No one knew where it started. It wasn't a light. Or a sound. It was just... a feeling. Like something old had woken up—something the world forgot on purpose.
In a small village on the edge of the human realm, people whispered about strange weather, frozen shadows, and dreams they couldn't remember. But one man—quiet, unknown, always alone—walked through it all like nothing was wrong.
His name was Ren. Or at least, that's what he told them.
He worked as a farmer. Barely spoke. Kept his eyes low and his hands busy. But when the sky cracked open for a second that night—no thunder, no warning—Ren looked up… and smiled.
He didn't smile often. That was the first time.
Ren lives in Ashen Plain, a calm, forgotten place far from the capital. He doesn't go to town much, doesn't talk to the guards, and when kids ask him questions, he gives short, strange answers.
But after that night, everything starts changing.
- A mysterious mercenary girl with a bounty on her head collapses near his field.
Soldiers from the capital come hunting her—but freeze when they get close to Ren.
Something invisible is protecting him… even he doesn't seem surprised.
Ren helps the girl. She asks, "Who are you?"
He pauses. "Nobody."
But when the soldiers try to force their way in, something awakens.
Ren's eyes shift. Just for a second. The soldiers freeze in place—mid-swing, mid-breath—as if time forgot how to move. Their weapons fall apart. Their bodies don't even bleed.
The girl is speechless. "What... what did you do?"
Ren looks at his hand. "It's happening again.
The girl stares at the frozen soldiers—still as statues, eyes wide in fear, unmoving. Time hasn't just stopped. It's like it never existed for them in the first place.
She backs away. "What… are you?"
Ren crouches beside a flower growing near his field. He gently brushes the petals. "That's a question I've been avoiding for a long time."
The girl grips her dagger tight. "You didn't even move. You just looked at them."
He doesn't answer.
She inches closer, still wary. "They called me a traitor… but you, you're not even human."
Ren turns his eyes toward her—calm, almost tired. "I used to be. Maybe."
Flashback – A World Not Meant for Him
Images flash in his mind: a sky without stars, a realm without color, and a tree of infinite size known as the tree of all creation, growing through space like it's trying to pierce the edge of reality. His real body—massive, formless, glowing—is sleeping beneath outside it. It hasn't moved in eternity.
Ren's avatar, his current form, was sent to walk among creation. But he's starting to remember things he sealed away.
"Someone's coming," he mutters.
Back in the Present
The girl tenses. "What?"