My world had fallen—into silence, into ruin. Within the remnants of my blood and the fragile echoes of my soul, a quiet war still raged. That was the only truth I held onto. Day 371 since everything was lost, and yet… I was still breathing. Still existing. But for what? For whom? I no longer knew. So, I waited. I waited to see whether this soul of mine would someday return to the one who once breathed life into it.
I remembered Gramps's voice—faint, trembling, desperate.
"Lumino… run. Save yourself. One day, you'll find a reason again. And when you do, come back—not as a child of destruction, but as a savior."
Then he pushed me into the rift he'd created, just moments before an explosion devoured everything behind me.
Now I was here.
In a strange world, unnamed, untouched by anything familiar.
Hope had long since dried up.
Only the wind accompanied me as it danced through a field of yellow wedelia, brushing gently against my skin. I stood among them, silent, until a single tear traced the curve of my cheek. I wiped it away, stepped forward, and began to walk—searching for something… someone… anything that proved I wasn't alone.
I walked through days and nights that blurred into one another. I slept beneath the stars, ate what I could catch or forage. Once, I laughed uncontrollably after eating a strange mushroom, laughter spilling from my throat like water breaking through a dam.
"Believe, Lumino," I remembered him saying. "There is beauty waiting at the end of every hardship."
So, I walked. Until my steps became aimless.
On the 372nd day, I stopped. I laid beneath a crooked tree and stared at the sky as if it might offer answers. It didn't. Not even tears came to me.
Day 380, I thought of surrender. I tied a vine, whispering apologies I'd never speak aloud. But when I reached for my grandfather's earring—his final gift—it was gone. Panic silenced the despair. I dropped everything. I searched. I called his name into the trees.
Seven hours later, I found it—half-buried beneath amber leaves, the crimson gem glowing faintly as if it had been calling to me all along. I held it close, trembling.
"I'm sorry, Grandpa… I'm sorry I almost gave up."
But something else shimmered beneath the leaves—a glint too bright, too unnatural. I dug again and uncovered a glowing red gem, shaped like a pentagon. When I held it up to the sunlight, the impossible happened. The Clock of Fate, which had long stopped ticking… began to move once more.
Behind me, the air split apart. A portal opened, thick with energy, roaring like a storm. And from it stepped a stranger—no, a force.
"Put that down. Now!" he said. "Or you have to face the consequences."
His voice struck through me like lightning, and the wind answered his call—wild and furious, as if fate itself had finally awakened.