Dancing on the golden ashes

A gentle smile crept across the Creator's face, one so warm and tender that it almost seemed genuine. His expression radiated love — or at least, that's what it appeared to be. But how dare he? How could he wear that face after everything he had done? He betrayed her... or was it me? At this point, it was hard to tell where one of us ended and the other began. It didn't matter anymore. Whether it was her pain or mine, I knew one thing for certain — I could never forgive him. "Calm down, Gaon," he said, his voice soft yet strained, as though he were speaking to a child throwing a tantrum. "This world... this is the paradise we dreamed of. It's the place you wanted to build — a world where all the races could live together, competing for supremacy, and us... humans... we would stand at the top, ruling over them all. Isn't that what we planned for? Isn't this what we worked toward for thousands of years? We trained, we bled, we sacrificed everything to reach immortality... and now you're telling me you want to rebel? To destroy everything we built?" His voice grew louder, cracking with frustration. "That's insane! Are you nuts?!" The smile he once wore had vanished, replaced by something far uglier — a twisted grimace that revealed the sickness lurking beneath his skin. The warmth was gone, and in its place stood a man who couldn't stand the thought of losing control. I had seen this kind before, the ones who believed their word was law, who thought themselves untouchable. Men like him never stayed calm when their ego was bruised. They screamed the loudest... and they were always the most dangerous, willing to betray anyone just to claw their way back to the top. A dry chuckle escaped my lips — one that wasn't my own. "Haha... you're a fool," the other me sneered, her voice sharp and cold as ice. "You sold yourself to the Holy Empire, and for what? The power of a god? Don't make me laugh... Do you really believe they'll let you live once they find out what kind of game you're playing behind their backs? You're just a schemer... a coward who would kill the person you claim to love just to achieve eternity. Isn't that right?" My scythe spun in my hands, swirling in a circular motion with a force so powerful that the wind itself howled in response. Jagged gusts tore through the air, slicing at the ground and scattering debris like falling leaves. I hadn't even known the weapon was capable of such force, yet here it was — an extension of her will, a power that felt foreign yet terrifyingly natural at the same time. "Watch your mouth, you slut..." he snarled through gritted teeth, his face twisting with rage. The air rippled around him as his body exploded with power, a violent surge of energy that bent the space around him and sent cracks racing along the earth beneath his feet. "Oh?" The other me's voice danced with amusement, her tone laced with mockery. "Did I hit a soft spot? How adorable... you're finally showing me your true face." Her lips curled into a smile, one that stretched wider than mine ever had. It wasn't my smile; it belonged to her... to the part of me that had suffered far longer than I could comprehend. "Tell me," she continued, her voice low and sharp. "Did you ever love me? Or was I just another piece in your twisted little game?" I felt the muscles in my face tighten as that smile deepened, a cold grin carved from bitterness and rage. My body ached with every movement, each pulse of her power tearing at my muscles as though my very bones might shatter beneath the strain. This strength — this overwhelming force — was far too much for me to contain. My body wasn't built to house something like this, and if she kept pushing if she refused to stop... we would both die. But now, in this moment of clarity, I saw it for what it was — just a clone. A lifeless fragment. That was all this Creator truly was. He wasn't worth dying for. Not like this. I had my time to cool off... and now, I knew what had to be done. The two of them clashed, and in that instant, the sky and earth seemed to split apart, sending violent tremors racing across the land. The world itself quaked under the weight of their power, as if reality could barely contain the forces they unleashed. Darkness and light collided with such intensity that the air itself seemed to shatter, and as their powers roared against one another, the world fractured into two distinct dimensions. On one side, golden radiance bathed everything in a blinding brilliance, while on the other, shadow and gloom devoured the earth in suffocating blackness. It was as though creation itself had been torn in half, and now both realms existed in stark opposition. In that moment, I finally understood. The power Jeong Suhan wielded — that radiant force that cut through the void — belonged to the angels, to a world completely foreign to mine. And if his strength came from the angels... then what about my power? Did mine come from the demons? But why? Why would the Creator allow such a power to exist? Was it truly something he had intended... or was my strength something far more unpredictable, something that even he failed to understand? Could I have been an accident, an experiment that had twisted and mutated in a way he had never foreseen? So many questions remained unanswered, lingering like whispers at the back of my mind. Yet there was nothing I could do now but wait — to trust in whatever path the other me had walked before. Whatever she had learned... whatever decisions she had made... I could only hope they had prepared me for what was to come.