"What!?" Xane could not believe his ears. Did they get here only to die? He rubbed his forehead in confusion and asked, "Dude, you have to explain to me what's going on here, man."
Zayn thought for a bit and said, [So, Xane, I'm sure that both of us are inside a novel world.]
"Novel? What do you mean by that?"
[I don't know how or why, but we are in 'The Light of Vareth Rift,' and we are inside the body of a character who is going to die within a year.]
It took a moment for Xane to process this absurdity, but he did not deny it. After all, only this nonsense made sense of the situation.
So, they were reincarnated into this world. He had read about these terms in a few novels as a kid, so it wasn't like he was completely unfamiliar with these imaginary concepts—it's just that he never thought those imaginations would come true.
He asked just to confirm, "Are you sure we're reincarnated? Could some virtual reality stuff explain this? Maybe some hidden government project or something?"
[Ah, I don't think the government has that kind of technology yet. And even if they did, why would they waste it on a college kid like me?]
Xane relaxed a bit. He knew about a few hidden things, but still, if Zayn was really just a college kid, then they wouldn't have dragged him into this. "So we're in a novel world… But what kind of world is this, and why are we going to die?"
Zayn paused for a moment and said, [So, this novel revolves around the amalgamation of two worlds: the Cursed Land, Vareth, and the Land of the Living, Zerathia. Right now, we are in Zerathia.]
Xane's mind started spinning. "Oh, so that mess at the start must've been Vareth."
[Yeah, and look at the family portrait next to you.]
Xane shifted his attention to the portrait. There, he saw a family of four—two parents, himself, and his sister, who looked about his age. From the look of it, they were part of some big noble household in the novel.
Zayn continued, [You see the girl next to us in the picture? She's one of the main heroines of the novel, and we are her brothers who are destined to die at the hands of the protagonist. What was his name… ah, yeah—Viyron Zenaris.]
"Viyron Zenaris… oh, that's a cool name. But yeah, why would the protagonist kill us when we're related to this girl?"
Xane mentally repeated the name while staring at the picture of the red-haired girl. She also had blue eyes. The father in the picture also had blue eyes, just like that red-bearded old man from before.
It looked like red hair and blue eyes were some kind of family trait, but he noticed that the shade of blue was different for each person. In the portrait, both the father and sister had dark blue eyes, while he had a much lighter blue.
Now that he looked in the mirror, he noticed his own eyes had gotten even lighter—almost like a greying sky blue.
Zayn said, [It's because of family politics. That girl is one candidate for the next leader. Forget about that—just say, 'Hexis Core Status.']
Xane raised an eyebrow and said, "Hexis Core Status."
The moment those words left his mouth, a green screen popped up in front of his face.
===
Name of Hexis core: Son of Chaos.
Type of Hexis core: Item-> Card type.
Nythra connection: The abyss of pandemonium, the cursed land of chaos.
Element of Hexis energy: Chaos.
Nythra entity: The holder of the sky (mythic).
Essence left: Nil.
Element-based core potential: Mithril Core
Hexis ability: Shroud of madness.
Hexborn level: 0 (new cursed master).
===
Xane stared at the status with intrigue. As he focused on the screen, he felt a weird energy coursing through his body, gathering right at the center of his chest. He could see an illusion-like dark black card with a shiny dark silver border.
The entire card was nothing but different shades of darkness. However, within it, he could make out the faint image of an entity covered in black robes, holding something.
A baby.
The child was the darkest part of all the black. For the first time in his life, Xane noticed the different shades of black could form something visible.
At this moment, Zayn started cursing. [Shit, shit—this is worse. Forget about living; can we even survive by the end of the month?]
His reaction confused Xane. He was about to ask when his ears started buzzing, and he began to hear murmuring sounds.
He looked around in confusion, trying to figure out where the sound was coming from.
Zayn asked, [What's wrong?]
Xane, still confused, said, "Can't you hear those murmuring sounds? It's like hundreds of ants crawling around."
Zayn suddenly shouted, [Shit! Close the status screen—fast! You're facing the corrosion of the abyss!]
Xane didn't understand why Zayn was screaming in his head, but after everything that had happened so far, he would not take chances. He tapped 'Close' at the bottom of the status screen.
The moment he closed it, the murmuring faded. But along with it, a numbness spread through his ears—then to his entire body.
Before he could make sense of what was happening, everything blacked out.
He abruptly lost all his senses, leaving him in darkness.
Then, in the next instant, he found himself floating in this massive, tattered hall, the familiar place in which he had woken up a few hours prior.
Everything from the dark moss covering the walls to the floor littered with corpses remained unchanged. Surrounded by all this mess was a boy focused on scribbling on the ground.
It took him a moment before he realized the boy was Viyron.
Xane noticed he was in this semi-illusionary state—these looked like Viyron's memories before he and Zayn took over him.
This intrigued him, and he floated next to Viyron, examining the circular diagram. He had seen these remnants when he had woken up in that hall.
What was more surprising to him was that Viyron was scribbling all this with his blood. After completing the circular diagram, he saw Viyron licking his fingers to stop the bleeding. However, what happened next almost threw him off.
Viyron suddenly bit a chunk off his own arm, chewing it inside his mouth.
Xane watched all of this with wide eyes, unable to comprehend this madness. Never in his dreams had he imagined the hole was self-inflicted.
Hundreds of questions flooded his mind, and he tried to ask Zayn, "Hey, Zayn, are you here?"
Even after waiting, no reply came. He realized Zayn was not present inside his head.
Suppressing the hundreds of questions in his mind, he focused back on Viyron as the guy spat out the chunk of flesh he was chewing at the center of the circle.
Was this the cursed art that Zayn had mentioned? After spitting out the chunk, he saw Viyron getting up, which gave him a clear look at Viyron's face.
This guy looked unbothered by everything he had done. Though, in the next moment, he saw fear flash through Viyron's eyes. It happened when he looked at the massive hand in the center.
Even in this illusionary form, Xane felt a bit of pressure, though it was much weaker in this state.
He saw Viyron mumbling something, but because of the distinct language, lip-reading was impossible.
This was the first thing he had noticed when he talked with that red-bearded old man. That guy's mouth had moved weirdly, but he could understand him. This must be some kind of language comprehension skill.
He saw Viyron shaking his hand and taking out a metallic card. The moment he saw that card, he felt a sense of connection with it. Upon closer look, he realized this card was different from the Son of the Chaos card.
This card was a pure silver card with a completely unique picture. He didn't have to think much as he saw Viyron walking toward the statue with the metal card in his hand.
He noticed the shift in Viyron's expression—from fear to determination. One step at a time, Viyron continued walking toward the statue. He could feel something was about to happen.
The moment Viyron touched the card, everything changed around them, and in the next instant, he found himself floating before a thick, black fog.
Both he and Viyron were inside this massive barren plain, facing a wall of dark fog. He could sense a tremendous pressure coming from the other side of the fog.
Something bizarre and massive was lurking in this fog, looking down at them. Even Viyron was shaking, but Xane saw him reaching toward the fog with the metal card in hand.
The moment the card touched the fog, a notification popped up in front of Viyron, and he could see it. It was something about forming a contract with Nythra.
Only then did he realize that the entity before him was the Holder of the Sky. Viyron pressed 'yes,' and they were back in the hall, with Viyron standing next to the statue.
The next moment, he heard Viyron yelping in pain and then screeching, trying not to shout. He saw veins popping all over Viyron's body.
It started with the hand touching the statue as if some kind of energy was moving from the statue into Viyron's body. What was even more interesting was that the metal card in his other hand started shrinking in a dark light and blurred within the smoke that enveloped it.
Xane could see that the card was undergoing some kind of transformation. At that moment, Viyron's mouth started moving at a faster pace—likely him chanting something—and then the red ritual circle made of blood lit up.
He could see the desperation on Viyron's face. It was as if whatever he was doing was too slow.
Within a few moments, a small space crack appeared above the ritual circle, and this made Viyron smile as he stopped chanting.
Xane saw in shock as a picture of a 21-year-old boy appeared within the space crack. Then, in the next instant, he saw Viyron's soul slipping into the crack.
This time, he did not get to go to the other side, but things related to their situation became clearer to him.
That 21-year-old boy was likely Zayn. So it was Viyron who summoned him... but why? While he was confused, he saw Viyron's soul rushing back into his body, along with another soul.
But what was shocking was that the moment this second soul entered the body, the color of the smoke around the card changed. It was as if something new had started.
At this, he saw Viyron's face going pale, and then, in the next few moments, Viyron started screaming. The world around him started flickering as if the vision was becoming unstable.
He saw Viyron desperately trying to pull his hand away from the statue, but no matter what he did, nothing seemed to work. The flickering continued to intensify, making everything feel more and more unstable.
Then, he saw a portal displaying another image—and then everything blacked out. Even though he only caught a glimpse, that second image was of himself. His original body.
He was back in the darkness when he heard a shout. [Xane…Xane… Xane…]
This broke the illusion as he found himself back in the room, standing before the mirror as if nothing had happened.