The hiss of sliding sand was the only sound for miles.
The sands of the desert were flawlessly white, and the azure sky above them was deep and boundless like an ancient ocean, with not a single cloud blemishing its silken expanse.
Being battered by the heat, a lone figure moved across the sand.
It was a young man with shimmering yet hollow sapphire eyes.
His skin, once pale and unmarred, now bore the story of a hundred battles: scars crossing scars, fresh wounds layered atop old ones. What had once been a sleek combat suit now hung from him in tatters, clinging to a frame worn thin by survival.
He still wore a trench coat, riddled with holes and frayed edges fluttering in the dry wind. A broken sword hung loosely at his side — its blade severed, jagged, ending mere inches from the hilt. Above him floated a vast, mirror-like shield, its shadow spilling over him like an eclipse, shielding him from the merciless sun.
Each step he took left a trail in the sand — long, lonely footprints stretching toward the horizon until they vanished into the blinding white. To his left: nothing but dunes rolling forever, whispering in the heat. To his right: the jagged silhouette of black mountains carving a cruel edge against the sky.
He would have flown if he could. But the sky above were not his to claim.
Dark shapes circled high in the sky — vast, winged forms gliding silently in the glare. Their scales caught the light like molten glass. Fallen monsters — five of them — watched from above, akin to a pterodactyl in looks.
Killing one would be a nightmare.
Killing all five would be suicide.
The only reason he wasn't torn apart by talons from above was the shield hovering silently over his head.
Memory: [Mirage Aegis]
Memory Rank: Ascended
Memory Description: [They say once, beneath a sky that bled silver, a creature crawled through the dunes unseen — its scales drank sunlight, its breath split glass from sand. For no spear could touch it and no eye could trace its form. It hunted in silence, reflecting all things but its own shadow.
From the corpse of the unseen, a mirror was born — and in it, the desert still burns.]
Memory enchantments: [Solar Absorption], [Purging Beam], [Mirage Scales]
Asher had been extremely lucky with this memory which he got on total accident yesterday. Asher had witnessed the pterodactyls been attack by beams of concentrated light. Curious, he came closer to feel the contour of a lizard the size of a truck feasting on the pterodactyls.
Invisible to all but him.
Thanks to the strange combination of [Spectral Sight] and his gravitic sense, he could see what others couldn't — the contours of a monster made of mirrors and malice. The flying horrors couldn't. They dove and screeched blindly, slashing at mirages and phantom outlines, their beaks tearing at light itself.
In the chaos, Asher landed atop the wounded creature. It was enormous — its scales fractured, glowing faintly with trapped sunlight, the air around it shimmering with heat.
He hadn't meant to fight it. Not at first. But when the chance came — when it was bleeding and surrounded by sixteen dead pterodactyls — instinct took over.
The fight was brutal. The beast's scales deflected strikes and its light burned like the Terror's glare. But it was a creature made for stealth, not endurance. When its own mirage failed, Asher struck.
That was how he gained the Mirage Aegis... and the countless soul of the dead creatures around.. which Asher obviously collected!
[Mirage Scales]: When light hits its surface, the Aegis bends truth and sight alike, wrapping its bearer in the shimmer of false horizons.
The enchantment wasn't perfect — not by a long shot. But from a distance, Asher was practically invisible.
He sighed, halting mid-step as a faintly glowing sphere circled around him.
[Is that tree there, Asher?]
He closed his eyes, scanning the vast emptiness once more. The sands whispered back nothing.
"No tree again, Dahlia…" he muttered, exhaling in frustration.
This was rigged. That was the only explanation.
Nephis had stumbled upon something he'd been searching for eight months straight. Eight. Entire. Months.
He'd been scouring this desert for the colossal tree — the one where Eurys and Azarax were nailed like grotesque relics — ever since that day. Every noon, without fail, he'd stop, close his eyes, and stretch his senses across forty kilometers in every direction.
He stayed close to the Hollow Mountains, following the jagged shadows cast along their base. That was where Nephis had gone too, he was sure of it. He still remembered the faint description from the novel — how she had once stood there, her gaze sweeping over the mountains to her right.
Asher glanced at the orb spinning patiently beside him.
"Dahlia," he asked quietly, "when do you think we'll find it?"
The sphere pulsed softly, releasing a light, teasing laugh.
[I have a premonition that it's soon.]
He smiled faintly, nodding. "I hope so too."
Ever since she had awakened, she had learned to piece together fragments of Asher's memories — replaying words, tones, and pauses, stitching them into sentences through the boomlet that hovered at his side, saving him the time to visit his soul sea if he wanted to talk to her.
The result was…enough
Enough for her to speak.
Enough for him to listen. Updates are released by 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩•𝗳𝗂𝗋𝖾•𝕟𝕖𝕥
And enough to keep him sane.