Caius’s POV
I felt unbearable pain in my head, as if thousands of needles were being driven into my brain, while the light of the teleportation gate surrounded me and embraced me together with Izel in my arms.
I sank into the teleportation gate as I remembered what had happened a moment ago.
I still didn’t fully understand what was going on. Everything happened at such insane speed that I acted purely on instinct without thinking.
And that saved my life... and hers.
I looked at Izel in my arms.
She still seemed stunned.
That was understandable, because she had looked directly at a part of the body of the "Fallen Star Shard," or more precisely, the tips of its fingers that crushed Talia.
Yes, Talia died.
At least she died without pain.
Time passed while we were still immersed in the light of the teleportation gate; this gate whose destination we did not know.
But I was certain of one thing.
Wherever we would find ourselves, it was surely better than being near the Fallen Star Shard.
A Great monster whose lair had been unknown for centuries.
But today we found it... and I wished we hadn’t.
Part of me wanted to think about what happened and understand how things turned out this way, but another part just wanted to rest.
Now that the previous surge of adrenaline and fear had begun to fade, I felt an urgent desire to sleep.
Not only because of exhaustion, but because my mind had been severely damaged.
Unlike Izel, who was stunned from seeing the body of the Great monster, I had seen more than just its body.
I glimpsed its soul... and paid the price for that.
Perhaps what helped me remain conscious until now was the Mind Anchor.
I looked ahead as I watched the light enveloping us. It seemed to take so long that I began to wonder how far this place was from here.
Where would we be thrown next... another red zone? Or perhaps a black one, who knows?
I gritted my teeth as I tried to cling to the consciousness that was beginning to slip away.
I tried to occupy my mind and think in order to stay awake, but what was there to think about?
I no longer understood anything... everything that happened felt disconnected, fragmented, even meaningless.
From the moment the mission began days ago until this point... I no longer understood anything.
The plot I thought I could exploit to support my growth, I think it has completely derailed.
I don’t know, but I doubt we will return home anytime soon.
The last scene of Talia replayed in my mind again and again; her final look before she turned into a bloody mist.
Was I sad for her?
No... I don’t think so.
She wasn’t a friend, nor someone close to me or even important to me.
In fact, I don’t think there is anyone I can say is important to me.
Even these main characters I spent my short life with after escaping... I can’t even call them friends, let alone important people.
So the feeling rising inside me wasn’t sadness, but something else.
Pity.
Not toward Talia, but toward myself.
Because I am weak; just an insect that can be crushed by those beings by accident.
An insignificant existence, unable to choose what it wants.
It’s true I’m only seventeen, but what does that matter?
Alicia was far stronger than me at the same age, so what excuse would I use to convince myself?
None.
In the end, we fell into some kind of game and ended up in this situation.
How long would it take for me to gain the power to face those creatures? To not run away again.
Maybe years, maybe more.
Alicia managed to reach Rank 7 almost a year ago from now, which means she was twenty-four when she became a King, achieving something no one in human history had done and declaring herself above all.
Perhaps she wasn’t strong enough to face anything... nor the strongest either.
But at least she could make the choice she wanted, unlike me.
And that was why I envied her deeply now, because even I never thought I could achieve what she did.
Slowly, the light around me began to dim. I looked at Izel in my arms, who had never moved, only to find that she had fainted.
With every passing moment, the gate’s light grew fainter, until it vanished completely.
Instead of bright light, darkness filled my vision, and I felt my body falling.
But before I could react, my back hit the ground...
It felt like falling into sand.
So it wasn’t painful, and it wasn’t as if I was in a state to care about pain.
I lay there in the soft, cold sand with Izel’s unconscious body on top of me.
It was soft, but I didn’t care.
Because the moment my eyes adjusted to the sudden change in light... I saw it.
The sky.
A star-filled sky without clouds... it was beautiful.
But what mattered most weren’t the stars, but something else.
The moon.
Or more precisely, fragments of the moon.
Because in the star-filled night sky, there was a moon shattered into several fragments moving together.
They seemed to want to draw closer and merge again into that beautiful disc... yet at the same time, they couldn’t.
So they remained in that state for who knows how long.
I stared at the sky with eyes so wide that I completely forgot to check my surroundings, which were already quiet.
I looked at the gray moon fragments... yes, it was gray, not blue.
Slowly, my eyes shifted to the clear stars in the sky.
I moved my head, sand slipping into my hair, but I didn’t care, because my focus was entirely on the stars.
Familiar stars... or more precisely, constellations.
Minutes passed as I kept staring more intently. I suspected there was something wrong with my eyes because of what I was seeing now.
I remembered those constellations I used to stare at in my previous life, as the words left my mouth unconsciously.
"Earth...The Ancient Earth..."
...
[End of Volume One]
[The Delusion of Hope]
We have reached the first hundred Chapters. I didn’t even expect that I would get here, so for me this is a worthy achievement.
The journey until here has truly been wonderful, especially since this is my first novel.
But I also feel that I am tired now. I have been writing and studying constantly for more than two months, and all I want right now is to lie down for a few days and watch some movies or read other novels.
Anyway, not everyone can do what they want.
So you will receive the Chapters as usual.