Everyone must have something to worry about, but worry can also be mixed with anxiety.
All of that can happen because we are thinking about something, more precisely something valuable and some certain aspect.
But what does it have to do with all this!
In another dimension, there is a floating island that is beautiful and magnificent. On that island, in the middle, there is a place where a beautiful mirror stands with exquisite wooden carvings, even the mirror emits a magical Aura that is both powerful and enchanting.
There stood a woman in front of the mirror, her hands clasped together at her chest, as if something was happening.
But, without warning!
"HEY, GUARD LADY!" Shouted someone.
That instantly startled her.
The woman's name was [ Youdona Qulva ] A Goddess who guarded and aided a prophecy.
Or called [ Goddess INWA (Information Warden) ], or simply Yona for short.
Yona then turned with a sulky expression, "Can't you greet me normally, I'm not deaf you know, I can still hear clearly,"
"And I almost fainted because of your yelling, you know!" She turned her back and crossed her arms.
"Yeah sorry-sorry, well I did it on purpose anyway hehe," he said.
Yona, hearing that, could only pout in response.
The one who surprised Yona was Noah or [God Noah], yes that was his only name, nothing more.
"Yona, you've been restless this whole time, do you still not believe?" Asked Noah, worried.
"I… I feel afraid if this fails, even he is just like a poor young man, who must be lost in an unknown place," Yona answered.
The two of them then looked toward the mirror, which was the medium used to observe Ace. But it seemed he was asleep in a gondola, in a quiet and frightening place, with only the gondola's light illuminating his journey for now.
"I feel uneasy seeing him there, having to be in that darkness, for the sake of our conviction. Even though from the start his behavior was silly, that won't guarantee his safety right now, I-I…"
Noah then cut off Yona's words, placing his hand on her shoulder to bring her back to her senses, as their eyes met, "Yona, are you beginning to doubt your duty? You are the keeper of all information, every piece of information always has several stages, you've read it haven't you, there's no way your predictions would be wrong,"
"You, Yona, you are the one who holds the prophecy, not the one who creates it, so what has been prophesied you only need to believe, not doubt,"
"For the sake of the world, to save it once more, you must believe, okay," Noah said firmly.
"I believe, but what if all of this–"
Noah again cut off Yona's doubt, "If you are still uncertain, then let's watch the prophecy unfold together, so that doubt will vanish forever,"
"But your eyes are closed, how will you watch it!" said Yona.
"I don't know, maybe using inner sight. Anyway, let's just watch," replied Noah.
And so they looked into the mirror, carefully observing Ace's movements. Yes, praying that he would be safe on his journey this time.
Ace, exhausted, began to dream of something, like a memory!
Where someone seemed to call his name, like an invitation to eat.
Ace looked around and found himself in a wide and beautiful green garden, so refreshing.
He then touched himself and realized he had become a child again. The one who called him was actually his parents. But why did their faces look blurred?
Ace didn't care about that, deciding instead to enjoy it. He walked toward them and said, "Father, Mother, is this really you!" he asked eagerly.
The ones who resembled Ace's parents only gave him a warm smile.
Feeling happy, Ace didn't suspect anything at all with his current state.
In the place where Yona and Noah were, Yona stroked her chin, watching closely, curious about Ace who was smiling in his sleep.
Noah responded to Yona's curiosity, saying that Ace was having a sweet dream.
"So, you mean Ace is having a sweet dream now, but what kind of dream could make him that happy!" asked Yona.
"Well, I don't know what he's dreaming, because I'm not a dreamseer," replied Noah.
"Oohhh, okay nice info," said Yona.
"I wonder what kind of dream he's having, now I'm curious!" Yona said eagerly.
They both grew curious about Ace's dream, while Ace himself was enjoying his dream, eating a cake with white cream.
In short, the feast was over, and now Ace had only one goal, to casually talk with his parents.
Ace then approached them, for he was trapped in his own joy, lowering his guard completely.
"Father, Mother, I want to tell you something, I–"
Before Ace could finish his words, his parents suddenly caressed his cheeks gently.
"Uhh, is something wrong?" Ace asked them.
But they only gave him a smile, yet Ace realized one thing, that smile was the last smile he would ever see.
Because before they died, they smiled at him. A smile that didn't want to part, but a smile that was their final gift to him.
A genuine smile, born of parental love for their child.
Ace now shed tears, with emotions he could no longer control.
Without Ace realizing it, his parents transformed into a nightmare, a black mass that merged into a terrifying, incomprehensible entity.
He could only freeze, unable to move though it was only a dream. The once green wide field now grew { Wild Red Poppy Flowers }.
The weather changed drastically, silence became chaos.
Ace could only think, is this truly his end? The creature still holding him, then opened its mouth wide, from which many horrifying beings emerged, ready to tear him apart.
Without warning, Ace was thrust into that dreadful mouth.
Do I fight, do I keep struggling, or do I erase this nightmare forever?
Before Ace was devoured by the creature, unexpectedly he managed to wake from the nightmare.
Panting heavily, "That… was that real!" he said as he touched his body to check.
Luckily, nothing had happened to him.
Ace then looked at the distance left for the gondola, where the system showed the destination was only 5 km away. Seeing that, Ace could only breathe a sigh of relief, then took out a bottle of clear water from his earlier loot.
Dehydrated, he drank it without hesitation, finishing the whole bottle.
After that, Ace calmed his mind to reduce stress, "ugh, I feel kind of messed up. I need a towel to wipe this sweat–"
=So, your journey is safe so far!= A mysterious voice.
"Huh, who's that!" Ace answered casually.
=Actually, I am the system of your watch= said the system.
"Oh, I thought it was something else," Ace replied indifferently.
=Oh come on, am I seen that low in your eyes=
=No expression like (wow you can talk! / what a cool system! / my gosh this thing is so advanced) or something like that!!=
"Honestly, I'm already used to this, so sorry," he answered without guilt.
=Whatever you say=
=I wanted to introduce myself, but you fell asleep, so I had to wait until you woke up=
=But the more I waited, the longer you didn't wake up=
Because of that, the system told all the ways it tried to wake Ace, from school alarms, office job alarms, even using the voices of cute older sisters.
"My gosh, of course you're that low, your methods are like an AI without artificial intelligence," Ace said, holding his head at the absurd story.
=Actually, besides introductions, I also wanted to tell you something!=
"Huh, something, about what–"
As Ace was speaking to the system, without realizing it, from behind the shadows something was watching him inside the gondola, and eventually.
"What did you say, another entity is here!" Before he could process what was happening suddenly.
Boomm
Ace then felt a jolt from an unknown force.
The emergency system then sounded, giving a warning [ to all, an internal attack has been detected, standby mode activated ]
[ I repeat, to all, an internal attack has been detected, standby mode activated ]
Because the emergency system was too noisy, the entity watching felt disturbed and released a loud, powerful screech.
Ace then ordered the system to immediately activate the light in this empty space.
=Command received, connecting=
While the system was trying to turn on the room lights, Ace prepared his firearm, with all conditions and needs ready, including ammunition.
Ace was now ready to defend and fight the entity disturbing his journey.
=100% room light activated=
"Good, let's see what kind of weird creature it is.." Ace froze instantly when he looked out the gondola window.
Something that defied sane comprehension.
A massive entity with six human arms, a body like a carnivorous insect, and–
A disfigured face more monstrous than anything. Even though it looked fragile, its endurance was not something to be broken with a single shot.
Yet the creature glared at Ace, as if holding a grudge for so long.
Or perhaps!
= Master Ace, you're almost at your destination, therefore please– =
"No, I won't back down," Ace said flatly.
= But, that creature! =
"I know, but just so you know, I'm no coward, not even a loser,"
=You mean, we're going to fight it!=
Hearing that, Ace smiled happily, then opened the gondola window, aiming at the creature's weak point.
=Master, I know you're brave, but don't go crazy too=
=Our journey will be disrupted otherwise=
As the system nagged about what Ace should do, he chose to ignore it, focusing on his aim.
This creature isn't too big, good, I just need to drop it down.
"Hey, system, what's beneath us right now,"
=A huge, raging water channel, why do you ask!=
"Good, that means we only need to cripple it, then, if that's the case," Ace aimed at one of the creature's arms.
After locking the target, Ace pulled the trigger, the bullet shooting quickly toward the monster, striking its right arm.
The monster screamed in pain. Whether conscious or not, the creature thought to drag him down too.
Not wanting to fall alone, the monster attacked the gondola Ace was riding, releasing dangerous substances from its body.
But all in vain.
Because Ace knew the monster would counterattack, he leaped out of the gondola, landing on a path below, making it an alternate route.
The gondola he had been riding then crashed down, because the monster had targeted its suspension to bring Ace down.
Realizing its attack failed to kill him, Ace prepared again, aiming to drop the monster.
As he aimed, he noticed a pendant stuck on the creature's head.
Ace lost focus, dazing at the pendant.
=Master, snap out of it=
Hearing the system's voice snapped Ace back, "thanks, you saved me,"
=No problem :D=
Now refocused on his true target. Alright, I must be strong now.
Once locked, Ace pulled the trigger, the bullet shooting straight into the monster's head, finally.
Aaarrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhh
The monster instantly fell, hit in the head by the powerful shot.
Its roar slowly faded as it fell deeper into the abyss. Out of curiosity, Ace cautiously looked down the chasm to see how deep it was.
Once he found his answer, he continued his journey on foot. After walking half a kilometer, he rested for a moment along the path.
Just as he was about to sit down, suddenly the ground shook.
=Something huge is approaching, heading your way=
=Run immediately. Entity not detected as friendly=
Right after the system warned him, from 10 km away came a familiar screech, the same sound Ace first heard.
Wait, it's still alive, don't tell me… His instincts were right, the creature still lived, now standing on the path Ace was on.
Knowing this, Ace activated something from his watch system and then–
Dddyuuuuuuaaaarrrrrr
The bridge exploded, the blast spreading from the point Ace had started walking.
Ace ran toward the final destination, unlike the monster that couldn't escape in time, falling once more.
But without proper calculation, the explosion caught up to Ace, "what, you've got to be kidding!"
Exhausted, he nearly lost consciousness, and yes.
He was thrown by the very explosion he triggered, flying forward.
Yes, he reached the final destination, but his landing was far from smooth.
He crashed hard into a very solid door. Just imagining it was painful enough.
As a result, he lost consciousness right in front of the door.
Can Ace convince Yona with his current condition, well perhaps.
Even this place was still considered a secret, maybe?
End of chapter (a coincidental meeting)