Chapter 2: The Pce is Really Nice Here

  Seconds passed—barely countable on one hand—before he felt himself being pulled.

  The Trial was the obsession, the illusion, and the seed of the Call of Origin, born from someone who existed long before him. Someone unknown. Someone... mysterious.

  Maybe it was inherited. Maybe it was passed down in a way no one understood.

  "Well... all these are just stupid street rumors, told by dumb little kids in elementary school... and the truth? No one knows. What is it really?"

  All they knew was that the worlds were real, and the events... were real too.

  But beyond that? "Why? How?" No one had answers.

  These events took pce in some time, some pce, far... far away.

  And everything they did was nothing but a repetition.

  The threads of fate, those threads, were firm and unyielding.

  And then...

  He was pulled.

  He found himself in the nowhere.

  In absolute void, where there was no time, no sound, no scent.

  And then he saw... shards.

  Shards glowing with a pale silvery light, as if even their shine was too shy to exist.

  It was... the Mirror of his Soul.

  "Ah... what the hell is this?"

  "Don’t say it... my luck is so amazing that my soul’s mirror is crippled."

  "Wow, wow... I outdid myself. Broke my own mirror even before the Trial."

  But... this didn’t make sense.

  The mirror was not supposed to break, even if one fell into Corruption.

  At most, it would crack—not truly, just spiritual scratches.

  The Mirror of the Soul could be tainted... but not shattered.

  "Yaaaay... don't tell me I invented a new form of corruption. Ah, if only my achievements were mirrored in real life... I’d be ruling the world by now!"

  But wait...

  His consciousness was still intact.

  And that, in itself, was the strangest thing.

  Corruption, no matter the grade, was supposed to consume consciousness.

  Only intelligence would remain...

  And even that would eventually colpse when given the chance to destroy mortals or Ascendants.

  "Well, that’s strange."

  Maybe... it was good.

  If some of his intelligence remained, he could still pull off... some good deeds?

  "Ahem... don’t worry, me. We’ll have a nice human breakfast every day—if we survive the Center."

  "Stop it, idiot. Focus. You’re straying again. Quit this nonsense now. Focus on the mirror. Understand the state of your soul. There isn’t much time before the pulling phase ends... You have to know your Origin and Traits."

  He focused on the mirror.

  Or... what was left of it.

  But the Void responded instead.

  ---

  Name: Tyren

  True Name: [Unknown]

  Origin: [Born of the Void]

  ---

  Origin Description:

  You are born of the Void. No one has heard or ever will hear your cry.

  No one shares your pain.

  Only the Void, with its coldness, holds you in silent embrace... it is the only one who heard you.

  And that is your soce.

  The Void holds you as if you never existed.

  ---

  Traits: [Born of the Void]

  State: Child of the Void

  ---

  Trait Description:

  The Void embraces you as if you never existed.

  And you see... in the nothingness and the something... and here you are, between them.

  ---

  "What is this crap?"

  "Such a stupid rhyme."

  Honestly, it was weird... so weird he could barely even think.

  After about two minutes, he smiled...

  A smile mixed with bitterness—the bitterness that comes before a freefall.

  "Well... I’m basically dead anyway."

  ---

  After some time, he felt himself being pulled again.

  He opened his eyes.

  He stood atop a white hill.

  It wasn’t made of stone.

  It was... bones.

  Mountains of them, stacked, smooth, aligned, as if they were created not to be buried... but to be built.

  Before him... an ocean.

  But it wasn’t filled with water.

  It was filled with bck liquid, thick, like the ink of an eternal manuscript erased by fear.

  In those moments, his sight shifted rapidly.

  He realized... he could see in the darkness.

  He could see without light, as if his senses were reshaped.

  And once he adjusted... he saw them.

  Darkness moving.

  Hooks. Arms. Strange shapes. Ghostly silver eyes.

  They looked like entities... things...

  But somehow, they were all... him.

  And he... was them.

  The Void.

  ---

  The journey to the Void? Only five dolrs. The pce is really nice there [: