Eye-blinding smoke filled the air as a three-foot iron-lizard screamed in pain while the blade of a sword tore through its skin.

Blood seeped out of the creature’s wound and dripped on the ground while the creature forcefully tried to attack its attacker.

Just as it slammed on the ground dead, another one lurched from a distance, snarling.

A whoosh sound echoed as a black dagger shot out from the smoke and pierced through the second creature’s forehead, sending it crashing on the ground.

From behind the two dead lizards, a boot soaked in blood paved through the smoke like power given form and stopped at the side of the two dead lizards.

"So this is how power feels," Leon said as he looked at the corpses of the creatures and blinked once, through the black cloth covering his face.

He used force and pulled the dagger from the second creature’s skull, then moved to the first.

When Leon grabbed the handle of the sword, a thin golden light moved from the hilt and entered into the creature’s body. A wet plopping sound echoed as the blade came out.

Stones lying on the ground trembled as the ground began shaking hastily. When Leon lifted his gaze forward, thousands of iron-skinned lizards were already charging at him.

He focused on the creatures and shook his head once, closing his eyes. The moment he cracked them open, he pulled down the red cloth from his face and placed it on his neck.

Leon gave the two corpses a quick look, then focused on the charging ones and smiled.

"This is how all of you will end up," Leon said, tightening his grip on the sword.

Without hesitation, he dashed forward at high speed while his face turned from still to smiling.

A loud blast echoed as he crashed into the lead. The force blasted some of the smaller lizards to the side, but Leon went for them before they could even stand.

He tore through the rest like they were stalks of grain waiting to be harvested. He swung left and a lizard got split in perfect half. He swung right and two heads dropped without a sound. And when one bigger lizard leaped straight for his face, Leon ducked under it and drove his fist upward.

The impact rocketed the creature into the smoke above and it vanished like a dying star without even coming back down.

Within ten minutes, what had been thousands were now still bodies scattered across the bloodied ground.

Leon tightened his trembling grip on the sword as he reached the giant bone bridge that divided the lower part of Tartarus from the north.

Below the bridge was a vast open land choked with heated air as lava moved through it like a slow, gleaming, unhurried river.

Popping sounds echoed each time a piece of the bridge cracked loose and dropped, dissolving before it hit the surface.

A sharp crack ran through the bridge when Leon had only a single step left to cross.

More bones shuddered from the bridge as the cracks doubled. The back collapsed one after another and continued dropping into the lava like a felled tree drops into water.

"Shit!" Leon screamed inward as the stone beneath his boot gave way. When he leaped, the jagged stone he grabbed also broke in his hands and fell. But Leon didn’t.

His left arm managed to grab a dug hole. He removed the cloth from his neck and threw it around the only bone pillar left.

Leon pushed himself up stone by stone while using the cloth as a backup, in case he fell.

"Phew." He sighed, exhaling sharply as he hurled himself over the edge and lay on solid ground, sweating heavily. He pulled the red cloth to his chest, then to his face. "I would have died if not for this. Thank you, Ma."

He pushed himself up, wrapped the cloth back on his neck, then set out into the new land ahead.

Now, the only route out of the North was gone, but Leon felt no regret about his decision and kept moving through the bizarre forest. Human and animal faces stared down from the tops of trunks as Leon walked underneath.

The forest had no sunlight, yet the air wasn’t cold either.

Leon folded his palms together and exhaled through them whenever he stopped to rest, but the idea of rest vanished when he remembered the message that was left solely for him.

’One night. One choice. You have until dawn to save your friends... or collect their pieces by morning.’

When Leon finally reached an old oak tree and stopped, black leaves drifted on him like rain.

"Let me check if I’m on the right path." Leon said and pulled out the scroll.

Just as he flipped it open, a sharp sound streaked across his left ear.

"Ouch!" he screamed, loosening his left grip on the scroll and placed his hand on his ear.

As soon as he lifted his gaze, dust and loose stones hit him and threw him against the oak tree.

"What was that?" Leon asked while pushing himself upright. There, right at hundreds of feet away, he saw a dark, hairy figure glowing faintly as it materialized before a mountain-sized stone that stretched like a wall.

Countless leaves began to fall while the ground also trembled. At the same time, dust dribbled to the ground as the mountain split open, forming a visible gate.

The dark figure looked back before entering. As if the being was its keeper, the split mountain folded shut, closing the path.

Leon stood still as the last image of the figure turning and smiling at him just before it disappeared burned in his eyes. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

He pulled out the scroll. The map had changed. It now showed a vast stretch of land covered in countless red and blue moon crests. At the top of the new landscape was a name written in blood: The Syr Territory.

Leon focused on the name for a while before shifting his gaze forward. ’Whatever happens, I won’t leave here without them.’

Behind his eyelids, an illusion he had been carrying along flashed back. Liu Yan being swallowed by the horned beings and An Lang being skinned alive forced his eyes to crack open.

He gave the map one more glance before carving an X into the bark of the oak tree and dashing toward the Syr Territory.

The further he moved through the trees surrounding the wall, the heavier the air pressed against his chest, pushing him back.

Loud clicking sounds erupted from the trees when he stopped at the front of the wall itself.

Three beautiful butterflies hovering on the wall moved from it and whirled around Leon, as if welcoming him.

The wall was so tall it disappeared into the sky entirely. Standing before it made Leon look like an ant before a boot.

"Hmm." He scratched his chin, studying the sealed stone, thinking back to how the figure made it open. "Is there a key? Or something that causes it to move?"

The butterflies drifted from the wall and began to circle Leon when he stretched his left arm and placed it on the wall.

A laser shot from one of the butterflies’ eyes when Leon pulled his hand back, refusing to let the creatures land on it.

"Oh, shit." Leon shouted in his head as he raised the dagger and held it in a fighting stance.

The butterfly turned and dashed straight for Leon’s throat but it got sliced in two by the dagger’s blade.

The shattered butterfly hit the ground, dissolved into tree roots and leaves and spread outward in every direction, cracking the soil like veins.

Leon stumbled two steps back and blinked, staring at the newly formed roots. The moment he shifted his gaze from the roots, he crunched some under his boots.

"Sorry." He said and jumped off the crunched root. He kept a split gaze on the butterflies and the wall as if they might attack at any second.

As a bone whine rose from the ground, the remaining two butterflies turned their reddening eyes to Leon.

Leon looked into them and instead of insect faces, he saw small human features staring back. Mouths, hands, and eyes that blinked.

His heart rate spiked when rocks began to fall from above the wall as it shuddered from the top.

...

Cranes with jagged hooks swept circles around the Basalt Mountain in Thule, grinding and churning in the dry air. Smoke coughed from their exhaust pipes as workers loaded black stones into tipper trucks — men who had no other choice or a family to turn to.

Below the cranes, Darian stood with one hand in his pocket.

"Hey! What good are you standing there? Move before I scratch your name off today’s payroll."

The men surged forward like animals who hadn’t eaten in days, hands clawing at the stones, loading without thinking.

Near the mouth of one of the dug-out holes, two of them were happily working close to the edge. But when the ground trembled, their joy shattered as the younger one got swallowed and vanished into the earth in a flash. The older stood over the gap with wide, colorless eyes.

"NO!"

He screamed and ran with tears falling from his eyes when he reached Darian. "Boss, Boss. He’s... he’s..."

Darian looked at the man for a moment then pulled his left arm out of his pocket and slapped him in the face.

Slam!

"THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING, PE."

The forty-five-year-old-looking man, who had just witnessed the earth swallowing his son, went completely still as his vision became blurry.

Darian moved a step forward and grabbed the man’s grey hair. "What are you looking at?"

He pulled so hard that it cleared the man’s vision but left him with a severe headache.

"Either you go back to work, or you join that son of yours."

Mr. Pe inhaled through a wet nose after he was hurled like a rat. He turned and walked toward the crane while wiping his eyes with the back of his palms.

Three of the workers who saw the incident from afar neared Pe and placed their hands on his shoulder. "We’re sorry, Pe. We know how hard it is to lose someone close to you, especially when it’s your only son. But crying won’t bring him back and not working would make his death worthless."

Pe didn’t say a word; he simply looked at them for a second and pushed them off.

"Pe," one guy with a bandage wrapped around his shoulder called out. "Remember what happened to the men two days ago when they tried to leave. Please, I don’t want to be the only witness to that."

Despite Pe’s friend’s call, he never looked back.

When the men in Thule military uniforms saw Pe crossing the threshold, they raised their weapons and began warning him.

They sent a first shot, a second shot, and when two seconds passed without Pe turning his head, the guards fired at him like rain hitting the ground.

Every worker at the mountain stopped their actions and watched the only brave one among them gain his freedom through death.

The moment Darian fired a single warning shot into the air, all the workers turned back and continued carrying or digging for the precious black diamonds.

When the last truck rolled out, following the sixteen others in a slow, heavy line, Darian dragged his palm across his smiling face.

"It’s high time you come and meet your death, Leon Storm."

He watched the half-blasted mountain for a moment before driving off.

Behind him, sand began pouring back into the holes carved into the mountain while thin lines split on the ground.

The mountain itself cracked along from its base as hot vapor began to slowly rise from the gaps, as if something underneath had heard the name and registered it.