Chapter 1
The Last Children of Gahna
"My Emperor, I greet you!"
A man drenched in blood knelt before the figure seated at the end of the vast hall.
The Emperor of the Vael'Drin.
His presence was so profound that the air itself seemed to bend around him. Even standing motionless upon his throne, he gave off an indescribable pressure—one that made the wounded general before him feel as though he were standing before an unfathomable abyss.
"Speak," the Emperor said, his deep, majestic voice echoing through the hall. "Why have you come?"
The general lowered his head.
"We are losing too many forces, My Emperor. At this rate… we will not last another million years."
Silence descended.
The Emperor closed his eyes.
A heavy sigh escaped his lips.
Another million years.
For most races, such a span of time would have been incomprehensible.
To the Vael'Drin, it was nothing more than a final countdown.
The sound of footsteps suddenly echoed from the entrance.
A captivating voice followed.
"My love, the Oracle has already seen everything that is coming, yet you still cling to such flimsy hope."
The general immediately bowed even lower.
The Empress entered the hall.
She was breathtakingly beautiful, her features carrying the same otherworldly elegance shared by their race. In her arms rested a newborn baby, sleeping peacefully as though the universe itself had nothing worth fearing.
She walked toward the Emperor and took her place beside him.
"Your people aren't afraid," she continued softly. "They have already made their choice."
The Emperor looked at her.
"They have decided that if they cannot survive, then at least our bloodline and our race will not disappear completely."
She lowered her gaze to the sleeping child in her arms.
"I am not afraid either, my love."
Her fingers gently brushed the baby's cheek.
"The Will of the Mother will not deceive us."
The Emperor stared at his wife for several moments.
Then his expression softened.
"Dear…"
He rose from his throne and approached her.
"Don't push yourself. You have only just given birth. You should be resting."
The Empress turned her face away stubbornly.
"I am fine."
"You're not."
"I said I'm fine."
A faint smile appeared on the Emperor's face.
Even at the end of everything, she was still stubborn.
He reached out and gently touched her shoulder.
Then his smile faded.
"Even if we sacrifice ourselves…" His gaze fell upon the child in her arms. "Can you truly bear to sacrifice our son?"
The Empress looked at him.
For the first time, her expression wavered.
The Emperor's voice became quieter.
"I can accept my own death. I can accept the death of our people. But him…"
He looked at the infant.
"I don't know if I can."
The Empress stepped closer.
"The Oracle said the Mother will protect him."
"And if the Oracle is wrong?"
"She won't be."
"You cannot know that."
"I can."
The Empress looked directly into his eyes.
"Because she is our Mother."
The Emperor fell silent.
For a long while, neither of them spoke.
Eventually, he turned toward the bloodied general.
"Announce to the people that they are to settle their inheritances for the future of Gahna."
The general immediately bowed.
"Yes, My Emperor."
"Tell them to gather at the Imperial Capital in two weeks."
"Yes."
The Emperor paused.
Then he looked toward his wife.
"I need a few days alone."
The Empress understood.
She did not stop him.
The Emperor disappeared from the hall.
───
Two weeks passed.
The people of Gahna gathered.
Not thousands.
Not billions.
Not even trillions.
The population that stood before the Imperial Capital numbered in the quintillions upon quintillions.
Yet there was no celebration.
No cheering.
No music.
No children running through the streets.
For the first time in the history of the Vael'Drin, their entire race had gathered for a single purpose.
To say goodbye.
At the center of the Imperial Capital stood a colossal tower that pierced the heavens.
At its summit were two majestic thrones.
One violet.
One silver.
The colors of their race.
The Emperor slowly rose from the violet throne.
The countless Vael'Drin fell silent.
His gaze swept across them.
Every face.
Every warrior.
Every elder.
Every child.
Every family.
His people.
His family.
The children of the Mother.
The children of Gahna.
"My people…"
His voice traveled across the entire capital.
"My family."
He paused.
"Children of the Mother. Children of Gahna."
The crowd remained silent.
"We have fought the outsiders for longer than many of you can remember."
His eyes hardened.
"We fought them. We learned from them. We adapted to them."
A faint pressure spread from his body.
"We were the first race created by the Mother."
His voice grew louder.
"And throughout all these ages, we showed those plunderers no weakness."
The crowd listened.
"But today…"
The Emperor looked toward the distant heavens.
"We have received word from the battlefield."
His expression became solemn.
"Even greater forces are beginning to move."
A murmur spread through the crowd.
"We have been pushed into a newly formed plane, and our enemies continue to grow stronger. If we continue fighting as we are now…"
He paused.
"We will eventually fall."
Silence.
Not a single person interrupted him.
"So we sought another solution."
The Emperor looked toward the Oracle standing among the elders.
"The Oracle found one."
He turned back toward the people.
"We will return our essence to the Mother."
The words echoed across the capital.
"In doing so, we will strengthen the protection around Gahna and give those who come after us a chance to live."
His voice remained calm.
Steady.
But his eyes betrayed something deeper.
"We may not be the ones who inherit the future."
He looked at the countless people before him.
"But perhaps our descendants will."
His gaze softened.
"And that is enough."
The Emperor continued speaking for nearly an hour.
He spoke of their history.
Their victories.
Their failures.
Their ancestors.
The worlds they had conquered.
The friends they had lost.
The enemies they had defeated.
And finally, the future they would never see.
When his speech ended, the entire capital remained silent.
Then the Emperor turned toward his wife.
"Come."
The Empress stood.
She carried their son in her arms.
Together, the Emperor and Empress walked to the center of the platform.
The Emperor looked down at the sleeping infant.
For the first time that day, his expression completely softened.
He reached into his robes and pulled out a small silvery orb.
It was nothing particularly grand.
It contained no overwhelming aura, nor did it shake the heavens or cause the surrounding space to tremble.
It was simply something the Emperor had prepared for his son.
He gently pressed the orb against the baby's chest.
The orb sank into the infant's body without resistance.
A faint silver light flashed across Aeron's body before disappearing completely.
The Emperor smiled.
"One day…"
He placed a hand against his son's head.
"One day, you will bring our people back."
The Empress's eyes trembled.
The Emperor lifted his head.
His gaze turned toward the heavens.
"Mother!"
His voice thundered across Gahna.
"We, your children, are ready!"
For a moment—
Nothing happened.
Then—
BOOM.
The entire world trembled.
Mountains shook.
The oceans surged.
The heavens cracked with countless violet lines.
And then it began.
Violet essence rose from every living being across Gahna.
From the warriors.
From the elders.
From the children.
From the strongest cultivators to the weakest newborns.
The essence of an entire race flowed toward the heavens.
One by one, bodies began to crumble.
Skin became dust.
Flesh became dust.
Bones became dust.
Until nothing remained.
Yet there was no screaming.
No resistance.
They had already accepted their fate.
They were giving everything they had—
For the future.
At last, only the Imperial family remained.
The Empress looked down at her son.
Her hands trembled.
She gently stroked his hair.
His cheeks.
His tiny face.
She memorized every part of him.
Then she leaned forward and kissed his forehead.
"Live well, my child."
Her voice trembled.
"No matter what happens…"
A tear slid down her cheek.
"Mother loves you."
Her body began to dissolve.
The Emperor watched silently.
He did not cry.
He did not scream.
He simply stood there as the woman he had loved for countless years slowly turned into violet dust.
The dust drifted through his fingers.
Then she was gone.
Only the Emperor remained.
His body was already disappearing.
His legs vanished first.
Then his torso.
His arms.
Soon, only his head remained.
He looked toward the infant floating before him.
The baby slept peacefully within the silver light.
The Emperor stared at him for several seconds.
Then, unexpectedly, he laughed.
A weak laugh.
"Brat…"
His eyes softened.
"When you grow old enough, remember to have plenty of women."
A faint grin appeared on his face.
"Your mother never approved of that sort of thing, so I never got the chance."
He paused.
"Though I suppose you shouldn't take after me too much."
His gaze lingered on the child.
"Your mother and I chose your name together."
He smiled.
"Aeron."
The Emperor sighed.
"It's a good name."
He looked upward as his body continued to disappear.
"Although…"
A mischievous glint appeared in his eyes.
"I wanted to call you Festus."
He chuckled.
"Your mother disagreed."
Only his head remained now.
The silver light surrounding Aeron grew brighter.
The Emperor's smile slowly faded.
For a final moment, he looked at his son.
"My little Aeron…"
His voice became barely more than a whisper.
"Live."
Then—
His existence dissolved into violet dust.
And the last Emperor of the Vael'Drin disappeared from the world.
The infant remained.
Floating alone within the silver light.
Unaware that his entire race had just sacrificed itself for his future and the future of Gahna.
Unaware that the world he would one day awaken in would be nothing like the one his parents had known.