In the absolute stillness of the barren wasteland, Izan was the only apparent sign of life. He moved slowly, dragging his feet through the dry earth.

When he managed to climb out of the pit, he realized that this savage world would not give him a moment's respite.

He gathered all the objects he had recovered from the corpses that had accompanied him for so many days and, slinging the bags of hearts over his back like sacks, set out.

The first thing he did was try to identify his surroundings, searching for signs that might point him toward a path he could follow.

"Cler?" he called to his friend, trying to communicate with her mentally. "Are you there?"

There was no response.

"Clara!" he shouted loudly.

«What's wrong?» the girl replied in a weak voice.

"Are you okay? You sound strange..."

«I was sleeping,» she admitted, then yawned. «I suddenly started feeling exhausted, so I lay down on the floor.»

Clara stood up inside the Dark Palace and stretched her arms to wake herself up.

«I wish I had a bed.»

"You're in a palace. I imagine there should be rooms somewhere."

«I want to believe that, but I'm scared to explore this place alone. Besides, I was so sleepy that I was falling asleep standing up.»

The sun struck Izan directly in the eyes, leaving him completely dazzled as he continued forward, moving farther and farther away from the pit.

"How strange. I never stopped to think that souls would need to sleep," he commented, his voice labored.

«Neither did I.» She yawned again. «Maybe it's because I'm still kind of alive.»

"We know almost nothing about how the Dark Palace works. I don't even fully understand my ability. We should pay attention to every change from now on," he suggested with difficulty.

«Yes, but tell me, did something happen? You sound tired.»

Clara looked around. She had already grown accustomed to the palace being empty, but after their last conversation, she realized that it shouldn't have remained that way.

«How long have you been out there? I'm still alone here. I thought... well... you were going to eat the souls of the others.»

"I'm fine. Only a few hours have passed. I couldn't stand staying in that pit any longer."

«Then... you didn't...»

"Not yet," he said, answering her question before she could ask it. "I have everyone's hearts with me. I'll eat them later."

A shiver ran through Clara when she heard how naturally Izan spoke. She couldn't even imagine the sight of her friend cutting out and carrying around bags full of human hearts.

«I see.»

"Yeah. I didn't want you to imagine something like that. It's better if I don't tell you anything else, but I contacted you for another reason."

In a way, Clara was grateful that she didn't have any more details. Just knowing what the boy had told her was enough to make her stomach churn.

«What is it?» Her voice sounded weak.

"When we were attacked, were we in a desert?" he asked, trying to fill in the gaps in his memories.

«It was nighttime, so I couldn't see much around us, but I remember it was a very wide-open place,» the girl said hesitantly.

"Then I suppose we were," Izan sighed. "It's unbearably hot. There's nothing, no matter where I look. I'm in the middle of nowhere."

Clara's legs trembled as if they had suddenly lost their strength, leaving her no choice but to sit back down on the cold floor. A sudden dizziness followed, bringing a headache.

«Search nearby,» she told him with difficulty. «There should be traces of the place where we were ambushed.»

"I'm trying, but I can't see anything," the boy gasped. "There's something I don't understand, though."

«What are you talking about?»

Clara was using all her strength to remain conscious, but it seemed as though an irresistible force was trying to drag her into sleep.

"The pit... If they wanted to hide the bodies, why didn't they bury us?"

Izan stopped to catch his breath and looked in every direction, searching for any trace of the road the caravan had taken.

"Cler? Are you okay?"

«No... I'm too exhausted... I think I'll go back to sleep...»

After those words, the girl lay down on the floor and fell into a deep sleep.

Izan tried calling her repeatedly, but no matter how much emotion and thought he put into it, he received no response.

"Shit, shit..." he cursed, then tried to calm himself. "The palace. If I enter the palace, I'll find her there."

He left his belongings on the ground and sat down on the scorching earth.

He closed his eyes, concentrating on the image of the palace. When he opened them, he began to see his surroundings transforming.

The earth began to turn into the river's green waters, the blue sky into a crimson, star-filled expanse, and several spectral hands began to emerge.

Izan smiled for the first time when he saw his ability activate. At last, he felt like he was beginning to master it. But just when everything seemed to be going well, he felt a powerful jolt in his chest and head that left him breathless.

Everything around him vanished, and he was back in the scorching wasteland.

"No, no. What's happening now?" he exclaimed desperately, digging his hands into the earth. "Clara?" He tried calling her again, but there was no response. "I was supposed to be learning how to use it... Why isn't it working now?"

He tried to concentrate once more, and the image of the Dark Palace's dimension became faintly visible again. But for the second time, everything disappeared, and an even stronger jolt coursed through his body.

His hands trembled, and air rushed desperately in and out of his lungs.

"I'm getting more and more tired," he muttered, trying to piece together what was happening.

When he finally caught his breath, he once again felt the heat of the sun scorching his skin.

"Should I go back to the pit?" he wondered anxiously. "Maybe my ability only worked while I was there."

After a moment's reflection, he scolded himself.

"No. Don't be stupid, Izan. That makes no sense. Why would a god give you a power that can only be used in one place? No. It has to be something else."

Then a fleeting thought crossed his mind, causing him to burst into laughter before breaking into a dry cough.

"I really am an idiot. What was the point of spending so many hours playing video games if you can't figure out something this simple, Izan?" he snorted. "If I have an ability, then obviously it has a limit. I wouldn't be surprised if using it consumed some of my energy every time."

He sat down and stretched out his legs.

"When I saw Clara's memories, the goddess talked about the world's mana. Could I have it too, and have I used it all up? Now I'd like to know if there are mana and health potions in this place."

As he debated his assumptions, he looked up at the sky, squinting with one eye, and noticed that on the horizon the sky was beginning to lose its blue, turning increasingly yellow. The sun was descending, bringing its cycle to an end.

"How many hours of daylight do I have left?" he sighed. "I don't have time to sit around thinking. I'd better keep walking. Whatever the case, I don't want to go back to that damn pit."

He struggled to his feet, slung the bag of hearts over his shoulder again, and decided to head east, giving up on finding any trace of the road. He would rather have the sun at his back than have it burning his retinas.

He walked in a straight line for hours. Along the way, he decided to get rid of some of the objects he had acquired to lighten his load. He kept only two daggers and a sword, and, although he had almost abandoned it, he also kept the steel guard's helmet hanging from his belt.

No matter how far he walked, the landscape did not change, and the heat did not fade.

The weight of the souls he was carrying made him move more and more slowly. More than once, he wished he could throw the bag of hearts to the ground and keep moving without looking back, but doing so would mean abandoning other people's lives.

Even so, the questions continued to plague his mind: Was it worth carrying that weight? How long did a soul remain inside a heart? Could he absorb them from so far away?

Everything troubled him. He was living through hell both on earth and in his mind, and there was one guilt weighing on him more heavily than everything he carried, something he still hadn't dared reveal to his friend.

An instant before sunset, the entire wasteland was dyed a deep red, as though the earth had been covered in blood.

Although Izan didn't know it, this event, which occurred every clear day, was what gave the place known as Ank-haran its name: the Scarlet Ocean.

The boy could do nothing but stare at the desolation in fascination. For at least a moment, he thought that sometimes even emptiness could be beautiful.

The intense crimson lasted fifteen minutes before darkness enveloped everything.

The night sky seemed more alive than anything the young man had ever seen.

He saw shooting stars traveling like satellites around the planet.

He saw nearby planets as clearly as Earth's moon could be seen.

And then, clinging to the horizon as if it were an enormous mountain, was Deivas's moon.

It shone in shades of violet, painting everything in its color.

Within just a few minutes, Izan stopped feeling desperate and saw beauty in his ruin.

Exhausted, he decided to approach a dead tree and lean against its trunk.

Despite everything, the beauty of the landscape did nothing to lessen his exhaustion, thirst, or the hunger that was beginning to return.

The boy caught his breath for a few minutes, relaxing his body. At first, he felt a refreshing breeze that soothed the burning sensation in his body, but as time passed, the breeze grew colder and colder. For that reason, he stood up and began searching for branches and bushes, which he piled together to make an improvised campfire.

He rummaged through his pocket and found the lighter he had taken from Bruno's body.

It was difficult to ignite because it had gotten damp in the pit over the days, but when it finally produced a flame, he lit it.

"I don't know if starting a fire is a good idea," he muttered, biting his lip as he watched the flames dance.

He knew the light from the fire would be visible for miles across that vast wasteland, but during all the days he had spent there, he hadn't seen a single sign of life other than the flies on the corpses.

His situation had improved, but not as much as he would have liked. Survival was still a problem.

"How long will it take me to recover my mana?" he wondered. "Although... I'm not sure if that's how it works. Maybe it isn't mana, and I might have some ability cooldown instead."

Izan let out a small laugh and stretched as he gazed at the sky.

"What a stupid mess all of this is..."

Despite his exhaustion, he wasn't sleepy. His body was alert, and his stomach was beginning to ache with hunger again.

Without him noticing, the night breeze had carried away the rotten smells clinging to him, giving his sense of smell some relief. That subtle change allowed him to notice the foul odors coming from the bag of hearts.

"It's getting worse," he said as he stood up. "Time to start experimenting."

He took the steel helmet he had brought with him and placed it close to the fire. Then he selected one of the bags of hearts and opened it.

That bag contained the hearts of those he didn't know. They belonged to the emissary, the guards, and the carriage drivers.

Compared to being surrounded by corpses for days, seeing those hearts did nothing to him.

He carefully took one out, examined its condition, and began his learning process.

He took a dagger and cut the heart in half. Some blood began to trickle out, and the boy hurriedly drank it before it fell onto the arid earth.

After a moment, nothing happened.

"It seems blood doesn't activate my ability, or at least not that little," he commented to himself.

At that moment, he wished he had something to take notes with.

Then he moved on to his second test.

Seeing that the steel helmet was already hot, he cut one half of the heart into pieces and placed the pieces inside the helmet to cook.

With a distant look in his eyes, he watched as the meat slowly charred and browned.

He didn't blame himself for what he was doing, but he did wonder whether, in the process of absorbing other people's souls, he might be losing his own.

When he thought the meat was ready, he carefully removed the helmet from the fire and pierced a piece of heart with the dagger as though it were a fork.

He carefully blew on it to avoid burning himself and began to eat.

For the first time, the taste mattered to him. It was disgusting, with an aftertaste of rot, but he told himself that it was a thousand times better than eating it raw.

He didn't feel anything after the first bite, so he continued with his dinner. It wasn't until he swallowed the last cooked piece that his body reacted.

He felt a gentle jolt in his chest that spread through his veins and arteries, causing tingling wherever it passed.

Izan clenched his fist and noticed that he had more strength. He had definitely recovered some energy. Without thinking much more about it, he cut the rest of the heart into pieces and cooked them.

As they finished cooking, the boy began to notice a pattern.

"The same thing happened when I ate Clara's heart, except it took longer to take effect this time."

He remembered feeling that energy spread through his body from the very first bite when he had eaten his friend's heart.

"Could cooking it have changed something?" he wondered. "I should eat the next one raw... and see what happens..."

When the color of the meat indicated that it was ready, he continued eating.

This time, he felt the energy coursing through his body with every bite, but when he finished eating, the sensation intensified before fading.

His strength had returned, and he felt as though he had been hit with a surge of adrenaline.

"It's definitely working," he said with a smile. "Now I just need to know whether I absorbed the soul or not. I didn't have any memories... Although the same thing happened last time with Clara's heart."

While Izan pondered his newfound knowledge, a large shadow slipped through the darkness, drawn by the smell of cooked meat.

"I wonder if I can go back to the Dark Palace now," he said distractedly.

He was about to call his friend when he realized he wasn't alone.

He immediately turned around after sensing that he was being watched and found a pair of yellowish eyes with dilated pupils, along with a huge open maw filled with sharp teeth, ready to attack.

The Scarlet Ocean wasn't named that way solely because of its red sunsets but also because it was a graveyard for adventurers.