Prologue

My world was shattered, leaving only silence and destruction. Even now, a silent battle continues within my very being. That was the one truth I clung to. Day 371 since the world ended, and the acrid smell of smoke still clung to everything, yet… I was still breathing, Still existing. But for what? For whom? I no longer knew. So, I waited. I waited to see whether this soul of mine would someday return to the one who once breathed life into it.

I remembered Gramps's voice—faint, trembling, desperate.

"Lumino… run. Save yourself. One day, you'll find a reason again. And when you do, come back—not as a child of destruction, but as a savior."

Then he pushed me into the rift he'd created, just moments before an explosion devoured everything behind me.

Now I was here.

In a strange world, unnamed, untouched by anything familiar.

Hope had long since dried up.

Only the wind accompanied me as it danced through a field of yellow wedelia, brushing gently against my skin. I stood among them, silent, until a single tear traced the curve of my cheek. I wiped it away, stepped forward, and began to walk—searching for something… someone… anything that proved I wasn't alone.

I walked through days and nights that blurred into one another. I slept beneath the stars, ate what I could catch or forage. Once, I laughed uncontrollably after eating a strange mushroom, laughter spilling from my throat like water breaking through a dam.

"Believe, Lumino," I remembered him saying. "There is beauty waiting at the end of every hardship."

So, I walked. Until my steps became aimless.

On the 372nd day, I stopped. I laid beneath a crooked tree and stared at the sky as if it might offer answers. It didn't. Not even tears came to me.

Day 380. I considered surrender. I tied a vine and whispered apologies. I wouldn't say them aloud. I reached for my grandfather's earring. It was his final gift. It was gone! Panic replaced despair. I dropped everything. I searched. I called his name into the trees. Seven hours later, I found it—half-buried beneath amber leaves, the crimson gem glowing faintly as if it had been calling to me all along. I held it close, trembling.

"I'm sorry, Grandpa… I'm sorry I almost gave up."

But something else shimmered beneath the leaves—a glint too bright, too unnatural. I dug again and uncovered a glowing red gem, shaped like a pentagon. When I held it up to the sunlight, the impossible happened. The Clock of Fate, which had long stopped ticking… began to move once more.

Behind me, the air split apart. A portal opened, thick with energy, roaring like a storm. And from it stepped a stranger—no, a force.

"Put that down. Now!" he said. "Or you have to face the consequences."

His voice hit me like a jolt of electricity, and the wind roared in response—untamed and violent, as though destiny had finally stirred.