Hegemon and Lily continued their trek, searching for a way out of this damned world.
Along the way, curiosity got the better of Lily, and she asked about Hegemon's past. She guessed he must have had something binding him to the old world—something powerful enough to drive his relentless obsession to escape.
"I have a family back home," Hegemon revealed quietly. "I'm thirty years old. I have a life, a wife, people waiting for me. I'm trying to escape because I refuse to believe there isn't a way back to them."
Lily fell silent and didn't press further. She couldn't relate to him, her motives were entirely different. She wanted to reach the exit point simply to become a guide, driven by a thirst to uncover the deeper secrets of this realm. What she had shared with Hegemon so far was barely scratching the surface.
She had claimed it was an exit point to keep his spirits up, but reality slapped her in the face. It was painfully clear now—this was just an endless forest with no way out. She knew she would have to tell him the harsh truth eventually, but not now. Not yet.
As they pressed on, a strange man appeared in their path. Though he possessed a majestic aura, his body suddenly began to distort and transform. Before Hegemon or Lily could even react, the man moved with blinding speed and sliced both of them in half.
I refuse to die here, Hegemon thought, his mind screaming against the darkness. I have to go back. My journey cannot end in a place like this!
He closed his eyes, rejecting the fatal reality.
When he managed to force his eyes open again, he was standing back in the forest—thirty minutes before they had encountered the strange man. As every memory, concept, and piece of data reconstituted itself, he knew he was truly back. The soul, after all, was made of those very things.
Lily looked at him, her eyes wide with sudden realization. "The timeline collapsed the moment you died. When you were reborn, it created a brand-new one... You're going to die in thirty minutes, Hegemon. Because you've already died once."
Without wasting a second, Hegemon and Lily turned around and bolted in the opposite direction. Lily possessed powers of her own, but she hadn't even had the chance to draw upon them earlier—the creature had simply been too fast.
She glanced back toward the threat, recognizing the weapon he carried. "That blade... it's the Sword of the Death God. He's destined to wipe out everyone brought to this endless forest. The only reason anyone ever survives is if they're outside his five-kilometer reach."
Hegemon's heart sank as he did the math in his head. "We're still within four kilometers!"
Before the words fully left his mouth, a sudden pressure crushed the air around them. The entity closed the distance in the blink of an eye, appearing right in front of them once more.
Could I really die this easily? Hegemon thought desperately, struggling to move as the sheer speed of his attacker defied all comprehension.