She leaned closer, her voice a whisper. "Someone from the Holy Kingdom is ing through."
Holy Kingdom?
He had never heard of such a place, and yet from Nina’s tone, it was something vast, powerful, and not to be taken lightly.
Before he could press further, the circle hummed. Blue-white light shimmered across its surface like rippling water, and then with a sound like a thunderclap, it flared open, a portal yawning into existence.
Jorghan’s heart pounded.
Figures began stepping through, their silhouettes sharpening as they crossed the veil: knights in gleaming silver armor, robed attendants clutching staffs crowned with crystals, and guards bearing banners stitched with golden suns. Their presence filled the warehouse with a holy gravity that made the soldiers instinctively straighten their spines.
And then—
The last figure emerged.
A man in regal clothing, draped in velvet and gold thread, his bearing one of authority and polish. His eyes swept the hall with practised ease, and the room bent to him in silence and reverence. Yvonne was already at the front, bowing with the grace of one who knew politics as well as war.
But Jorghan froze.
His breath hitched.
His eyes widened until they ached.
He knew that face.
Not from this world, not from the stories of elves or the lore of the floating isles.
But from his world. From Earth.
That man was a politician.
A very famous one.
A man who once appeared on glowing screens back home, giving speeches, shaking hands, and making promises.
His stomach knotted, his mind reeled.
What in the hells is he doing here?!
The warehouse thundered with greetings and honorifics as the humans bent to acknowledge the visitor. Soldiers pounded fists to their chests, Yvonne dipped into a bow, and Bartrem lowered his head respectfully.
The politician-turned-noble only nodded, as though all of this were expected, as though he belonged here.
Before Jorghan could make sense of it, Yvonne was already leading the man toward a private chamber beyond the warehouse, guards following in step.
The doors shut behind them, leaving Jorghan rooted where he stood, his thoughts a storm.
The world tilted.
Nothing made sense anymore.
-
The forest was silent save for the restless pacing of a boy’s bare feet across damp soil. Jorghan’s chest heaved, his breath ragged as his mind spun in disbelief.
It can’t be... it’s impossible.
He clenched his fists, staring up through the canopy where stars glimmered faintly against the veil of night.
"I saw him," he muttered, almost to himself.
"The same face... the same damned man. Goddess—" he tilted his head back and raised his voice, almost screaming into the night sky, "are you watching me?! What’s happening to this world? How the fuck is this possible? Was that man a doppelganger? A ghost? Or is it—"
His voice cracked. "What is it?!"
"Don’t shout."
The mand cut through the forest like a blade.
Jorghan spun, and his body stiffened when a figure shimmered into existence before him. Light like liquid silver pooled and hardened into shape, and standing there was a woman cloaked in radiance, her eyes burning like molten suns.
His heart jolted. "Who are you?" he demanded, though he already knew.
The woman’s face darkened.
"You dare ask that? You forgot me? I was the one who plucked you from death, Jorghan. I gave you a second chance in this world. And you... forget?"
Her words struck him harder than a blow.
A decade’s haze lifted, memories clawing back into his mind. The dreamlike vision of a goddess who had whispered to him before his rebirth. The promise she had laid upon him. He had buried it deep in the distractions of life—but now it came rushing back, undeniable.
Jorghan’s jaw tightened.
"Then tell me," he growled, "what the fuck is happening here? That man—I know him. He shouldn’t exist here!"
The goddess sighed, exasperated, her voice dripping with restrained fury. "I came to tell you about that. The balance of this world is shifting, Jorghan. And I need your help."
"Help?" He let out a short, bitter laugh. "Me?"
"Yes, you." Her eyes bore into his, unyielding. "As you saw, that man was indeed from your world."
Jorghan froze, his heart thundering. "...What!"
"And not only him," she continued, her voice grim. "More of them will e. Many more. In fact..."
She hesitated, and then her words dropped like a hammer. "This world and your Earth will soon coexist under the same sun. Two realities bound into one."
"To put it simply."
"And not only that, there will be more of such worlds, all of them will exist side by side, like in your solar system."
The boy staggered back, clutching his head. "What in the damning fuck are you talking about?!"
"Mind your tongue before your goddess," she snapped, her aura flaring.
"Some goddess you are!" Jorghan roared back.
"You sit on high while worlds are colliding and expect me to bow? What the fuck are you doing letting this happen?"
Her expression twisted, but she didn’t strike him down.
Instead, she turned her gaze upward, as though she were staring at something beyond even the stars.
"It’s not in my hands," she admitted coldly.
"This... is the whim of other higher gods. Petty, arrogant bastards—bored. They are the ones who forced this madness into being."
Jorghan’s lips parted, speechless. "What the—"
The goddess cut him off. "Listen, boy. You are my only hope. I cannot face the one who set this in motion. He will kill me—and with me, my world as well."
Jorghan’s breath hitched. "What are you even talking about...?"
She stepped closer, her presence pressing down like the ocean. "As you know, this world is weak. Mana veins here are shallow, fractured. The people are not strong enough to face what is ing. If you do not rise, they will burn."
Jorghan’s brow furrowed. "And you want me to be their saviour? Why me? Why not one of your own? Why not someone else?"
"You will understand soon enough," she said softly, almost mournfully. Her gaze lingered on him as though she saw something he could not yet see in himself. "You will see how twisted it bees. And then—you will have to choose."
It was too much.
His knees buckled, and Jorghan slumped to the ground, his palms pressing into the soil as his head spun. The goddess’s words crashed in his skull, each heavier than the last.
Earth and this world... together? Gods at war?
Him, the only hope?
He stared at the ground, unable to look up.
The goddess’s voice gentled, one final time. "Bee stronger, Jorghan. By the time you reach eighteen, you must be ready. I am not manding you as a goddess... I am begging you."
And then, like mist, she was gone.
The forest was silent again.
Jorghan sat there in the dirt, trembling, the echo of her words cutting deeper than any wound.
User Comments
0 comments from readers