She was sleeping peacefully on the soft ground…

Or at least, she was, until she suddenly felt a slobbery tongue continuously licking her face, forcing her to raise her torso and push the wolf pup away from her.

Ocean stretched her arms out as she yawned and rubbed her belly. She then looked at her surroundings, which was still the same as before. The forest was still shrouded in darkness while the area she was in was brightly lit by the sun above.

What was strange, however, was the lack of sound in the forest. The forest seemed so vast and expansive, so she expected it to be loud and full of noise from all of its inhabitants, but strangely, there was none.

Ocean swept her gaze around her while the wolf pup bit on her crudely made pants, still trying to get her attention.

There was nothing.

With how great her vision was, Ocean at least expected to see a single ant in the forest, but no, there was nothing here. No beasts, no critters, no birds—

Just as she thought there weren't any birds, Ocean saw an eagle that had feathers as white as snow, perched up on a branch above her, looking at her with its sharp eyes.

Ocean suddenly had the urge to greet the bird, and so, surrendering to her urges, she raised her hand and waved at it. She honestly didn't expect to receive any sort of response, but to her surprise, the eagle bowed its head to her, making her dumbfounded.

"Huh…"

That was all she could say as she saw the eagle fly towards the sky, away from her view.

Sighing, Ocean slowly stood up and picked up the wolf pup who had been trying to get her attention all this time. She then approached the small lake and admired its crystal clear waters.

And then, without hesitation, she threw the wolf up into the water.

Water splashed everywhere as the pup got thrown into the water. It then swam back up to the surface and looked at Ocean with a pout.

Ocean, seeing this, found it incredibly cute and hilarious, and laughed out loud. She seemed to be the only one enjoying this situation, however, because the pup suddenly jumped out of the water and headbutted Ocean's feet, causing her to wince in pain.

Still feeling her bones creaking, Ocean sat back down near the river and put her legs on the water. She thought about something for a while, and after coming to a decision, she took off her crude clothing and was now completely nude.

She then turned to her side, where she saw the wolf pup looking at her worriedly and gave it a gentle smile. She then patted its head and said,

"I'm fine… you didn't do anything wrong…"

Right after saying so, Ocean slowly stood up and went into the lake and submerged herself in its crystal clear waters. Ocean continued walking deeper into the lake, until the water reached slightly above her neck, leaving only her head on the surface.

She then closed her eyes and cleared her mind as she let the gentle waters of the lake wash off all the unsettling things that had clung to her body.

She might be imagining things, but she suddenly felt streams of water below her moving all over her body and rinsing it off. A warm, golden light then started to slowly emit from her chest, where there was a golden brooch, decorated with 3 pairs of wings, with a blue gem in the middle.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

She stared at it for a while, wondering what this thing was doing, only to suddenly feel her body getting filled with energy. Her mind then suddenly became clearer and the pain she felt all over her body was slowly disappearing…

Ocean then suddenly started to feel her consciousness growing fainter and fainter, until finally, she closed her eyes and fell asleep while her body remained submerged in water.

* * *

Light.

That was all she could see.

A blinding, bright crimson and golden light, burning through the darkness and filling the emptiness of the void.

A loud cry was ḩ̶̹̫̫̬̓ȩ̶̯̝̲̫͓̠̇͂̿̈̔͘͜͝à̸͉͎͈͆͑̒͂̏͊́̃ͅr̸̨̨̡̨̧̛̠̞͇͙̞̬̯̫͇̖͇̤̪̥̩̳͋̾̄͗̈̀͐͌́̊̑̌̒̍͐̅̏̈͂͒͊͑͐͑͝ḑ̸͕̬͙͖͎̞͎̙͍̖͓̯̹̼͓̦̩͕̝̻̜̭̙̤͍͓͂͋͛̄̓̂̿͘̕͜͜ͅ as the darkness burned. It reverberated all throughout the universe itself, causing everything in it to shake uncontrollably and wreak havoc on its denizens.

The l̶̮̅į̸̰̱̱̱̤̹̮̺̮̗͉̙̋̑͒͛̇ͅǵ̵͔͍̥̻̞̣̰̗͙́͆̑̄̎̾̆̄̓̅̽ͅlh̵̲͎͙͖̪̪̠́̐̕ţ̸̛͙̻̜̻͓̺͈̓́́̇̀̌̓̅̒͒͊͌̽̾̋͛̄́͂̊͆̆̒̍̕͘ remained indifferent to its pain, however, and became even brighter than before, burning everything in its path.

But then, the intensity of the heat suddenly died down and a pair of ę̸̢̢̧͇̱̖̻̙̺̲̤̝͎̙̟͖̺̮̊̆̌̔̓́͗̔͛̔̆͊̈́̄ͅͅỳ̴̧̨̧̨̛̙̖͎̜̘̫͎̬̭̲͈̱̟̟͕͇̼͓̖͇̅̀̅̓̐̈́́͑̈́͊̏́e̴̪̟̬̮̘͍̦̫̊͛͆͋ş̶̫̱̗̝̠͎̤͔̖̦̖̮̫͉̻͙̃͐̌̕̕͜͝ suddenly formed in the center of the light.

The ę̸̢̢̧͇̱̖̻̙̺̲̤̝͎̙̟͖̺̮̊̆̌̔̓́͗̔͛̔̆͊̈́̄ͅͅỳ̴̧̨̧̨̛̙̖͎̜̘̫͎̬̭̲͈̱̟̟͕͇̼͓̖͇̅̀̅̓̐̈́́͑̈́͊̏́e̴̪̟̬̮̘͍̦̫̊͛͆͋ş̶̫̱̗̝̠͎̤͔̖̦̖̮̫͉̻͙̃͐̌̕̕͜͝ then swept its gaze towards its surroundings, until finally, it l̶̫̲͎̩̜̤̠̣͈̲͖͙̻̘͖̟̙̣̥͉̭̱̪̼̲̋͗͆̈́͂͜͜͜͝͝ͅa̵̢̢̘̰͖̺̭͚̹͙̞͉̙̮̹̞̘̗̲͕͇̓̊̌̐͆͆́̈͘̚͜ͅǹ̵̟̭̺͕̙͚̩̻̬͕͈̙̙̗̟͕̹͈͙͋̓͑͒̑͐͑͋͑̈́́͑̈́̃͊̈́̇̿͆͐̀̈͘̚̕͝ͅͅͅd̶̓̀͑̄̊͗̽̄̀̓̒͑̀̉́̊̆͒̂̚ͅè̶̢͍͙͉͖̫̼̺͚̬̠̖͎̈́̋͛͂̽̃̈́̎͒̀͑͒̇̍̿̐͘̚͘͝͠͠d̶̨̧̨̖͔̣̥̰̖͈͕̻̺̰̟͖̯͇̯̖͚̹̀͂̔͘̕͜͜͝ on me…

[ L̴̛̦̞͔͊̀̔̂̑̇̀̊̂̏͠ě̸̡̧̧͉͙̳̞̱̘̘̺̟͖͖̼̙͕͉͈̓̉̚͜͜͝ͅȧ̶͕͚̰̺̣͙̭̱̙͑̑̈́̈́v̴͕̅̈́̃̽̈́͊͂́̐̈͛̈́̋͝ȩ̶̧̡̡̱̯͍̰̻̤̳̥̣̘̪̦̠̭̞͚̱͉͎̮̑̅̎͊̂̍̾̀͐̚ͅͅ ]

* * *

Ocean woke up, gasping for breath. Water splashed all around her as she panicked and frantically tried to make her feet stand on the lake's smooth, earthly floor. She didn't know when it got here, but the pup also started pulling her as well, back to safety.

Not resisting the pull, Ocean allowed her floating body to get dragged by the wolf pup as it slowly swam to land.

And when she arrived, she remained still and unmoving, as her mind raced to try and rationalize what she just saw. Not arriving at an answer, no matter how hard she thought, she decided to stand up and clothed herself.

After clothing herself, her mind still remained blank as she continued to think about what she had just witnessed.

Light devouring darkness.

And a voice she couldn't quite understand.

Suddenly having the urge to see her own face, Ocean approached the lake and gazed into its surface, where she saw a perfect reflection of her face. Something strange started happening, however. Her own face suddenly started distorting and cracks were forming. The cracks then moved and aligned themselves to form a circular, grid like structure, with a hole, as dark as the abyss, right in the center.

Oceans head slowly started to ache the longer she stared at it, but due to her desperate desire to understand… this… whatever she was seeing… she pressed on and gritted her teeth and she endured the torturous pain…

She stared into the abyss, hoping to understand just even just a little bit, to get a glimpse of the truth…

When suddenly, blood bursted out of her eyes, nose and ears, prompting the wolf pup to slam Ocean's head with its own, and pushed her away from her reflection.

* * *

Terron, still in the form of an eagle, sighed as he watched Ocean lose her consciousness, with blood flowing continuously from her eyes, nose and ears.

A brilliant flash of light then erupted from his chest, and when it died down, Terron was back to his own Angelic form.

He slowly descended from the skies and approached the unconscious Ocean. The wolf pup, noticing his presence, then barred its little fangs and growled as it glared at Terron with its sharp, beastly eyes.

Terron ignored the pup, however, and proceeded to approach Ocean. Seeing her current state, he couldn't help but let out a deep sigh and mutter,

"I unlocked it too soon…"

Yesterday, while Ocean was asleep, he lamented over the decrease of his physical capabilities because of Ocean's limitations. So to combat that, he decided to undo just a little bit of the seal, so he could restore at least 1% of his physical prowess.

But it was a mistake.

Terron finally realized the true reason why Ocean had Vincula Aurum fused into her body and restrained her strength. It was because while her body and soul became strengthened and came close to his own, her mind was still fragile and weak, like a human's….

"Tsk..!"

Terron clicked his tongue as he crouched down and placed his palm on Ocean's head, when he suddenly felt something pulling on his pants. He turned to look at what was going on, only to see the wolf pup, trying to rip off his clothes.

Terron chuckled, seeing this. Thinking it was adorable, he decided to let the pup be. He then roused up his Holy Power within him and with his palms glowing in a soft and gentle, golden light, he said,

"Heal."

* * *

Ocean woke up, gasping for breath.

She raised her torso and looked at her surroundings, looking for the strange presence she felt while she was unconscious. Her eyes moved frantically as she tried to find the source of the weird presence she felt, only to give up and sigh when she couldn't find anything…

Standing up, she dusted off the snow that had piled over her body and looked down at the wolf pup, who was curled up into a little ball, sleeping. She patted its head while it slept and admired its soft, white fur that glistened under the moon's blue light…

"Wait, moonlight?!"

Only now noticing the darkness of the night, Ocean looked up at the sky and saw the Moon, shining its blue light onto her. Mesmerized by its beauty, Ocean continued staring at it for a little while, when he suddenly felt her stomach rumbling.

"I'm hungry…."

Ocean then looked at the sleeping wolf pup one last time, before rushing off into the woods, to look for a decent meal for both of them to eat.