"Now, William… free yourself, and let this world be freed too."
Following these words, William's current form started to dissipate, and the divine ink that covered his body began to seep away. Coincidentally, the violet skies then began to rain, washing away the remnant stains on his body, which created an uncomfortable, almost painful feeling on his skin.
"What… what just happened?" William asked, letting go of their embrace and staring into her eyes.
"…I… I don't know. I think I was brought to some place far beyond this world when I died… and I remember, some formless beings spoke about some sort of merge between worlds and the existence of creatures and monsters beyond our wildest dreams."
"Ah… now I'm remembering…, the Primordial Deities, who call themselves the "Skies Beyond", protected us from being slain before the "Horizon Soul" at the start of the next day, which will symbolise the creation of a new world."
William looked regretful for a moment, but Sarah comforted him.
"It wasn't your fault that it happened. I don't think that man, however, was someone we could face even if we knew of our full abilities. Without some restrictions in place, I'm sure he would be more than capable of splitting a continent in half with that one slash he unleashed."
"…How do you know about all this?" William asked.
"I—urgh…"
She winced and seemed to feel some sort of nausea. William quickly held onto her so that she could support herself.
"What is it…? Do you need some rest or something?"
"…Ugh… my head is killing me, but I think I can answer your question now."
"I think I know this stuff so suddenly because… oh right, they told me that this was my ability. It's… convenient apparently because it can allow me to call upon help from those "other beings", whether that help is information, borrowed power like spells or enchantments or whatnot, for a predetermined price…"
"And… I believe those other beings I can call upon for help, who visited me when I died, were called the Eleven Visionaries."
Sarah sighed and walked to the closest tree she could find before sitting down and leaning on it. William followed her, and also sat down, interested in the information she had.
"They allowed me to obtain a vast amount of information about the new world we seem to be delving into. Apparently, after the Horizon Soul, there would be countless new continents arising from nowhere, so much so that you would have to run for centuries upon centuries to see the end of it."
"There would also be all kinds of new creature varieties, and also, unique humans, like the one we just faced, would arrive from the Desolate Lands and other places, too."
"Not only that, but, they said that this is the most important piece of information they can tell me for now. It seems our abilities are made from a type of magic called "Mana". And, to fully unlock such abilities, you must assume a certain mental trait that acts as a key to your power, or else your mind will become distorted."
"In other words, they said that you need to act a certain way to unlock your abilities. Otherwise, your mind will become twisted if you use your power with your original nature."
Willian thought deeply about this and nodded.
"To use my powers, I must act a certain way… that's interesting… and confusing. In all the books and novels I've read before, I don't think powers could be used by changing your personality."
"I obtained my power while I was grieving for you, and I was extremely furious at the same time, to the point where I just said whatever came to mind at the time, which was probably just something cringe. So, I guess acting like a true chunnibyou would be the best option to stick with."
Sarah shook her head in both amusement and pretend disgust as William said the last few words with a strange flair.
"You're gonna become an edge lord again? That's a bit…"
"Ah, don't worry though. I won't become as bad as I was before, even if I have to act like that."
Meanwhile, in the skies above, as they talked, small, shimmering comets flew across the sky, as a promise to all humans and all mortals that this world would not be destroyed, despite this odd fusion of worlds.
Rather, this would be a chance. A chance for those who showed potential in ways unique to themselves, to rise in glory as kings and queens, emperors and empresses.
But, among those who held potential, these two, right now just a young man and a young woman who had nobody to rely on but themselves, would both be known by their supreme titles in the future, as the Star of Promise and the Sage of Prophecy.
They both leaned on the nearby tree and each other, relaxing. They internally decided they would rest until the Horizon Soul occurred. When everything and everyone would finally finish adjusting to this merge.
As they relaxed, however, William noticed a large rat with blond fur approach them without any kind of fear, and he immediately knew that Sarah's words rang true. He shoo-ed the blond rat away and closed his eyes, awaiting a new Dawn at the end of this peculiar day.
William and Sarah slept peacefully in Shepherd's Grove. All the while, the world was in complete and utter chaos and disarray. Bombs were used openly, although they had little to no effect on the newcomers from other lands. Still, by the protection of the Gods, those who died before the Horizon Soul would be resurrected endlessly, to give them a slight chance to survive.
Eventually, the ordinary people all around this newfound world did learn to hide and develop their abilities throughout the night, and when the clock struck midnight, the Horizon Soul occurred in the most brilliant flash of light since the Big Bang, tearing apart everything about the past Earth and renewing it.
To anyone who witnessed it, it would be the easiest thing in the world to say that it was a once-in-a-lifetime event.
But, after this moment, those who were still weak would not even have the slightest chance of survival. Mana was now distributed in the air, and the Thousand Kings of the Desolate Lands had already made themselves comfortable.
Now, it was kill or be killed.
Fortunately, however, William and Sarah were still vastly unaware of this, and on the next morning, as they awoke, William rubbed his eyes slowly and came to remember the events that happened yesterday once he noticed the twilight skies and the twin blue moons, with one rising from the east and the other falling to the west, it was clear that one acted as a sun while the other acted as a moon.
And now, after the terrifying events had passed him, he was excited, more than ever before. But, as he slowly remembered more, his eyes widened as he remembered something else, and his heart began to fill with dread. His mother. She was still sleeping on the couch when he left the house.
"Crap…. Damn it! I need to find her!" William exclaimed, rushing to shake Sarah awake.
She groaned and faced him after rubbing her eyes.
"What is it?"
"Sarah! We need to go back to the city! Our families are not safe right now!"
Sarah's eyes widened in equal measure as they swiftly got up to leave Shepherd's Grove. They ran as quickly as they could to the closest available point leading back to the city that they could remember, but, what was odd was the fact that the forest was now far more overgrown than the day before.
"Must be because of what happened yesterday…" Sarah said.
"Yeah, the world must've completely changed by now. Even if we were lucky, the whole world must've fallen by now!" William replied.
Around them, they could spot several new insects and critters, and they could also sense a nearby predator approaching, stalking close enough for the both of them to stop directly in their tracks.
The large beast seemed like a tiger at first, but as it encircled the two of them, its fur indicated that it was likely a white wolf. But, the strange thing about this beast was the fact that, as it lurched forward into the open, it revealed the fact that it was both bipedal, a head taller than any average human, and could speak.
"Humans. Are you from this world or not?"
William didn't answer, as he shielded Sarah and glared bullets into the giant beast.
"Heh-heh. I see. I believe it's my turn to have a taste of innocent human flesh! In the name of the Skies Beyond, I bless this meal!"
William stood firmly, although his mind was screaming for him to run. Sarah also did the same, although a strange voice comforted her from within the depths of her mind, which she thought were the Visionaries trying to help her.
"Don't be scared, humans. Be honoured. For you shall be eaten in the name of the Wolflord!"