MS Chapter 001

“Please, let’s go to the doctor together, Hebe…….”

Tayden’s eyes looked puffed up as if he had been crying the whole time.

He was like a child who cried a lot. Hebe set down his teacup in an act of disapproval. The sound it made as it clattered against the table startled Tayden, causing him to flinch, and his eyes reddened again with tears.

“I am so tired, I am going to bed.”

Hebe’s throat rasped. Tayden nodded, sobbing.

“Go to sleep. When you wake up, go to the doctor.”

Laughter arose from the persistent persuasion.

After Tayden left his seat, he lay down on the bed. His body truly felt exhausted. His limbs were screaming in pain.

He gazed at the closed door.

Will you be sad if I die?

What would you say if I asked? I was too afraid to ask.

I hope you feel sad, but I hope you do not get hurt.

I do not want to see you getting hurt. But please grieve for my death.

How do I express these contradictory feelings?

He closed his eyes.

It was not drowsiness that came to him. A vast darkness lay before his eyes, an eternal night that stripped away the will to resist.

It was earlier than expected, but a fate that overwhelmed all resistance.

Hebe Moon willingly succumbed to death.

***

-Hebe Myun.

“…….”

-Hebe Myun, open your eyes.

The sound was sudden, a low voice, but it struck him like a thunderbolt. Hebe opened his eyes and realized he had closed them. There was nothing but darkness ahead. His limbs flailed in the darkness.

Hebe immediately realized that his arms and legs had no physical form. He had no real body, and even the sensation of flailing was merely a perception. He was nothing more than a spirit floating in the darkness. Perhaps even this darkness was an illusion.

-Do you hear me?

Hebe turned his head in the direction of the voice. A white light appeared, about the size of a tiny pebble.

-Do you know who I am?

The white light asked him. Its voice was so low and majestic that it was difficult to distinguish whether it belonged to a man or a woman. Had it been a question of mountain or sea, the answer would have come easily.

Hebe was named the young sage when he was alive, and since he was the person who had come closest to the truth, he immediately understood what this light was.

“Are you Hegermi?”

The light glowed softly as if affirming.

Hebe bowed his head respectfully and greeted the white light before him.

Hegermi, the god of the creation of Vicentia, issued two oracles during the three-hundred-year-long War of Men and Demons. The first was to find a hero to end the war, and the second was to build a great temple to bring peace.

The first oracle had fulfilled, but the second was not realized until just before Hebe had died.

The Great Temple…

He inevitably thought of Tayden. Hebe and Tayden were devoted followers of Hegermi and had participated together in the design of the Great Temple. They had even made a bet on who would be the first to offer a prayer there once finished.

Let us make a bet. The winner gets to pray first.

Hebe, go ahead. I do not care about such things. If Hebe wants to, go ahead and do it first.

Tayden smiled softly and let him take the first prayer when the bet came up. However, under Hebe’s insistence, he eventually joined the bet, and Hebe ensured that Tayden emerged as the winner.

The Great Temple was still under construction even when Hebe passed away. Because of this, it was unfortunate that I could not witness the sublime figure of Tayden offering the first prayer there with my own eyes.

-I woke you up, and now you are thinking about something else.

“Ah… I am sorry.”

Hebe knelt before Hegermi. Although his body was invisible, and he could not feel the sensation of touching the ground, he recognised that he was kneeling.

“It is an honour to meet you like this. If I had known we could meet after death, I might have died sooner…”

-It took me a year and a half to find my soul.

“You were looking for me?”

-Your attachment to life lingers so faint that it is barely visible.

“I am satisfied with the life I have lived. I am also satisfied with death.”

-Stop lying.

The white light flew toward Hebe and settled on the darkness that seemed to be her knees. It felt as though it was suggesting that she could stop being in an uncomfortable position. In a space with neither a ceiling nor a floor, Hebe sprawled out casually, in no particular manner.

-I know well enough that humans possess selfish tendencies because I created them to resemble me. But I wonder if humans resemble me when I look at you.

It was an ambiguous story, uncertain whether it was praise or criticism.

-I am not as selfish as you are…

It seemed as if Hegermi let out a sigh. Though no sound escaped, the feeling was unmistakable. After all, what he had just said to Hebe was not a compliment.

I cannot say that I have lived a life of sacrifice, but still, at the very end, I have made that sacrifice to my soul, and I wonder if it was not enough.

My heart sank.

Well, considering how many people have died because of me, even if I die a thousand times in the future, it would not be enough.

Hebe asked politely.

“So, did you come looking for me? Since a selfish person can never remain in eternal peace, will you cast them down to hell?”

-I intend to send you back to Vicentia.

“What?”

No sooner had the question been asked than the scenery changed.

The black void receded, giving way to a crimson gloom.

Flames consumed the world, and cries of terror rang out from all sides. At first, he thought it was hell. But as Hebe slowly looked around, he realized that this place was Vicentia.

The scenery before my eyes changed dramatically. All life was vanishing insignificantly. 

People were burned to death, killed by demonic beasts, swallowed by the splitting earth, or suffocated by volcanic ash. The lush green fields and majestic mountain ranges had disappeared, leaving only a world engulfed in flames.

How did the demon appear?

It was unbelievable that so many people were hiding themselves.

Hebe looked up, puzzled.

The Shield that should have been in the sky was nowhere to be seen.

“Why is the shield not…”

The Shield was a powerful barrier forged at the threshold of the Demon Realm, marking the turning point that ended the centuries-long war between humans and demons.

Demons still poured down from the sky where the barrier had disappeared.

Hebe was by no means an oblivious person, so he understood what Hegelmi was conveying to him.

Vicentia has become hell.

***

This world has long been at war with demons. When Hebe was born, it was already at war. But not quite this badly. However, it was not this devastating.

In the scene revealed by Hegermi, there were no villages, soldiers, or imperial cities. The mage towers had collapsed into ruins, with only their foundations remaining. The Randa Mountain Range, once home to the fairies, was stripped bare, and every blade of grass was gone as if a great inferno had scorched it clean.

Faced with such a devastating scene, Hebe doubted whether the peaceful Vicentia he had experienced just before his death was the truth.

However, since this was reality, the Visentia of memory was no dream. The kingdom had found peace. The barrier kept the demons at bay, and peace returned after Tayden slew the king who had led the monsters.

“What the hell happened? What happened to the barrier?”

-The barrier has been destroyed.

“How… it is impossible. There is no being with that much power…”

A name flashed through his mind.

Should anyone exist who can destroy the barrier woven by the Archmage at the cost of their life, that person could only be one.

Tayden Enderway.