Chronicle Of The Stars

"Crack!"

A single, sharp sound - like a fractured shard. 

Velmir didn't reply to Ariel. He was stunned, stood frozen.

He gasped, breathing hard, sweat dripping down from his temple, and in his eyes... fear, the primordial fear, the deepest fear.

"...No... what is it...?" - Velmir said subconsiously, shaking as if he were in a nightmare. His left hand clenched hard, unable to calm himself.

And all that remained was trauma - so deep he didn't even realize that his body was made out of light.

Beside him, Ariel flinched, not at the sound, but at Velmir's expression.

He stepped forward. "Answer me, now." - For a moment, he couldn't keep his confusion but blurted aloud; everything here was beyond his comprehension.

However, Velmir... didn't respond. The only thing he did was stare at the sky, locked on something that surpassed the knowledge of this world.

Ariel, after having a clue, followed his gaze slowly.

And then he saw it.

The world that had once been silent was now covered in dread.

In the sky, it was... a crystal moon. But it wasn't any ordinary one.

Inside it... is a baby.

But there was another thing, the fragment. It was dropping. 

As the shard touched the endless ocean, something rose...

A silhouette? No, it wasn't one but an army. 

Each of them looked similar to the others, yet he didn't know why he found them familiar. 

Nevertheless, there was one thing he knew. "Fight." - Without wasting any time, he looked at Ariel, who was already piercing through the army with a flaming sword. 

"...I don't want to die here." - The sentence was followed by a harsh smile. Even when he was in fear, he decided to face it. A stance, and...

"Whoosh." - A first move, Velmir immediately ran towards Ariel with compression thorns forming behind him. 

"Boom. Boom. Boom"

Compression sparks flared beneath Velmir's feet as he released them to dart through the silhouettes, one after another exploding into fragments of light. Their faces—their bodies—vanished in the blast.

But they reformed. Every single time.

"...They're regenerating?" His voice was barely a breath.

He spun, summoned hundreds of thorned compression Ignis, wrapping them around the nearest ones—only to see them unravel and rise again, untouched.

The more he tried, the more he couldn't, no matter how many times he struck them down, they returned - endless, eternal, mirroring immortality.

A cold breath trembled from his lips.

"...I had to run!" 

He turned, activating Farcasted Flow - Ignis covered his body as he sprinted, one, two, three, and... four steps?

How weird, he was confused. In the middle of his action, he thought for a second. "...I can use it more than... three steps? No... I can use it infinitely. This... isn't my body."

His eyes flared - he understood.

"... my Ignis wasn't draining!? Could it be... thi-"

But the moment he blinked, "What!?" His eyes widened, unwilling to believe what he had seen.

"They... use it too." - His technique. His Ignis flow. His movements.

All mirrored back at him.

In an instant, they surrounded him. An ocean of silhouettes - eyes blank, mouths twitching that one word.

"Die..." 

His heart pounded, but he didn't hesitate. Not this time. He lowered his stance. Not because he wasn't afraid... but because he refused to give up.

"Puzz!" Compression sparks blasted from his feet, sending him into the sky.

He hovered above the ocean of monsters- every one of them crawled their way, trying to drag him into the dark water.

From the sky, he could see it.

A single flicker in the chaos. A flame. A sword. Ariel.

"Found you!" Velmir was relieved.

After a heartbeat, he charged like a meteor and landed right next to Ariel! The Ignis he left on his way created a swirling storm, warping away the enemies.

Ariel was a little surprised, with his eyebrow twitching slightly, seeing Velmir survive. His expression was cold, yet he was impressed.

"Don't die yet. I have questions."

However, there was no space for them to rest. One after another, it was an endless wave of enemies as the storm couldn't hold them back.

The two were stuck. Ten, hundreds, thousands... They couldn't count it anymore. 

Their body could fight, but their mind was slowly eroded. 

"...Damn it, there's no end! If I had a spear, we c-" 

A brief moment passed in Velmir's mind, and suddenly, a water spear appeared out of nowhere!

He paused for a second, unable to continue to think, eyes widened in confusion, but still, he took the chance and quickly gripped it. 

Ariel, who was defending, saw it too, and he asked Velmir in a hurry, "How did you do that?" 

"I don't know!" Velmir, in an instant, replied. 

His shoulders trembled - not from fear but burden. Something deep within had revealed itself.

Velmir knew there was something wrong, but the situation wouldn't let him think. 

For the first time since the start of the battle, he held the spear, gasping for some air, and started.

"Swish-Boom!" - With each swing, compression thorns burst like a geysers, the tears of water splashed everywhere, and the silhouettes were knocked into a far distance.

This time, they saw a path. Velmir looked at Ariel in his eyes as he felt his heat clearly, "I'll open a path, and you'll lead the way."

"Tch... you better catch up." 

Velmir, after hearing the agreement, took a stance; his breath was harder as an invisible force covered the spear, his hand was holding it tighter than ever, and...

"Boom!" - An air break. Velmir threw it. The spear blasted into pieces as the compression enchantment cleared the way, forming a path for escape.

Ariel immediately rushed through it and moved with an insanely fast speed, each of his steps created a flame impact on the surface, melting enemies.

...However, it wasn't enough. 

To their surprise, all of them regenerated at once and dashed towards the two. 

Ariel couldn't react, Velmir couldn't react, both of them couldn't react.

In that moment, Ariel still held his sword firmly, Velmir still clenched his left hand.

And he only had one sentence on his mind. 

"If they were weaker..."

That wasn't just a thought, it was a begging, a wish, and a despair. Something that long... existed.

It lingered, echoed through his soul, and somehow... it reached this realm.

"Pshh!" - The silhouettes, all of them, were pinned to the ground by a divine force. Even before they could reach Velmir and Ariel.

It was a shocking scene, like knights bowing to their emperor.

Velmir looked at them and looked at himself in the ocean's reflection. 

"Was tha-"

"Boom!" 

Ariel. It was him, he - was killed.

Velmir lifted his hand, giving it to Ariel, but there was no miracle. Not a touch, not a last sentence, just a fading light.

It was a spear, a water spear that pierced through his chest, knocking him into the air before his figure slowly disappeared into white sparks. No scream, no blood, just... gone.

Velmir, in a shocking state, stared at the sky, but... 

"Puh!, huh!" He opened his eyes frantically, and... he was in the library.

An unknowing weight folded his chest, not pain, but confusion. His heart felt like they were chained, imprisoning his own consciousness. 

Had he dreamed... or remembered?