The glint of my blade under the moonlight was all that could be seen as I ripped through the ranks of the beasts, slicing through them like they were butter and painting the town red. Yet I was beginning to notice something. Normally, the blood of the Elysian Beasts was golden– like the ichor that ran through the veins of gods. Yet here, the only thing that tainted my blade was a thick crimson liquid– the lifeblood of mortals.

  A single step, and I tore through ten. Another step, twenty. Then thirty, forty, and fifty until the number itself became irrelevant as I cleaved their ranks in half from its original number– but they continued to come, seemingly rising directly from the depths of hell. Through the silence, I could hear incoherent garble, which seemed to be coming from their mouths. The sound was dissonant, unintelligible.But to me, it was faintly reminiscent of… wailing.

  Reminiscent of cries of pain.

  But these were mindless beasts. They were unable to feel pain, having lost all reason to the mindless slaughter. And if they weren’t… then what were they?

  My job wasn’t to question. It was to kill, just like it always had been. In my old life, I was something of a tool. A blade without a will of its own, merely following the whims of whoever chose to wield me– whether it was to cause destruction or to save others, I did so without issue.

  It seemed like the beasts had no end. No matter how many we defeated, they continued to arise, to the point where my entire body had been soaked from head to toe in their blood, causing my clothes to cling feebly to my skin. I could continue to fight– but the Lizards were clearly growing tired as time passed by, being pushed into a corner.

  Isabella, too– she still refused to transform into her true form, and therefore was struggling with the horde of enemies due to her small stature and inability to cause any real damage. I could use Blink– but that was a risky strategy, as it would take almost everything out of me when I didn’t know how many enemies were left.

  The sun had begun to encroach on what had previously been a darkened sky– it was soon to be morning, which meant we had been fighting for hours to no avail. Taking another step, I tore through another wave of beasts, blade flashing through the air despite my fatigue as I forced my body to its current limits. I was completely engrossed in the heat of battle, locking onto another enemy, until–

  ‘Atlas! They need your help!’ My head swung sharply to one side. The Lizards– in trouble. Fatigue had begun to set in for them as they had broken formation, being pushed into a corner in different locations. My heart screamed at me to save them, screamed at me to do something as time seemed to visibly slow, the blood pounding in my ears and muting everything else– but I, really, could only save one no matter how hard I tried.

  Logically, I’d have to make a sacrifice. Logically, I’d have to pick and choose who I wanted to save. Logically– I had dealt with this before. Yet in that past, as Xeno, I had chosen not to care about those around me to make the eventual choice of who to save somewhat easier. But now…

  ...I didn’t have that luxury, for I had chosen to get close with all of these people. We laughed together. Cried together. Ate food and sang and danced together.

  But it seemed I wouldn’t have to.

  A chill that caused my blood to run cold filled the air as the horde seemed to shudder to a halt, all turning to face in the same direction. I could feel it, too. They were mindless– simply attacking the strongest thing they could sense. And whatever was approaching… was undoubtedly strong.

  A thick layer of ice engulfed the horde, with edges that jutted out like spears hurled towards the sky before it shattered, raining hell down upon them in the form of iridescently glittering icicles. Aaliyah had grown stronger– so much stronger.

  Many of the horde were skewered by the ice in that instant, but the ones that remained were frozen due to his mere presence nonetheless and the icy aura that was emitted by him. The entire area lay covered in a thin layer of frost, the ground freezing beneath every step as he made his way towards me, breaths visible as a cloud of vapour in the air.

  His eyes remained trained on me as he stopped, tilting his head down slightly to meet my eyes. The cold expression dropped within a second, instead replaced by a small, wry smile.

  “Fancy meeting you here, Anonymous.”

  “You too.” I responded, a smile gracing my features behind the mask.

  —

  ‘So that's why they call him the Winter's Monarch…’ Isabella mused, making her thoughts audible to me.

  ‘Yeah. Aaliyah’s been making quite the name for himself, hasn't he?’

  ‘He was special from the start, I think. There has to be a reason why he immediately became B Tier. Now that I think about it… where's your cool nickname?!’

  I let out a sigh, allowing Isabella to fade out of my mind. There was one thing that stuck, though. Aaliyah was stronger than me. He always had been. Even with everything I had done over the past year or so… I was still behind him. I had to work harder. I had to get stronger. I couldn't fall behind.

  Yet at the back of my mind lingered my promise to Meryll. Strength wasn't my only focus. It couldn't be. Not if I wanted to change from the person I had been as Xeno.

  Making our way over to the Lizards, Aaliyah and I helped them to their feet as they dusted off their clothing, breathing heavily. Isabella made a quick leap up onto my shoulder, before I turned back to Aaliyah. Naturally, I had questions.

  “What are you doing here, Aaliyah? I mean– what are the chances that you show up right when we need help?” My voice was controlled, calm, yet very clearly searching for answers. He, however, paid it no mind and simply shrugged.

  “I was actually investigating the ruins around the area. If I'm correct… then something lies beneath this town.”

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  “...What?”

  Makko’s voice sounded first, just as confused as the rest of us. “What do you mean, there’s something beneath the town?”

  My eyes darted up towards Aaliyah’s, searching for any trace of something that would give him away, give away the fact he was messing with me. Yet I found nothing. He was being completely serious. If there truly was something hidden deep beneath this place… then I supposed it gave whoever took the villages more motive than simply being insane.

  If we could find what was hidden beneath… Perhaps we could find why they were taken. And if I could find that, it was only a matter of time before the culprit was found, too. Time was of the essence. We– no, I didn’t have any time to waste.

  “Tell me everything you know, Aaliyah.” He seemed rather confused at first, but appeared to catch onto my body language, and simply nodded as we all listened intently to his answer.

  “I’d returned to Uruk after adventuring for a while, and Gramps was telling me an old legend. About a man from Sumeria– they called him Veritas.” Surprise filtered through the barrier between Isabella’s emotions and mine– unusual, since she was usually in control of her emotions. Yet I didn’t comment, as Aaliyah’s words were far more important right now.

  “They called him Veritas the Ascender. Supposedly, he was a man capable of using all the elements– and he eventually ascended to godhood, and that’s where the nickname came from. But even though he became essentially a god, he decided to return to humanity to spread the things he knew instead of keeping it for himself. And then he died of old age. But it wasn’t sad, because he brought happiness. But the reason why I’m here is… apparently Veritas is buried right beneath our feet.”

  Ah. So that’s what Aaliyah was searching for. It was of some interest, I had to admit– but it was a myth. A legend that had little to no substance to it, something that was more like a folk or a fairytale. Ascending to godhood? I chuckled to myself quietly, shaking my head. But to be fair, though… I had seen some fairly crazy things in the past few years, I couldn’t count out the fact something like that would happen just yet.

  “Nevertheless,” Aaliyah spoke in a gentle tone, leading us over to what appeared to be a slightly raised stone platform with runes engraved all across its surface, “It’s not like I can get in, anyway. I think I’ve found the entrance– but it’s locked. No matter what I do, and I’ve tried everything, I just can’t unlock it. I think it needs some kind of key, but… I can’t fathom what that could be.”

  Key… a key? Didn’t Meryll talk to me about keys before…?

  ‘That thing within your chest. Think of it like a key.’

  …It couldn’t be, could it? I mean, it wouldn’t be surprising if it was. The gods were as meticulous as they were crafty, if what Meryll had told me was true. Nonetheless, it was worth a shot. Whilst the Lizards and Aaliyah watched, I took a deep breath in.

  “...I’m going to try something.”

  ‘...What are you going to do?’

  ‘Isabella, go stay with Mari. I’m going to see whether I can open this.’

  She leapt off my shoulder, before bounding over to Mari and sitting beside her. Walking at a steady pace towards the platform, I took a deep breath in. Channelling the power of my soul into my hands, I placed them onto the edge of the platform and began to push. This wasn’t enough yet, it wouldn’t budge. I had to dig deeper, down to the deepest depths of my soul and claw out all the raw power I could muster until I had nothing left. And slowly but surely, the platform began to move.

  A discordant, ear-piercing sound rang out as it scraped against the sandstone lining the floor as I continued to push it forward, before it fell off of the other side of the raised bit of rock. In the middle was an entrance, with a staircase carved from rock that led beneath the ruined city of Khorangh. The darkness had engulfed the entire tunnel, before being forced back by the light now filtering in from the outside.

  The Lizards and Aaliyah made their way over to me, peering into the blackness as well. “...We’ll need some light,” Mari chirped up in the gentle yet firm tone she always took. “Anonymous, could you lead the way? I’ll remain at the back in order to cover us.”

  I nodded, before taking a step into the darkness, Isabella and the rest following suit quite quickly as I lit a flame in the palm of my hand.

  —

  The only noise audible to me was the crackling of the flame I had lit along with the slow, rhythmic thumping of our feet on hard ground. The further we went, the more convinced I became that what Aaliyah had said might have been true after all. Every so often, we stopped to observe carvings in the walls, drawings that looked as though they had been there for over a millennia, with writing in some ancient language we couldn’t decipher. But the carvings told the exact same story that Aaliyah had told us.

  The story of Veritas the Ascender. Veritas, the strongest human being to have ever graced the land.

  But then– if he was so important to them, considering he had literally become a god, why was he never mentioned in the books I had read? Had someone purposefully omitted him from the history of this world? And if so– why?

  My eyes glanced at Isabella, who was keeping pace with me rather easily. Now that it was silent, I finally had the chance to ask her what I had been meaning to from before. Just why was she so surprised at the mention of Veritas? What was she keeping from me?

  ‘Can I ask you something, Isabella?’

  ‘Go ahead, Atlas.’

  ‘...Why were you so surprised when Aaliyah mentioned Veritas’ name?’

  Isabella fell silent for a moment, which weighed heavy on the both of us. I could sense hesitation from her, like she was contemplating whether to tell me the truth or to attempt to change the subject. ‘...He was just… someone that I used to know. That is all.’

  ‘You’re saying that like it’s not a big deal? Wasn’t he alive a million years ago or something???’

  ‘Ten-thousand…’

  ‘That’s not any better. How old are you?’

  ‘Don’t you know it’s rude to ask a woman her age?’

  ‘But–’

  ‘No buts, Atlas. Politeness is key.’

  I let out a silent groan, with the knowledge I wasn’t going to be able to prise any more information out of her. Nevertheless, I had gained something from our conversation that brought me closer to Isabella’s true identity. Not only had Diana referred to her as ‘mother’ as well as called her a god, but she was also at least ten thousand years old. But Isabella had denied being a god, without hesitation, stating that if she were a god, she would be the most useless and incompetent god in the world. So she couldn’t be…

  …Could she?

  I shook my head, pushing the thoughts from my mind. It wasn’t the time to be thinking about this. Around an hour had passed since we had entered what seemed to be some kind of underground labyrinth, and the walls seemed to curve out into some kind of open room, with torches lining the walls that immediately lit up the second we stepped into it. And in that singular moment, I was only begging for one thing.

  …Please, let this not be another one of those godforsaken trials.