A distant figure sat, his back against a crumbling stone knight many times larger than the figure himself. The wind of the [Orin Desert] blowing back the dark hood of the figure, revealing a boy.

A boy whose face I recognised. [Aquila’s Dying Blessing] ensured that his face would easily be seen even from multiple yards away. 

My heart lurched. Was that him? Had I finally found him? 

I ran, ignoring the pain in my legs as I ran in the sand, marked with crimson flecks. 

I grabbed the cloaked-figure by the shoulder, turning him around to face me fully. My eyes blurred as I looked upon the boy – no, man’s– face. He was well into his twenties.

But it was him. The blond hair, the scar on his lips he got as a child, the same green-coloured eyes. Different now, his face was more scarred, caramel skin now broken up by lines of thin white which criss crossed across his face, one covering his right eye which remained closed.  He looked older, more mature. Hardened by Gaia’s beasts and terrain. 

But still my little brother.

Brothers since the time we were cloned. Brothers since the time we survived on the street when our creators wanted nothing to do with us and we had only each other. 

"Amon, I've finally found you" I threw my head back and laughed, my raspy voice echoing throughout the battletorn area as I pulled him close. The pain that swept through my body was but an afterthought. Years of searching across Gaia, getting stronger, giving up my immortal soul. Everything. It had all been worth it. 

What was that look on his face? Oh yes, it must be because of my smile. The cuts on either side made me seem more monstrous than I would’ve been the last time he saw me. I tried dusting his usual mop-like hair of the ash in it. “Oh Gods Beyond, look at you–”

What was that pain? Coming from near my heart? 

I tried to ignore it. Continuing to brush off the flecks of ash which seemed to fall from the night sky like snow. How could it snow? They were in the dessert. 

Trailing one fleck of ash with my eyes, the ash landed on the hilt of an onyx dagger, its blade poking out of my chest.  

That wasn’t supposed to be there, was it? Grasping it, I pulled it out, uncaring of the smudge of pain that was there. Not compared to the pit that had opened up where his heart would be. 

Staring at the curved dagger in my hand, I watched as acrid smoke rose from the edge of the black blade, its edge shining with accursed light. 

My mind started running, thousands of miles per hour. My [Mind] Stat was in the hundreds. Only a single conclusion existed. A single possibility that could only be an impossibility. 

I looked up at him in shock, how could he do this? As if all the power had left my body, and my strings cut like a discarded puppet I fell. 

With one eye, I watched. 

I watched as his mouth moved, mouthing, “I’m sorry.” 

I watched as he turned away.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

I watched as with a tone, deader than the Sky God’s corpse, my spear impaling his body to his Divine Throne, my own little brother uttered those damned words. 

“This is Agent Blaze, the mission is complete, Astraeus' Kinling is dead.” 

How…could…this…be…? 

The world grew dark, and the spirits of the dead seemed to grab at my from beyond his vision. They were hungry. One too many times had I escaped their clutches. 

I didn’t care. 

Amon would be taken again. 

I had to stop it, I had to, I had to, I couldn’t, but I had to, I had to, I would, I will, I can, I will. I will. 

Fate herself be damned.

[Determination has levelled up!]

[Determination has levelled up!]

[Determination has levelled up!]

[Determination has levelled up!]...

[ERROR! ERROR! ERROR!]

[Singularity Formed!]

[Origin System Detecting Singularity]

[Origin System System has found Singularity]

[Archives Consulted! Record: Aryn_The_Astral_Keeper_ not found!]

[ERROR! ERROR! ERROR!]

[Protocol: Singularity Ejection Confirmed!]

[Singularity Ejection Initiated!]

[Singularity Resistance Detected!]

[Protocol: Partial Singularity Soul Ejection Confirmed!]

[Singularity Partially Ejected!]

“Aryn, Aryn!” 

My eyes snapped open, only for a moment as the brightness of the overhead lights caused me to close them. 

I had been sleeping? One of my Constellations rendered the need for sleep except for when healing completely nill. It was a novel experience, one I couldn’t afford in the face of countless wars which plagued Gaia’s surface. 

But the cramped feelings in my body, the way my head pounded, and the heaviness of my eyelids pointed to that conclusion. 

Peering out between narrowed eyes I looked at the lights above me. They didn’t make sense. It had been over twenty years since I had seen one like that. Gaia didn’t really have modern commodities. 

That should’ve been the first thing that set me off. Years of instincts honing my [Perception] to near perfection granted me near omniscience to my nearby surroundings. The very movement of the air molecules were something I sensed. 

Waking up without that? It was almost as if all my senses had been taken. 

A hand gripped my shoulder, the recipient’s voice echoing in his mind. 

“You alright buddy?” 

You alright buddy?

Peering at the owner’s voice, I couldn’t believe my eyes. My eyes Blessed by the Fae, which saw all Truth and all Lies.

“Lan? You’re alive?” He was alive? How? His face was all smiles, and didn’t have the usual calluses and scars he used to. His face was young, as if he had never stepped foot into the deathworld that was Gaia. 

“Of course I am,” he bellowed out a laugh, his laugh erring the attention of those nearby. Seeing me not smiling, he soon stopped laughing. 

“Are you alright? You seem out of it.” He tried putting a hand on my shoulder. I deftly moved out of the way before his hand touched me. 

A realisation struck me. 

I remembered this scene. 

How couldn’t I? 

I had been so nervous that everyone on Earth would be going to Gaia that I couldn’t sleep the night before. Which led me to take a nap during the welcoming presentation. 

I spoke up, my mind tracing the memories of today.

Which had been twenty years prior. 

“Yeah, just a really…weird daydream.” 

What was happening to me? Was I still on Earth? Was I no longer on Gaia? And Lan…

He was still alive. His chest remained unopened, his heart beating, and when he spoke, he spoke not in hushed fearful whispers, but in a booming voice and laughed boisterously. 

But I still remembered. 

His slumping body with a blade protruding from a chest pried open.

His corpse in a freshly dug grave. 

Such was the fate of Titans. 

Me being the only one to remember him, Astraeus remained standing while the Titan Atlas fell. None felt pain for his death as much as I. 

Giving me a critical once over and a jolly shake, he pulled me into the throngs of moving people. 

Even over their chattering I still heard his voice as he turned his head to the side to talk. 

“Come on, the announcement’s about to start.”