Prologue
The relentless downpour of rain hammered itself against the Earth. Fields once green were now nothing but mud and blood. Craters pocked the ground like open wounds, and broken weapons jutted from the soil like forgotten gravestones.
Two figures clashed in the sky at lightning speed before both of them came crashing down onto the ground with tremendous force.
In the center, a man stood with his head bowed, rain sliding from his hair, one hand clenched around the hilt of a long sword buried deep in a woman’s body.
Her long black hair fell straight down her back, with 2 dark horns protruding out her head. The once dull and lifeless amber eyes were now glowing, her features were still delicate yet composed.
She looked up at him—at the young man whose hair had turned white—as he stared back at her with a listless, hollow gaze.
“Thank you, Dragon Reaper.”
The man flinched involuntarily upon hearing that. He has always despised that name given by the empire.
“What do you mean?”
The woman chuckled upon finding his question to be quite amusing
“I want to thank you for ending this madness.” She continued
“If you hadn't stopped me from their control, the fate of this world would’ve been sealed.”
The man remained silent as he looked her with an expressionless face
She pouts slightly
“Hey…can I at least know your name?”
But she is still met with the same deafening silence, she sighed inwardly lamenting at herself for even asking. Suddenly a flat voice answered her.
“It’s…”
Her eyes widened upon hearing the man name before finally closing her eyes
“I see,” she whispered, a faint smile forming. “That’s a beautiful name.”
A nostalgic face suddenly resurfaced in his memory, a face he believed to have long forgotten
‘Why now of all time…’
He looked at the girl—the one the world had condemned as the enemy of all life.
The one they called the Dragon of Calamity.
But he couldn’t see a calamity before him now.
Only a girl staring back at him with familiar eyes—eyes that look so similar to someone he had tried so desperately to forget.
She stared into his lifeless eyes, attempting to glimpse the truth hiding behind him.. But the moment she reached out—whether by instinct, magic, or sheer empathy—she recoiled. What she felt inside him wasn’t just pain… it was a hollow, desolate void. It felt suffocating.
“I see…” she said softly, her voice thin but steady. “You’ve been through your own share of trauma and hardships.”
She let out a weak chuckle before coughing out blood
“I guess that make us similar in a way”
She looks at him, but this time with a sorrowful and pained expression
“How…?” she whispered. “How are you still moving forward, with all that pain inside you?”
The white hair man remained silent, her voice trembles
“It shouldn’t even be possible for a human like you to bear these burdens…”
He finally spoke, his tone flat
“It’s alright. I don’t feel anything anymore… or maybe, I just can’t.”
Somewhere in the silence, the rain finally stopped. The wind had gone still. In the distance, the dark sky was beginning to lighten, with faint streaks of amber stretching across the horizon.
“Can I ask you another question?” she asked.
The man gave a slight nod.
“Even after all of this… what do you think about this world? Do you hate and despise it?”
He looked around at the carnage and destruction surrounding them, then slowly raised his eyes to the brightening sky—as if trying to find the words.
“Yes… this world is cruel. And sometimes, I do find myself wanting to destroy everything and end it all.” he said quietly.
He paused for a few seconds before continuing
“But even though this world is cruel… it’s also beautiful.”
“Beautiful…” she murmured, almost to herself, her gaze drifting. “That’s what my grandfather used to say, too.”
Her eyes began to glaze over, her breath growing shallower.
“If only… I met you sooner… maybe things would’ve gone way differently…”
She glanced down at her body, now glowing faintly and slowly fading—the sword still lodged deep in her abdomen.
“I guess my time is up, but before that, I have a request.”
The man looked at her.
“C-can you please hold my hand until the last moment?”
He knelt down beside her and gently reached out his hand. For a moment, his fingers hesitated in the air before finally closing softly around hers. The glow around her dimmed slowly as she squeezed his hand weakly. A faint, grateful smile touched her lips.
She reached up with her other hand and caressed his face, her touch fragile but sincere.
“Thank you… truly… I wholeheartedly pray that you find happiness in your life…” Tears welled in her eyes.
As her last words left her lips, the man slowly felt the warmth of her hand fade. Her form grew translucent, edges dissolving into wisps of glowing mist that drifted upward like delicate strands of smoke carried by a silent wind.
He continued to kneel for a while before taking out an old pendant from his robe, as he finally closed his eyes contemplating her last words before letting out a defeated sigh
“Happiness huh… I think it's too late for that now.”
