The world was wrong.
I knew it the instant I opened my eyes… if these were still my eyes at all.
I was standing or perhaps floating on something that wasn't solid, wasn't liquid, and yet was both.
A crimson expanse stretched endlessly in every direction, a sea of blood without a single ripple, as if time itself dared not disturb its surface. Beneath my bare feet, the blood was warm, almost pulsing, like the heartbeat of some colossal beast slumbering beneath.
Above me, there was nothing. No sky. No stars. No moon. Only darkness so thick it felt like a second ocean, pressing down from above.
The air, if it could be called that was heavy with the coppery stench of blood. Every breath I took coated my tongue with the taste of it. It clung to my throat, making it hard to swallow.
My heart thudded in my chest, each beat sounding far too loud in this silence.
Where… am I?
I turned slowly, searching for something, anything, but the blood-sea and the darkness were endless. There was no horizon, no shore. Just me.
Panic tightened its claws around my ribs.
Had I died?
The thought came unbidden, sharp and cold. My last memory was the pain of the sword, Noah's voice, the snow turning red. My body falling. And then… nothing.
If this is death, then where is the afterlife the priests promised?
I thought of the old temple sermons, of the shining heavens where heroes feasted eternally, and of the blazing hells where sinners burned. I saw neither fire nor light. Only… this.
A whisper slipped through my mind. Perhaps this is hell. Not fire, not chains, just endless blood and darkness.
The idea lodged itself in my chest. My breath quickened. I thought of my deeds, the battles I'd fought, the lives I'd taken. Even if they were in the name of the kingdom, blood was still blood. Had the weight of those sins dragged me here?
No.
I closed my eyes, forcing my thoughts to still. Panic would serve nothing. My master's words returned to me, faint echoes from long ago: "When the world around you is chaos, the first battle is against your own mind."
I exhaled, letting the air hiss between my teeth. Slowly, the frantic pounding of my heart eased.
When I opened my eyes again, I noticed two shapes rising in the distance, impossibly tall, piercing the darkness above.
Statues.
I don't know why I hadn't seen them before. They seemed to emerge from the blood itself, their bases swallowed by the crimson sea.
The first was a man carved in impossible detail, his black hair cascading down like a midnight waterfall, strands seeming almost to move in the unseen wind. In his right hand, he held a black katana, the blade so narrow it looked like it could slice the air itself. His left hand rested loosely on a strange hat, a straw hat, yet made entirely of blackened metal, its brim shadowing half his face.
Behind him, a halo no, an aureole arched outward.
But this was no divine light. It was forged of lightning, yet that lightning was wrong the jagged arcs seemed frozen into stone, their cracks filled with veins of blood and darkness.
Even carved in stillness, he radiated power. And danger.
The second statue was a woman, her form equally lifelike. She wore a robe of whitish green, its folds captured in stone as though caught mid-motion.
Her black hair tumbled down her back, tied loosely with a strip of green cloth that fluttered as if in some wind only she could feel.
In her right hand, she held a black, serpent-like katana, the blade curved and alive with sinister grace. Her left hand reached out to touch the coiled body of a massive serpent that wrapped protectively around her, its stone scales glistening in the dim glow of this place.
And behind her, an aureole green, but not alive. A stone halo, etched with vines and strange symbols I could not read.
Despite the darkness that pressed around them, the statues were vivid too vivid. The man's black hair gleamed, the woman's green robe seemed to sway, the serpent's eyes glittered faintly as though aware of my gaze.
Fear prickled down my spine. I have seen many things in war, but nothing like this.
And yet… there was something else beneath the fear. Something sharper. Something I dared not name.
I began walking toward the statues, the blood beneath my feet yielding just enough to let me move. The distance between us was strange. No matter how far I walked, they never seemed closer.
I pushed on, counting my steps, my breath steady.
Then, without warning, I was back where I started.
My heart lurched. I turned sharply, retracing my steps, but after a dozen paces, the world twisted, and I was again at the exact same spot between them.
"What…?" My voice sounded too loud in this endless place.
I tried again, moving toward the woman this time, then the man. Each attempt ended the same no matter the path. I was returned to the center, as though invisible hands had plucked me from one point and set me back down at another.
Minutes passed. Or hours. It was impossible to tell. My legs ached, though I wasn't even certain I had a body here in the way I once did.
Frustration burned in me. I hated being caged. Even here, in death, was I to be someone's prisoner?
Finally, I stopped fighting the strange laws of this place. I stood still, breathing slowly, until my mind quieted again. Only then did I look fully at the statue of the man.
Something in his hidden eyes called to me.
I stepped toward him, not fighting the way the world bent beneath my steps, but letting it guide me. This time, I reached him.
The blood beneath my feet stilled entirely, becoming a perfect mirror. I lifted my hand, hesitating just before my fingers brushed the cool surface of his black katana.
The instant I touched it, a jolt ran through me, not pain, not warmth, but… recognition.
It was faint, fleeting, but real. Like a whisper at the edge of memory, just beyond understanding.
And then it was gone.
I staggered back, heart pounding. The connection faded as though it had never been, leaving only a cold emptiness in its place.
I turned to the woman's statue.
If the man radiated danger, she was something else entirely. Her presence was sharp, yes, but not hostile. There was a strange grace in the curve of her form, in the serpent's protective coil.
I stepped toward her. This time, the world didn't resist.
As I drew near, the blood beneath my feet began to shift. Ripples spread outward, glowing faintly green. The air itself changed, no longer heavy with copper and death, but tinged with something… alive.
A strange green energy began to curl around me, weaving through my limbs, seeping into the edges of my spirit. It was cool, but not cold, not the chill of the grave, but the fresh bite of spring water.
It sank deeper.
The serpent's stone eyes seemed to follow me, its coiled body tense yet calm, like a guardian deciding whether to strike or to shield.
I stopped at the base of the statue, tilting my head back to meet the woman's stone gaze.
The green energy swirled tighter around me. My breath caught.
And in that moment, I knew something, whatever this place was, whatever these statues were… this was not the end.
It was the beginning.