Rise of a Lunar Legend

— "So this is how it all ends,"— muttered the hazy blue figure, surrounded by fire and chaos, as she watched the world collapse and crumble.

— "How hard I fought to get to this moment. It's so sad, yet inevitable. It seems I failed in the end."— Those words echoed in her thoughts, a mix of resignation and bitterness.— "It shouldn't surprise me. So many brilliant geniuses before me have tried and failed."

As everything crumbled around her, she turned her gaze to the center of all that destruction: the Forge of Creation. It was the crystallization of an entire world's efforts, a last desperate attempt to save Alfia's plan. Built to recreate a universe in collapse, the Forge was supposed to be the flame of rebirth, but it had failed long before her arrival. After all, there was nothing left to save. All that was left of Alfia's glorious world were ruins and her.

"A hundred thousand years ago, at the height of the world, they believed they were entering a new era, when in fact it was the last glimmer before death. It was ironic how, just at the last breath, all civilizations, races, and organizations came together to create this last hope. The Forge was supposed to ignite and bring redemption. But instead, it brought disappointment." She recalled the signs of the end: the massive loss of mana, the radical and extreme change in the environment, and the chaos in the laws that governed the world. The destruction was relentless. Humans perished first, followed by other races. Only the vampires, with their durable and regenerative physiques, survived the carnage—and eventually, even they succumbed. She was the last. Born among the ruins, where the Forge's entire operation had once been centered. There was little to do but survive. In her moments of rest, she read the remnants of lost knowledge. It took her two hundred years to finish reading it all. At one point, she found what seemed to be the cause of the Forge's failure. She gathered her strength and went through near-death situations to reach the heart of the machine. She corrected the error and tried to activate it. Nothing happened.

As the "sky" seemed to shatter and the last breath of the universe announced the end, she allowed herself a moment of defeat. She sat in front of the Forge and let the tears fall. "I was foolish. How did I think I could achieve what thousands could not?"

It was at that moment that something changed. A growing heat emanated from the Forge. When she looked up, she saw a flame emerge from within the artifact. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before. It was the Fire of Desolation, a flame that seemed to consume the void around it. She felt the devastating and creative energy pulsing, as if the universe was whispering to her that this was the moment.

A moment of clarity illuminated her mind. The meaning of everything came to light.

'Life and death... Creation demands the sacrifice of the last spark of life. I am the last, and therefore the key.' — Her heart sank, but resolve shone in her eyes.

With slow steps, she approached the Forge, feeling the heat of the Fire of Desolation grow. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. — "If I am the last flame of life, burn within me the strength to be reborn."

Without hesitation, she threw herself into the Forge. The flame roared around her, but it did not consume. It transformed. The energy of life and death merged in a single moment, and the universe reacted. Absolute emptiness gave way to a glow, like stars emerging from nothingness.

The flames that consumed Tang Li were both hot and unbearable. Each spark seemed to carry fragments of the desolation of the old world, as well as the hope of a new beginning. At first, she believed she was being destroyed, obliterated along with the world she had tried to save. But then something changed.

Within the flames, she began to feel. Not just pain, but every moment of her existence—every victory and failure, every smile and tear. It was as if the universe, in its infinite wisdom, was carving away at her soul, ripping out the pieces that were unworthy of continuing and reinforcing what was unbreakable. The sensation was excruciating, as if she were being dismantled and rebuilt over and over again.

'Is this the end?'— she thought, as a silent voice inside her whispered, 'No. This is the beginning.'

Her body was no more, but her essence struggled to remain whole. She felt as if the flames were trying to devour her, but at the same time, something in them recognized her. It was a constant battle between giving in to nothingness and resisting to maintain her identity. With each moment, it felt like another piece of her was shattering, and the pain was almost unbearable.

Tang Li bit into her own consciousness, an invisible force she barely understood. 'I have survived the end of a world. I will not fall apart now.'

And so, each wave of pain made her soul more solid, more pure. As her essence merged with the flames, an artifact began to take shape. First, she saw the structure of a delicate silver object, like a moon forged from metal. It seemed to be molded directly from her soul, glowing with an ethereal hue, half silver, half dark. When the object was finally complete, Tang Li felt her connection to it as if it were an extension of herself. It was the Lunar Umbrella, a symbol of destruction and rebirth.

But the process was far from over. The flames now turned to her essence, trying to fuse her soul to the umbrella. Tang Li screamed, or at least she thought she was screaming, but no sound echoed in the void she was trapped in. Every fiber of her being felt like it was about to unravel. It was a constant struggle not to succumb.

A voice, perhaps her own, perhaps something greater, echoed in the void:

— "You are the link. What connects the end to the beginning. Persevere, or all will be lost."

With every shred of her strength, Tang Li resisted. It was endless suffering, but she knew that giving in would mean losing everything. The umbrella glowed brightly, reflecting her indomitable spirit, until finally, the flames extinguished.

When it was all over, Tang Li hovered in an unknown space. Her soul now exuded an aura of nobility and mystery, like a beacon born from the ashes of her universe. The umbrella floated beside her, a symbol of who she was and what she had sacrificed.

But before she could fully comprehend what had happened, her soul was sucked in by an invisible force, drawn to a distant place. It was a calling, a destiny she did not yet understand. The void around her whispered secrets, promises of power, dangers, and an uncertain future.

'I still exist,' — she thought, feeling strength reborn within her. 'And if I do, I will continue to fight.-'— That was her last thought before drowsiness took over her and she passed out..