"*******, are you there?"
"Hm…"
"*******, wake up!"
The eyelids that remained closed started to flutter open. Consciousness began returning to that mind.
"*******!"
Whooosh!
A breeze ca through the window along with rays of radiant sunshine. Those eyes wanted to stay closed so badly, but the world itself seed to tempt them open.
And that voice…
Who did that voice belong to?
His eyes shot open. The first thing he saw was the translucent silk of the drapes flowing in the wind. The sun glared his vision, forcing him to bring his hand up to liberate himself from its light.
"Who is it?"
The voice that ca out of his throat was deep and raspy. He knew he sounded different after resting his voice for so ti, but it had never reached this extent.
Was this even still him?
'No, in the first place…where am I?'
He wasn't supposed to be in such a beautiful place. This kind of peace and quiet was…
BOOM!
A huge sound ca from outside. Atlas jumped up, catching a glimpse of himself in a nearby mirror.
His face was a strange sh-like blur. He couldn't make out any of his own features. His body was covered in scars and quite built. It was obvious that he had been through war.
He looked down at his hands as a certain feeling flashed through his heart.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
His head snapped back to the window. He rushed to it, gazing at the outside world for the first ti.
'Right…'
A peaceful and quiet place? This wasn't anything like that.
'This is a hell that I had completely forgotten.'
Outside the window was a quaint city that was inhabited by less than ten thousand people. It was big enough to have so infrastructure, but also small enough to maintain the atmosphere of a small town.
It was a place where Atlas had lived for no more than a decade in his past life. Such a short period of ti was forgettable for a cultivator, but these ten years were a ti he had once vowed to never forget.
However, at an even later ti, he realized that forgetting was the only way for him to live with the mory.
Because what was once a quaint and kind city was now a graveyard for the innocent. Blood was splattered across the streets. Houses and shops were burning down all over the town. Massive explosions were spreading through the outskirts, slowly coming closer and causing more destruction.
Compared to what Atlas had experienced in the Tower, this was a small conflict.
However, to the townspeople, and to the person he was at the ti, this was a calamity of unbelievable proportions.
Bang!
As Atlas rembered the past, the door behind him was thrown open.
"*******! Why have you not left?!"
His head spun a little when she said his na.
No, that was an excuse. That wasn't why his head was spinning.
"Co! If anyone survives this, it must be you! You are the only one who can avenge us!"
She grabbed his arm, leading him out of a strength that a village girl shouldn't have had.
That dark brown hair she personally cut short swayed back and forth with her every movent. That dress he thoughtlessly bought for her a few days prior even though never wore dresses impeded her steps, but she didn't say a word about it. She was always supposed to be a warrior who never showed weakness, but the concern showcased in her erald-green eyes…
That was an emotion he was never able to repay.
He opened his mouth as her na ca to his lips.
"Ha–"
He could only get one syllable out of his mouth. By that ti, it was already too late. The events that had already transpired happened in front of his eyes once again.
BOOM!
An explosion fell on the house, turning it into a ball of flas. Atlas and the girl were sent flying into the air for several ters before they slamd into the ground and rolled to a stop.
"Khhh…!"
The girl gritted her teeth and clutched her bloody arm, struggling to stand up. Atlas tried to do the sa, but this version of him was unable to.
At this ti, he was a puny cultivator who had only recently stepped onto this path.
This town was the first place he was able to call ho after his own birthplace was left destroyed.
He put his fists to the ground and desperately tried to stand up. He desperately tried to take control over his movents, but it wasn't possible anymore. His body no longer listened to him.
He was forced to watch as that girl approached him. He watched as a figure erged from the flas engulfing the house he'd lived in for the past decade.
"HA–!"
He could not say her na.
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"Harin, here you were."
That man said it first.
The girl whipped around, a newfound terror on her face.
"You…how are you here?!"
Her tone was completely different from the one she used to address him. She was like a violent beast on the verge of exploding.
Yet, that massive man wearing cerulean blue armor only smiled at her rage.
"Were you not told all those years ago? Wherever you go, we will find you. One day, you will die to the Blades of Midnight."
He brandished a massive javelin, its tip pointed at her.
"Harin, you can hide no longer."
At the ti, he didn't know what that man ant. The version of him that beca Atlas knew it well.
He, a weak lamb, had beco soone Harin wanted to protect.
Harin, who had a past he could have never imagined, could no longer run from the ones chasing her.
Because if she ran, he would die.
That was how it happened.
She was his first love in this life. Despite her status, she'd fallen in love with him too. The relationship they bred as they inadvertently healed each other's hearts and minds surpassed all boundaries and differences.
If she wanted it, she could have escaped before they ever arrived.
However, for the sake of the village and for his sake, she stayed and faced them. She minimized the damage as much as possible by presenting herself publicly.
Harin's decision saved the lives of five thousand people who would have been exterminated along with the other half of the town. Her decision saved the life of the man who would one day co to rule the entire Mortal Realm.
In this mont, though, none of that was present.
In this mont, there was only a woman who fought to protect the man she loved. She stabbed an arrow into his heart knowing that it was a treasure she had kept for decades as a final asure to save herself and faced an enemy she could not defeat.
Atlas' vision started to fade as blood leaked from his body, but he wasn't able to avoid witnessing that final scene.
He vividly rembered the mont when she was impaled by a javelin that turned her heart into a splatter of liquid.
If it weren't for the artifact she used to fake his death and revive him later, he would have died there as well. If it weren't for her actions, a true calamity would have descended here.
However, that na, Harin, was never rembered.
Suddenly, the world around Atlas turned pitch black.
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