The space between worlds was quieter than Leo expected.
No stars. No sound. Only the weightless drift of his soul, drawn downward — like gravity had learned patience.
He wasn't cold. He wasn't warm. He wasn't anything, really. Just a thread of thought unraveling through a sea of nothingness. Colors bled into each other like ink dropped in water. Sometimes blue. Sometimes gold. Sometimes something he couldn't even name.
Then… it began.
The sky cracked open.
A shimmer of violet and silver fire ignited across the void. Leo's body — or whatever form he now had — lit up like a comet, a burning thread plunging toward a world he couldn't see.
Far above, the young god hovered in the empty divide.
"A soul marked by echoes… and betrayal," he murmured, fingers steepled under his chin. "This one will be different."
He wasn't speaking to anyone. Just himself. Or maybe the silence.
"I've sent warriors. Tyrants. Men and women with dreams of conquest. But this one?" His gaze followed the streaking soul. "A broken boy with a spine of iron and a heart he barely knows is still beating."
He shifted slightly, and behind him, faint patterns danced in the void — echoes of other lives. Failed ones. Forgotten ones.
"They all craved something. Power. Revenge. Purpose."
He tilted his head.
"This one just wanted to disappear."
The god's lips curled into a smile — faint and unreadable.
"I wonder what he'll become now that he has to exist again."
Below him, the world of Nimrune turned in slow rotation — a land scarred by old wars and buried gods. Somewhere on its surface, the sky shimmered as a falling light drew closer.
"They won't see it coming," the god whispered. "Not the kingdoms. Not the monsters. Not even the other fragments."
He paused again, this time his voice a little quieter.
"I wonder how long until he breaks."
⟐
When Leo woke, the world tasted like dirt and blood.
He gasped — lungs spasming as if he hadn't breathed in centuries. Cold, wet soil clung to his lips and cheek. Rain tapped his back in uneven rhythms. Wind cut through his thin tunic like needles.
His first breath was more pain than relief.
"I'm… alive?"
He blinked through the haze and pushed himself onto trembling arms. Trees loomed above — black-barked and impossibly tall. Some were covered in bioluminescent moss that pulsed faintly like breathing skin.
He sat upright, heartbeat erratic.
This wasn't Earth.
Status window.
The thought came unbidden, like an instinct. A command burned into his new soul.
But nothing happened.
He waited. Blinked. Concentrated harder.
Still nothing.
"Really? Now you go quiet?" he muttered.
A soft growl came from the brush.
Leo froze.
Something was watching him.
It moved low, barely audible over the rain. Gold eyes gleamed through the undergrowth. Not animal. Not entirely beast either. Something twisted.
No system. No skills. No map. No glowing HUD.
Just fear. And a stick.
Leo grabbed the nearest branch and snapped it loose. Crude. But it gave his shaking hands something to hold.
The creature stepped into view — its skin slick and black like oil, muscles taut, claws long enough to carve trees.
"Great," Leo whispered. "First day back and the tutorial boss wants my spleen."
The beast lunged.
And the real story began.