"Is this… the afterlife?"
Seven asked himself.
Somehow, he found himself standing in the middle of absolute darkness where the line between the sky and the ground did not exist.
The only thing that kept him grounded was the subtle pressure beneath his soles, where a shallow water rippled gently with each time he shifted his weight.
Looking around, he scanned the horizon.
Again, there were no stars, moon, nor even the faint hum of life.
He shook his head.
Deja vu.
It was a familiar feeling he felt when he was transported into this world in the span of seven seconds in the same darkness.
"Did I…"
He whispered.
"...Really die?"
He was asking himself over and over with that question now, though he already knew the answer.
But he still had his share of regrets, given that the life he had only read and watched on computer monitors had become his reality yet ended way too soon with him not doing much.
On the other hand, if this was death, then the current situation was not the same as what those novels he had read described.
There was no tunnel with a light at the end.
There was no Grim Reaper holding a massive black scythe and telling him it was now time to leave the overworld.
There was no Goddess greeting him with sorrow in her eyes, apologizing that he was summoned against his will and could now return back to Earth.
There was no such thing like that.
It was just a blank darkness, unlike the previous ones where there was a silhouette and a pair of colossal celestial eyes watching him from afar.
Flash!
All of a sudden, golden light erupted from the horizon.
Urghk-kh…
He immediately winced and shielded his eyes with his palm until the golden light faded into a somehow tolerable glow.
Blink.
He blinked once as he opened them again.
Yet, looking around, nothing had changed. He was still in the void, but… maybe it did change given that he was no longer alone.
The silhouette from before was back.
It stood in the distance and its outline was blurred at the edges as though the void itself struggled to contain it.
Above it, a pair of colossal eyes blinked into existence, as again, just like before. Eyes without sclera. The left eye burned with a golden light like a God watching its creation.
…Ughrk-kh.
At the same time, Seven clutched his left eye as pain erupted and more intensified than before or any other backlash of the artifact.
It continued to hurt, but the silhouette did not care as it walked forward.
Step.
The sound echoed and the rippling water beneath their feet trembled faintly.
Step.
With the next step, the void shifted.
Fragments of stones and marbles rose from the watery surface and slowly assembled themselves mid-air.
They formed the shape of a ruined structure with massive archways, splintered beams, and shattered multi-colored window panes like that of a cathedral.
Step.
More fragments emerged.
Pillars of granite and gold carved with faded emblems took their place beside the ruin. Shredded banners, torn at the edges, snapped against a wind that did not exist a moment ago.
The water beneath Seven's feet began to swirl.
Step.
In the center, a golden statue emerged from the ground with outstretched arms sculpted in the form of a divine woman whose features were both regal and sorrowful gaze that was aimed heavenward.
"...?!"
Seven did not need to be told about the identity of the statue.
After all, that appearance was mentioned in the novel several times, and was the one overseeing the entire continent of Othre.
One among the deities responsible for this world.
Euryphaessa.
Step.
Just like earlier, even more fragments rose from the water surface. They hovered and transformed into a chamber adorned with relics.
A sacred hall.
Step.
That chamber grew.
Walls melted outward into horizons. Towers rose into the sky and cities unfolded like blooming petals around a palace of impossible scale.
A kingdom.
Step.
And then the kingdom expanded again. Mountains surged, oceans shimmered beneath a glasslike sky, and sun hovered far beyond the peaks.
A realm.
Step.
Above it all, the black of darkness was gone, replaced by a clear and boundless cerulean sky.
"What the fud…?"
Seven cursed, but he could not quite finish the word like he forgot it.
He could not help but be amazed as he watched the scene unfold with each step the silhouette took, as if it was rewriting the laws of reality and molding creation with footsteps alone.
Step.
With one last step, the figure stopped.
The colossal golden eyes overhead blinked once and the golden light intensified until it bled through the sky itself.
Haah…
His breathing ragged.
He was clutching his left-eye as he watched the process, but the pain suddenly intensified much more as if it was not enough.
If he were to describe the feeling, it was as if a violent heat surged through his skull and was being drilled inside out.
Urghgh…!!
Raising his head, what he saw was unlike the scene seconds ago. There was no cathedral, chamber, kingdom, realm, and endless blue sky.
Instead, it was the same darkness.
All of it were just visions presented by Præscientia.
After all, the artifact was created by Euryphaessa, and that vision was the summary of what happened to the land the moment the artifact was created and the moment someone acquired it.
The kingdom in the vision was quite identical to the current Kingdom of Othrelis means that someone had already acquired it once.
The founding Hart.
The owner of the sword where he obtained the artifact, and the body below that tomb.
Slowly, the golden light emanating from the colossal eyes vanished and the eyes disappeared. It was then when the pain subsided.
Hff…
He took a deep breath.
His vision, once again, changed as if he could see in the middle of the darkness like with a night vision and thus he saw the full image of the silhouette.
A figure identical to him.
They both had the same height. Same right eye. Same hair placement from strand to strand. Same nonchalant expression. Same facial features overall.
The only thing that was different was their clothes and left eye color.
After all, Seven's left eye turned gold the moment the colossal eyes did too before it vanished.
The figure raised its head and stared directly at him and said a single word in a tone that made the void vibrate.
Right after, it rained.
Splash.
Splash. Splash.
The rain droplets made a splashing sound as they hit the shallow water beneath their feet. But as some hit and dripped towards Seven's mouth, he frowned.
Salty.
Sweet.
And somehow bitter.
He wiped it with his thumb and saw a red smear across it. Looking down, the water had also tainted with streaks or rusted color.
The silhouette's mouth moved again, but what followed was an incomprehensible string of sound, like someone screaming a divine language through a shattered mirror:
"⫷ ✶⟊ ⸸𓂀 ⚚☍ ⟡⧫ ⫷Ϟ⧙"
Indescribable.
A blend of harmony and dissonance.
Thankfully, a system interface appeared and translated the incomprehensible words for Seven to understand.
|| I am Seven Hart ||
As it did, the figure's left eye— which until now had been blue— suddenly flashed gold, just like Seven's.