"Oh devil, why can't you spare me? I've already given you all my gold, silver, jewels, and precious stones I have, my children, my relatives, my dog, and even this house. I did not want anything more than a small wish, but you still looked at me as if I was still hiding something. You saw my soul. Oh devil, what you want is me!"
In the forest, the warm morning sunlight shone through the gently swaying treetops, covering the shoulders of a man's cloak. The stream that was flowing through the crevices of the rocks was suddenly splashed with water by a hand covered with scars. The wizard's brown, wide-brimmed Wisdom Hat fell down with the movement, but was caught by his other hand in time. He fixed the hat and breathed a sigh of relief, then clicked his tongue when he saw that part of the sleeve of his cloak had been dipped into the stream.
After washing his face, the witch sat upright next to the stream and closed his eyes, hesitantly performing the meditation ritual.
Suddenly, a chilling laugh arose around him.
"Think you will be safe forever? Running away to another horizon?"
From the darkness behind his closed eyes, a small flame unexpectedly appeared and immediately flared up, burning fiercely. And from within the flame stretched out a hand. Long, sharp red nails wrapped the flame into a small spot of light in the palm of his hand. It circled the spot of light, coaxing the reflected light, then clenched, extinguishing the flame.
"Sink deep into the slumber." A woman's voice spoke and gradually faded, following the hand back into the darkness. "I invoke the Dream of Apocalypse."
The red pomegranate curtain fluttered, revealing the vast ocean that pulled the witch deep down.
"And let the primal chaos guide you."
The ocean, like hundreds of waterfalls, poured down, creating a night sky filled with relentless rain. In the thick rain, lightning shook the ground, illuminating the young cat-woman's tear-streaked face. She clutched her pajamas tightly and screamed, her scream drowning out the rain, "My sister should never have gone on this adventure with you!"
The woman tensed up and shoved the wizard back with both hands, leaving him to fall into the ocean and swallow him up.
"Show them."
"Get out of here you commoner!"
Clang!
The wizard suddenly opened his eyes. He stood frozen in place with his wet face, under his feet were the broken pieces of glass that had just shattered, swaying slightly, reflecting the light and the bright red color of blood. And he touched his forehead. Fresh blood stained his fingertips. His heart was pounding, each breath became difficult, "But I..."
Before he could speak, he was escorted out by a servant.
The door of the luxurious room slammed shut, behind him echoed the solemn voice of the servant, "Excuse me, Sir, the master and mistress are not currently accepting visitors."
He stood in front of the closed door, fearfully looking around, then retreated, running straight into the dark corridor that stretched out before him. The corridor gradually became swallowed by the deep darkness with each step. Until he realized, he was aimlessly running in the darkness. His rapid breathing was cut off when he tripped over a large obstacle and fell forward, onto the dry, rough ground.
The light that shone through the hollowed-out peak of the mountain revealed a large red cave. In front of him, a cat woman heard the noise and turned to look at him. As soon as she turned to him, a flash of light caused her to turn into hundreds of red liquid particles, splashing on the cave walls.
"Show them."
The liquid quickly spread to his body and then burst into flames. The flames engulfed the entire cave, burning his entire body.
He woke up once again in an endless battlefield—a field of eternal fire. As soon as he sat up, he was hit by the sounds of horns and war cries. Horses galloped past him—a sound that shook the sky and earth. Above the clashing of spears, lances, swords, and pikes, the sky lit up with thousands of stars before exploding. He watched the explosions continue to light up, frantically groping around, passively searching for the other person.
The sound of thousands of explosions that followed deafened his ears, leaving only the ringing of bells. Even the screams, cries of pain, and prayers were now just the wind blowing past.
In front of the vast field, a man with golden hair as bright as the Sun, alone and exhausted, dragged his feet to the front of the crowd, then raised his heavy sword high. The golden light like a blazing holy fire enveloped the silver sword engraved with roses; the pure purple of the aconite flower in the groove in the middle of the sword also shone brightly. The owner of the sword wore the massive armor of a Low-ranking Knight and a scarlet cloak stained with the blood of the enemy, roaring, the roar echoed throughout the battlefield.
"Show them all."
"No!"
"STOP!"
The wizard rushed forward in the bloody battlefield, not forgetting to fix the Wisdom Hat on his head. But before he could reach for the opponent's cloak, hundreds, thousands of bodies immediately disappeared, leaving only ashes and dust.
Then the world spun again, pulling the wizard up. This time, he woke up in an empty lot with the crackling embers of a fire. He gasped for breath, looking down at his trembling hands, "Ha... Ha... Ha!"
From afar, a woman in simple hunter clothes slowly walked forward. She walked alone on the flat road. And with each step she left behind blood stains and scattered corpses. Flowers grew from the corpses, absorbing the blood and sprouting, laden with flowers and spreading their white petals. When she stopped before him, behind her had turned into a sea of destruction and a field of white flowers. Her pink hair, a shade of platinum, gleamed under the fierce flames. The woman held a bow as tall as herself and aimed it at him.
"All this happened because of you," the woman said calmly, "Because you ruined everything. And because you killed me. You have killed all of us."
The air crackled with anticipation and joy. The fingers holding the bow moved slightly and the front of the battlefield was filled with dust waves. In an instant, the image of the female archer was distorted, flashing between her and a short-haired young man with similar hair color.
The arrow was shot.
The tail of the arrow dragged along thousands of tons of smoke, dust, life and plants that were sucked in by the storm that had just formed, and shot up into the sky, leaving a bright straight line that stretched like a green meteor streak across the night sky.
As soon as it reached the top of the sky, it immediately plunged down at a dizzying speed, reflecting extreme fear on the wizard's face. He quickly grabbed the magic wand next to him to create a makeshift shield, at the same time trying to dodge the arrow that was flying straight down from the sky.
But the cracked bells rang out repeatedly. His entire body was swallowed by the pressure of the arrow.
The wizard opened his eyes again in a barren land, in the distance were dozens of sandstorms waiting to sweep everything away, and closer were monsters approaching. He watched himself wearily fly up into the sky, calling Undine's name and the wand, but there was no response. Suddenly, a sharp pain pierced through his brain. It whispered:
"Show me your power."
"Aren't you *?"
He held his head and ordered the extermination of all monsters. "Enhance—"
"Are you back to reality yet, Ark?"
"—back to reality yet, Ark?"
"Are you still in that ocean?"
"Wake up!"
In his loss of control, he heard voices that pulled him back to reality and stopped. At the same time, a weapon was thrown from the sandstorm that pierced him. He touched the hilt of his sword and fell, falling back into the deep darkness.
Floating in the darkness, the hallucinations echoed—a crowd of people were whispering to each other. Then, a man cleared his throat and the crowd immediately fell silent. He calmly reported, "It's a miracle that he's alive in this state. How is he doing, Tazania?"
"..."
Hearing the answer he wanted, the man chuckled, "Good, now wake up."
Then there were two hand claps.
The wizard woke up, gasping for air. In the forest, the birds were still chirping and the stream was still flowing. He struggled to sit up, and under the arms where he had fallen asleep was a simple coffin tied tightly.
A gust of wind then blew past him, causing the grass in front of him to sway slightly. Revealing the hidden place were golden eyes. A pack of wolves, discovered, stepped out; sharp fangs drooling.
The wizard held his head, which was torn by pain, his eyes focused firmly. He touched the surface of the coffin, and softly said, "That's right. I must return to Arvea to end this adventure. And end everything."
The air above the wolves' heads dried up, and hundreds of water swords hung above them all fell down.