Spirit Realm
Beneath the towering crystal dome, the air trembled with rising power.
Magic, raw and ancient, surged like a storm let loose, twisting violently through the chamber in a howling spiral. The once-still atmosphere roared to life, thick and suffocating, pressing in from all sides like a tightening vortex.
Glowing flowers that had bloomed undisturbed for centuries trembled, their delicate petals whipping in the wind. Vines clung desperately to the glass walls, their glowing blossoms pulsing erratically as if gasping for breath.
The ground rumbled beneath the weight of power long buried, a low quake that shivered through the glasshouse like a warning.
And at the heart of it all—
The slumbering king opened his eyes.
His long black hair cascaded past his shoulders, strands drifting slightly in the lingering current of magic. His skin was pale and flawless, ageless in perfection and bearing the appearance of a man in his prime. And his eyes, once shut in silence were now silverish grey, luminous and cold that they gleamed like moonlight.
Too flawless to be mortal.
The Spirit King's expression was anything but serene. The moment his consciousness returned, the memories buried for centuries came rushing in.
A face.
He remembered her.
Not in fragments…but all at once, as if time itself had bent to return what had been lost.
The fragile curve of her smile.
The trembling warmth of her hand on his face.
Fingers brushing his jaw with a touch so gentle it still ached to recall.
There was sorrow in her eyes. Her voice, soft and breaking up, her body trembling as she leaned closer. He felt her breath, warm against his ear, her lips barely grazing it as she whispered her final words…
Words he could no longer recall.
Or perhaps…
Words he had never truly heard.
But he remembered the pain.
Not his.
Hers.
He could still hear it in his head…lingering in his mind.
That scream.
That terrible scream, so torn from her soul, so full of grief it sounded as if the world itself had shattered.
Then, another vision surfaced—
A sacred grove, untouched by time, held the Tree of Life—eternal in its watchful silence.
Its whisper, soft as wind, yet inescapable:
"She will be the cause of your death."
He had heard those words long ago—before the fall, before the silence, before Elisie disappeared from this world.
At the time, the meaning had seemed obvious, he had believed it was about her.
How could it not have been?
But now, he was awake again, when he had once believed it was the end.
He couldn't help but wonder.
Had he been wrong?
Was the prophecy not about the one he had once known, but another?
And if so…
Was the warning not a fate he had already escaped—
But one that had only just begun?
The thought barely formed before something tore through the silence in his mind—
A voice that screamed directly into his soul.
A voice so sharp, so shrill, so incomprehensibly ridiculous that his entire body flinched.
"I AM A VERY CUTE GIRL!"
"I AM SO ADORABLE!"
"...PLEASE SPIRITS..."
.....
"COME TO MOMMY!!"
The King's silver eyes twitched.
His fingers curled against the stone beneath him, and the air crackled with raw, violent tension.
And then—
BOOM.
A strong shockwave burst from his body, blasting through the chamber in a burst of raw magic. The glass dome quaked, vines and glowing flowers whipping vigorously as if in a storm.
Outside, startled fairies pressed their tiny faces to the glowing glass for only a second, just long enough to glimpse the awakened king, before fleeing in a flurry of light, vanishing into the sky like frightened sparks.
Rui, standing at a cautious distance, stumbled back, shielding his face from the sudden burst of power. He had never seen such a raw, unrestrained release of energy from his king before.
"…Your Majesty?" he called, voice cautious.
No answer came.
Only silence. Heavy. Suffocating.
With a soft groan, the king pressed his hand against his temple in silent irritation. His voice, low and razor-edged, cut through the stillness.
"Irritating…"
Rui blinked. "Pardon?"
"That voice," the king rasped. "That… insufferable noise."
Rui stood still, watching the King carefully, the aftershocks of power still fizzing faintly in the air around them. Somewhere in the distance, faint bells tolled—an emergency signal.
It was not long before the door to the glasshouse burst open, and a spirit guard tumbled in, pale and trembling. The moment he laid eyes on the awakened king, his legs gave out beneath him. "…Y-Your Majesty," the guard gasped, falling to his knees.
Rui's head snapped around. "What is it?"
The spirit guard, still shaking, tried to steady his voice. "The portal…for Aria Kingdom…it's gone. There was a bright glow, the ground shook a little and then...it turned dark."
A sudden, heavy silence fell upon the chamber.
"…What?" Rui's eyes widened, trying to process the words.
The spirit guard swallowed thickly, his hands clenched into fists as he forced himself to continue.
"The connection, it has gone completely dark…" he stammered. "Connection is severed."
"That's impossible!" Rui snapped. "It's been stable for centuries!"
His mind raced.
How could it collapse now?
The connection had been stable for centuries without fail. Not since the last war… not since her fall. Even during dormancy, when no summonings took place, it had remained connected all these while.
It couldn't be coincidence...collapsing the moment the King had awoken...
The King—silent until now—rubbed at his temple, dragging his fingers through his hair with the weariness of someone far too tired to deal with reality.
Then, in a voice that hovered between absolute frustration and total indifference, he muttered—
"…I may have accidentally shut it down."
Silence.
Rui stared.
The guard stared.
"Excuse me?" Rui said, very slowly, as if verifying that his ears were still functional.
The King exhaled, eyes flashing silver. "There was a voice. It was annoying."
The silence that followed was so profound that Rui thought he might've temporarily lost his hearing.
The spirit guard visibly paled. While Rui, for the first time since centuries, felt the overwhelming need to sit down.
"…Your Majesty," he began, gently. "You… shut down the portal…?"
The King raised a single, irritated brow, his silver eyes meeting Rui's. "It was loud," he replied, completely unapologetic.
Rui opened his mouth.
Then closed it.
Then opened it again.
"…So let me confirm," Rui said, forcing himself to remain calm. "The ancient, summoming portal between the Spirit and the Human Realm—"
He took a deep breath.
"…Has suddenly crashed, not because of war, not because of sabotage—"
Another deep breath.
"…But because you were annoyed. By a voice." Rui said, slower, as if double checking.
The King offered nothing but a flat look, as if the answer was already obvious.
Rui nearly collapsed.
**
Meanwhile, in the Human Realm—
The blackened summoning crystal floated like a corpse. Guards barked orders, shouting in confusion, and commoners in mounting panic.
In the center of it all stood Yao Yao.
She stared at the crystal, then at the horrified guards, then back at the pitch-black crystal.
Very slowly, she turned to the younger guard and offered her brightest, most innocent smile.
"…S-So… does this mean I passed?" she asked sweetly.
The younger guard let out a strangled noise that might have been a laugh. Or a cry. It was hard to tell.
High above, Rong Xi's laughter rang clear and wild, echoing across the colosseum.
Yao Yao's cheeks burned.
Her small fingers clenched at her sides.
That damn prince.
How dare he laugh at her misfortune?!
Rong Xi leaned lazily against the railing, his golden eyes gleaming with pure amusement.
"This," he said, nearly wheezing from laughter, "is the most entertaining thing I've seen all year."
Vino, standing beside him, looked utterly lost.
"…Your Highness," he said carefully, "we should probably do something."
Rong Xi waved a hand. "No hurry. I want to see how she tries to talk her way out of this."
Vino, for the first time in his life, felt real concern for the future of the kingdom.
Yao Yao, meanwhile, was screaming internally.
**
Back in the Spirit Realm—
Rui was clinging to composure by a thread.
"Your Majesty," he said through gritted teeth, "do you have any idea what kind of disaster you may have caused?"
The King didn't answer right away. He leaned back slightly, eyes half-lidded, exhaustion heavy in every line of his body. Centuries of slumber had not been kind.
"…It's probably temporary," he muttered at last, the words dragging out as though speaking was a chore.
At this point, he couldn't be bothered because everything hurt.
Rui's voice hurt his ears.
The light hurt his eyes.
Waking up from centuries of sleep hurt his bones.
And that voice…that shrill, ridiculous voice that had shrieked into his mind…
That hurt his soul.