Prologue: Echoes at the End of Time
"Ahhh!" A voice echoed.
It was mine.
"Haah... Haah... haah," I panted, struggling to catch my breath.
But I couldn't.
"ARCK!" A sharp cry escaped my throat as something inside me felt like it violently imploded.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
The scream didn't come from my mouth but from deep within me—a primal cry of torment that reverberated through every fiber of my being.
The pain was beyond anything I'd ever known. Crushing. Brain-splitting. Almost unreal.
Ha.
Hahaha.
It hurt so much that, bizarrely, it almost felt... funny.
I had always endured pain, but this? This was something else entirely.
And the suffering didn't stop.
It just kept going.
More and more.
And something told me there was only more to come.
Sigh.
I wonder...
What kind of life did I live before all of this? Was there even a life before the torment began?
I can't remember.
There was nothing before the pain.
Haah.
I honestly hoped it would end someday.
I really did.
"Haah!" I gasped, suddenly waking.
I looked around.
This... wasn't dark, nor was it bright.
It was... strange.
"Haah... haah..." My breaths were still ragged.
Then I felt it.
A stinging, uncomfortable sensation around my waist.
Sharp, nearly unbearable when I focused on it.
I sat up and looked down.
Black sand.
I scooped a handful of it, letting it sift through my fingers.
"Hm? Bone?" I muttered. The texture... it felt like ground bone.
Unsettling.
"Puff." I blew on it. The dust floated into the crimson air.
Where the hell was I?
I looked up. The sky was blood red. Everything around me bled that same eerie hue.
Then suddenly—
[DING!]
[WELCOME, [??????], TO THE END OF TIME]
The system.
Before I could think, another interface blinked to life before me:
┌───────────────────────────── SYSTEM ONLINE ─────────────────────────────┐
│ INTERFACE ACTIVATED… │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Designation : SOUL CLASS – UNREGISTERED │
│ Soul Integrity : 14% – CRITICAL │
│ Karmic Debt : ████████████████ (Value Concealed) │
│ Trial Status : UNINITIATED │
│ Objective : SURVIVE TRIALS [0 / 10 COMPLETED] │
│ ⚠ Warning: System tether is unstable. │
│ Full functionality locked until initial trials are cleared. │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
┌───────────────────────────── BASIC INFORMATION ─────────────────────────┐
│ Name : ??? │
│ Soul Type : FRACTURED │
│ Classification : PROSPECTIVE ENTITY │
│ Eligibility : PENDING VALIDATION │
│ Reality Anchor : 0.23% │
│ Corruption Level : 5% and rising… │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
※ NOTE: This interface can only be viewed once. ※
I stared at the display, my thoughts a whirlwind of confusion.
But I said nothing.
Somehow, I knew I wouldn't get any answers, no matter how much I asked.
"No name," I muttered.
Well, I'm still just a soul.
Of course I don't have a name.
The karmic debt was hidden. Come to think of it, I don't even know how much I have.
I glanced at the rest—soul integrity, designation. Not important right now.
Then I saw it: Ten Trials.
Just like he said.
But they hadn't started yet.
"System tether is unstable. Full functionality locked until initial trials are cleared," I read aloud.
This probably implied the third trial...
I sighed and scrolled down.
"Soul... fractured?" I frowned. What does that mean?
My soul is fractured?
Sigh.
Who's going to explain that? No one.
Frustrating.
Then I saw it:
"Corruption."
I looked at my hand.
Darkness?
Only now did I notice it.
"I am made of Darkness?" I whispered.
What the hell?
Suddenly—
[DING!]
[Sponsor has made a connection]
[Soul has been found to be connected to a divine being]
[The Fallen God - Omithar]
"FALLEN GOD?!" I screamed.
Wait—
The Keeper is a god?
I thought he wasn't... really.
Wait... Fallen?
No, this doesn't make sense.
Was he once a god?
He's the Keeper... isn't he?
This is getting complicated.
[Soul has obtained ability from sponsor]
[User's Status]
Sponsor: Omithar
Abilities: Alternate Reality
Description: User can summon an identical version of themselves from an alternate reality. This skill may only be used once every 2 hours. Only one version can exist at a time. Attempting to summon another will collapse the existing reality, manifesting a self-sentient, unstable alternate self.
Instinct: 20
Sanity: 5 (Warning: Negative values indicate instability)
Vitality: 9
Willpower: ???
Alternate Reality.
It sounded powerful. Overpowered, even.
But as I read the description again and again, an uneasy thought crept in.
The missing piece I haven't been able to see all this while.
"A sponsor," I muttered.
The concept made sense.
The gods choose stray souls. They gamble. They play games.
A promising stray to bet how long would last.
But mine was different. My sponsor was the Keeper.
He gave me this power.
And gods only grant what reflects their essence.
That's the rule.
So...
Reality.
He was once a god of reality.
A fallen god.
What stripped him of that divinity?
Maybe being the Keeper is a punishment.
Could that be the true mission he hinted at?
Is he using me to reclaim his godhood?
Sigh…
He must've been a god of time. Maybe reality, or both.
Time... such an absolute power. And still, he fell.
Which means he was desperate.
He needed a soul.
And he found me.
All the karmic debt I gathered—it wasn't coincidence.
He orchestrated it.
He planned it from the start.
He wanted me.
Sigh.
Alternate reality...
Maybe every time I got too close to escaping this hell, he twisted the outcome.
Like Anna.
She was innocent once.
Until she turned into something else.
An addict.
A monster.
That wasn't her.
It was him.
He did something.
Sigh…
[DING!]
[The first trial will now begin in 58:23.03]
I took a long breath, scanning the blood-red landscape.
I'm going to find out what really happened.
I clenched my fists.
I will uncover everything.
And one day—
With my own hands—
I'll kill that bastard for everything he put me through.
I swear it.