This is where it will all come from… A place of origin, one might say.

A world for all that is within, will become nothing but curse and falsehood to the world to come. The one that will soon be blamed for something it has denied… A sin that the world has proudly held above its own heads.

But, at least, the world was once solely admired for its beauty, for such magnificent natural greenery vistas it has to offer… And for all of the trees and grasses, a number of little wooden shrines, as well as civilization products; smooth stone pile walls beyond reason yet mossy lofty structures. While of course it can’t be denied that the vast majority of them have crashed to the ground, still, all actually added to nothing other than to its own beauty.

Where the ears could tell that it was a calm and desolate atmosphere with just the subtle sound of ornate strands flapping someplace as the wind was bold…

That from a distance it appears to be a world whose time was eternally frozen in its ancient medieval age; but a lot more astonishing, as everything in it is the work of nothing but witchcraft. Other than that so much of the exterior wall is covered in pure white handmade shawls… Something the residents there used to consider as a sign of sanctity of the building wherein they dwell, something they used to put a value on what was hidden behind it.

~~~~~

Though there was no meaning for a world that would forever perish to still have a name, the place itself was once called Slythia.

A dimension… Which has the full aspect of a universe apart from there’s only a single planet, sun, and moon in one set. Where it’s fully created, stood firm by magic for no one can harm it… Or so they themselves claimed.

Alas, after more or less being created for a thousand years it appeared like everything was already on the verge of collapsing, all of which happened in just a month.

With every tiny settlement that had been demolished had had all of its dust drenched and joined to the soil, while the remainder of the major cities can still be seen from a distance; billowing black smoke amidst the crimson sky as a portent of a fresh death…

And should eyes approach the dead city's core, the clean sheet shawls will begin to alter to one stained scarlet with blood and byproduct of the fire; nearing the previous battleground that is still heated even after the combat has long ended… But sadly, it is also the only place where one can hear the voice of the living among the dead, although it may not be for long.

Because the only thing that could be heard was truly nothing but someone's sigh of anguish, that filled the silence at the onset… For it was a man in his perforated silver armor, who slowly retreating away from something he was confronting.

As blood drops from the gaps; he cautiously peered up, sighing more heavily. Maybe because there he saw the tragic sight of crows encircling the corpses ready to feast, along with the sky after the fight that was truly red at the world’s twilight.

Or perhaps because he realized that he would be the last one to die… Following millions of his comrades, all throughout the world, where his gods and goddesses had died in the same land as them also.

But if that was indeed the reason, then perhaps he may have been humiliated… Be the final person to die.

After all, his face showed it so… That it was with such sentiment that he began to kneel. The sound of his pained breathing had also vanished.

The one he fought against had now won.

The one Primordial God…

A towering shabby-clothed man, wrapped in an old gray cloak that fluttered with the wind and gold as its ornament. As his body appeared to be radiating a distorted aura that negated the presence of the surroundings; in its shadow, the magical gold blade he carried in his right hand looked to be producing friction within reality.

Where the figure stood silent far ahead, waiting until the last person to confront him was no longer moving after death had overtaken him.

“At the very least, you know you died for a reason.”

He turned his body around with such a gentle voice… Walked towards a little wooden shrine, letting his blade slowly disappear into the shade of countless gold butterflies.

Along the way, the primordial god reminded himself that this would be the last shrine he examined throughout Slythia's entire surface.

That he has lived an incomparably monotonous existence for trillions of years, only to not miss a single one of the millions of wooden temples built in that small world. As he was certain that one of the aforementioned temples must have kept the hidden key or at least a weapon that those who claimed to be gods had; to escape from him once and for all.

But even though he was doubtless of his own telepathic capability, now it appears that the millions of thoughts he read from some of those people he killed were just nothing but mere decoys… Because the wooden crates were all empty, as there might be no one knows which of their own plans is the actual deal.

What everyone was thinking before they died was that they needed to protect each one of the shrines and not allow anyone to touch anything inside and all other similar notions. All of those memories appear to have been altered; even inside the mind of the person who cast the spell itself.

Yet, to him, the primeval deity, it was merely a little oversight which he admitted. As he always knew what to do when one of his hundreds of plans yielded an answer regardless of the outcome…

That was the reason he glanced off into the distance.

He knows just where to go…

~~~~~

Abode of Dog:

BOOK ONE - RELINQUISH

Chapter Prelude: “If Not Out of Pity”

There when those eyes of hers slowly opened… Of a little girl who just woke up in such a dark place.

While judging on how tenaciously she maintained her position and knees which she was uncomfortably hugging, it appeared that the space was quite small but still enough for someone her own size to hide in.

Where there was only dimness other than a tiny vertical glimmer from the gap between the two wooden doors she peered through, hoping that out of the door would be someone waiting for her, but she knew that would be impossible.

As the only reason she awoke from her deep slumber was that there were no other living beings in her whole world but her… Or at least, it was the oath she consciously took from the same spell that had put her to sleep.

And by recalling how she realized that the demise of the last of his kind was linked to how her eyes opened; another light grabbed her attention from something she grasped in both hands… The two glass bottles are similar in appearance; except that one is blue in the right hand and the other is yellow.

~~~~~

Realizing such, the girl should have rushed off starting minutes earlier. But when she closed her eyes once more, it appeared like understanding her goal was something that needed to be done…

After all, it had been a long time since she last heard of those commands.

So she repeated their voices once more…

“Get in and do as we said before, but fear not…”

“Because just as many of these wooden boxes we've put across the world, you will find the same number of those small wooden shrines dotting the plains."

"All of which is connected into one by a cursed bond that you will whisper to yourself."

“So that the moment you fall asleep, you will no longer be here; nor in any house's wardrobe…”

“You will become someone who both exists and does not exist… Someone who presents everywhere but nowhere, all at the same time.”

“No one will be able to foresee which wooden box you will wake up in the minute you fall asleep. And then you will keep these two vessels together for the rest of your life…”

“As both are needed to save the world, justify any means to reach whichever shrine is closest to your sight when you wake up.”

“Reach for the offering box inside the shrine, pour both and pray fervently.”

~~~~~

She cited the echoes of the remembrance to be instilled in her heart, until the little girl then nodded as she realized she was ready to open the thin wooden door, crawled out and took a few steps forward.

Yet she cast a peek back…

Observing the wooden box gradually transforming into bright white shards from the edge until it vanishes altogether; generally occurs after the usage of spell in an object has been exhausted or terminated… But from the remnants of the magic shards, something solid dropped to the ground.

What appeared to be a black dagger featuring claw-like serrations on the spine and a small circular hole in its body covered with a tiny, somewhat red translucent glass ball.

There the little girl's face pale in surprise when she reaches for it… Something she feared she couldn't be forgiven for if she forgot.

The only gift from someone who’s the purpose for which she is willing to make sacrifices for a world that despises her.

Something that was said by the boy before they parted ways in such an impermanent doom… Words that sent shivers down her spine.

A whisper that seeks to defy everyone's plan, sympathy from someone who dared to battle the world for her own sake; so she should also do the same.

Remembering the reasons for her battle; the little girl then prayed while holding the dagger as many streaks of light began to circle around her body. Just enough to tell that a spell had been successfully cast on herself.

Shortly after, the faint rhythm of rushing feet filled a broad prairie at dusk and yet there's no one there, nothing except the sound of grass being trod on; while the wind whistles as if it's colliding with something unseen… Unfortunately the feeling she had was not.

It caused someone to be amazed from elsewhere.

Though he wasn’t actually but somehow presently standing there, waiting as he believes he must battle for the umpteenth time; but instead senses a vulnerable being trembling.

And surely enough, slowly, the invisible girl’s steps dropped from the one before. Till the sound of those weak strokes on grass finally decided to just stroll carefully, revealing her appearance out of the magic she borrowed from the dagger; directly in front of the wooden offering box within the shrine. As hand reached forward, only to discover that her finger had touched a fissure in reality; which gradually spread until it ruined his whole vision of the actual surroundings… And it was dark then she saw, standing in the middle of the emptiness, an old wardrobe made of wood; a similar box that had been in which she had slept and woke up in just moments ago. But the girl realized that everything she saw, including the darkness and everything in front of her, was just an illusion.

Yet still… That didn't make her the least bit calmer. Just as when from the shadow around, the echoing voice came to her.

“Tell me… How does it feel like?” It asked. “For thousands of years, they locked you up… Alone in such a paradox.”

The girl followed her instincts to ignore the wooden box in front… Then turned around to see how the darkness slowly grew deeper in her eyes. For the only thing left she could do was to hear the darkness speaking…

“As They took a one-sided decision to erase everything about you off this damned world, completely as if you had never existed as one of them… As a friend… Even for that one specific boy… As a lover… Tell me, how do you accept that reality?”

“Of how they sacrificed your own whole existence, just for them to gamble… To get away from me…”

“......”

One figure of a towering guy gradually emerged from the gloom.

He moved lightly towards her, yet each of his steps seemed to shatter reality.

Where his eyes shone somewhat crimson, looking downwards…

Staring at the little girl below him.

“Their abomination.”

That low voice he conveyed… But still with so much amazement for nothing more than the courage the little one had; that he still kept in his heart, yet his remarks were a far way from all of those emotions.

As the distance between them was neither too far nor too close, and a few seconds passed in silence as if they were waiting for something… For the illusion of the domain to eventually fade away, returning both to reality where the girl was before.

Just became the reason for the two of them's long hair, which had previously stayed undisturbed, suddenly waved in the chilly breeze of the green meadow, with fire and destruction in the backdrop.

Only then did the little girl's expression become dismal and sorrowful, as if her playing time had come to an end right in front of her eyes… Who then lowered her head, but not to cry at what had happened.

She was well aware of how immense the power before her was…

She knew the probability she had of winning if that weak body of hers didn't turn around and run, but… If she really could escape so easily, what would that be for?

No matter how far and fast she runs, how much time will she have before the monster in front of her finally manages to find her a second time?

Even if that logic alone wasn't enough, the little girl should have understood that giving up right away would be much better than anything she didn't have time to consider…

Yet there she is… Not even thinking about those matters above that a weakling like her should worry about, instead slowly raising her right hand to the side of her neck, as if she was reaching for something that wasn't hanging on her back; but slowly it actually appeared…

~~~~~