Nico
I woke up in an empty space. My body felt weightless, surrounded by nothing but absolute silence and total darkness. I had no idea where I was.
Instinctively, I clutched my stomach where the blade had just pierced through me, but to my surprise, there was no pain. When I pulled my hands away, they were clean.
"Hello, Nico," a voice said. It was calm, powerful, and echoed from everywhere at once within the void.
"Who are you?" I asked, my voice trembling slightly.
"I am Ren, the God of Time," a cloaked figure replied, materializing from thin air as if the shadows themselves had shaped him.
"Am I dead?" I asked the cloaked figure.
"Yes, you are. But not for long. We have much to discuss."
And with that single sentence, everything came rushing back—not just memories, but entire lifetimes.
I remembered the first life I lived, long ago, when I ended the Dark God, Morthain. But victory had come at a terrible cost. After that final battle, the Dark God's followers—the Veilborn—sought vengeance. They hunted me across the world and finally cornered me among the very ruins where it had all ended. I died that day, believing the Dark God's reign had died with me.
But peace is fragile.
Ren told me the terrifying truth: the Dark God's soul hadn't been destroyed, only fragmented. It was sealed away in four ancient elemental temples hidden across the world: Earth, Fire, Water, and Air. Each fragment held immense, corrupting power. And now, centuries later, I had been reborn—not by fate, but by design.
I had to find each temple, confront the guardian bound to its corrupted fragment, and decide the fate of that power. I could destroy it, sealing the darkness away forever—or I could absorb it, gaining unimaginable strength… and risk becoming the very monster I once killed.
As the weight of the quest settled on me, my hand instinctively reached for the pendant around my neck—the amulet I always wore.
"That amulet belonged to your mother," Ren said softly. "She knew your destiny long before you did. She left you her artifact before she died, hoping it would aid you in your quest."
Ren stepped forward, his cloak shifting like smoke, and held out his hand. In his palm rested a small, obsidian vessel shaped like a lotus in bloom. Runes pulsed faintly along its petals, glowing with a rhythm like a heartbeat.
"This is the Vessel of Nullion," he said. "Forged from the first moment time began, it is the only artifact capable of holding all four fragments of the Dark God's soul."
I reached out and took it. The vessel was cold—colder than death itself—but I felt something stir in its center, as though it recognized me.
"You must gather each fragment and seal it inside," Ren continued. "Only then can I unmake them and remove the Dark God's presence from existence entirely. But beware: the power will tempt you. With every fragment, it will whisper. It will offer you everything. You must remember who you are, Nico."
I nodded, clutching the vessel tighter. "Why me? Why now?"
"Because you were the only one who ever defeated him. And because your soul is attached to his—it remembers." He extended his hand, and the space behind him shimmered like a veil being drawn open. "I have placed gold and basic equipment inside your amulet. I am sending you back fifteen minutes before your death. That is all I can give you. Change your fate. Use that time to escape the Veilborn and begin your journey."
The darkness around us began to twist, pulling me into a violent spiral of light and sound. Ren's voice echoed through the roaring wind as everything faded:
"The past cannot be undone. But the future is still unwritten. Run, Nico. Run, and rewrite the end. Go quickly. The first temple is located in the Ash Mountains of the Eastern Continent."
Suddenly, I was back.
But I wasn't alone.
The wind rustled through tall trees, carrying the familiar scent of damp earth and pine. Golden light filtered through the canopy above as the sound of peaceful birds echoed in the distance. I was walking along a narrow forest path, flanked by my closest friends.
Elijah and Eliza.
They didn't seem to notice that anything was different. To them, we were just traveling. But I knew better. In my hand, hidden from their sight, the Vessel of Nullion pulsed faintly, its rune-lines glowing just beneath the surface. Alive with power.
Time hadn't given me a second chance. Ren had.
And now, the clock was ticking. I had exactly fifteen minutes to rewrite everything.