Cold.
That was the first thing Markil felt.
Not the biting, suffocating cold of death.
He inhaled sharply.
"Huh.."
Markil opened his eyes.
Tall trees were around him.
Shimmering, spiral trunks rose towards glowing red leaves.
Markil blinked.
Once.
Twice.
"Okay..." He muttered. "Either I'm dead again... Or this dream needs refund."
He slowly pushed himself up from the ground. Brushing dirt off his clothes.
The forest stretched endlessly.
Red light flitered down from above, not Harsh like sunlight, more like a sky permanently stuck at dusk.
Markil squinted upward.
"Why is the sky red...?"
He looked around again.
"... And why does everything look like it's... Ooooh God never mind."
He paused.
Then nodded to himself seriously.
"Yeah. Definitely not my world."
He signed.
"Ooooh God. Why are you doing this to me?"
Markil turned around instantively.
The portal.
The dark, gateway was gone.
Gone without trace.
"Hah.."
A weak laugh escaped his lips.
"Of course it vanished."
He Scratched the back of his head.
"Why would a mysterious interdimensional portal stay where I left it?"
He glanced at the empty space again.
"...So this is what being abandoned by reality feels like."
Markil stood their for a long moment.
Then shrugged.
"Alight then."
He turned toward the forest path.
"New world.New problems."
A pause.
"... At least I didn't fall from the sky into a battlefield this time."
He started walking.
"Thinking about my old life.i just want to remember my mother."
Markil looked down while walking.
The light from the sky reflected through the leaves of some plants.
"God...Mom... I want to talk you.."
Tears fell from the eyes of Markil.But he was still walking.
Markil remebers her mother's face and all of a sudden he punches himself.
"Noo!" Markil shouted.
"I can't accept defeat,i can't cry...My mother must be waiting for me."
Markil wiped his tears.
The deeper he moved, The stranger the world became.
The air shimmered faintly, like heat haze,but cool.Mana,thick, and visible, flowed through the atmosphere like slow moving currents.
Markil stopped mid step.
"Wait.."
He narrowed his eyes.
"There it is again."
The glow.
Threads of light-blue, gold, violet- wove through the trees, the soil, even the air itself.
Mana.
Raw, unfiltered, everywhere.
His heart pounded.
"Are you seeing this mom?"
Then remember.
"Oo.Yeah i'm alone I will always be."
He exhaled slowly.
"In that world, they couldn't see it."
He flexed his fingers.
"But here it's screaming..."
Markil Swallowed.
"What type of place is this?"
He continued walking.
As the red light deepened, the sky shifted, not darker, but richer.
A moon rose.
Purple vast.
Cracked with glowing veins like lightning trapped in crystal.
Markil stopped dead.
"Okay..."
He looked upwards.
"Okay... That's not normal."
He laughed nervously.
"Not even by fantasy standards."
The forest felt silent.
Markil crouched.
Tiny insects hovered near the roots of a tree. Their tails were glowing.
Markil's eyes widened.
"Whoa..."
He leaned a bit closer.
"You insects are really adorable."
One of the insects got on his finger.
Warm.
Gentle.
Markil smiled.
The insect fluttered away.
And then.
Something shifted.
Markil's body moved before his mind did.
WHOOSH
Markil twisted without even thinking, something massive sliced the space.
"...WHAT THE FU!!"
Markil scrambled backward, heart racing.
The ground exploded where he had stood.
Trees snapped.
Flames brust outward.
Markil stared.
"What the hell?" Markil thought.
A growl echoed to the forest.
Low.
Primal.
Heavy steps shook the ground.
From between the trees,it emerged.
A werewolf.
"No, A monster?" Markil thought.
Over four meters tall, muscles wrapped in burning aura.Flames licked along it's feet and jaw,eyes glowing molten gold.
Markil's breath hitched.
"Oo holy shit!"
The beast roared.
Markil raised a hand instinctively.
"Hey-hey relax,big guy."
He forced a smile.
"Oo,Sweety,be good boy and sit."
The warewolf lunged.
Markil barely dodged, rolling across the ground as fire scorched the air where he'd Been.
"Down!"
He scrembled to his feet.
"What the hell is wrong with my body?" He shouted. "I didn't even decided to move!"
The beast charged again.
Markil turned to run.
And stopped.
A memory struck him.
A classroom.
Mocking laughter.
A phone screen with unanswered massages.
A hospital bed.
His mother's thin hands,shaking.
"I amm sorry," his mother whispered.
Markil clenched his fists tightly.
"Back then..." He thought, breath trembling.
"I had nothing."
"No money.No power.No future."
"I only had her..."
The warewolf closed in.
Markil turned slowly.
"...But now."
The world felt quite.
His eyes darkened.
"Now I have something."
Mana surged violently.
"So this," he whispered,voice shaking, "is power."
The werewolf roared again.
Markil stepped forward.
"And I'm done running!"
He drew his fist back.
The world screamed.
"THAT'S POWER!!"
BOOOOOOOOOOM
The punch connected.
The shockwave obliterated everything.
A full kilometre of forest vaporized.
The ground shattered like glass.
Flames were erased.
The monster didn't even scream.
It disappeared.
SILENCE
Markil stood alone in the crater.
Smoke drifted.
"What?!"
Markil stared at his hand.
"The hell?"
He looked around.
"I didn't even means to hit." Markil thought.
The realisation hit.
His knees buckled.
"I just..."
He laughed weakly.
"...I just erased a kilometre."
The purple moon loomed above.
Markil whispered.
"What am I becoming?"
The felt silent.
And somewhere far beyond.
Someone noticed him.
The silence after destruction was worse than the impact itself.
Markil stood frozen at the centre, smoke curling around his legs. His breath came uneven.
Then he noticed them.
The little glowing insects.
Their tiny bodies lay scattered across the crater. They were all dead.
Markil's chest tightened.
"What? How this much happened I just punched him once?" Markil thought.
He clenched his teeth.
"Is this What power does?" Markil thought bitterly. "It doesn't just protect... It destroy everything around it."
A sudden pressure pressed down on his chest.
Heavy.
Ancient.
Markil slowly looked up.
The sky felt closer.
"What now?" He breathed.
And then he saw it.
For beyond the ruined forest, piercing through the red sky.
A tower.
Not built on land.
Floating.
At its peak, half a kilometre above their was a throne.
Markil's eyes widened with fear.
"...You have got to be.... kidding me."
The massive throne of dark stone veined with glowing red lines. Beside it rested a sword long,humming faintly with power.
And on that Throne.
A person.
Markil squinted.
"...Is that... a human?"
The figure stood up.
Even from the distance, Markil could tell, he was tall, around 183 centimetre, his presence was overwhelming. Red hair fall loosely over his shoulders, and his glowed in red.
He wore a cloak that fluttered despite the still air.
The man smiled.
"So," the voice echoed,calm and amused. "You have come."
Markil's stomach dropped.
"...He was watching," Markil thought. "He saw everything."
The man rested his one hand at the sword.
Not threatening.
Casual.
Like a king observing a insect.
Markil Swallowed.
"Okay...," Markil muttered. "Don't panic... Totally normal. Just a floating Throne...A red-eyed guy, and yeah a sword that feels it could erase me from existence it's totally normal."
Markil let out a nervous laugh.
"...This is... insane!!"
"I'm thinking... about asking him for help. But i figure if he had to help me,he would have already did it, but he didn't."
"Oh god! Please help me!"
(Chapter 12 Finished)