# 2
Ghei walked.
That was the only thing he did for what might have been an hour, or a day—it was difficult to measure time in a world with two moons hanging motionless in the sky. The dusty purple ground shifted into rocky plains, then into rolling hills covered in tall silver grass that moved on its own, as if stirred by a wind that did not exist.
He was not hungry. Not thirsty. Not tired.
His resurrected body possessed a strange trait: it needed nothing. Or perhaps it did need things, but sent no signals. Or perhaps Ghei simply did not care to listen.
What he noticed was sound—or rather, the lack of it.
With every step he took, the world around him seemed to hold its breath. Insects stopped buzzing. The silver grass ceased its swaying. Even the gentle breeze paused for a moment before continuing.
As if the world feared him.
Or perhaps, as if the world recognized something alien.
In the distance, something moved.
Ghei stopped. His eyes, which until now had stared straight ahead in emptiness, focused.
The shape approached—human? Human-like. Two legs, two arms, walking upright. But its skin emitted a pale blue glow, and from its back grew transparent wings like those of a dragonfly, folded tightly.
The creature saw Ghei. Stopped. Its large, pupil-less eyes widened.
"You…" its voice trembled, a mix of rustling leaves and chiming glass. "You are not from here."
Ghei did not answer. He simply stared.
"You are… something that should not exist." The creature stepped back. Its wings quivered. "Your aura… it's empty. Like a hole in the fabric of reality."
"Where is this?" Ghei asked flatly.
"The Silent Steppes. A land where desire dies before it can be spoken." The creature examined Ghei from head to toe. "But you… you carry a different kind of silence. Not passive silence. An active one. One that rejects."
Ghei ignored the explanation. "Is there a place called Neovita?"
The creature nodded slowly, its movement oddly birdlike. "The City of Second Chances. Where the resurrected gather. To the west, beyond the Shattered Crystal Mountains."
"How many days' walk?"
"For us, three days. For you…" The creature narrowed its eyes—or whatever served as eyes. "Perhaps faster. Because nothing will stand in your way. Even Shadow-Stalkers will avoid you."
Ghei nodded, then began walking again, passing the creature without ceremony.
"Wait!"
Ghei stopped, but did not turn.
"Your name. What is your name?"
"Ghei."
"Just Ghei?"
"Ghei Niruise."
The creature fell silent, as if processing the sound. "Niruise. That… sounds like a fragment. Like something cut away."
"It is."
"Why are you going to Neovita?"
"To find a god."
This time the silence was longer. Ghei could feel—not through ordinary senses, but through something more primal—that the creature was afraid.
"Devaros," the creature whispered.
"You know him?"
"All living beings in Nyania know him. The God of Resurrection. The one who grants second life… and demands a price that cannot be paid."
Ghei finally turned. His face remained flat. "What price?"
"Your soul. Your freedom. Your right to die."
A thin smile appeared again on Ghei's face. Ironic, he thought. Exactly what had happened to him.
"You want to kill him," the creature said. Not a question.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because he revived me without consent."
It was a simple reason. Clear. No talk of revenge, no ambition, no desire to be a hero.
Just this: you took something that was not yours. Give it back.
The creature stepped closer, slowly. Now Ghei could see the details: the blue skin was actually transparent, with light flowing inside like luminous blood. An Aether-Touched being, he recalled from Devaros's explanation—creatures connected to the world's energy.
"My name is Lyra," the creature said. "I will accompany you to the edge of this plain."
"No need."
"Not for you. For me." Lyra fluttered her wings once. "I want to see… what happens when something that desires nothing meets a world full of desire."
They walked together.
Lyra turned out to be talkative. She spoke of Nyania, of the two moons—Luna Veritas (the Moon of Truth), which granted life energy, and Luna Nihil (the Moon of Nothingness), which granted nullifying energy.
"You were born under Luna Nihil's light," Lyra said, pointing at the black moon. "That may be why your Null Echo is so strong."
"Null Echo?"
"Your power. The ability to cancel desire, magic, even concepts. Rare. Extremely rare. Usually possessed only by those who are… already dead inside."
Ghei looked at his own hands. Now he understood—the fine black dust scattering from his skin was the physical manifestation of that Null Echo.
"Is it useful for killing a god?"
Lyra laughed—her voice like falling rain. "Useful? It may be the only thing that can kill a god like Devaros. His power comes from desire—the desire to live again, the fear of death. You… you don't have that desire. Against you, he is weak."
The information settled in him, stored away, producing no excitement or pride. Just a fact.
They reached the edge of the Silent Steppes as Luna Veritas began to shine brighter—a sign of "night" in this world.
Before them stretched a forest of strange trees: trunks transparent like glass, leaves of molten gold slowly dripping to the ground.
"The Memory-Blood Forest," Lyra whispered. "Its leaves are crystallized memories. Be careful—if they touch you, you'll experience someone else's past."
Ghei nodded, then stepped into the forest.
First step—a golden leaf brushed his shoulder.
He staggered.
A flashback—not his:
He stood before a sink, hands trembling as he held a small white pill. In the mirror, his face—Ning Ruishen's face—pale but calm. Outside the window, a light drizzle fell. He took a glass of water. There was no fear. Only relief. Like finishing a long task. The first pill went down. Then the second. The third. The world grew hazy. He lay on the bed, eyes closing. A faint smile. Finally—
Ghei opened his eyes. He was still in the forest. Lyra looked at him anxiously.
"Whose memory was that?" she asked.
"Mine," Ghei replied shortly. But he knew—the memory was too… clear. Like watching from the outside. As if it no longer belonged to him.
They continued. Every brush of leaves brought another flashback—not always Ghei's. Memories of others: a soldier dying on the battlefield, a mother longing for her child, a scientist discovering a truth the world did not want to know.
All those memories entered, lingered briefly, then left—leaving no trace in Ghei.
Like water flowing over smooth stone.
At the heart of the forest, they found a statue.
Not a stone statue—a real human encased in clear crystal. Inside, a young woman frozen in shock, one hand outstretched as if begging for help.
"Petrified by Memory-Blood," Lyra said softly. "Trapped in other people's memories until she couldn't escape."
Ghei stepped closer. He studied the woman's face. Wide-open eyes, half-parted lips. She looked to be in her twenties. Still young.
At the base of the statue was an inscription:
"Aelia. Trapped in memories not her own. 102 years ago."
"Still alive?" Ghei asked.
"In a sense. Her mind is stuck in a loop of memories. Her body preserved by crystal."
Ghei raised his hand and touched the crystal.
And something happened.
The crystal cracked.
Not from impact—it fractured from within, like ice melting too fast. Cracks spread until the entire statue shattered.
The woman—Aelia—collapsed to the ground, coughing.
She was alive.
Aelia looked around in confusion, her eyes adjusting to the light after a century in crystalline darkness. She saw Lyra, then Ghei.
"You," she whispered, her voice hoarse from disuse. "You freed me."
Ghei did not answer.
"Why?"
"Coincidence," Ghei said. "I was just passing through."
But Aelia shook her head. "No. Memory-Blood crystal can only be broken by… nothingness. By someone who has no memories that can be trapped." She stood, unsteady. "What is your name?"
"Ghei."
"I am Aelia. And I owe you my life."
"Don't. I didn't ask for a debt."
But Aelia had already stepped closer, her eyes—pale green like moss—staring deeply. "You're searching for something. I can see it. That emptiness in your eyes… it's not ordinary emptiness. It's intentional."
Lyra, who had been silent, spoke. "He's looking for Devaros. To kill him."
Aelia fell quiet. Then, slowly, a smile formed—the first she'd had in a hundred years.
"I'll come with you."
"No need," Ghei said for the second time that day.
"Not for you. For me." Aelia looked at her trembling hands. "I was trapped because I tried to run from my fate. Now I'm free… maybe I should face it. And watching someone kill a god… that's a good beginning."
Ghei exhaled—or mimed the act. He was beginning to understand: in this world, people liked to follow him without being asked.
But he also understood something deeper: everyone had their own reasons. Aelia wanted to face her destiny. Lyra wanted to witness a walking paradox.
And him? He only wanted to stop.
Perhaps, on the road toward stopping, he would accidentally help others begin.
Another irony.
The three of them emerged from the forest as this world's dawn arrived—Luna Veritas and Luna Nihil side by side in the sky, casting blended white and black light that made the world look like a photographic negative.
In the distance, a mountain with a glittering crystal peak.
"The Shattered Crystal Mountain," Lyra said. "Beyond it, Neovita."
Ghei looked at the mountain. There was no feeling of climbing. No sense of reaching a summit.
Only one thought: one step closer.
He walked. Two beings—one Aether-Touched, one resurrected human—followed.
And on his skin, the black dust of Null Echo continued to scatter, canceling the world's desires around him.
Canceling, without intending to cancel.
Just like himself: existing, without intending to exist.