Chapter 4: Horizon of The Wintering Rose

Neon blue and white lights blurred Zane's vision as he slid down a descent, with dangerous creaks here and there. The slide's material burned against his ankles and elbows, making him wince sharply and try to take a fetal position. Who would have known the 'slide' wasn't yet completely developed?

—Creak!

—Hing! Hing!

An opening…! Zane's eyes opened and closed, his abdomen tired from constantly holding his head up. The opening light came closer and—

 —Shwaaa!

His eyes widened as he was thrown out through the bright opening. Zane braced for harsh impact as the velocity of air increased around him. Hot wind burned against his face and he scrunched his eyes shut. Eventually, he felt himself fall into something soft and prickly.

—Thump.

Goosebumps ran through his whole body and he winced loudly at the pain. Warmth suddenly engulfed him from everywhere and his whole body got scratchy.

'Dammit.' He opened his eyes and closed them immediately. Then slowly opened them again, blinking a couple of times to register the scene in front of him as his head throbbed from the brightness.

His eyes widened as saw the sandy hills that surrounded him. He coughed, holding himself up by his palms, and sputtered fine sand and saliva onto the ground below him. 

Zane grunted and sat up on his forelegs, swallowing… 'Shouldn't it have been night?'

He scratched his neck and looked out. 'The Celestium truly messed up one's sense of judgment.'

"Where the fuck are we?" a voice demanded. 

"You're still here?" Zane asked, keeping his amusement flat, not bothering to turn around. 

"Where else do I have to go? I've been in that damn place for two years," Rhian said as he fell back onto the warm sand, the wounds on his back protected by his ripped shirt sticking due to sweat.

"Mn." Zane wiped his mouth, feeling the sand scratch against his lips. He coughed again, and stood up, dusting his hands. The area around them seemed to be nothing but a vast land filled with golden dunes. The 'sun' was right above their heads, a complete contrast to the almost chilling cold in the .

Zane examined his ankles, which had sand sticking to a patch of skin that had been burnt off by the slide from which they'd escaped. As he dusted away the sand particles, a light pink color peeked out of his tan complexion. If he thought about it, this 'escape' should be accounted for a . Meaning… he'd have completed two levels by now.

"Do say, aren't you a slave?" Rhian suddenly asked, now sitting up, gazing at where they had fallen from. Zane's eyes narrowed at the words and he gazed at his clothes. He was still wearing the gross white (or not white) linen shirt and shorts that could barely be seen under the linen. 'Conspicuous.'

Zane gazed at Rhian with narrow eyes before he sat back down and followed Rhian's line of vision. A grand transparent building, glowing at its cylinder-like edges with blue holographic lines. Zane felt his throat parch again. There was a single church-like tower with a cupola for the spire, in between the transparent complex. A golden and silver tower above what appeared as a sphere with small and big silver rings rotating around it simultaneously. It was almost replicating the rotations of planets. 

Even with the bright sun, the sphere and its surrounding rings glowed bright gold, almost as if challenging the sun itself. In the Reverie Pavilion in Silver Moon, scholars had similarly drawn the Celestium... but it was too incomparable in reality. 

On the rings surrounding the spheres, as they spun, numbers and unique astral symbols could be seen. It seemed like paradise in a desert. To make it even grander, golden spirals circled the complex, adding prominence to the holographic lines.

'It's... so hard to think logically.' He sighed. Then swallowed, and glanced at Rhian.

Zane pursed his lips, "What are you then? A prostitute?"

"You―"

"I'm not apologizing, but do answer," Zane said as he stood up, not bothering to dust the sand off his clothes. His mind felt overwhelmed after seeing the celestial structure.

Rhian looked at him before looking down again.

"What were you doing there anyways?" Zane asked, deciding he must've touched on some sort of sensitive topic.

Rhian hesitated, "I was framed."

Zane paused, he took one of his shoes off and threw them behind him. "You sure?"

The Celestium's prisons only held distinguished criminals. There were nine levels in total. Strong criminals who had an infamous background were held in the first level. In the second and third levels it held those who violated the System's rules, in the fourth were those who went on massacres borrowing the powers of the without the 'massacre' having to do with an assigned level. No one was "just" sent there without reason. They'd have to do something so atrocious and cruel that they'd be imprisoned there. If Zane thought about it, he was held in the 'zero' level since he was being treated as an 'anomaly'. 

"Is it worth lying about?" Zane asked, standing still while taking his other shoe off. "What? Did you kill an important figure?" he asked… that could also happen, if someone killed a valuable figure, and the person had enough money, their people could order the murderer to be imprisoned here. And it was typically in or .

Rhian didn't reply and stood up, turning away from Zane. 

Zane simply raised his brows in the other man's direction before he deemed it as none of his business he removed his sandals, throwing them behind his back as he ran towards Rhian, stumbling here and there, feeling his feet sink into the depths of sand. "What did you do?"

"I told you, I was framed."

"For?"

"Can't say."

Zane frowned and rolled his eyes. 'Asshole. I saved your life and you can't tell me much?' His body itched from everywhere.

Zane looked around him, staring at the dunes and registering their sizes. His eyes caught the sight of a dune, and his legs took momentum without him realizing it. Rhian watched as Zane began climbing a dune and slowly began following the shorter man.

When the two reached the top, the view was spectacular. The Celestium could be seen from there. A perfect concinnity. Zane took a deep breath, feeling the surprisingly cool air and harsh heat of the sun.

Uneven blankets of dunes spread out, and the sun gave them a bright tinge.

"There's the road," Zane muttered as his eyes caught sight of a large black line in the distance, pointing at it. Rhian shielded the sun from his eyes and gazed out.

"There," Zane said slowly. The road was barely visible, but it was enough. "Can you remember the path?" he asked Rhian. 

The taller man said nothing as he began descending the hill and towards the sight of the road. 

—

As Zane walked behind Rhian, sweating and ranting internally, his eyes studied the whip scars and bruises on Rhian's back. They looked awful. Some of them still being bloody…

He blinked wearily and cracked his neck. The sun had changed colors to a shade of coral, tinting the sky in the same color, and the temperature had turned to a warm blanket instead of a scorching oven. Zane continued walking down the slope of a dune.

"We're here," he heard Rhian's voice.

'This quick?' he thought as he took his time to reach where Rhian was.

In front of them, a black paved road stretched out on both sides, reaching the horizons of either side. Both disappear into distinct colors. Almost like entering two ends of an abyss. 

〈"Long road with never-ending sides."

"What is it called?"

"The Way of The Forsaken"〉

It was the conversation Zane had had with General Markwood in Silver Moon when he first received a promotion to a general from a lieutenant general. His head hurt. 'Why did remembering… anything ache so much?' 

Zane tilted his head, slowly rubbing against his temples. He lowered his hands and gazed at both ends of the road. "One or two?" Zane asked.

Rhian looked at him skeptically, "For what?"

"Left or right?" he asked, standing on the road, feeling a little elevated, and tilted his head in Rhian's direction. Technically, both of them should lead them to their desired location, given that it was just another paradox of time. Rumors only went so far to say that if you walked towards the 'right' for 'x' minutes, you'd walk those minutes ahead into the future. It was the opposite for the 'left'. But left and right were simply conceptions of the human mind. 

"Are you seriously leaving this to chance?" Rhian looked at Zane in disbelief.

"Fine, I'll add straight too." Zane looked straight ahead, they'd have a suicide mission of walking through the dunes till one of the 'Cleaners' found them and guided them to the [Judge]—although, them dying halfway was more probable, given their current condition. But, it would still be an option.

"W―"

"One, two, or three?"

Rhian scratched his jaw. "Which way is the correct way?"

"You think I know?"

"Do you not?"

Zane groaned. Sure, he had lived a past life, and had time traveled, but he was useless back then. All he could rely on was information from other people, prisoners, colleagues, or clients. was a place that he had visited only once, and that was because he had to speak to Master Khan before… before what? He couldn't recall. 

So this place…

"There's no wrong way," he said slowly. Both sides of had the same purpose. Leading them to their destination. A pang made its way to his head again.

〈"If it is to lead to the same side, why two sides?"

"Never wondered?"

"There has to be a reason."

"It's too grand as itself to bother with lonesome questions as such."〉

"Very helpful."

"Fuck off and choose a way," Zane grumbled, stepping onto the road and letting out an exhale at finally being back on flat land. 

"I'll go left," Rhian said, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his worn pants, and began walking in that direction. 'Some confidence,' Zane frowned. But really, what was the difference?

He silently followed the latter.

—

The Way of The Forsaken was like any other road.

Quiet, long. But seemingly infinite. Breezy and cool. Zane clutched his temples as a throbbing pain passed his head again. 

〈"The area is called Horizon of The Wintering Rose"〉

〈"You'll find a road, seemingly infinite. . . "〉

They were far away from actual life. To be precise, the reason Zane didn't believe Rhian was framed was that he was placed in the Celestium. The Celestium existed on the Horizon of The Wintering Rose, which used to be where exiled prisoners were thrown before the Celestium was made. 

Hence, they were nowhere.

As of now.

Time had frozen, but their bodies and consciousness were still intact due to repercussions paid by the Celestium to save the prisoners from dying and paying their sentence. A person looking for immortality would've found it.

was laid in between The Horizon of The Wintering Rose was like a momentary connection. The place could connect it to everywhere. 'Or… ' he swallowed, 'A moment where you can be everywhere.'

Zane gazed up at the sky as the shades began turning pink, with picturesque stars and moons. It indeed was as beautiful as Neyeir had shown him when he'd seen her vision. A sharp pang returned to his head, and Zane winced sharply. 

Rhian glanced back at him for a moment, before turning back front. Zane blinked slowly, 'There was something else. Neyeir had said something else.'

〈"␣␣␣. . ."〉

'What was with the beeps?' Zane grasped his fringes with both his hands and pushed them back in confusion. It wasn't very pleasant, but the memory refused to come. Instead, it was censored. Did he have to officially join the system for his memories to be back? But… 'Why is it censored in the first place? These are my memories. They have no place to be censored from me.'

As they continued walking, an uncomfortable silence began between the two men. The sky began turning more pastel, turning purple with a highlighted moon emblem. The picturesque stars glimmering faintly. As they walked farther ahead, a cool wind began blowing against their backs.

"... What is that?"

The ruffles of their clothes ceased, and Zane lowered the hands clutching his hair. He swallowed roughly, and a similar pain returned to him. Rather, a memory.

〈"␣ must know your destination"〉

"Where are we heading?" Zane asked, his throat parched, as he stared at the unfamiliar vortex opening. It tugged on the sight in front of them as if what they saw was only a picture. It was tugging on the space around him as if there was a distortion in space-time. 

Their clothes began ruffling as more blew against their backs. It was pulling them towards it. Initially, as more memories returned to him, there were two types of safety measures in the Horizon. First were the that returned people who wandered lost in the dunes, and this… was the vortex called which ensured people didn't wander on the road for too long. 

Rhian stared at him. "You―"

Should he go back to Silver Moon? Zane swallowed harshly. 'No. Not yet.'

Then which place? If he went to Silver Moon, he'd surely run into them... plus, he had many things he needed to do. So then, 'any place?'

"Think about someplace," he said as the wind began whipping against their backs, pushing them closer into the opening , which had appeared inside the vortex. A bright light was pouring onto them. 

"Bastard I―"

"Think of someplace!" Zane snapped. If he thought about any place, he'd somehow still end up in Silver Moon. And he couldn't risk that since 'they' would be there and it would just make things worse. Zane forced himself to stay calm as the wind that whipped their backs threw them closer and closer until the had swallowed them whole. 

The moment they were engulfed by it, everything around them suddenly went cold. And the dizzying feeling of being spun in infinite circles drowned both of them to the ground.

—"Help!"

—Crash!

Sounds and screams and shouts that didn't belong to either of them began echoing in his ears. But he couldn't will his body to cooperate and open its eyes to see what was going around them for some reason. So he simply lay there, registering that he was lying flat on soft grass. 

—Crack.

—Kruuuu!

—Clash!

Voices thundered in incoherent words, while the blackness in Zane's vision began slowly fluttering. 

[You're facing repercussions of travel!]

[Countdown: ten minutes]

—

[Countdown has been completed!]

Zane peeked through a single eye to see the tops of high trees that faced the skies. He breathed through his mouth and his heart throbbed as his eyes landed cooly on the broken flag to his left side. It had the emblem of a flower. Zane slowly propped himself to rest on his elbow and look around.

His breathing began unevenly when he started registering the ugly scent of wet metal. It was the aftermath of a battle. To the left and right, bodies scattered unevenly, and fire lit the night. He then spotted Rhian, flat on his stomach and eyes scrunched into pain. His black hair mixed with twigs and more plants.

'Would easily blend in.' Zane's eyes traced over the lashes on Rhian's back. 'But why did this guy... '

He glanced back at the flower flag, he pushed himself to sit up and move his finger to stroke the muddy cloth. He had been to this place once.

"Leave it." A voice groaned.

Zane glanced at Rhian. "Not glad to see you're alive."

"You saved me. Take responsibility."

Zane rolled his eyes and stared at the flag as more memories began pouring into his mind. 

〈A lavender emblem of a flower. Look closer and you'll find uneven stitches. It belongs to the Hua clan〉

Notoriously known to go against its name. Zane lifted his finger and stared at the blood that slowly began to seep out of a cut. Lining glass powder that came off on contact was a cheap move, but it showed how open they were about their hostile nature hidden behind the tranquility of a flower. They were pretty calculating, and could dominate over smaller clans…

Zane looked around him, and the sight of a burning flag caught his attention. It was a symbol of the sun. If he was sure, then the clan they fought against would be the 'Yang' clan, a subsection of the 'Shu' clan. However, some clans could stand their ground in front of them.

Counting the Hua clan, there were four more.

[The Five Great Clans]

Maybe he could make a successful negotiation this time. The memory from the last time was too bitter. There was someone important here. Perhaps what was even more important than the person was that he could finally unlock his here. 

But first, he had to figure out how to get a contract to join the System. 

Chapter 4: Horizon of The Wintering Rose > Fin.