When Noctus opened his eyes, the world had changed.
He was no longer in the Forest of Silence. Instead, his gaze met a landscape so ruined it looked as if the heavens themselves had thrown a tantrum. The ground was blackened, jagged cracks ran like veins across the earth, and the air… the air was heavy, dense, almost metallic.
Noctus blinked a few times. Where the hell am I?
His first instinct was to assume he'd miscast the Eyes of Chronos somehow, but no—this place wasn't just strange, it was wrong. It felt like stepping into the aftermath of a divine punishment, where the gods had wrung out their fury and then left behind only silence.
A creeping sensation crawled across his skin, prickling the back of his neck. His heart skipped. It wasn't the kind of feeling that came from monsters lurking in the bushes—it was the kind of feeling that said, you are being watched.
Noctus's lips twisted. "Wonderful. Nothing like a good stalker to liven up a desolate wasteland. Should I be flattered?"
But the humor barely dulled the weight pressing down on him. The sensation wasn't just eyes—it was more like sinking into a swamp of tar. Every step he took felt heavier, stickier, as if unseen hands were trying to drag him down.
Panic snapped at him, sharp and insistent. He bolted.
For hours, he ran, burning through his aura reserves as though they were nothing. His lungs screamed, his fire core throbbed from overuse, but the gaze never left. It was like gnashing teeth against his bones, chewing, gnawing, savoring.
By the time he stumbled upon a jagged mountain rising in the distance, his vision was swimming. Instinct drove him toward it, and the moment his foot touched the rocky slope—
The gaze vanished.
The suffocating swamp, the crushing teeth, the prickling dread—all of it dissipated, leaving behind only silence.
Noctus collapsed to his knees, chest heaving, the silence feeling both merciful and mocking. "What… in the nine realms was that? And why did it stop here? What, is this mountain scarier than me?" He let out a short, bitter laugh. "Figures. Even my stalkers have standards."
Shakily, he dragged himself into a cave carved into the side of the mountain. His body gave out, exhaustion pulling him down like chains. The last thing he remembered was the sharp, rocky floor beneath him before darkness swallowed everything.
When he woke, his head throbbed and his mouth tasted like ash. The cave's ceiling loomed above, jagged and cold. For a long moment, he just lay there, staring at it.
I actually fainted.
Yesterday, when the gaze had lifted, his relief had been so sharp, so overwhelming, that it had ripped away what little strength he had left. He had simply… collapsed.
Dragging himself upright, Noctus summoned the system.
System Log Opened.
"What's going on?" he muttered, half-expecting more silence.
This time, words materialized.
System Message: You are in an alternate timeline with a different history.
Noctus blinked. Once. Twice. Then he laughed, though it came out more strained than amused. "Oh. Oh. So the Eyes of Chronos don't just peek into other timelines… they yeet me into them? Great! Just great! I thought I signed up for 'peek-a-boo' not 'surprise immigration.'"
He pinched the bridge of his nose, exhaling slowly. "Alright, smartass system. Then what the hell was that gaze yesterday?"
A pause. Then text scrolled.
System Message: The Corrupted are watching you.
Noctus froze. "…Corrupted?"
But no further response came. The system's window remained flat and indifferent, as though it had already said more than it wanted to.
"Typical," Noctus muttered. "Drops a cryptic bomb and then ghosts me. Thanks. Truly helpful. Gold star service."
Still, his chest tightened. The Corrupted? Watching me? He shoved the thought aside. Thinking about it wouldn't help, and he wasn't suicidal enough to start experimenting with that gaze again.
Instead, he focused on the quest. Fragment of Time. That was his objective. Somewhere in this nightmare world.
He opened his system panel for clues—nothing. Blank. His lips twisted. "Of course. Wouldn't want things to be too easy."
Then his eyes fell on the cursed skill he had grown to loathe: Eyes of Chronos.
Noctus hesitated. He hated the pain. He hated the way it scraped at his soul. But he hated being helpless even more. With a grimace, he prepared himself.
"Alright. Rip me apart, Chronos."
He activated the eyes.
Agony flared instantly, a blinding lance that split through his skull and burned in his veins. His vision warped, and the world slowed. The mountain, the cave, the very air froze in place—time itself became still.
And then he saw it.
A green, vibrant essence shimmered faintly, threading through the air like liquid light. It wasn't nearby—it flowed far, far from the mountain, tugging at him like a current.
The pain grew unbearable. His body screamed in protest, his soul howling with it. With a strangled grunt, he severed the vision, collapsing to his knees.
He gulped air like a drowning man. Sweat soaked him, his hands trembling. "Gods… I'll never… get used to that."
Yet something gnawed at him. He couldn't forget how the gaze had lifted the moment he reached the mountain. And if direction had no meaning here—why did the system send him here?
His chest tightened. "…Wait. It's not that the gaze couldn't follow me. It's that it wouldn't."
The realization made his stomach twist. Which means something here is even worse.
As if on cue, the cave's air shifted.
A breath—hot and cold all at once—grazed the back of his neck.
Noctus stiffened. Slowly, he turned.
No one.
His throat bobbed. "Alright… whoever's doing that, not funny. If you're going to breathe down my neck, at least buy me dinner first."
The cave responded with silence.
Then—
WhY dO yOu hAVe HiS sMeLl?
The distorted voice ripped through the air like broken glass dragged across steel.
Noctus froze, his blood turning to ice. His tongue fumbled. "W-What? Whose… aura?"
The voice trembled, glitching in and out.
ThE SmElL oF— @#%!$@%@ — WhY Do YoU hAvE It?!
The name slammed into his consciousness like a hammer, and for a heartbeat, his mind skipped. It was as if reality itself had glitched, twisting and distorting.
Noctus staggered back, panting, clutching his head. What… was that? What kind of name scrambles my mind just by existing?!
He tried again, forcing steel into his trembling voice. "Who are you? Show yourself!"
Instead of an answer, the cave crushed him.
Aura surged like a tidal wave, slamming him to the ground. The pressure pressed into his chest, splintering his ribs, robbing his lungs of air. His vision darkened.
WhY dO YoU SmELl LiKe HiM?! YoU aRe nOT HiM! So WhY?! WhY?!
The voice screeched, warped, endless.
Noctus's mind spiraled. Am I going to die again? Here? Without doing anything?
Regret gnawed at him. Maybe he should have abandoned the mission. Maybe survival, even as a coward, would've been enough. But deep down, he knew: I can't run forever. If I want to reach the top, I have to gamble.
His eyes snapped to the system panel. His skills. His artifacts. Anything.
Nothing.
Nothing—except the cursed skill.
His lips curled in a bitter smile. "Fine. If I'm going to die, might as well go blind doing it."
He unleashed the Eyes of Chronos.
Agony exploded, but through the haze, he saw the entity. Or rather—the entity saw him.
The distorted voice faltered.
…ThE EyEs…
Its aura trembled.
ThE EyEs Of tHe EnD… hOw CaN YoU hAvE ThEm?
Its words fractured, panicked, almost desperate.
OnLy a HoLdEr cOuLd… ThAt MeAnS… He— He wOuLd NeVer— nOnOnONONONONO!
The crushing aura cracked, broke, and scattered like shattered glass.
Noctus collapsed, gasping, drenched in sweat. His mind reeled.
Eyes of the End? Holder?
Confusion tangled with fear. Whatever that thing was, it hadn't killed him—but it also hadn't answered.
And worst of all—he wasn't sure he wanted the answers anymore.