The forest behind the house had always been quiet.
Calm.
Even the wind usually passed politely, careful not to disturb the little birds sleeping on old branches.
But tonight… nothing dared to breathe.
The trees bent as if in worship.
Leaves trembled as though afraid to be touched by the air.
The atmosphere felt like a thin glass cup one wrong vibration and everything would shatter.
And from between those trees…
Something crawled out.
Not a monster.
Not a demon.
Not a creature from any dungeon.
It emerged like a shadow dragged out of reality its form something the human eye was never meant to understand.
A body like black mist forced into shape.
Incomplete.
Asymmetric.
Wrong.
But the eyes
Two blazing gold orbs like the dying light of an ancient star.
The same eyes that stared at the Great Ancestor from another dimension.
The creature sniffed the air.
Then whispered softly
a sound that made the soil crack.
"Light… of Eternity…"
"I… found it…"
Every word pushed the forest backward, as if nature itself recoiled.
The creature rose fully, leaving behind geometric fractures in the ground glowing red like magma.
It didn't walk.
Reality merely folded to give it passage.
It moved toward one destination:
The small house where Hana and her brother lived.
A home entirely unaware that a being from the dawn of creation was approaching.
Inside, Hana slept peacefully, clutching her worn dog plushie.
Her breathing soft and steady.
But the Great Ancestor did not sleep.
He couldn't.
He sat in the dim living room.
Rain smeared the windows like gray ink.
He already knew something was coming.
He had felt it since the dimensional pressure first shook the air.
What he didn't expect was
How quickly the creature had breached the world.
The Great Ancestor slowly opened his eyes.
A flicker of white light crossed his pupils.
"So you really came," he murmured.
Suddenly
Braak.
The earth trembled.
Not an earthquake.
More like… the world holding its breath because something that should not exist was getting closer.
The Great Ancestor rose to his feet.
Silence.
No wind.
No rain.
No sound of the world.
Only… that step.
A step unheard, yet felt like a cold nail hammered into space itself.
He opened the front door
And there, at the edge of the yard…
Stood the creature.
It stared at the Great Ancestor.
And he stared back.
Two entities that did not belong in the human world.
The Great Ancestor exhaled.
Only that
but the air pressure stripped leaves off branches nearby.
The creature spoke.
Its voice wasn't a voice.
More like glass cracking inward.
"You… Ancestor… keeper of the old era…"
The Great Ancestor replied lazily almost bored.
"Didn't expect remnants of the Immortal Empress's followers to crawl out again."
The creature jerked its head twisting 90 degrees.
A movement no living being should make.
"You… sealed the Light…"
"While the world… collapses…"
"My only mistake," the Great Ancestor said,
"was not wiping out your species completely."
The creature flinched.
Not angry.
More like existentially offended.
"You… protect the girl?"
"Yes."
"You… know what she is?"
The Great Ancestor's gaze turned cold.
"I know far more than you do."
The creature lowered its head slightly.
A gesture between reverence and threat.
"She is not yours."
The Great Ancestor smiled
a smile that stopped the wind.
"Unfortunately for you, she's my sister."
The creature stiffened.
"The Heir… must return… to the Source of Light."
"There," the Great Ancestor flicked his wrist, sending a burst of white sparks into the air,
"is where you're wrong."
He took a step forward.
The air detonated.
A shockwave shattered the house windows.
Trees split as if struck by a titanic axe.
The creature was thrown back several meters
yet it remained standing, as though reality itself held it upright.
It glared at him with its blazing gold eyes.
"I will take her."
"Willing… or not."
The Great Ancestor tilted his chin up slightly
and the ground lifted from its foundations.
"You're welcome to try."
The creature growled.
The dimension behind it split open, revealing a void of dark violet.
Shadowy tendrils spilled out, wrapping around trees, stone, soil even the air.
And from within that void, another voice boomed older, hungrier, primordial.
Bring her to us… the Heir… bring her
The Great Ancestor raised one hand.
White light flared like a heavenly flare.
"Silence."
The dimensional tear slammed shut with a sickening crack.
The creature shrieked
not from pain,
but from losing its connection.
It stared at him, fear swirling with hatred.
"You… cannot hold us back forever…"
"I don't need forever," the Great Ancestor replied.
"Just long enough to erase you all. Again."
The creature's golden eyes flared.
"Ancestor… have you forgotten who created us…?"
The Great Ancestor's eyes tightened
the first hint he was provoked.
The creature's face shifted smiling without a mouth.
"The Great Light birthed you…"
"…and us."
Silence.
The Great Ancestor stared at the creature, unreadable.
"In that case," he whispered,
"let me finish the job properly this time."
The creature stepped forward.
"I… will return…"
The Great Ancestor smirked.
"I said 'try,' not 'threaten.'"
The creature shattered literally into fragments of black mist.
Scattered. Vanished.
But its echo lingered:
You cannot hide the Heir…
Her fate… is not with you…
And the forest faded into darkness again.
The Great Ancestor stood there for a long moment… then closed his eyes.
Only one thought surfaced:
If that creature can breach the human world,
then beings far stronger…
…have already started trying.
He looked toward the fragile little house.
"This is only the beginning."
And for the first time since descending to the mortal realm
He felt time running out.