In a world of white with the lake stretching as far as the eye can see, a beautiful cerulean Tower stood alone in the middle of nowhere. Its height could not be determined as its sheer length extended upwards and far anyone could see. For other towers exude an aura of malice, this one was gentle and calm to anyone who set their sights on it.

“He’s here.”

A girl in a glowing white dress slowly stood up from praying. She observed the clouds sailing by, holding her hands together as she watched for a miracle begin to take form. She brought her hands to her chest and once again, remaining attentive towards the sky.

The breeze slowly came to a stop and thus the clouds stopped moving. The ripples on the lake disappeared. Everything stood still as if anticipating the same thing she was.

Suddenly, a bright golden star twinkled and dropped from the sky somewhere far from where she stood. However, she wasn’t the only one who spotted the star. The edge of the visible world was suddenly clouded in black miasma and painful wailings echoed in the distance.

The army of Shadowed monsters took crept towards it.

“Hey, hey. Doesn’t that look bad?”

“Don’t tell me you’re getting cold feet now. When did you become such a coward?”

“Hmph. To think you were a soldier who once tried to save me by bravely sacrificing himself. It appears I’ve taken the wrong impression of you.”

“Man, c’mon. Stop picking on me you two. And you! I can’t believe after all this time you can keep that royalty act on.”

“Of course! It pains me to have to be on the frontlines, but at least I perform my duties when I must! And what about you, fair lady?”

“Am I going to have to babysit all of you?”

Four figures emerged behind the praying girl, all manifesting from their spirit forms. Their colors and shape grew crisp until the features of their varied appearance became identifiable.

There was dual swordsman with a scar across his nose as wide as his smile, a balding warrior with a large red beard readying his war axe, a young horned man dress in gold holding a curved blade, and a beautiful, white haired lady in a frilly red dress carrying a book.

“Elenora.” The lady in red beckoned. “There are many stars left untouched, but I believe the one just dropped is the one we must prioritize, yes?”

“You are correct. We must retrieve that one at all costs. The Hollow, the Beyond and the material plane all depend on it. I apologize for repeatedly calling for all of you for such important tasks.”

“No sweat! We can’t go to the beyond after all. I rather do something that can help the people still fighting over there!” The scarred nose man smiled.

“Then let’s get to it.” The horned man drew his skim curved blade. “We’re already far behind.”

“I’ll get us all there.” The Balding Warrior stepped forward and strained his muscles. His body was enveloped in light and a few seconds later, he emerged gargantuan. “Hop on.”

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Unlike the Hollow, there was no lake. Unlike the Beyond, it was not populated with the souls of the dead one imagined. There was only a dull grey world and without anything else, he collapsed onto his knees and looked at his scar filled hands.

He confirmed he was in fact, dead. Through the memories of his last moments, that meant Lily should have followed him shortly after Alc’Bruk killed the both of them.

Alc’Bruk. That Dragonborn wasn’t mindlessly bragging about his power. If he had gotten serious from the start, then Kihet would’ve been annihilated without trouble. Even with the Oracle’s blessing which strengthen him, it was not enough to overcome Alc’Bruk’s power and the Crimson Dragon’s blessing.

Any moment and he would be sent to the Beyond. He waited and wait, but nothing happened for the next hour. Perhaps for his sins, his soul was isolated and thrown to his own prison of nothing only to be driven insane.

Perhaps this was a blessing to free himself from the burden of the Oracle.

He blinked.

In the horizon, the Elder, Hannah, Lemi and his parents stood on the far side. Kihet bounced on his feet at their sudden appearance. The five waved at Kihet with heart warming smiles that made him disgusted about himself.

And blinked.

Kridas, Alam, and Shiba emerged and joined the group of the dead. Kridas, crossed his arm. Alam, flashed a smile. Shiba, the previous prince of Xu, returned a look with a smug.

One last blink.

“Kihet.”

A girl stood in front of him. She had long black onyx hair, big green emerald eyes and her two blood red horns were in perfect condition. The little girl adorably cocked her head to one side examining Kihet’s distraught expression and slowly pulled up his hand up to chin height.

“Hm? You look very hurt. Are you okay?”

It was Lily, but her body regressed to that of a child’s. Seeing her, Kihet teared up and prostrated before her. “Lily. I’m sorry. I tried my best.”

“Yeah. You did your best.”

“And I got you killed with me.”

“There was nothing you could do.”

“I don’t blame you if you hate me.”

“Yeah…”

All of this may just be an illusion, but he didn’t question this if it’ll ease his guilt. Right now, Kihet just wanted the pain gone. He suffered so much for his mission as the Oracle only to end in failure. He didn’t want to be brought back to the hell he walked throughout his life.

“Our story has come to an end. There is nothing we could do.” Lily hugged Kihet, stroking the back of his head. “Let’s abandon it.”

“And the world that we’re leaving behind-.”

“I understand you’ve fought as hard you can for the world, and you were never rewarded from it. I saw how broken it turned you. I don’t want to see that ever again. Even without you, the other Oracle can take over. You can rest for all eternity with everyone here.”

She’s right. Why did he work so hard when there was another Oracle? Why were there two in the first place? The Creator must have anticipated one would be killed and passed its will onto another Enui in hopes to see that it had a higher chance to succeed. With the foundation Kihet help set up for Vivrus and Xu, the other Oracle would be less burdened.

Kihet was tired and sick of his life. The opportunity to escape the hellish world was ever so tempting.

“Let’s go. Everyone else is waiting for you.” Lily pulled his hand. Little by little, he moved on his feet and slowly tread towards his deceased friends.

He thought everything was finally over. Despite his heart pounding with excitement to tell his friends on the other side of how much he missed them, his shaking legs prevented him from running. Then he saw Hannah running by his side, taking his other hand and dragged him alongside Lily.

Being nostalgic, Kihet remembered Hannah being as impatient as ever.

He realized something and stopped.

“What if everyone hates me?”

“Everyone misses you as much as you missed them.”

“I couldn’t save them though.”

“They feel just as bad as you, they couldn’t save you as well.” Lily heaved a sigh, holding a smile as best she could. “You can apologize to them if that makes you feel better. It’s only a couple more steps away.”

And with that, Kihet nodded and moved forward again. He was going to leave the cruel world behind, and the world never gave a shit for him or to those he cared about.

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He was ostracized through most of his childhood and was given false hope when he became one of the chosen warriors of light. Then, he was given a rare opportunity to leave the village only to be thrown with an impossible task that robbed nearly everything from him.

This was the tragedy of Kihet and he was going to end it all once and for all.

He took slow steps while trying process the freedom he was about to be granted, not realizing his legs slowly sank into the swamp like floor with each step.

“Oracle, what are you up to? Going for a swim?”

Kihet calmly turned around as Lily and Hannah hid behind him.

A familiar face with green eyes which one scar ran vertically over stood a few meters from behind. His dark golden hair bobbed up and down each time he stepped towards Kihet.

The Apparition was Henrick, one of the old heroes of humanity revealing himself to Kihet after the apocalypse. He was also responsible for engraving the seal on Kihet’s arms, giving him the Oracle’s mark.

From what Kihet was aware of, Henrick should be consumed by the Tower and became its guardian.

“Weren’t you controlled by the Shadows?”

“I was, but thankfully I managed to isolate a portion of my soul away in the Limbo before it fully captured me. So? What are you doing? Your duty for being the Oracle isn’t over yet.”

“I’m going to sleep.”

“Sleep? You’re a spirit. Why would you need sleep?”

“I meant I’m done. I don’t want to go back.”

“D-done? Are you saying you’re going to accept your fate? Where’s your talk about getting stronger?”

“I can’t do it anymore. This world’s too much for me to handle. Even if I continue living, I’ll be prolonging my suffering. I’m going to my friends.”

“What about your other friends? There’s the insectoid and your friend… Draigh! They’re still fighting, are you just going to leave them behind?”

At the mention of his friends he made along the way, Kihet took a glance at Lily and squeezed her hand, grimacing.

His friend from the living realm were still fighting. Those two were strong. Kihet knew even without his aid, they would somehow survive. After all, he’s already dead. What good will he do by possessing his decapitated corpse that could no longer move?

“There’s also Vol and Elius. Maybe they’re out there waiting to see you!”

Kihet knew about Vol’s situation. It may be safer for Vol to continue whatever he’s doing. As for Elius, it would be great if Kihet knew why Elius was hostile towards Draigh, but nonetheless be a powerful asset to help the other Oracle.

“What about- what about that girl? Her name… Sorah! What about her? Don’t you want to meet her again? Didn’t you two make a vow or something? You always mumbled something about her in your sleep.”

Henrick was desperate at this point, but the expression on Kihet stated he was committed to give up.

“I think it’s better if she comes to this side. This place is better than the old world. Even Hannah is happy staying here.” Kihet softly rubbed Sorah’s sister on the head. “This is my limit. I just can’t. I’m sorry for failing your expectations. Goodbye, Henrick.”

“You, piece of shit…!” The Hero bellowed. “AH! GOD FUCKING DAMMIT! I swear, every time. Every single fucking time! Out of all the times you enter this realm, you always default to dying! This is my first time interfering, and you’re going to go die under my watch?!”

Henrick spat nonsense. The hero bit his thumb and began mumbling. He was furious and lost in thought, violently crushing his thumb between his teeth.

“Again? What do you mean?”

Hannah tugged on Kihet. “Kihet, I’m scared. Let’s leave-.”

“Remnants of the dead should stay dead.”

A magic circle formed under Henrick. Like the first time he fought against the guardian of the tower looming over his village, lines branched out and scattered towards Kihet.

Kihet instantly tried to defend Lily and Hannah with the Oracle’s flames, but they wouldn’t appear. He forgot he was dead and thus, lost access to the Oracle’s powers. He could only watch in horror as Henrick’s magic shot red energy spikes and impaled his loved ones in front of him one by one.

“No, Lily, Hannah! Everyone!”

“I encouraged you to live and you chose to die instead. Fine. I’ll welcome you to the other side of death like this. The remnants of your friends and family, I’ll kill them. You’ll see everyone, everything you care about get slaughtered! Over and over, until you decide you will be the Oracle!”

“Ki…het… help…” Hannah stretched her tiny hand towards Kihet as her body was being skewered over and over.

“Henrick, stop it!”

“I said I won’t stop until you don’t give up!” A suit of armor formed over the Hero. He floated above ground with his other worldly footwear had orbs floating underneath his soles, encased by metallic rings. It was depicted by runic markings similar to enchanted weapons but with more complex magic formulas.

Kihet climbed out of the ground and rushed towards Henrick with nothing but his fists.

“Hrk!”

Even as a spirit, he felt pain. Two red spikes sprouted from the floor and skewered his ribs.

“For that to happen, I’ll make this place worse than a living hell for you.”

Pinned in place, Kihet hopelessly watched the souls who waited for him to be spears with thousands of red needles. Kihet’s heart shattered into millions of fragments. He plead mercy for the first twenty, cried for the next fifty and remained silent for the next hundred scenes. Henrick would wait for the souls to regenerate their bodies only to be impaled time after time.

“Tch. They’re more durable than I expected.” Henrick made a gesture with his hands, like waving a wand or a ribbon in the air. “Hijalia Ruveittee. Xiaef Diforam, Zek, Brac, Zaek no Lachmria. You accursed spirits of the dead should stop latching onto the living!”

The melody of magic chimed in this realm.

“No… STOP!”

Everyone who Kihet had just reunited was subjected Henrick’s mysterious incantation and their true nature was revealed.

“How dare you interfere with our revenge!”

“We were very close to drag him to the depths of hell!”

“Why do you deny our grief?”

Their disguises were stripped as faces melt away, revealing a skull underneath. They were formless with black mist trailing behind the floating skulls. They were wraiths.

Then before the ones who disguised themselves as Lily and Hannah managed to grab a hold of Kihet, Henrick snapped his finger. The vengeful ghosts that haunted Kihet were engulfed with black flames and soon departed from this realm.

“Why…?”

“Because you didn’t know you were being tricked, or...” Henrick thoroughly examined Kihet’s distraught face. “Don’t tell me you wanted them to take you? Cut that crap!”

“Then what am I supposed to do? I’m weak! I died! Even if I went back as a ghost, I can’t do anything! All I’d be doing is watching my friends die in front of my eyes!”

“Like the Devil folk?”

Kihet opened his mouth only for no voice to come out. Irritated, he instead planted himself on the grey floor and went silent. As a spirit, sleep was impossible, but he closed his eyes hoping to find some peace in this timeless place.

Until Kihet was willing to speak, Henrick stood idly by and stared into the void.

Moments later, Henrick heard movement.

“Even if I chose to live, what good will I do? I couldn’t save any of these people. Let alone, Lily died because I was careless. I wonder if she’s in a better place than I am.”

“If I recall, that Devil Folk was the one who convinced you to take the mantle of the Oracle.”

“And now that she’s gone, I don’t have the courage to keep on going. The world will still be fine without me since there is a second Oracle.”

Hearing this, Henrick let out a gasp. “A second? That’s not possible, is it?”

“Why not? You gave me this seal. Someone else like you can give another one out to someone else.”

“That uh… can’t.” Under his breath, he muttered, “Is there someone like that out there?”

Kihet heard it and thought there was. The other guardians, like Henrick, were enslaved by the Towers to protect it. Unless there was another meaning to his words.

Thus, there were contradictions. As Kihet entered deep thought, he suddenly remembered Elenora’s words of how the Oracle was the Creator’s last will in mortal form. It couldn’t have been passed down.

And it wasn’t like he had anything better to do. He was dead and he wasn’t going to the Beyond. There was nothing to lose.

“Do you know Elenora?”

“Hmm… maybe.”

“I’m not in the mood for games. You put the mark on me and turned my life into a living hell. It’s only fair you explain what this crest really is. It’s not actually the Oracle’s crest is it?”

Kihet’s talkative mood brought back a smile across the Hero’s face. “What do you think? So far, that crest provided you with the strength to fight against the Towers so you can’t argue it isn’t the Oracle’s crest.

“This is supposed to be something the Creator gave me, but you’re the one who gave the crest to me. Also, there is something else bothering me. I met with someone called Elenora.”

“And?”

“Do you know her?”

“The saint, right? I know of her.”

“But she doesn’t know you.”

“Well, that’s her problem. Why?”

“All the other Hero names were censored when she tried to tell me. Yours included, when I try to tell her. It’s you, isn’t it?”

Henrick shook his head and shrugged as if he’s caught red handed. “Sure is. It’s because I’m not liked.”

“What else are you hiding?”

“Well, it’s a secret, but I’ll let you in on something.” Even though there wasn’t a single soul around them, Henrick’s voice lowered as if there were listeners. “There is something called Sanctums and only your mark can access them.”

Sanctums. The Headsman from Vivrus once mentioned it. Although he hadn’t had a clue of what it is, it was something that needed to be destroyed.

“Where are these Sanctums?”

“Not where. What. They are fragments of distorted dimensions left behind by the Creator. In short, a special pocket holding pieces of the Creator’s powers, but they can’t be interpreted by us. Instead,” The hero’s smile morphed. From a nonchalant and carefree know it all smirk has changed to a darker expression like he thought of a scheme.

He rummaged through his pocket and brought out a lump of chromatic chunk. It reflected everything like a warped mirror, but on a closer inspection, there were faint images though it was blurred.

“What if I told you it’s possible to go back in time using them?”

“Go back? Then it means I can-.” Kihet’s eyes sparkled.

Lily and he could have another chance, a do over. However, that depended how long time could be turned back. If the amount of time he could turn back was anything shorter than his encounter with Alc’Bruk, it’d be meaningless.

“I know what you’re thinking. The limit is a few seconds at most.”

“That...” Still hesitant, Kihet kept his eye on the chromatic object, observing it from afar.

“Think about it. You got nothing to lose and you have full knowledge of whoever sent you to this place. A few seconds is already a lot to change yours and the Devil girl’s fate.” Henrick held out the object egging Kihet to take it. “Of course, it’s not a lot of time. So, I’ll assist you in return for a favor. Whadya say?”

He was at a loss for words as he unconsciously reached forward. This was his only chance. What other choice was there?

“Don’t listen to him!”

Light suddenly filled the empty space in front of Kihet, forcing him on his feet and put his guard up. The ball of light condensed and took the form of a person as a long frilly dress flutter into existence, platinum shining white hair draped down her back. Her dolly eyes opened and stared into Kihet’s grey almond size pupils.

In that moment, the two who looked straight at each other gasped with the girl fallen speechless immediately after her materialization.

“Kihet…?!”

“You’re…!”

“Not now. You’re in danger.” Six [Ribbons] sprung from her back and quickly seized his wrist. She then turned to Henrick with a glare that could almost kill. “It’s a good thing I made it in time.”

As fast as a blink of an eye and with a flash, both Kihet and the girl teleported away.

Henrick was left all alone in this plane with a fragment still held out. He had planned to give it to Kihet to return to the material plane, but that didn’t went as followed. On the other hand, he was amused by the intervention. It was a gleeful feeling reminiscent to that of playing a game of chess.

He moved a piece, but it was taken. Now it was his turn again.

“I see. Interfering might’ve been the best choice. You just can’t leave me alone could you, inferior trash.”