MrEmperor9167

In a world where cities float above the earth and ancient beasts roam the land, truth has long since been buried beneath the clouds…

Seventeen-year-old Aryan has lived his entire life in a cursed land city — a crumbling outpost surrounded by monsters with fangs like swords and demons with human faces. His mother, a low-tier Light wielder, died from a mysterious illness when he was seven. His father? Vanished in a classified government mission years earlier, investigating the very secrets the world refuses to speak of — the beasts, the demons… and the floating cities themselves.

No one knows Aryan exists — not the ruling government, not the elite nobles who live high above in shining cities suspended 1000 feet in the sky, not even the assassin guilds and rebel warlords fighting for scraps of power on the surface.

But Aryan is about to shatter their silence.

Hidden within this fractured world lies a shattered ancient artifact — a mysterious cube once powerful enough to hold the balance between land, sky, and beyond. Split into four fragments, each held in secret corners of the world — from the heavenly Sky Government cities to the beast-infested wilds — its true purpose is unknown… but it calls to Aryan.

As he journeys across deadly lands aboard flying warships, hunted by assassins, tracked by beasts, and haunted by fragments of his parents’ forgotten legacies, Aryan begins to uncover a terrifying truth:

The cities were never meant to float...
The beasts were never meant to exist...
And he was never meant to survive.

But fate doesn’t care what the world intended. Aryan is coming — and he’s not just looking for answers.
He’s looking to break the sky open.

The Shadow in  Void

The sun had already begun to set, casting a dying golden hue across the endless wasteland. Sand, once torn and shredded by storm winds, now lay calm and cold beneath the still sky.

Kat groaned as he pushed himself up, his fingers digging into the hot sand. Blood had dried on the side of his face, crusted over the wound from the storm. His eyes blinked open slowly, vision blurring for a moment—then focusing.

He sat up fully and winced. His muscles screamed, but his heart... his heart was hollow.

Kat slowly stood, staggering like a drunk as he made his way toward the edge of the cliff. The jagged ground crackled beneath his boots. Dust swirled lightly in the wind, brushing against his face as he stepped closer.

The cliff dropped into a dark abyss of rock and sand and ancient stone. The fall was too high… too deadly.

Kat stared for a long time, frozen at the edge. His chest rose and fell—slow, then heavy. His throat clenched as his mind flooded with memories.

The way Aryan fought beside him, shoulder to shoulder.

How they laughed after surviving impossible odds.

How he refused to give up—again and again.

They weren't just survivors anymore.

Kat fell to his knees and dug into the sand. With shaking hands, he placed a cracked rock upright near the cliff's edge. He pulled out a small strip of cloth—torn from Aryan's tunic during the last battle—and tied it around the rock.

"…You idiot," Kat whispered, his voice cracking. "You were supposed to survive with me. You were… the stronger one."

He wiped his eyes and stood, fists clenched.

"I'll kill him… that crimson-eyed bastard. I swear it."

Without looking back, Kat turned and continued his path.

The wasteland shifted again—its silence broken only by roars of beasts in the distance.

Kat sliced through everything that came near.

A three-headed sand drake lunged from beneath the dunes—Kat severed its heads with one motion.

A giant scorpion beast rushed him—he cleaved it clean down the middle.

Another wave of cursed jackals surrounded him—he didn't hesitate.

Sword Hurricane. Twin Cleave. Arc Spiral.

Every technique he knew was unleashed with reckless abandon.

By the time the last monster fell, Kat's body trembled. His shoulders dropped. He panted hard, knees nearly buckling.

He dropped his sword into the sand and collapsed beside it.

His hand trembled as it gripped his chest. Blood still stained his clothes. Sweat dripped from his brow. The weight of exhaustion… and pain… finally began to crush him.

Two shadows approached from the horizon.

Blurred. Unfamiliar. Unthreatening… yet oddly calm.

"Look what we found today," said the first voice—a boyish tone, curious and amazed.

The second chuckled. "Yeah. Amazing. I've never seen anything like it."

"Maybe. But… I've only heard of people like this from our ancestors."

"Take him. He's not gonna make it out here alone."

The last thing he saw was a strange symbol on one of their cloaks—a spiral made of glowing leaves.

Chapter 35: The Weight of Silence