As Ren awoke and he immediately felt something was amiss.
He was back in his real body.
Ren let out a soft sigh as he sat up slowly. "Did I fail the myth...? Am I dead?"
The world around him glowed with a spectral light.
The sky was not blue--the sky shimmered with red, green, and blue, like the northern lights, shifting and contorting over time.
For a second, Ren let a faint smile creep onto his face.
"So, this is the afterlife?" he mumbled.
But then, a figure started walking towards him.
Ren squinted in confusion, as he did not recognize the silhouette. But at the same time, there was something... off. Maybe it was the shape.
As the figure got closer, Ren's eyes went wide. His hands began shaking. And he remember the photo he was watching before entering the myth and there were a girl inside it.
"...How.... how are you alive?" he stuttered.
"Akansha...?"
He staggered back in shock because he thinks she died that day.
Akansha walked closer to him, her look impossible to read. "Oh, Ren... did you really think I would die that easily?"
Her expression twisted into a smirk. "Don't worry, I won't die that easily."
Ren staggered to his feet. "Akansha... is it really you?"
He reached out to pinch himself, hoping it was a dream, but she stopped him.
"Don't do that," she said softly. "If you wake up… I'll disappear. And I don't want to leave you, Mr. Killer's Son."
Ren froze.
"…What did you say?"
His hands shook. "How are you here? Where… where even is here?"
Akansha leaned close, her voice low and calm.
"This place is inside your mind, Ren. You created it. I am alive but u maybe never able to find me."
"What?!" Ren blinked in disbelief. "You are alive!?. If u are alive then please never leave me I don't kill anyone."
Akansha just grinned. "Maybe. Maybe not. Ask yourself, Mr. Killer's Son~"
"Stop calling me that," Ren growled, stepping back. "I'm not the son of a killer."
"Oh?" she teased, her voice mocking. "Then maybe… you're the killer himself?"
Ren snapped. He lunged forward, trying to punch her—but his hand passed right through. He stumbled.
"I'm NOT a killer!" he shouted. "I'm just… just a normal mage. A normal person!"
He closed his eyes and fought against the tears threatening to fall. Akansha moved a little closer.
"So sad..." she said softly, "You couldn't even touch me. Maybe because deep down... because you wanted to kill me now, didn't you?"
"SHUT UP!" he yelled. "You are not Akansha! The real Akansha - if she was still alive - would not ever say that! She would never hate me!"
Tears stung at his eyes.
"I know her...I know she wouldn't..."
He bit his tongue. A moment later—
He jerked awake.
Back in Ōsu no Mikoto's body.
He gasped for air, heart pounding. His brother sat next to him while the priest in the palace chanted softly, tending to his wounds.
Ren could smile weakly. "It was just a dream...a weird, broken dream."
He thought darkly.
My mind...it's getting more unstable. I have to finish this myth. I *have* to win this war. There is no other option.
He turned his head slowly and said, "Thank you...for taking care of me, brother."
His little brother gently caressed his hair. "Don't worry. I'll protect you. Didn't I say that?"
Days rolled by.
Ren sat by the window, allowing the cool wind to softly sweep his face.
He closed his eyes.
The breeze was quiet.
Serene. Just how he liked it.
But his thoughts betrayed him.
Akansha's face flashed in his mind- but blurry.
Distant.
It felt so hazy now, he wasn't sure he could recall it.
He sighed and looked up at the sky.
"What is going on in the real world right now...?"
as he look at the sky and looking at the stars.
"Noah... how are u doing? Can anyone help me telling whats going with me now..."
"Will I be able to survive and achieve my goal or my brain will make it more worse for me."
He understood that the answer didn't matter. Not yet. He just needed to just get through this.
Years passed.
He trained every single day and every single night whenever he get free and also fighting many monsters and killing them and trying not to use the magic.
He killed many tigers and even some pack of wolf easily and he also spending his time well and helping his brother.
He also go toward the temple and meet his aunt and also talk with them without letting the emperor know and killed many assasians that came to claim his head.
Then, twelve years later—
He stood before a mirror.
His face was older. His eyes clearer. His muscles defined.
He wore ceremonial armor and was polished and exact.
"...Why did that old bastard call me now?" he muttered. "I don't want to see him."
He walked toward the palace gate and ignored the dark clouds that were forming above.
Dark clouds...and crows.
An omen for sure.
He stepped through the emperor's threshold into the Emperor's chamber where his father sat surrounded by advisors and ministers.
The emperor's eyes found him.
"Ōsu no Mikoto. You are here."
Ren nodded. "Yes, Emperor."
He bit his tongue a little—neither out of fear nor as to invoke the emperor's wrath. Rather, in satisfaction. He had the emperor say his name.
He smiled inside.
But at that moment—
A minister stood up,
"Ōsu no Mikoto," he said.
And every eye turned to him.
"We want you to kill your brother."