There was no air, no weight, no direction.
Just a black plane, where Sen existed. That was all.
He stood on the black plane that shimmered like oil, stretching endlessly beneath a crimson sky split by a thousand lines. The clouds above him pulsed faintly, as if they were breathing. Something in the distance led out a low, mournful groan- not the creature, but the world itself.
Sen knew that he had died. Although his memory was vague, like a dream that was half-remembered, but the pain in his chest still echoed.
He did not expect this.
A tall figure emerged from the void without walking. It simply was, and then it suddenly was in front of Sen..
Golden robes swirled, which shouldn't be possible, without wind, and a smooth, mask like face caught the fractured light like a mirror. Eyes? None. Voice? Silence. But the presence was like an avalanche.
At its side crept another.
Bent backward at the spine, too many limbs, irregular size, its grin stitched across an eyeless face. It scraped its fingers together and let out a sound somewhere between a cackle and a cough.
"You again," The creature rasped in a playful tone as if he was trying to hide his playful laughter. "Oh, you burn so well. You always do."
Sen took a step back. The ground rippled beneath him.
"Who are you?" His voice felt small, hollow. "Where am I?"
"You always ask that. Always so confused. Delicious."
Sen took a step back. The ground rippled, liquid and solid at once.
The golden figure said nothing.
"You died again, little emperor," the servant whispered. "Spectacularly, I might add, some more stitches to your soul."
Sen flinched, "But this time,"the creature hissed,"you remembered, didn't you?"
His heart kicked.
"That's not supposed to happen," the servant giggled, slinking back, "Someone... touched your soul."
The golden figure finally raised a hand. The sky cracked behind it.
"You were once sovereign over a thousand fires," it intoned, his voice vibrating Sen's soul. "You turned your blade on the divine. So we cursed you."
"Not with death," the servant crooned. "No no, death is mercy."
The figure continued, "We scattered you. Across time. Across flesh. Reborn again and again into borrowed bodies. Doomed to wander without knowing why, A endless cycle of decay.. A endless cycle of death."
Sen shook his head. "You're lying."
"Aren't we?" the servant sneered. "Why do you always feel hollow? Why do your hands remember killing before your mind catches up?"
Sen opened his mouth, but the words, they never came out.
"Something interfered this time," the golden one said, his sharp gaze falling on Sen. "The link faltered. You came through... aware"
The servant hissed, retreating like a kicked dog.
"Too soon. Not ready."
Then the god's voice became final.
"Go. Crawl once more. Let the suffering shape you. The game changes, but the board remains the same."
With a sound like cracking glass, the ground beneath Sen shattered.
He fell.
When Sen awoke, he was face-down in wet dirt.
Rain poured from a bruised grey sky, thick and cold. He rolled onto his back, gasping-not from the pain, but from weight. The weight of a body that wasn't his.
Hands older than his. Shoulders broader. A scar trailed down one arm, unfamiliar and angry. He sat up, his heart thudding loudly.
The forest around him was dense and black, the air reeking faintly of blood and ash. There were distant drums echoing from the east, no rhythm, just a dull beat, like a war was always happening somewhere close.
Sen tried to stand but he nearly collapsed.
Then he saw it, A cracked, rusted sword lying beside him. It wasn't his and yet the way his fingers curled around the grip, it felt natural
No, not natural, Remembered.
His breath came harder now.
Something wasn't right. No, not just the world, him.
He shouldn't remember them, the god, the servant, the cycle.
And yet.. he did
"Someone touched your soul.."The words echoed.
Someone had interfered. Someone unknown, powerful enough to disrupt the divine order, or someone who needed "some new toy".
Either way, It only meant one thing for Sen.
This cycle was different.
And for the first time in a long, long while..
Sen was awake, and the void... It was filled.