My eyes darted around as I felt the cool earth press gently against my back. Above me stretched an endless ocean of blue, untouched by cloud or storm.
I drew a slow breath.
Cool, crisp air filled my lungs.
I felt...
Calm.
At peace.
For the first time in what felt like an eternity, there was no thunder shaking the heavens. No gods looming over me. No blood staining the earth beneath my feet.
Only silence.
I slowly straightened my posture, lifting my head as the world around me came into focus. Towering trees, older than memory itself, reached toward the heavens, their branches weaving together into a living canopy. Moss-covered boulders lay scattered throughout the forest floor, untouched by time. Somewhere beyond the hill before me, a waterfall crashed endlessly against stone, its gentle roar blending with the songs of unseen birds.
Nature...
Continued as though nothing had happened.
As though Heaven had never descended.
As though I had never challenged the gods.
I felt like myself, yet somehow distant.
I felt whole, yet incomplete. Like some essential piece of me had been left behind somewhere beyond my reach.
I wore nothing but torn cloth. No armor rested upon my body, no weight of metal accompanied my movements, and Sky Piercer was nowhere to be found. I had nothing that once defined me, yet I could still feel that old self lingering nearby, almost as if it waited just beyond the trees.
Watching.
Waiting.
This was no ordinary forest.
Something about it felt strange. The peaceful atmosphere, the gentle breeze, the overwhelming calm that surrounded every inch of this place... it felt almost artificial. Not fake, but like a beautiful mask hiding something far deeper.
I shook my head and slowly pushed myself from the ground.
This was not a place I belonged.
This was not a land my feet were meant to touch.
Yet, strangely enough, within this empty and solemn forest, I felt more at home than I ever had before. There was a quietness here that I had never known. A sense of peace I had spent my entire life searching for.
But beneath that peace...
There was sadness.
A feeling of something ancient that had already been lost.
"What is this..."
My eyes lowered toward my hands as I tried to understand the unfamiliar sensation spreading through me.
"Where am I..."
"And why am I here?"
My hands looked no different than they always had, yet they felt foreign. Cold beneath the warmth of the sun. Almost as if they belonged to a man I had yet to understand.
I landed softly upon a branch above the clearing.
My wings flapped slightly harder than intended, and for a brief moment I nearly allowed a song to escape my throat. I stopped myself, holding the melody within me.
Instead, I watched.
Below me stood the man I had only ever known through stories and legends.
Lu Bu.
But this was not the warrior I expected.
He looked lost.
Confused.
Almost fragile.
The man I had heard of was always surrounded by overwhelming pride and endless ambition. A warrior whose presence alone could shake battlefields, a man who laughed in the face of impossible odds.
Yet now...
He was quiet.
His breathing was gentle, his chest slowly rising and falling with each calm breath. The muscles that once carried countless battles were relaxed, no longer prepared to tear through armies or challenge gods. Even his hair, usually styled with such confidence, was messy and untamed.
But somehow...
He looked more alive than ever.
The sunlight poured through the gaps between the ancient trees, illuminating him as though nature itself had chosen to welcome him. A single flower petal drifted from above and landed softly within his open palm.
He looked at it.
Not as a warrior.
Not as a conqueror.
Simply as a man.
His fingers carefully held the fragile petal as he studied its color, its shape, its delicate texture.
How strange.
How something so small could possess such effortless beauty.
A branch snapped.
The forest immediately changed.
The birds fell silent. The wind shifted. The bushes around the clearing trembled as something moved through them with increasing speed.
Yet Lu Bu did not move.
His eyes remained fixed on the petal.
But his body...
His body had never stopped listening.
Every instinct he possessed awakened. Every sense sharpened. Even while admiring something so fragile, the warrior within him remained prepared.
The sound of frantic movement surrounded him.
Leaves scattered through the air. Trees bent from the force of something rushing through the forest. Whatever approached was not cautious.
It was hunting.
And Lu Bu was trapped.
Still, he continued to examine the flower in his palm.
"Soft..."
His voice was quiet.
"Pink..."
A gentle breath escaped his lips, causing the petal to move slightly.
"Beautiful."
A small smile formed across his face.
"Its shape is perfect. Untouched."
He traced its appearance with his eyes, almost fascinated.
"Such a gentle texture..."
"Such effortless beauty."
Then the beast emerged.
The ground shook as an enormous creature tore through the bushes, its massive jaws opening wide behind him. Its teeth dripped with hunger, its body carrying the weight of something born only to consume.
It lunged.
And for the first time since awakening in this forest...
Lu Bu's calm disappeared.
His muscles tightened.
The clouds above seemed to slow.
The air itself became heavy.
His lips parted.
"Cea—"
"Oh no you don't."
Before the command could leave his mouth, I launched from the branch.
I grabbed him and pulled him into the sky, carrying him away from the beast's strike before it could even understand what happened.
I exhaled in relief.
That was far too close.
I did not even want to imagine what would have happened if he finished that sentence.
I was flying.. above the forest.
And for once...
There was no war below me.
No armies.
No blood.
No screams.
Only rivers winding through endless fields, waterfalls cascading between mountains, and animals moving freely through a world untouched by conflict.
The forest stretched endlessly beneath us, beautiful in a way that felt almost impossible.
Like a dream.
The wind passed by gently.
I blinked.
Once.
Then again.
My eyes opened.
I found myself within a small stone alcove, sheltered by natural rock formations behind me. A small fire burned in front of me, and beside it sat a simple bowl filled with vegetables.
I stared at it.
Once again, the same question returned.
Where was I?
Why was I here?
There was no fear.
No anger.
No confusion.
Only curiosity.
The endless desire to understand.
Then I heard it.
The sound of water.
A gentle stream flowing from somewhere nearby.
I slowly rose and looked over the grass ahead.
And there...
I saw someone.
A woman.