Nier stood there in disbelief, weakly walking toward his father's ashes. He couldn't comprehend what had just happened—why it happened and how it happened. His legs gave way, causing him to kneel.
At just 17 years of age, he had lost his father. His eyes began to itch as tears fell down his cheeks. He tried to hold them back, but the harder he fought, the more he cried. Eventually, he stopped trying to contain himself and cried his heart out.
…
"NOOOO!"
Annie suddenly woke, cold sweat running down her back. Looking around, she saw that the sea creature was no longer there. Sighing in relief, she attempted to get up, but an excruciating pain shot through her, numbing her instantly.
"You shouldn't be trying to get up right now; you're still injured."
Turning her head to the right, she saw Nier leaning against a deteriorating wall of the sea tower. Shifting her gaze back to her body, she noticed that she was bandaged all over.
"So, it wasn't a dream after all," she murmured.
Nier laughed hollowly. "I wish it could have been."
"What's with that voice of yours? And what's up with your eyes? Have you been crying?"
"It's that obvious, huh?"
Moving from where he stood, Nier approached the repair bag his father had left him. Lifting it, he searched for the letter his father had mentioned but found nothing.
"Why were you crying? It's been a long time since I've seen you like this."
"Is that right?"
He began removing items from the bag: a key, a pouch of money, a revolver… Wait! Why would this be here? Nier felt a headache starting to throb.
"By the way, Nier…"
Nier continued rummaging through the bag: a book and a dagger. The rest were normal repair materials and food rations.
"Yes?"
"Where is Dad?"
He glanced at the materials scattered around him. The only place suitable for hiding a letter would be in the book or maybe the money pouch, but he doubted it. Picking up the book, a piece of paper fell out. On its front were the words: "To You."
"Get some rest first; we'll talk about that later, alright?"
"Is something wrong with Dad?"
Looking at his sister and then at their father's ashes beside him, Nier felt another wave of tears threaten to spill but managed to smile instead.
"Nothing is wrong; just focus on recovering!"
"Okay, if you say so. If he comes back, wake me up; I have something to ask him."
With that, she fell asleep again. Given her injuries, it was surprising she could talk so much.
"Sorry, but the old man won't be coming back."
He closed his eyes to stave off another wave of tears. Then he picked up the paper and opened it. It was indeed in his father's handwriting. Ignoring the pain it caused him, he began to read.
"No need for introductions; by the time you read this, I'm probably already dead with only ashes remaining. As for the reason for that, you should first know what we call a warrior…"
In short, warriors were people who used 'Ki'—the energy of the world—as their source of power to perform feats akin to magic like flying—something his father had apparently mastered.
Warriors varied in strength through something called steps; methods existed for getting stronger and advancing through these steps with some drawbacks. But what were some minor drawbacks in the face of ultimate strength?
It turned out that with that mentality, his father practiced the most dangerous method available—resulting in his demise. The rest of the letter urged Nier to take care of Annie and mentioned that if he was interested in becoming a warrior, he could read the book; if not, he could throw it into the sea and forget about it.
Nier closed his eyes again; it wasn't a hard choice to make, but something held him back. He gathered all of his father's ashes and placed them in a glass bottle he found in the bag. Afterward, he opened the money pouch and counted 200 rapen.
To clarify how currency worked: 1 cent was the smallest value; 100 cents made 1 franc; and 10 francs made 1 rapen—though this only applied within the Drows Empire; other empires had their own currencies.
Nier was taken aback; 200 rapen was not a small amount—especially for a family like theirs. It could feed them for two months without work. Sighing, he set aside the money pouch.
He quickly examined the other materials: a key whose purpose eluded him, a revolver without ammo, and a dagger that was quite sharp. Finally, he picked up the book and held his breath as he opened it.
…
Nier opened eyes he didn't remember closing. Looking around, fear washed over him—there was no sea, no sea tower, no Annie—nothing at all. He found himself in complete darkness except for tiny lights twinkling like distant stars.
He was levitating in a black void and realized he couldn't move—it felt as if only his consciousness existed in this strange place. Calming himself down, he tried to make sense of this bizarre situation.
The last thing he remembered was opening the book; thus it must have caused this occurrence—a conclusion solidified by what his father had told him in the letter.
Since that was likely true, he deduced that he had entered this world not with his physical body but with his consciousness—and if he could enter it this way, he could also leave. Searching for clues in this void yielded nothing; only those twinkling stars remained.
Focusing on them closely transformed them into words—a natural occurrence since it was called a book and should contain text for reading.
As Nier read them, he discovered they detailed aspects of the warrior path:
"A warrior should know how to control Ki above all else; it is their strongest weapon…"
In essence, the writing discussed ten steps of becoming a warrior; each step had specific requirements to reach it. The book outlined methods for traversing these steps but Nier couldn't read further—the stars refused to form words likely because he wasn't even at first-step warrior status yet.
However, he did grasp how to reach that first step and how to leave as described in the book—all he had to do was imagine closing it to return home. Doing so brought him back instantly.
The book lay closed before him now; golden words appeared on its gray cover: "Empiric."
Sighing deeply, Nier knew what needed to be done.
Looking at the time revealed nightfall approaching—meaning sea creatures would soon emerge—and if he and Annie hoped to survive, becoming at least a first-step warrior was essential.
The book stated that becoming a warrior required first sensing Ki around oneself and then controlling it to create a core for storage before finally stabilizing oneself.
Sitting cross-legged, Nier began focusing—he had to somehow feel this Ki that that he had never felt in his entire life. Time passed slowly while day turned into night.
Soon enough, as moonlight bathed everything around them in silver glow, sea creatures awakened one by one and began approaching the sea tower while
Nier still struggled to sense any Ki at all.