'A dream…'
'Or was it a nightmare?'
'Either way, I thought it'd never end.'
A very tall, white-haired, bearded man looked down.
'But it seems it finally did.'
His gray, bleeding eyes met a horse.
Or rather, only its head, the rest of its body mangled up far to the side of the dark hill he now kneeled on, a hill filled with Corruption and glowing red flowers.
"You killed all of my people, you know…"
The man revealed a soft smile.
"My family, my friends… everyone I tried to love… everyone in the coalition. Hm, I can understand why; honestly, I don't hate you all that much for it, but Alba…"
He patted the horse's head.
"My boy never did anything wrong."
Finally, he looked up at them.
At those who did this to him.
"I despise you now."
He stated that so calmly.
"Still, this was an expected outcome. Whenever I talked about what I needed to do to survive, even my own people thought I was insane…"
His voice was grating, as if holding back Hell.
"No one believed we could kill you three. They weren't wrong, but still… it's annoying. Even though I did all I could, I didn't even become a Blessed."
"Stop talking… Ignotus."
A dead man's voice reached him, interrupting his monologue.
"Accept your Fate."
It originated from a skeletal, thin man who wore the dark robes of a priest.
"There's nothing you can do now."
Two dark circled eyes of absolute black stared at Ignotus, pure as death.
"You've lost."
One of those behind the man spoke next, a woman:
"Give up, subject."
Unlike the man, nothing of her body could be seen, just her face, and even that was mostly hidden, a small purple fan covering it, leaving only her similarly purple eyes visible.
"It's commendable that a worm like you has even gotten this far, so you ought to accept it and give me your Runes."
Ignotus ignored them both and glanced at the last of them, a figure that had yet to speak.
...he couldn't see that 'figure.'
A man so strong that their realm seemed to reject the reveal of his existence... in order to safeguard its own.
Indeed, he could not be acknowledged.
Something that Ignotus didn't really care much for.
Pushing himself up with the last of his strength, he began to take a few steps forward, nearing them.
"Oh, the worm is incredibly stupid, I see."
"Right, right, I'm stupid..."
One stuttering step after another.
"So very stupid that I'm about to do what's most taboo."
He looked back down.
"I'll send myself straight to Hell."
Ignotus's eyes went dead black as he…
"So hey, if you want my stupid Runes so bad, why don't you just..."
He gave them a very slow bow with a widening smile.
"Take them."
Deep in his Soul, in a world of night, seven orb-like things called Runes began to crack before all of their energy, Divinity, coalesced into one spot and combusted, creating an incredible explosion.
Vruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu—mmmmm...
"Break."
...TING!
SHWWWWWW-KRA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!
Before time could catch up properly, an explosion materialized, one so massive that it swallowed the entirety of the Corrupted hill, turning it into absolutely nothing, leaving not even dust behind... Ignotus gone with it.
Yet the three figures were still alive.
All remained floating in place, but that didn't mean that they weren't hurt—oh, far from it.
The first figure lost an entire arm, and the second, well... her face was scratched.
There was no need to mention the last.
"No, no, no, no, no, no!"
A fan took the realm's attention.
"A mere Fifth Class couldn't have hurt me!"
Even though it was only a scratch, she went insane with anger, her eyes looking around, searching for what iota remained of Ignotus that she could destroy.
"DAMN YOU, INSECT!"
Never did she say his name.
"I, QUEEN OF TIME!"
She'd never ever do it, even after what happened.
"COMMAND THE REALM..."
HE WAS UNWORTHY.
"TO REWIND!"
The realm kneeled.
Blink.
'...ylno fi.'
***
A man floated somewhere in a void.
Before him was a realm split in three.
It was his home, and he saw it bend.
It bent until it was nothing but a speck.
That speck pulsed before crashing into him like a comet, twisting his Soul in infinite proportions, forcing it to exist in places that it was never meant to reach.
The man saw the Truth.
…at least most of the truth.
He was Ignotus.
And he saw something else.
Eight of 'Them…' Higher Gods.
That was the moment he became an Irregular... an existence not of the realm... foreign enough to be branded a Heretic.
It was also the moment he returned.
***
Ignotus blinked his eyes open, feeling like he had been run over by a truck ten times over.
Above him was a… familiar roof, or rather, it was the sky. Glancing to the side, he saw many standing, looking in his direction; the same was to his right.
But far above…
He saw a floating man.
His very father, now alive.
Next to him was a banner that signified one thing.
'The Day of Runes…'
He almost couldn't believe it.
'It's true...'
Ignotus smiled.
'It really worked.'
He was back in the past.
This was his modus operandi...
And it had just begun.