Death.
Pain.
Peace, maybe.
The wind brushed softly against his dry, cracked skin, but Tia Xu barely felt it.
He stood at the edge of a mountain peak, his boots worn out from years of use, staring into a boundless Rift that stretched endlessly before him, yet he showed no sign of fear.
He let out a slow, steady breath.
His life had never been about anything.
The day of the rank evaluation still lived in his memory. Students stood in neat lines, each waiting for their turn, excitement filling the air as the large screen lit up — numbers rising, skills appearing, futures being decided in seconds. When it was his turn, the screen took longer than it should.
Finally, it flickered.
Name: Tia
Status: Awakened
Power Evolution: -
The instructor frowned. Someone laughed, and gradually it spread. From then on, his life became a living nightmare.
He watched as his future slipped away bit by bit.
He failed the written exams, and he got last place at the practical trials.
By graduation, no unit wanted him.
The only job he managed to find was cleaning — hallways, training rooms, places meant for people with futures. He scrubbed floors beneath posters of heroes and listened as recruits talked about gates, monsters, and glory. No one noticed him.
Then he heard the legend.
A rumor passed between drunk hunters and desperate failures. A place said to exist beyond mapped gates. A lie, most said. A place said to grant anything you wish, even if it's immortality. A story for people with nothing like him. Tia listened anyway. It wasn't his first time of hearing things like this.
Around that time, his mother disappeared.
No farewell. No body. Just an empty room and the memories it held. After that, the legend became the only thing that gave his days shape. He searched for years — through rejections, ridicule, and the slow decay of his body — until the search itself became his reason to live, with the hope that he finds it.
The memory faded.
The mountain wind returned.
How many years has it been? 30? I can't remember. I stopped counting a long time ago.
Ming Jay took one step closer to the edge.
There was nothing left for him. No place to return to. The legend was below — or nowhere at all.
He stepped forward.
The ground vanished.
There was no scream, no panic. Only the sensation of falling into something vast and indifferent, where even gravity seemed to be absent.
His life had never been worth anything.
Copy code
Tia hovered in a space without direction, without ground, without sky. Everywhere was covered in darkness.
His body was old, heavy, and cold.
Finally, peace.
His breath stopped.
He waited calmly for death to claim him.
But… nothing ended. Nothing came.
Only silence that surrounded him, and the darkness from within.
Then something responded after what felt like decades.
A large screen hovered above him.
[Processing Soul…]
The process stalling took longer than it should.
Suddenly, the screen stuttered.
Red light flared across his vision, vanishing and returning like a broken signal.
Error.
Error.
The word branded itself into his vision.
Pain moved through his body without cause. Not sharp. Not dull.
Each flash felt like he was torn into pieces.
Then silence.
The screen disappeared, and the pain gradually faded.
He waited in darkness, his body numb and cold.
His consciousness slowly slipping away.
Then he heard it.
"Soul rejected," a voice echoed without warmth.
"Return denied."
His vision went black.
With one thought left in his mind— what does that mean?.