On the highest peak of Heaven, where the Grand Chamber was built, two Archangels stood outside, guarding the Grand Chamber's entrance. One of them yawned and stretched his arms out as he asked,
"Anos, when do you think Lord Terron will finish crafting the….. what did he call it again…?"
Anos turned his head to his comrade, Abaddon, and glared at him, silently telling him to shut up. Abaddon didn't care, however, and just stared at him as he waited for an answer. Sighing, Anos dropped his head and said,
"He named it Vincula Aurum…. As for when it'll be finished, I don't know… it's been 10 years already, so…."
Anos stopped talking and turned around, towards the Grand Chamber's entrance where he felt massive fluctuations of energy. And then, like an erupting volcano, the energy suddenly surged towards the sky, creating a pillar of iridescent light.
The skies of Heaven were dyed in various kinds of colors, turning it into a grand spectacle for every Angel present.
Anos, too, looked up at the skies of Heaven in awe, when he suddenly felt someone tapping on his shoulder, making him turn around, only to see Abaddon pointing above the Grand Chamber. Anos shifted his gaze to where Abaddon was pointing at, and was shocked to see Metatron hovering in the middle of the iridescent pillar of light, with his hands firmly clasped together.
Metatron then spread his arms wide and conjured multiple rings of light around the pillar. And with his voice enchanted with Divinity, he said,
"[ Dei Vincula— Bind ]"
Immediately after, the rings of light contracted around the pillar of iridescent light, forcing it to become thinner and thinner, until it was no longer visible to the naked eye. Curious, Anos roused up his Holy Power and enhanced his sense of vision and was able to see a thin string of iridescent light, connecting to the skies of Heaven and to whatever was inside the Grand Chamber.
Anos was wondering where the other end of the string was connected to, but when he finally arrived at an answer, the giant double doors of the Grand Chamber suddenly opened, followed by Terron, who was bathed in sweat, walking through it. Terron then made eye contact with Anos and said,
"Tell my brother I'm leaving."
* * *
She had a dream.
A dream where she felt herself slowly crumbling to pieces. A dream where she felt nothing but pain. She felt like the entirety of her existence was slowly burning away, turning into dust. She felt like the endless void was slowly consuming her, causing her to feel an immense sense of primal fear…
A fear of death…
A fear of absolute nothingness…
A fear of the cold and empty darkness of the void…
But just as the darkness of the void slowly crept up on her, a brilliant, golden light suddenly shone, driving away the cold touch of the void.
The light comforted her. It made her feel warm. It made her feel like all of her troubles have gone away, like she could finally have her peace. But then…
Ocean opened her eyes.
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The intense light of the red sun greeted her eyes, making her close them instantly. She then raised herself up as her eyes slowly adjusted to the light, and was shocked when she saw what was in front of her.
A dense forest of tall, dark colored trees, and a land of ice and snow laid in front of her. And in the distance, she saw mountains so tall that they reached up to the skies, leaving her mouth agape as she looked at them in awe. But then, she realized…
She didn't know where she was.
Panicking, Ocean frantically looked around her in hopes to find the people that brought her here, but no matter where she looked, she saw no signs of people ever being here.
Scared and confused, she tried her best to remember what happened before she lost consciousness, and one word immediately came to her mind…
"God…"
Just as she said that, she suddenly noticed shining, golden lines on her arm. She then looked at her hands and was shocked when saw golden rings on each of her fingers. She caressed them, expecting them to be some kind of body paint, only to be shocked once more once she realized they were made of genuine gold…
But just as the question of what these were popped up in her mind, the sound of a twig snapping rang out, making her turn her head to where the noise came from, only to see a massive bear with thick white fur slowly walking towards her, making her inadvertently take a step back.
The bear didn't seem to care about being noticed though, and instead, it openly growled at her, showing its bloodstained teeth. Ocean, initially scared, suddenly remembered what she was doing before she suddenly arrived here…
She remembered the carnage she had caused, and the strength she had when she fought those Fiends…
Suddenly gaining confidence, Ocean took a step forward and kept her body low as she glared at the bear. And with her fist tightly clenched, she pounced forward.
The bear, not expecting its prey to attack first, couldn't react in time and was hit directly in the eye, becoming disoriented. Ocean didn't stop moving and slid below the bear, just under its throat, and without hesitation, she punched it as hard as she could, her fist piercing through the bear's thick fur and skin.
She then pulled her fist out, making the bear gush out blood from the hole on its neck. The bear's body then swayed, and Ocean, noticing this, was about to get out from underneath it, when the bear's lifeless body suddenly fell on top of her, pinning her to the ground.
Now pinned to the ground by the bear's heavy corpse, Ocean could only sigh as she cursed,
"Damn it…"
* * *
Scavenger.
Ever since the day Ocean's parents died, she had lived her life as a scavenger. She was weak, she was powerless, and she knew no other ways of survival.
For years, she spent most of her time following the trails of the Hunters in the outskirts of Petrichor and took anything they left behind.
Python Skin, Scorpion Tails, Lion's Mane, and many more. She took anything she could use to feed herself or to simply sell to the village market.
She had learned a lot from the things she had experienced in her life. Most of them pertaining to knowledge of hunting and the various types of beasts that existed in the continent. Of course, the information she learned about beasts mostly came from a basic encyclopedia she once stole…
But not everything went smoothly for her. Sometimes she would let her guard down and get caught by the Hunters she'd been following, and get beaten to a pulp right after.
She actually considered herself lucky that the Hunters never did anything else besides beating her up, considering most of the people in the outskirts suffered much harsher consequences than what she had experienced.
She thought it was tiring, living that way. So much pain and suffering, just for her to live another day, that was no different from the previous one. It was hard for her to make friends and she had no relatives either, making her live most of her life by herself, all alone…
Just like now…
Three days had passed since Ocean arrived at the Northern Mountains, and in that time, she hunted any beasts she could find, such as Rabbits, Dire Wolves, and the occasional Frost Bears. She used the meat of the beasts she killed and made water by melting snow to sustain herself. She also crafted crude clothes for herself, using the pelts of fur of the beasts she had killed.
She honestly wouldn't have minded if the rest of her days went on like this. She honestly enjoyed her simple life right now. Hunting, eating, crafting, and going to sleep. She wished this would go on till the day she died…
But fate seemed to have other plans for her…
On the fourth day, where Ocean was sharpening the tip of a long piece of wood to make a crude spear for herself inside a cave she randomly found in the mountains, she suddenly heard a loud yell from outside,
"Kravah, a cave! We'll try to lose them there!"
She then heard the sound of footsteps echoing in the cave getting louder as she sensed the presence of the men slowly arriving near her location.
A bit shocked from finding other humans here, Ocean became cautious and stood up. She then raised her fist and she clenched them, as she waited for the men to arrive.
* * *
Rangar ran.
Exhausted, Rangar pushed himself to run on the steep and rocky ground of a nearby mountain near their hideout. He turned his head to the side and saw Kravah, his brother, running alongside him with his frostbitten arm.
Seeing his brother still trying his best to survive even when he was feeling so much pain, Rangar gritted his teeth as he thought of ways for them to survive.
His eyes frantically moved as he looked around him, looking for a place for them to hide from their pursuers, when he suddenly spotted an entrance of a cave. He then yelled,
"Kravah, a cave! We'll try to lose them there!"
After saying so, he dragged his brother by the hand and proceeded to run towards the cave, panting as he did so. Once they were inside, they continued going deeper and deeper into the cave, when Rangar suddenly saw the tunnel they were in taking a sharp turn to the right.
Rangar slowed down his pace and made the turn, only for his eyes to grow wide when he saw a young woman, raising her clenched fists as she glared at him.