With what was left of his face, the boy offered Elric his first genuine smile. “Me? I’m Kyro.”
“AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!”
Two long beams of light shot out of Elric’s eye sockets as an immense amount of power entered him. Kyro had completely disintegrated, fading into the void.
*
Elric’s eyes snapped open, and he found himself submerged once again in the forest lake. Gasping for air, his lungs burned as he clawed his way to the surface.
‘If I don’t get out now, I’ll definitely drown,' he warned himself. With a surge of adrenaline, Elric propelled upward, breaking through the water's surface with a desperate gasp. He clung to the edge of the lake, his body heaving and coughing as he struggled to regain his breath.
‘Was all of that just a dream?’ he thought. ‘No. That pain felt too real. Wait, pain?!’
In a sudden rush, Elric remembered the deep wounds inflicted by the shadow panther, yet astonishingly, all the pain associated with them had dissipated. Peeling back his worn shirt, Elric was stunned to find not only the scars from the shadow panther had vanished but also those accrued from Leonard over the past four years.
“It was all real. I was really on the precipice of death. And Kyro…” Elric shut his eyes. “Even a guy I never met before had so much faith in me… Just what kind of life have I been living?”
It was a rhetorical question, but Elric knew the answer was glaringly obvious. His approach had been flawed from the start. He never intended to defeat the strong; instead, he chose to obey. He thought he had no other choice, as that was the only way he and his family could survive in such an unfair world.
But he was wrong.
So painfully wrong, and the cruelest fate had claimed his family as a result.
Gathering his resolve, Elric opened his eyes, and they burned with a determination they never had before.
“I’m done treading lightly,” he declared icily. “Waiting is all a cursed neric can do? No. Patience never spared my family, and it sure as hell won’t spare me.” Elric staggered to his feet. “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth? That’s too kind of a punishment for what they have done. There will be no mercy and forgiveness; I alone will be the instrument of their downfall.” With that, Elric tightened his fists and began to walk away from the lake. He was unsure what “power” Kyro had given him, but it didn’t matter—anything could be turned useful when it came to exacting his revenge.
As Elric walked away, each step echoed the weight of his newfound purpose, while his body emitted a gentle glow matching the color of his piercing eyes.
* * *
Stationed on the outskirts of a small, obscure fishing town in the southern reaches of Selis, two cloaked figures engaged in a card game while another buried their nose in a book.
"Argh! Seriously, Aris, you can't be getting all these hands legitimately," one of them accused.
Aris, unmasking himself and revealing a mane of long, blonde hair, shot a mischievous smirk at the accuser. "I'd never stoop so low. You're just a sore loser, Sidney."
“Y-you!" Sidney turned to face the cloaked figure engrossed in their book. "Come on, Jon! Back me up here! He's clearly cheating!"
Jon responded without lifting his gaze. “Leave me out of this.”
“Urgh, fine! It’s always like this. I’m bored stiff! I can't stand this town anymore!"
Aris shook his head as he began tidying up the cards. “You heard the boss. We can’t leave until we've gathered some new information."
"Nothing's changed with the barrier despite us being here for six years already!” replied Sidney. “I say we report to the boss that there's nothing to see and beg her to let us come back. Or at least station us somewhere less dull!"
“I agree,” Jon chimed in, still engrossed in his reading.
Aris looked at his companions and sighed. “If you guys want to go that badly, just go. I’ll stay and do the job for all three of us.”
“Going without you is a bit…” started Jon.
“Yeah, the boss is kinda scary, but she favors you. Say you’ll come! Please!” pleaded Sidney.
Aris rubbed his temples in annoyance. “The barrier is important. One of us has to stay.”
“Ugh. It’s always the barrier this, the barrier that,” grumbled Sidney as he approached and rested his hand on it. "It's been like this for five centuries. Nothing's going to–"
Crack.
The impenetrable mana barrier that had stood for half a millennium... shattered.
"Ahh! It wasn't me!" Sidney exclaimed in panic.
Once the initial shock wore off, Aris broke into a wide grin. “Guys, do you realize what this means?”
"Um... that we can finally return home?" answered Sidney. Jon whacked him on the head with his book.
"No! It means the star’s advent is finally upon us!”
The trio quickly set out to deliver their report to their superior. As they moved, their cloaks fluttered in the wind, revealing the symbol of a thirteen-pointed star.
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