I woke up drenched in sweat, my sheets clinging to me like a second skin. My breath came in ragged gasps. Across the room, the egg began to glow, its light spilling over the walls like molten gold. At the same time, faint runes ignited along my arms and chest—the same runes that had flared only once before, the day I fought the Shadow Wolf.
I staggered to my feet, legs trembling, body shuddering as though caught between fever and frost. My fingers clenched unconsciously around the egg, its surface warm and thrumming under my palm.
Drawn by some instinct, I stumbled toward the mirror. The moment my gaze met my reflection, my eyes blazed so brightly it was almost blinding—a searing brilliance that forced me to squint.
Then the visions struck.
Flashes—dozens, hundreds—burned through my mind. Me training. Me laughing. Me fighting. Me dying. My friends dying. Images overlapping, splitting, fracturing like shards of glass thrown into a storm.
My left eye—the red one—began to flicker wildly, its glow jerking and twisting like a flame in high wind. Through its reflection, I saw them: Elanor, Vanitar, Seraphel, Nyriel… and countless others crowding into my room. Faces I knew and faces I didn't.
But when I turned, the room was empty.
They weren't here. Not yet.
Then my right eye—the golden one—locked onto the glass. At once, streams of information poured into my mind, faster than I could breathe. Its age. Its maker. The fractures hidden beneath its surface. The way it had been forged and polished. Its exact height, its width, its weaknesses—every detail unfolded before me as if the glass itself were whispering its secrets.
And then, just as suddenly as it began, everything stopped.
The glow bled from my skin.
The runes dimmed and vanished like dying embers.
The visions dissolved.
The people crowding my room—Elanor, Vanitar, Seraphel, Nyriel, and the countless others—faded like smoke, leaving only silence and an empty room.
Then I felt it—warmth trickling down my face. My eyes were bleeding. My ears too. The coppery scent filled my nose, thick and metallic. My hands shook as I lowered myself to the floor, my breath uneven, heart hammering.
The egg still pulsed in my grip. Its glow intensified—not visions this time, but power. Raw, unshaped power.
A violent wave of energy erupted from it.
The blast slammed into the walls, splintering wood and stone alike. My room exploded outward in a thunderclap, the force carving a gaping hole that opened straight into the gardens below. Dust and shards of marble swirled through the air like snow.
Shouts rose from the palace grounds. Lights flickered on. I caught glimpses of people running toward my room—guards, servants, faces pale as they stared at the destruction.
I pushed myself up, trembling… but then, strangely, calm settled over me. My hands stopped shaking. My heartbeat slowed. I stood amid the wreckage as if the blast had never touched me.
Beyond the torn wall, far across the gardens, I saw a figure.
Someone was standing there, smiling at me.
The smile sharpened. They raised a hand, and an arrow of pure energy formed—bright, humming with lethal intent—then shot toward me in a blur of light.
Instinct seized me before thought could catch up. My arm snapped upward, palm open—just as the arrow of light slammed into me.
It didn't pierce. It screamed. A sound like glass grinding against steel ripped the air as the energy fractured, splintering into a hundred shards of brilliance that scattered like dying stars.
The impact numbed my entire arm, heat crawling up my veins, but when I looked down, my skin was untouched—no burn, no wound, nothing.
I froze. My chest heaved once, twice, before my breathing slowed against my will, as if something deeper inside me was forcing calm where panic should have been.
Slowly, my gaze rose toward the gardens.
The figure was gone. Only the echo of their smile lingered in my mind.
I heard footsteps behind me—a soft crunch of leaves, then the faint shimmer of runes. Before I even turned, an obsidian blade, carved with ancient sigils, flashed at the edge of my vision. Instinct took over. I twisted, jerking back, my hand snapping up to press the sword's edge against the intruder's throat.
"Whoa, whoa!" Seraphel stood behind me, hands raised in surrender, her wings trembling slightly.
The blade dissolved into black mist between my fingers. I stared at her, breath ragged, warm blood trickling from my ears and eyes, blurring my vision crimson.
"Don't walk behind me like that," I muttered, lowering my hand.
"Yeah, sorry," Seraphel said quickly, wings shifting in unease. Her eyes flicked over me, wide with something between awe and fear. "But… what was that? You were glowing—and you deflected an arrow made of pure energy. I've never seen a human boy do that before."
"Well… even I don't know," I admitted, my voice low. "This egg… it awakened something—or someone—inside me. I wasn't thinking. I was only moving on instinct."
I lifted the egg to show her. Its shell still pulsed with light, ancient runes crawling across its surface like living fire.
Then I felt it—pressure in the air, the scent of moss and stone cracking. A presence.
My instincts screamed. I seized Seraphel and leapt, the world blurring as I shot across the garden. The ground behind us split apart as a massive fist slammed into it. I set her down and turned, my breath sharp.
From the shattered earth rose a Forest Golem—towering, bark fused with stone, its hollow eyes burning with green flame. C-rank, yet strong enough to scatter guards like leaves in a storm.
It lumbered toward me.
The obsidian sword flared into my grip once more, its runes searing against my palm. I braced myself—then its strike hit me like a boulder, launching me across the ground.
The beast pivoted, raising its foot over Seraphel.
Her wings snapped open, radiant. A surge of light burst outward, blasting the golem back in a wave of raw energy.
I roared, hurling my sword with every ounce of strength. The blade tore through the air, black fire trailing in its wake, and struck the golem's core. The creature froze, cracked, and shattered into dust.
Silence followed. Only the egg's glow remained.
Then it struck me—only one being could have done this.
Slowly, I turned back toward the treeline. A shadow stood there, dark and indistinct, its form shifting as if the world itself refused to pin it down.
A smile curved across its face—sharp, unsettling, and yet impossible to tell if it belonged to a man or woman.
And then, as quickly as it had appeared, the figure melted back into nothing, leaving only the weight of its gaze lingering on my skin.
Then it felt like I was waking up—but I wasn't. It was more like being released, pried free from the force that had been controlling me. My limbs trembled as I looked down at the egg. Its glow faded, the light shrinking into nothing. Darkness swam in my vision and I collapsed, consciousness slipping away.
Hours—maybe days—seemed to pass before my eyes fluttered open. I was back in my room, everything restored as though nothing had happened. Seraphel and Elanor sat slumped in chairs beside my bed, fast asleep.
Then I saw it. Or rather, I didn't.
The egg was gone.
My heart lurched. My eyes went wide, panic burning through me. I shot upright, ignoring the dizziness, and began tearing through the room. I didn't even know why, but I needed to find it—to protect it, hold it, keep it safe. The need clawed at my chest like hunger.
I bolted out the door, racing down the corridors. "Arthur is missing!" Seraphel's shout echoed behind me, but I didn't stop. I scoured the entire palace, my footsteps hammering against marble, until at last I found it.
The egg sat at the center of a circle of scholars and scientists, their tools glinting under the chandeliers. Something snapped inside me. I lunged forward, seizing it from the table before they could react.
"How dare you, boy, disrupt our experiment!" one of the scholars barked.
I whirled on him, clutching the egg to my chest. "No—how dare you! You took what's mine. I'm the prince of this damned kingdom—how dare you touch what belongs to me!" My voice cracked with rage, every word echoing off the walls.
The room fell silent. My rage hung in the air, raw and protective—like a father defending a child—until a voice filled the room, heavy with authority.
"Arthur, where have you been? Why are you shouting in my court, and why do you look like you're going to kill them?" my father barked.
"Come to my office. Now." He didn't wait for an answer.
We walked in silence. Once inside he stopped and stared at me. "Give it," he said.
"Give what?" I snapped.
"Don't act dumb. The egg — it nearly killed you, and I won't let that happen again. Hand it over." His voice left no room for argument.
"No," I said plainly.
"Fine. I guess I'll just have to take it by force." My father's voice was calm—too calm—as he snapped his fingers.
The air hissed. A sharp crack followed, like a bowstring snapping.
Instinct took over. I jerked my hand—the one holding the egg—away just as a blur sliced through the air beside me. Wind rushed past my face, scattering papers across the floor.
A man materialized out of the blur, his hand frozen mid-grab, his eyes wide with disbelief.
My breath caught.
One of the Ten Paladins—the Speed Maniac, the fastest among them.
But the egg in my hand began to pulse, faint light spilling between my fingers like a heartbeat.
My eyes widened. How… how did I dodge him?
I looked up at my father. Even he was staring, dumbfounded, his gaze flicking between me, the egg, and the paladin as silence fell heavy across the room.
Then I looked at the Speed Maniac—his silver-white hair streaked with faint blue, flowing backward as if forever caught in the wind. His pale azure eyes locked onto mine, cold and sharp, the kind of gaze that could slice through motion itself. He wore little armor, only a light breastplate and bracers—made sense; anything heavier would only slow him down.
Then he moved—so fast that only an afterimage remained, a blur of blue and silver frozen where he'd stood. In the next instant, he was behind me.
But my body moved on its own. My hand—still clutching the egg—swung back. The shell brushed his forehead.
The world erupted.
A sphere of light burst outward, swallowing him whole. The energy shimmered, distorting the air, and then—silence. When the light faded, he was gone. Vanished. Not even a trace remained.
SIR KAEL ZEPHYROS
As the egg touched my forehead, everything froze.
A sphere of energy burst outward, swallowing me whole. For a heartbeat, I saw my reflection in its surface—distorted, breaking apart—then pain hit.
I looked down. My hands were splintering, fracturing like glass under impossible pressure. The cracks spread up my arms, glowing with blinding light.
Before I could even breathe, my whole body shattered.
Then—silence.
When I opened my eyes, there was no palace, no prince, no world. Only sand. Endless desert stretching beneath a burning white sky.
"Ha! Damn—that's one powerful egg," I said with a laugh.
I reached into my belt and pulled out my compass—its core made from a Realmbeast's heart. The needle spun once, then locked toward the north. The display shimmered, displaying a distance reading of 5,055 billion light-years.
"Well, fuck," I muttered, staring at it. "Guess I'll have to use my Evolvant for this."
Runes flared to life across my body, glowing like molten veins beneath my skin. I dropped into a stance, every muscle coiling with power, the air around me trembling as I prepared to run.
Space folded like silk around me. One step, and the horizon bent. When I stopped, the palace stood before me as if I'd never left.
I walked calmly through the halls, the palace guards too stunned to move as I passed. My footsteps echoed, steady—unhurried. When I reached the king's office, I pushed the door open without knocking.
ARTHUR STARLIGHT
After I pressed the egg against the man's forehead, he was gone—vanished without a trace.
Then the air shifted. A faint vibration rippled through the floor—fast, sharp, alive.
The door slammed open.
He stood there.
The Speed Maniac.
"Nice egg you've got there," he said, his voice smooth but cutting. "But there's a reason they call me the Speed Maniac."
Even his calm felt dangerous—like a blade resting against the throat of the world.
Then he vanished again—gone in a blink. Before I could react, he was behind me, his hand closing around mine as he gently took the egg from my grip.
"A relic that holds this much power, huh?" he said, turning it over in his hand. "Pretty damn dangerous—and it can even be used directly. You've got real talent, kid."
He glanced at the king, a faint smirk tugging at his lips. "That little trick of yours sent me five thousand fifty-five billion light-years away. Not even the scholars could handle that kind of energy."
Then, more calmly, he added, "My lord, I think we should let the boy keep it. If anyone can control this thing, it's him."
He tossed the egg back at me, and I caught it. I looked at my father; he sighed.
"Fine," he said, rubbing his temple. "But Arthur… if that egg ever hurts anyone or destroys the palace, I'll take it away. I don't want to, but I will. Promise me you'll be careful." His eyes were tired, almost pleading.
I nodded and left the office.
As I walked, a faint warmth flickered behind my left eye. The world dimmed around me, colors fading into shades of grey as a soft crimson light pulsed in my vision. My left eye glowed—redder than usual, but not blinding—just enough to paint the hallway in a faint, eerie hue.
Through that haze, I saw two figures sprinting ahead, their shapes cutting through the light like echoes of the future. Elanor… and Seraphel.
Then the glow faded, the world snapping back into focus. A heartbeat later, I heard footsteps—the same rhythm I'd just seen—and there they were, Elanor and Seraphel, running down the hall exactly as my eye had shown.
My right eye glowed gold, revealing what they tried to hide—their anxiety pulsing like heat in the air. I smiled quietly.