His bedroom is quite simple. Though every item screams money, there is no gold cup or frames or bed. No tacky interior decoration. I still dislike him. It's hard to like someone who tries to kill you after drenching you in wine.

He is sitting on the bed with a scroll, wearing a white silk robe. His silver hair is loose. He doesn't look surprised to see me. "Harbinger, are you here to warm my bed?"

Ha! Look at his guts. "No, never."

"Then, why are you coming to an unfamiliar man's room?" He puts down the scroll. "He will be jealous if he hears that you came here at this hour. You are his harbinger, after all."

I see that he's not pleased about it. "Tell me about the Dark God."

He laughs lowly. "Why don't you ask him?"

"He and I don't have a relationship where we can share each other's past." I sit on the chair near the wall. "You must know the story in detail."

"Have you heard of the new prophecy?" He smiles at me slyly. "The oldest seer family in the higher realm have announced it recently. It speaks about the end of the world and how only the renasir can save the world. Unlike in the past, the chosen one isn't mentioned."

Aren. The boy who abducted me. The boy who promised me that he would make me fall in love with him. He is looking for the harbinger to pay the price. The harbinger who killed his mother. The chosen one wants me to choose him.

There is a letter in my pocket. The letter by left by Raye and Gabriel at the inn. I have read it in the microwave prison when I was waiting for someone to appear. They asked me to meet them in the 6th city the night I came here. I am sure that they must want to use me to lead the army of the cursed children and fight the chosen one. The cursed children are being hunted and killed every day. The chosen one is crazy for revenge.

"What will you choose?" The dragon god asks me.

"My choice is Kyo." I tell him straight away, "There must be a way where Kyo and the world can survive together."

He seems satisfied with my answer. "I will tell you the story then."

***

Ten thousand years ago, there was a world where the gods and the humans lived together. There were not Sehr who needed to dilute ehr in their cores to use it in their channels. There were not wahr who needed to make a bond with a spirit beast to be able to wield diluted ehr. There were not common humans were broken channels. Everyone could use magic. Making a contract with a spirit beast was entirely out of choice. There were no different realms. The world was one and unbroken.

The 13 main gods watched the world and maintained harmony among humans, spirits, gods, and Dema. There were 13 main laws. 13 sources of ehr. 13 main constellations.

The perfect and yet imperfect harmony was broken one day when a halfling man was punished by the god of light. A human was hurt by a halfling man accidentally. Back then, the halflings didn't have equal status as humans. The halfling man died in the prison while his family and lover could only watch.

The lover left the kingdom of the god of light. After many years, the god of darkness met a woman. He was surprised to see a human approach him in his kingdom. She claimed that she was in love with him. He didn't believe her, but he became curious about the woman. Little by little, the woman managed to win his heart. After many years, the god married her. It wasn't odd for a god to marry a female human. In the wedding, all the gods were invited to become the witnesses.

The god was madly in love with her. He would give her anything that she wanted to have. They lived happily for a few years until she asked him to prove that he trusted her.

"I heard that gods don't trust humans," The woman said to him. The paintbrush between her fingers glided smoothly on the canvass. "You don't trust me either."

The god laughed. "I trust you more than I trust myself."

"How do I know?" She asked him teasingly.

"How do I prove it?" He walked to her and wraps his arms around her waist. He looked at the half-finished painting of his. She was always painting his portraits.

"I wonder." She dipped the brush in the black ink and paused. "Give me your heart."

The heart of the god. His true core.

He didn't think of it as much. "Will that satisfy you?"

"I will give you my core." She smiled at him. "You give me yours."

He removed the core and gave it to her. She held it in her palm. It's smaller than her fist. She curls her fingers around the dark throbbing core. "You shouldn't have trusted me."

The Dark God waged a war against the 11 gods. He unleashed all the dark elemental creatures and wielders. He sought the dragon god as an ally. He wanted to overthrow the 11 gods and change the world order. The dragon god agreed without a second thought. The war nearly destroyed the world. Near the end, it occurred to the dragon god that something wasn't right.

That's when he noticed that his friend was acting strange. The dark ehr is uncontrollable and corrupted by something foreign and sinister. The Dark God wasn't himself. He wanted to destroy everything. Countless lives were gone. The world was nearly destroyed. Still, the Dark God wasn't satisfied.

What was wrong with him? The dragon god visited him in his castle one day secretly. There, he saw Amara, the wife of the dark god, holding the dark core and the dark god bending his knees in front of her.

"You hate me, don't you?"

The dark god didn't answer her.

"I thought that you could kill all the gods." She rubbed her thumb on the core. "You are not powerful without your heart. You cannot kill them all."

"They killed the only man I loved."

When the dragon god tried to snatch away the core from her, she made the dark god fight him. He ran away and went to the 11 gods. The 12 gods were united against the Dark God to save what was left of the world. Without the dragon god's army and the heart, the dark god was weak. He was cornered from all the sides. Amara knew that they were losing.

She stood closer to him. "Do you hate me?"

He looked at the woman he loved more than his life. Even after everything, he couldn't hate her. It hurt him to see her hurt. "No."

"Then, you should kill me." She smiled at him regretfully. "This is my last command."

When the gods arrived, they saw the dark god holding her corpse. The core was lying on the floor. By then, the dark ehr was already corrupted by Amara's dark desires. The dark ehr has its own twisted consciousness. The dark core was also affected.

The 11 gods couldn't trust the dark god again. The gods were afraid that the dark god might be controlled by that sinister consciousness after he took back his heart. They imprisoned the dark god and sent away the dark core in the reincarnation cycle. They created the renasir to stop the harbinger from freeing the dark god. The god of light left the fire of the star in the royal family of Aredes to take care of the dark god and twisted dark ehr if things went bad.

***

"After the last renasir took the spell from me to make the body of the next renasir, the chosen one was born. I had no idea that she was trying to make a body that was compatible with the dark core and the chosen soul of the renasir." He glances at the door once and then, he turns his eyes back to me.

"Why are you okay with it?" I raise my brow. "Wouldn't he try to destroy the world after taking it?"

"That was thousands of years ago." He sighs. "The dark core has been purified in the reincarnation cycle. I am sure that my friend is strong enough to kill consciousness by himself. Currently, you carry it. Unless you get affected by the twisted dark ehr, it won't be a problem."

I have been touched by the twisted dark ehr. I am sure the voice of the woman in my head belongs to that consciousness. I don't tell him that I am carrying the damned consciousness in my body.

It laughs in my head. 'So, you know what I am. What can you do about it? The dark core and you will be mine.'