Chapter 2: The begining after the end (2)
Nafees jumped from the bridge. The cold air rushed past him.
Splash!
The police van floated on the river, half-sinking. Water poured in through the broken windshield. The back of the van dipped lower.
Nafees swimming toward the van. But before he could reach it, the van lurched…then began to sink.
Slow at first. Then it dropped like a stone.
Nafees dove after it.
Down, Deeper, Until everything blurred.
The water turned darker, colder. The river pulled at him, slowing his limbs. Pressure built behind his eyes. His strokes grew weaker.
His chest screamed for air. His vision turned strange. His arms and legs burned. His lungs ached. The van was just ahead, slipping into the deep.
And then boom
The police van, which had been sinking deeper into the water, suddenly burst open.
Its door swung wide, and a person stepped out from inside.
That person started swimming upward, heading straight toward Nafees.
Nafees's eyes widened in shock.
'Brother...'
It was Rimon. His older brother.
Nafees stayed frozen in place as Rimon came closer from below.
Slowly, Rimon reached him. Now, they were face to face.
Without thinking, Nafees hugged his brother tightly. He was desperate, scared, and overwhelmed.
Both of them were underwater . There was no way up, no air, no escape.
In that moment, Nafees believed the only thing they could do was die together.
He closed his eyes, accepting the end.
But just then, a voice echoed in his mind.
Calm, clear, and strange.
- Nafees, I'm tired .
It was his big brother's voice but Nafees was shocked as hell
'how can i hear him when his mouth isn't moving ' Nafees thought maybe he was imagining things. Maybe it was because he was close to death. But then
- This is sound transmission. I learned it long ago, in ancient China… in the Murim world.
'....???'
Nafees was completely confused.
'What is he even talking about?'
Then his brother spoke again, gently
- I came from the future just to see you off... but of all moments, we happen to be underwater
'What...?who are you and you're from the future?' Nafees thought in disbelief.
Rimon couldn't hear him but he understood what he asked .
Then, with a single snap of his fingers, the world around them shattered. like glass breaking apart.
The murky water, the police van, the darkness, it all disappeared.
Now, they stood in a strange place.
A vast, silent void. Stars glowed like lanterns in the sky above, and beneath their feet was a smooth, mirror-like layer of water.
It was as if they were floating in the middle of space.
Rimon stood directly in front of Nafees, face calm and steady.
This time, when Nafees spoke, his voice reached his brother's ears.
"Brother... what is happening?"
Rimon looked at him gently.
"This is the space I created for us to speak. You're slowly dying. Your body is still in that river, barely breathing. And the moment your breath fades beneath the water, you'll be sent to another world."
"...Wha...what are you talking about? What do you mean, dying? Where are we? What do you mean, another world?"
Nafees's voice trembled. He could barely get the words out.
Rimon chuckled softly.
"Hehe. Calm down, my stupid little brother. I'll explain everything."
"..."
"This is the second time I've gone through this exact accident. The first time, it killed me and death became the door to another world
Nafees was shaking, but he kept listening.
Rimon's eyes grew distant as he continued.
"That world... it's different. A brutal, soulslike fantasy. Monsters crawl in the dark. Gods scheme behind the curtain."
* * *
The beginning,
there was only one an omnipotent entity known as the "Absolute Being".
Upon the throne of eternity sat the "Absolute Being" cloaked in white, crowned in celestial thorns, and armored in divine judgment. His gaze pierced through reality, his silence louder than thunder. Time bowed, gods trembled. He did not rule the world.
He defined it.
He existed alone in the vast void, where not even time dared to flow. The silence, eternal and unbroken, weighed heavily upon him. From this loneliness, a yearning was born.
To fill the emptiness, he began to create.
First came the stars, then the planets, and gradually, he sculpted what would become known as the solar System. Among these celestial creations, he formed a small, blue world ( Earth ).
Eons passed in quiet observation, until one day, he noticed a flicker of motion, a primitive form of life. It stirred something within him. Joy.
50,000 years later,a new being emerged. It walked upright, bearing a shape reminiscent of the creator himself. Humanoid !
Another hundred thousand years passed, and from the lineage of these beings, a new race arose....humans.
After 150,000 years, Earth thrived with diverse beings such as : elves, demons, angels, dwarves, dragons, beastmen. All moving to the unseen rhythm of the Absolute Being's will.
They lived in peace and harmony in a single Continent.
The absolute being bestowed half of his divine power upon all the inhabitants of Earth, allowing magic to awaken within them a sacred gift shared with every living being.
However, by sharing his Divinity with mortal he broke the law of nature, his act triggered a powerful backlash.
To restore balance, the Absolute Being used the remaining half of his divine power to seal off the original continent. In its place, seven new continents emerged : Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, South America, Australia, and Atlantica. The primordial Continent rivals the size of all seven continents combined.
"In short, I was brought to that continent by a demigod through a dimensional rift, after deceiving the Heavenly Principle. It took me countless regressions to shift that sealed continent to another planet,
"So... you're saying you became some kind of god?" Nafees asked, dumbfounded.
"I'm no god, I'm merely a constellation 'Twilight' . And I've left behind many things to guide you on your journey."
"But wait," Nafees interrupted, frowning. "You said you completed your task and moved the continent. Then why am I being sent there?"
"Moving the Primordial Continent was only the beginning," Nafees's big brother said. "And I didn't do it alone other constellations helped me."
Nafees fell silent, the weight of it all sinking in.
" i regressed 769 times in total," Nafees's big brother Rimon continued.
"Each time, I returned to the moment I was still on that continent. But no matter what I tried, I failed to accomplish what truly mattered. Then, after my 590th regression, I was given a prophecy. From that point on, I devoted everything to preparing the path for you, the one named in the prophecy."
"Brother... I'm still confused," Nafees admitted.
Rimon's voice grew quieter, yet more resolute
"There's not much time left. Once you're there, you'll understand everything. Find the things I left behind, they're meant for you."
"Brother... will you be with me?" Nafees asked quietly.
"No," Rimon replied with a faint smile. "I've done my part. Let me rest now. I broke the cycle of regression by coming to this place."
"...?"
"It took 769 lifetimes, but I finally fulfilled my purpose.
" Then won't everything you did would be rewinded if you come here."
This was how it was meant to happen.
Rimon had crossed into another world, lived lifetimes no human should endure, and regressed seven hundred sixty-nine times—dying, restarting, and dying again, all for a future he could never reach. Every failure carved deeper into his soul, every loop dragged him further from who he once was.
And then, he came back, Back to Earth.
But if time rewinds... shouldn't everything return to how it was?
Memories should fade. Choices should reset. The world should forget him.
"No. I didn't come here as a regressor. To end the endless cycle, I used a forbidden item to get here just to make sure you begin where I end." Rimon replied
Rimon wasn't born in that other world. He slipped through the dimensional cracks.
And when he died, he returned...not to Earth, but to the exact moment he first fell through the cracks. Again, and again. A loop with no mercy. A curse with no end.
The more he regressed, the further he drifted from the origin. And that origin wasn't in that world.
It was on Earth.
Because of the cycle, Rimon could never return to the starting point. His body and soul were bound to the cursed loop in the other world.
And so, Rimon used a forbidden item. Not to escape, not to fight fate, but to do the one thing he was never allowed to do:
Return to Earth.
Not to break the cycle, but to bring Nafees into it.
Rimon's story was never about victory. It was about preparing the path.
Now, it was Nafees's turn to walk it.
.
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To be continued....