The world ended in silence.
The moment the falling star touched the ground, there wasn't a big bang or a crazy roar. Just a wave of bright, blue-white light that shot out in every direction super fast. It wasn't like a bomb that blows things up; it was more like a giant eraser.
Trees, rocks, the busted-up trucks, and the bodies of the soldiers—they didn't burn or get smashed to bits. They just... vanished. Their atoms came undone, and they were wiped from existence as the silent light wave passed over. It cleaned everything up for ten kilometers, leaving behind nothing but glassy, smooth earth.
And right in the middle of it all, Jin was standing there, totally fine.
The red mist from his blood-burning trick was gone, and the crazy, suicidal thumping of his heart slowed down to a normal, steady beat. The crazy strength he had was gone, but the pain didn't come back.
Just like that, the wounds were gone! His torn clothes vanished too. He was standing there, totally naked under this weird new sky, and his skin was completely clear.
He felt younger and stronger than he had in years, maybe even decades! It was like the energy from the crash didn't just save him—it totally turned back the clock!
He looked around at the perfectly flat, empty land that went on forever. No sign of the fight, no sign of the forest, no sign of the dam. It was a world wiped clean.
His soldier's caution was fighting with a big dose of curiosity. He turned and started walking toward where the thing had crashed. There was a shallow, perfectly round crater glowing with a soft, blue light.
At the bottom of the crater, there wasn't any wreckage or some alien monster. It was just a man.
He looked like someone out of an old historical movie, with a long white beard and fancy robes that were somehow perfectly clean.
He was just lying there with his eyes closed, looking super peaceful, like he was just taking a nap in the middle of the end of the world. No blood, no injuries, just a sleeping old man.
Jin walked slowly down into the crater. His bare feet didn't make a sound on the strange, warm ground. He stopped a few feet away, just watching. Every instinct he had was screaming at him.
This was wrong. This was impossible. This was a threat bigger than anything he'd ever faced.
Just as he was about to say something, the old man's eyes snapped open. They weren't normal eyes. They were like pools of pure, silver light, super old and deep.
In a single second, a feeling washed over Jin. It wasn't physical. It was like being seen, being known, being completely and totally understood. The being's gaze went right past him, across the glassy plains, and over the whole planet.
It saw the cities, the governments, the armies, the fear. It saw this world's entire history, the wars, the few people like him who could break the rules of physics. It saw everything.
Then, the silver eyes focused back on Jin, and the old man sighed. It was a sound of deep, cosmic disappointment.
"The echo of my power is faint in you, little spark," the man said, his voice old but clear. "The path this world was on… it has been completely shattered."
Jin's mind was still trying to catch up from his own death and rebirth. "My power? What are you talking about? Who are you?"
The old man sat up, moving slowly and gracefully. "You can call me Tian. And your power, the energy you use, was once a seed I planted. A seed I planted in all worlds, including this one. It was a gift."
"A gift?" Jin laughed, a harsh, bitter sound. "It's felt more like a curse."
"Yes," Tian said, his silver eyes full of sadness. "It has become one. For that, I am sorry. You, and six others on this planet, were meant to be its heroes. Its saviors. You were my Children of Fate, meant to lead this world to a higher level of existence. A World Ascension."
The words hit Jin like a truck. Children of Fate. World Ascension. It was the stuff from the cheap fantasy novels he used to read. It couldn't be real.
"So all that stuff…" Jin said, his voice barely a whisper. "Cultivation, different realms, heavenly tribulations… that's all real?"
Tian gave him a small, sad smile. "The stories you read are just little pieces of the truth, mixed up by people's imaginations. But the basic idea is right.
Mortals can absorb the energy of their world to make their soul and body stronger, to live longer and defy the heavens. It is the path to power."
"But you… you were never meant to walk that path alone," Tian continued, his body starting to flicker a little.
"You were all supposed to rise together, to lead this world into a golden age. But I… I failed. I was betrayed by my own chosen ones, in a place very far from here. When I fell, it sent ripples everywhere, and it messed up the destinies I had planned. Your world's fate got twisted. The saviors became feared outcasts. The golden age became an age of paranoia and death."
Jin stood there in silence, his whole view of the world falling apart. He wasn't a freak of nature. He was a failed savior in a messed-up timeline. His life, his pain, his friends' deaths—it was all just collateral damage in a cosmic game he never even knew he was playing.
———
Far away, a woman with stars in her eyes watched the world below. She frowned, her gaze lingering on the fading glow of Tian's essence. "His light is gone," she whispered. "One of his seeds has been moved from the board."
With a flick of her hand, the vision dissolved into nothing. She told herself it didn't matter, that nothing had changed, unaware that another presence was watching her from the dark.
———
"So, what now?" Jin finally asked, his voice hollow.
Tian looked at him with gentle pity. "Now, my journey ends. I have been running for eons, and I am tired. This is the last of my power." His body flickered more intensely now, becoming see-through.
"But before I go," Tian said softly, "I have to thank you. You didn't run. You didn't attack. You just stood and talked with a dying old man. It's been a long time since I had company in my final moments."
———
In a hall where even light seemed to bend away, a figure of shadow stirred. It had felt the ripple of Tian's last act and the brief spark that touched Jin's soul. A fragment of its power now rested there, dormant and unseen. The being did not move or speak; it simply waited in silence, content to bide its time.
———
"As a gift," Tian said, his voice getting weaker, "and as an apology for the life you had to live, I will grant you one wish. Anything I can still do with my fading power.
After that, I will use the very last of my essence to send you to a new world. A place with a clean slate, a fresh start, far from the messed-up destiny of this world, and far from my enemies who might come looking for me."
Tian's silver eyes held Jin's gaze. "So, tell me, Shen Jin. After everything you've been through, what is it that you truly want?"