Rin opened his eyes slowly.
Blank.
The ceiling above him was white, cracked faintly with age. A fan spun lazily overhead. The air smelled of sterilized medicine and warm linen.
His limbs twitched.
He gasped.
He could move.
His first thought was to end the cycle and kill himself but that thought suddenly disappeared.
He shot upright,then winced. Pain surged in his chest and ribs, but it was pain. His pain. His body. He was back.
But… where?
Where was the void?
Where was the moon?
Where was Valen?
A gentle voice broke his panic.
"Your Highness! You're awake!"
Rin turned sharply. A middle-aged man in a white robe dropped the clipboard in his hand, rushing to his side. His eyes gleamed with reverence and relief.
"Thank god," the doctor breathed. "We didn't think… You've been unconscious for a full month. After the final gate… the injuries…"
Rin's breath was shaky. "W-What happened? Please. Tell me everything."
The doctor bowed. "Your final raid was a disaster, sir. You were ambushed by a monstrous creature during the final phase. Most didn't survive. But someone pulled you out."
He looked around nervously before leaning in. "It was a miracle, honestly. You would've died, but you held on. Barely. We've been keeping you in stasis. Your body,it resisted collapse."
Rin's face paled. His voice dropped to a whisper.
"What about… Valen Solas? What happened to him?"
The doctor froze.
Even he looked terrified.
"His Highness…" the doctor said slowly, "didn't participate in the gate this time. He wasn't there."
Rin's heart thudded.
He tried to breathe, but his lungs felt locked. Every part of him screamed this is a lie. This is another illusion.
Was this a game?
Another loop?
Another twisted trick to break him?
The doctor placed a hand gently on his shoulder.
"You've just woken up, sir. Your memories must be foggy. Don't worry. You're safe. You're back."
Rin didn't answer.
He didn't believe him.
He couldn't.
But for now… he could feel.
He could breathe.
And when the doctor left, Rin turned his head to the side, buried his face in the pillow, and wept.
Not out of joy.
Not even out of grief.
But because this might be the last time he would ever feel human again.
Later that night, Rin lay in bed, half-asleep, when he heard them.
Whispers. Voices through thin walls. The kind nurses didn't mean to be heard.
"He's awake?"
"The world is scary right now."
"Yeah,the thought that if we were born somewhere else, we could have experienced that terrifying existence. "
"Valen solas is the definitionof insane"
"Don't mention hus name, do you want to die."
Rin sat up.
Another voice asked" what did he do."
Another voice answered in a whisper. "You didn't hear? He declared war on the north. Not the guild. Not his soldiers. Him. Alone."
"No…"
"He walked through every fortress. Destroyed entire clans. Slaughtered the northern royal bloodline in one night. Not a single survivor.he killed billions of people in the north in one month and He's moving west now."
"What is he?"
"They say he's surpassed the Soul Purification stage. That he's the strongest being in the world now. Beyond humanoid. Beyond dragon."
"…"
Rin's hands trembled in his lap.
So it wasn't an illusion. The torment was real. The threat, real. The monster who tried to unmake his very soul was now rewriting the world.
And yet
He let me live.
Rin stared at the wall, at nothing.
Why?
Why spare him?
Why not finish it?
Had Valen changed his mind again?
Was this part of something bigger?
Or was this… mercy?
No.
Not mercy.
A message.
Valen had left him alive for a reason.
Maybe to remind him that survival is not the same as freedom.
Maybe to see if he'd run.
Maybe to see if he'd fight.
Rin gripped the edge of the bed, nails digging into wood.
He didn't know how long he had.
But the war had already started.
And he was still breathing.
For now.
Rin didn't understand his powers how he manipulated time how he changed the past to look like he didn't enter the gate.
Everytime he remembers what happened he feels like his heart is about to explode,like his soul is about burn.
The current rin is lost, what his next move should be.