Thunder crackled through the dense rain filled dark clouds, its deafening roar echoing across the sky. The storm clouds stretched endlessly, swallowing the heavens in its harsh embrace, casting the world into an ominous midnight despite the hour being far from it. The wind howled of impending hurricane while the rain poured, drenching the earth below in its relentless torrent.

Beneath the furious sky lay a ruinous forest–once lush and swarming with life, now reduced to mere graveyards of broken trees and shattered earth. The once majestic canopy now asunder haphazardly across the landscape, the casualty of a catastrophe too immense for it to withstand.

Among the wreckage, the bodies of monsters and animals lay scattered in disarray.

Blood trailed and soaked into the ruined earth, pooling in the crevices of shattered trunk and uprooted earth. 

Their torn flesh and vacant eyes narrating the merciless force that had reduced them to the mere remnants of what they once were. The air reeked of decay, death's lingering presence seeping into the land itself.

It wasn't like this always.

The world was once at peace—excluding some minor conflicts and ceaseless wars between humans of course—until something beyond comprehension had plunged this world into ruin. 

From where it came, how it had arrived and why it did all this—it was all unknown.

But it came with its unending forces of demon, and took over the world in a flash as humans were left struggling in a futile attempt to survive. The one that had brought an end to everything: The Demon King, an entity of pure chaos, That's what humanity called it…

Splash! Splash! Splash!

The sound of hurried footsteps echoed throughout the forest, each step splashing through the rain soaked mud. The downpour soaked their steps almost immediately, it appeared as if the earth itself was trying to hide their presence.

Two cloaked figures moved swiftly through the ruins of once great woodland, hiding their form beneath the heavy fabric of their garments.

They moved with caution, keeping their presence hidden amidst the storm.

One of them lagged behind, their steps irregular, growing more unsteady, until, at last they collapsed on their knees.

"Ken, I…I can't do it anymore…" the fallen figure gasped, their voice high and trembling with exhaustion.

It was Lady Lunaria Von Elsmere, daughter of the Elsmere royal family, crown princess of the kingdom of Neporica, age 22

Ken, the other of the two, halted immediately, turning back to Luna's distress. His eyes, although shadowed by his clothes, softened as he rushed towards her.

 "Are you ok? Milady…" he asked, his voice steady despite the raging storm around them.

They had reached the heart of what was once known as The Great Forest of Oblivion—a place whispered in legends as the pinnacle of the World Void, where life itself was said to have started from.

Despite existing for such a long time, no one truly knew what actually laid in its depth. Even The Great Library of Consciousness held no records of its secrets.

The Library of Consciousness stood at the center of the world, a neutral land untouched by any nation, where truths of everything laid bare in the forms of books. It was the pinnacle of World Knowledge, where the knowledge itself molded in the form understood by the observer.

And yet, here, on the opposite side of the planet, lay a place where truth faded into nothingness. Where reality faded into void.

Ken knelt beside Luna as he spoke, his voice soft. "Can you walk?"

The princess slowly lifted her gaze to meet his, her breath rugged and uneven, shaking her head weakly before slumping on ground as the exhaustion washed over her.

She had been running for what felt like an eternity, stopping only for a fleeting moment to take a bite of food before pushing forward again.

 Reaching beneath the cloak, her trembling fingers brushed against her aching feet. A sharp sting followed as a single drop of blood slipped from her wounded toes.

Ken immediately looked around, scanning through the surroundings in hope of something–anything—to help aid her. But all he met were the sight of decaying remains of monstrous beasts, twisted limbs, organs scattered around, and shattered trees.

Despite witnessing it firsthand, Ken still felt reluctant to believe this was once the same legendary forest—one that devoured humanity's every strongest warrior that ventured in it.

A domain of beasts of catastrophic power, some even possessed the power to threaten the entire humanity. And yet, this was its condition now. Something far greater had reduced them all to nothing.

At this point, it wouldn't be a stretch to say these two might be the only living beings of this planet—-excluding it.

Ken exhaled sharply, left with no choice, he bent down and lifted the princess in his arms bridal way. It would slow them down but there was no other choice.

"We have to keep moving…" he murmured.

"Eek…!" she shrieked before responding with a faint nod, a slight blush finding its way on her cheeks.

Ken started moving again, their only hope of survival laid on The Library of Consciousness. If there was any safe place—assuming there was—in this world, then it was that.

Unlike ordinary buildings, that library was an extra-dimensional space—a sanctuary beyond the reach of this shattered world. And also there was a chance that they would learn about the monster that seeked the destruction of this world.

The problem? The library was exactly at the opposite side of the planet.

However, Ken remembered something—during his last visit to the library, he had read a book detailing the locations of all its nine gates scattered around the world. The book provided the exact coordinates of eight of its gates, yet there was no mention of the ninth one throughout the whole book.

So did the book make some kind of mistake? That's what people thought for the longest amount of time.

But, the books in the Library never lied.

Not a single book, None of them, had an author. No mortal had ever written them. 

Then how did they come into existence?

They simply appeared—manifestations of absolute truth. Their words were the order of nature itself, beyond manipulation or deceit. Every event that had ever occurred was recorded within their pages.

As Ken carried on, the downpour gradually ceased. The storm clouds parted, allowing the long forgotten sun to finally come in view after months of relentless rain.

But something felt off. 

Ken couldn't shake the feeling of something about to go bad. A deep unease settled on his chest as he instinctively looked up, expecting to see the unfathomably deep blue sky.

Instead he was greeted with something far more sinister.

The sky had been painted in a deep crimson hue. The sun, no longer golden but blazed like an infernal sphere of molten fire within a sea of blood.

Without warning, a massive horizontal spatial rift opens in the heavens above. From within, a single colossal eyeball emerged—an abyssal orb radiating purest form of dark magic, it's gaze locking upon them with unnatural intelligence.

It appeared as if the sky itself was watching them.

A voice followed, deep and ominous, reverberating through the ruined land.

"Found you…"

Suddenly, streaks of crimson energy rained down, tearing through the air as if the sky itself was tearing apart and falling to them.

The unholy radiance seeping its way into the corpses littering the ground. The monstrous remnants twitched, then moved. One by one, they rose, their body reanimated by the malice as a living corpse, their vacant eyes glowing with unnatural life.

Ken's grip on the princess tightened, His expression hardened as he whispered,"Looks like we have to fight, princess…"

The princess glanced around in horror. Before she could muster a response, something warm and wet splattered around her face.

She reached up to her face, her trembling fingers brushing against her skin before wiping it away. Slowly, she lifted her hand to her eyes—her fingertips stained in a deep crimson hue.

Blood.

Heart pounding, she turned toward Ken—only to find him frozen in place, his mouth slightly open, a trail of blood trickling from his lips. 

A long, jagged claw—dark as abyss—had torn through his back, piercing clean through his chest. It extended out, glistening with blood with a spray of crimson.

Princess breath hitched, her mind struggling to process what had just happened.

Ken's body trembled as he coughed out more blood. His vision blurred, the world around him distorting as his strength drained away.

As the darkness threatened to consume him, he heard a voice amidst the suffocating void. Closer this time, whispering directly in his mind.

"Sleep now, child of fate."

"Ken!!!"

A sudden, desperate scream cut through the air.

Ken's eyes fluttered open. The world around him spun, colors and shape mending into an incomprehensible haze.

His body felt heavy and unresponsive. Every part of him screamed in agony, yet there was only one thing his fading mind could focus on—her.

"L..Lu..na…" His voice barely escaped his lips, a broken whisper swallowed by the chaos.

The world was fading, his strength slowly slipping away, but through the fog of pain, he could see her. Lunaria.

She was barely standing, trapped within the grasp of the shadowy figure—a twisted mass of darkness, its long clawed fingers wrapped around her throat. She struggled weakly, her nails digging into the entity's grip, but it was futile, her strength slowly fading away.

 Yet she managed a smile at him.

A soft, loving smile.

Her body trembled, her eyes full of terror as death loomed over her, she managed a faint smile—a smile so gentle, so full of love, as if she was reassuring him, even now, that everything would be alright.

Tears welled up in her eyes as her lips parted.

"I…I love you…"

Her words were fragile, fading, barely slipping past her strangled breath. And then—

The shadow opened its mouth wide.

Crunch!

Blood splattered around in a gruesome spray.

Ken's breath hitched. He could only watch. Helpless. Powerless. Useless.

Lunaria's lifeless remaining body crumpled to the ground. Her form was thrown away like a broken doll.

The world blurred, his hands trembled—rage, sorrow, hatred, despair—all of the emotions came crashing over him in a suffocating wave. His body convulsed, but the tears wouldn't stop falling as the zombies slowly lurched closer.

His mind screamed for action, for vengeance, but his limbs wouldn't obey. Fury boiled over him, raw and searing, as it burst in a shattered breath—

"I will kill you."

The shadow entity slowly turned, looking at him, its gaze cold and indifferent—Like observing an insect, a cockroach too insignificant to even be crushed. 

Then it simply vanished, fading into the void as if nothing was there to begin with.

Ken curls his fingers into the dirt, his nails clawing into the ground. His vision blurred with tears, but his rage burned clearer than ever.

"Mark my words…even if I have to get reborn…even if I have to return back as a ghost—"

He continues, his voice rising higher into harsh roar of defiance.

"I WILL HUNT YOU TO THE ENDS OF THIS WORLD AND GIVE YOU THE WORST DEATH IMAGINABLE! DID YOU HEARD ME! DEMON KING!"

The darkness around him erupted as the dead descended upon him, rotting hands clawing, teeth tearing and blood splattering.

And as the pain overwhelmed him, as his body was ripped apart, only one thought remained in his mind—

"Demon King… I swear it…"

His scream tore through the night.

Splurt! Crunch! Chomp!