Ethan Bhreg had never been someone to think much about the future. He was a good kid, went to school, hanged out with friends, even dated a couple of girls this year.

He liked to ride his bike and play soccer, so he was used to the occasional fall and some bruises, but nothing worthy of making a fuss over.

Now he was in pain, both physical and emotional, it had been hours since that nightmare, it had to be a nightmare, yeah, he was probably just having a very vivid dream, or maybe he was in some weird government experiment, but what he saw couldn’t be real.

A massacre where everybody in the world is killed except one is impossible, such a thing can’t be possibly happening to him, right?

Right?

Ethan cried while curling up in a corner of his room.

He had run home after watching all the people on the street die horribly in front of him, throwing up, crying and throwing up again. The only slightly comforting thing was that he didn’t see the bodies of his parents on the way back, not that he was carefully looking at the hellish scenery of bodies strewn on the streets, walls, and even roofs of the buildings.

But it was impossible to not look at them, the bodies were everywhere. Ethan barely managed to get himself in the shower to wash out the blood covering him, he just sat there, crying, staring at the bathroom wall, he didn’t want to think of what happened, he didn’t want to think of his parents, he didn’t want to think of what he would do.

Right now, he didn’t want to think at all.

Up until today, his most worrisome things in life had been school exams and wondering what to eat for dinner, maybe wondering if the girl that usually smiled at him from 2 desks across the classroom might like him.

Now those things were no more, his parents were no more, he hadn’t seen them, but he knew, he didn’t know how he knew, he just knew.

He was alone.

And loneliness hurt, a lot.

His body felt hot, even after 2 hours of a cold shower, his head was dizzy, probably because of the smell of blood that haunted him no matter how much soap he scrubbed on his body.

It felt like his heart wanted to burst out of his chest, it beat stronger than he had ever felt before, he thought it was because of his fear and the adrenaline of running, but even after hours of sitting in the shower his heartbeat still was accelerated, it wasn’t normal and it hurt, just one more abnormal and painful thing to add on the list.

With every beat of his heart he felt his whole body tremble in light spasm, his muscles were contracting, constantly tightening and loosening, he had a high fever and was sweating all over his body, the shower was barely helping.

Maybe he was sick and all this had been a hallucination?

Hopefully, it would be so, but he still didn’t believe that he hallucinated all this, it was just too real.

He closed his eyes, tired and disoriented, and he fell unconscious.

Ethan saw The Rifts, shining in the darkness of his mind. A multitude of colors shone from behind the cracks in the darkness, as if they were showing a world behind a crumbling wall, a wonderful, tempting world that called for Ethan.

Yes, The Rifts called for him, they wanted him to grasp them and to pull them open, he felt the desire dwelling in him, a desire to completely shatter the dark wall and let that light of all colors and hues bath everything.

He approached The Rifts and stared at the colorful abyss beyond them…

Ethan sat upright with a jolt, there was a lot of vapor around him, blurring his vision a bit, the water was still running and showering him as he sat naked on the floor.

Where was the vapor coming from?

Ethan was stunned for a moment as he realized the vapor was caused by him, he looked down at himself, his skin was red, not the red of a bruise or a rash, it was red like a hot iron bar.

His body was heated up so much that water started to evaporate upon contact.

“What the hell?”

Ethan could only mutter those words facing the absurdity of the situation.

However, he was cooling down, and the redness of his skin disappeared. Ethan stood up and went to his room to get dressed, he put on boxers and shorts then grabbed a t-shirt before noticing his figure on the mirror.

“Holy shit.”

He stared at his reflection in the mirror, it took him a few seconds to recognize himself, there were changes in him.

He was taller by a couple of inches, his blonde hair was a bit longer and now looked more like copper-colored than the light yellow he remembered, his honey eyes looked different too, tending more towards golden now, he was also more muscular now than what he was this morning when he last looked in the mirror. Ethan didn’t go to the gym but he was a bit athletic since he liked to ride his bike and play soccer, due to such activities he had a lean body, not skinny but also not fat, he considered he had an average body. But now, he had muscles, it wasn’t the bulky body of a bodybuilder, but a strong body like one of those fitness models he had seen on TV.

“Seriously, what’s going on?”

Ethan scratched his head and dropped on his bed, all of this was just too strange and he didn’t want to think about it. Every time he tried to make sense of the situation it just got weirder, and if he thought about it he would undoubtedly get sad and sorrowful, so he unconsciously kept distracting himself with banal stuff.

He sat up on the bed and put on the shirt, it was light blue with black letters spelling ‘Cooler than you’ with two ice cubes next to the words and a white snowflake on the back.

Ethan stood up, thinking of going to the kitchen and grasp some snack when he suddenly felt the world shake.

He froze at the disturbingly familiar sensation, it was the same as that time, when everyone died, when The Rifts appeared and killed everyone.

Ethan trembled uncontrollably as he once again felt everything around him freeze in time as space cracked. He was scared, will he die now, like everybody else?

His room vanished like a mirage around him, and Ethan found himself in a strange space, surrounded in all directions by freakish crystals that twisted and changed position, shape, and direction as they swirled around him in a multitude of colors that he didn’t even know existed.

It was horribly disorienting, he felt like throwing up despite having nothing on his stomach, he felt a pressure crushing him from all directions, he couldn’t do anything to fight back.

“Kid, come with me.”

A serene voice spoke to him in the middle of this weird place, and Ethan saw a flash of light in the distance, it must have been closer than what he thought initially because in an instant the figure in the light was next to him.

Or maybe it was just that fast to cover the distance in less than a second.

Ethan felt something cover him and the pressure was gone along with the disorienting feeling. The figure let go of him and Ethan noticed he was on the roof of his house. Now that he was again standing on firm ground he could take the time to look at what had taken him out of that strange space of twisting crystals, just remembering that gave him a headache.

Ethan turned around and stood agape when he saw what was next to him, a giant golden-crimson bird floated with its wings extended over almost 10 feet in length, a magnificent crest of colorful feathers was on its head, it had long and sharp talons that looked like they were made of pure gold, and a long tail shone with a deep but soft light behind it.

Somehow the bird seemed to be made of flesh, light, metal, and crystal, all at the same time.

The plumage was like a crystal sculpture, ending in semitransparent tips that seemed to blur out of existence but it certainly was alive and breathing.

“Calm down, child. I mean no harm to you”

The bird, no, the Phoenix spoke with a calm, melodious, and soothing voice. It made Ethan feel secure and calm, that voice gave him a warm feeling inside, as if everything would be fine.

“What are you?”

Ethan managed to blurt out.

“A fair question. But you might not be ready to know the full answer to that question. My name is Navin Lakar, I have come here to check on the state of this world and try to help its inhabitants.”

The Phoenix spoke with his melodious voice while looking directly at Ethan’s eyes, Ethan felt like his whole being was exposed; as if his soul was being watched and scrutinized by those blue eyes that were deeper than the ocean.

Then the Phoenix looked to the sky while he continued speaking.

“This world is damaged, its time axis is broken and now there’s only one Lone Survivor in it, it’s separating from the stream of time and the souls here can’t even enter reincarnation anymore. It’s in a very fragile state, so much that it could be turned into nothing any moment soon.”

“Do you… do you know what happened here? Do you know why everyone died!?”

Ethan asked loudly. if this strange being could answer his questions, he wanted to find out, he needed to know what happened.

“Yes, but it is complicated to explain, you lack the necessary knowledge to fully understand. I will try to explain it in a simple but not fully accurate way, is it okay with you?”

Ethan silently nodded

“The cosmos is currently undergoing a Cataclysm, an event that brings destruction and chaos across all realms. There are many factors that caused this, but the most direct ones are the death of the Divinities that ruled many aspects of the cosmos, and the breaking of the Seal of the Cosmos that was placed eons ago by the Sovereign of the Gods. Your world was affected by it and suffered a backlash, resulting in its current broken state.”

Ethan tried to make sense of what Navin the Phoenix was telling him

“So… the gods are real, or rather were real and now they are dead, and because they are dead the universe is in chaos?”

Ethan asked carefully, trying not to sound stupid when he said those crazy words out loud.

“Yes, that’s the case, and it’s not just one universe, a whole cumulus of universes is affected, the multiverse is experiencing the Cataclysm.”

Navin answered and continued to explain with patience to Ethan, who had a pale face right now upon listening to the magnitude of the situation.

“Then how did this happen?”

“War.”

The Phoenix said with a solemn voice.

“War? You mean the gods went to war against something and fought each other to death?”

“Yes.”

“But that’s… that’s stupid! What kind of idiot goes and just kill each other!? A whole race was exterminated, and now even bystanders are affected by their war! How could they be so irresponsible, why did they do that? What were they fighting for!?”

Ethan was exasperated, he was furious at the gods for messing with him.

it’s their fault that everyone died, all for their stupid war, those selfish bastards just went and killed themselves and fucked up the world.

Ethan now found out who was responsible for his current situation, of course, it was just what Navin was saying, but right now he had no other answer and something about Navin made him feel like he was speaking the truth, it might be a trick, but Ethan would think about such things later.

“We fought for freedom, to be able to advance to higher realms of existence, to continue on our own personal paths. Also, the Gods are not a race, but a designated name for a group, a denomination for beings of any race, gender, age, and origin that fulfill certain criteria. There were Divinities who opposed to letting others ascend higher than the Realm of the Gods, so it naturally led to conflict among factions, it’s also not like we wanted to kill each other but it was a consequence of battles of such level, no one expected such a Cataclysm to happen either, it was provoked by the violent breaking of the Seal of the Cosmos at the end of the war.”

Navin once again explained calmly, his eyes were profound as he recalled the cause of the war and the events that followed.

“We? So you also fought in this war? Are you a God too?”

Ethan asked, this huge Phoenix certainly looked powerful and supernatural, and if it knew about an event such as a war between gods, then it seemed natural it was some kind of divinity, maybe a minor deity who survived the war by chance.

“Yes, I fought in the war, not only that, I won the war and the majority of the divinities died by my hand. But I am not a God like those who ruled over aspects of reality and forces of the cosmos, although I am certainly at the level of Divinity, even a bit above that.”

Ethan could swear he saw Navin smiling lightly as he answered the question.

Not a god, but at the level of gods, he killed gods and won, is he…?

“No, I am not a Devil, those guys are another race mostly extinct long ago, I am an Ascender, that means I am an immortal cultivator who rose from the mortal realms all the way to the higher planes of existence, up to the Divine Realm.”

Navin answered as if reading Ethan’s mind, he had been one of the worst enemies in the history of the demon race and he had slain their top powerhouses long ago, but there was no need to tell that to Ethan, at least not now.

“What is your name, kid? I already told you mine.”

“Ah, it’s, Ethan, Ethan Bhreg, nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too, Ethan. I wish we could have met in happier circumstances and a less chaotic time.”

Ethan made a rueful smile upon hearing Navin’s words, he was partly at fault for his current situation, even if he didn’t do any damage directly nor with intention.

Is that why he said he wanted to check on the state of this world and help its inhabitants?

Ethan didn’t feel like blaming and yelling at Navin, such a heated discussion could wait until later, he didn’t want to fight with the only person… bird… well, sentient being around.

“Ethan, I want to propose something to you.”

“Um? What is it?”

“It is not safe for you to be in this world anymore. It will gradually stagnate until it is entirely frozen in time, and you as the only intelligent living being around will be consumed by it. Microorganisms such as bacteria, plants and small animals around this world are already dying at a rapid pace as we speak, soon you won’t even have air to breathe. You are right now like the only hot flame in a world of cold ice and you don’t have the strength to sustain yourself in such environment, this world will suck the life out of you.”

Navin said with a serious tone of voice staring at Ethan.

“What, seriously? Is it so urgent?”

Ethan was astonished by what Navin said, he hadn’t even thought about what to do for dinner, now he was told he needed to get out of the world or he would die.

So he must go to another universe, what kind of place would it be?

“There are many things to discuss, Ethan, but yes, it is urgent for you to get out of here. So this is my proposal to you: I will explain some things to you now and then I’ll take you out of here to another universe, we can grab anything you want from your world and I will provide whatever you need to live in the new world. But there’s also something you need to do if you want my full help. It’s also the reason I explained all these things to you instead of just knocking you out and sending you to another world. It is very important, so please consider it seriously before answering whether you will comply or not.”

Ethan was silent for a few seconds before answering Navin.

“Tell me then, what is it that you want from me?”

Navin’s figure was enveloped in light and sifted into a human form, a tall young man with short wavy brown hair and blue eyes wearing a robe that reminded Ethan of the clothes scholars of oriental countries used in his world.

Navin, now in human form, spoke with a smile.

“I want you to become my disciple, and learn to cultivate energy in order to become immortal.”

Ethan was astonished upon hearing such a thing, it took him a minute to close his mouth and nod his head.

World of Yirlifa, Northern Continent Mengha.

The country that rules one third of the continental territory on the western side, the mighty Kingdom of Likia, a land of warriors who cultivate the energy of the world in their bodies and control the elements, their royal family rose to prominence by being able to wield multiple flames of great power with their mystic arts, they are constantly at odds with the other 4 countries of the Northern Continent due to Likia’s expansionist mindset.

In the southwestern coast of the country, a small orb of light appeared without any sound, a teleportation performed without disturbing the surrounding space.

The orb shines with a light of many colors, appearing as a glazed sphere that refracted the light of the moon while surrounded by a golden aura.

The orb quickly changed its shape, until it took the appearance of a tiger, taller than most adult humans at a height of 2 meters while walking on four legs, it was 6 meters long, its legs were sturdy, and walked with grace, giving off a feeling of indomitable might.

The tiger’s eyes were sharp and seemed to pierce space disregarding any concept of distance as it looked around, more than evaluating its surrounding environment, it seemed to be analyzing the world itself.

“Hmm, this is a fine world, it has interesting energies in it. It doesn’t seem to be suffering from a physical destruction from the cataclysm, then this world’s tribulation will not be a direct one, eh? This place was restrained by the chains of the Divinities, so now it’s flourishing at a high pace.”

The tiger mused in a deep voice. He had a grin on his face, showing sharp teeth.

“The Practitioners from this world will notice it soon.”

The tiger finished examining the state of the world and turned its head towards the East.

“Well, something interesting seems to be happening there.”

The tiger leaped off the ground at high speed and disappeared without a sound.

In a small village near the coast of Likia Kingdom, a trial was in session.

The courtroom had a wooden floor made with dark planks, white walls that were worn out due to poor maintenance, and a light gray ceiling.

A judge sat behind a raised desk, behind him the plain green and gray city flag and the national flag of the Likia Kingdom, a proud golden eagle spreading its wings with three flaming tails of red, blue, and green flames on a black background, stood on poles.

There were seats for a small audience near the entrance of the courtroom but no jury box.

In the center of the room knelt a chained girl, she had scars all over her body, huge burns on her hands and feet, a disheveled short hair and dressed in dirty rags.

Aina wept quietly while she awaited the judgment, the cold stares from the people around felt like daggers stabbing her, she was scared, she was in pain, and she didn’t comprehend why this was happening to her, it was too much for a 12-year-old girl to bear.

But she could do nothing to stop it, she already knew the result, she would be sentenced to death and executed, treated as a witch and shamed for all eternity.

Her mother had tried everything she could to appeal to the judge and the people, she testified in her favor, she advocated for calling a doctor of one of the bigger cities to help understand the situation, but it was to no avail as they all disregarded her opinions and even threatened to kill her too as the mother of the witch.

And as expected, Aina was found guilty of ´being an evil witch conspiring to curse the village´.

“We hereby sentence you to death. You will be executed tonight at 9 p.m., one hour from now. Guards, take her to the plaza for public lapidation!”

The judge disdainfully said.

“No!! Please, have mercy, she’s just a child!!”

A woman’s cry was heard from the back of the room. Aina’s mother, Maria, tried to get closer.

One of the guards briskly pushed her back and shouted at her to behave.

But she couldn’t stay silent, she knew her daughter was no witch, Aina was a sweet and honest girl, she would never hurt anyone on purpose.

What happened a couple of days ago was an accident that none of them fully understood, but the ignorant townspeople just got scared and went around blaming her for the tragedy, they said she was cursed and if they didn’t get rid of her the entire village will be cursed and destroyed.

Aina had suffered from pains in her body since she was little, sometimes she trembled a lot and recently it had gotten worse, but it had never been like what happened 2 days ago.

In the middle of one of Aina’s seizures she fell to the ground trembling, she started screaming and lightning fell from the sky towards her, upon hitting her the lightning had dispersed, burning many of the bystanders who were around Aina.

It hadn’t been her fault, one could not control lightning and will it to fall from the heavens, such a thing was under the will of the Gods.

But that was precisely the issue, the people from the village had deemed the event as a judgment from the gods, they thought the lightning was a sign that she must be killed, and her resistance to it was attributed to an evil spirit protecting her.

It was an absurd accusation, but the superstitious people could not be reasoned with, and so she was quickly sentenced to die, she would be publicly executed in the center of the village.

Maria was desperate, she didn’t know what to do to save her child.

Maria was just a cook in a small restaurant, she didn’t have money to call for a doctor in a big city nor the influence in the village to make the others listen to her.

She ran to her house as the guards took Aina away, she could not legally help Aina, so she would do it illegally, she didn’t have money to hire mercenaries or to bribe the guards to help her escape. She knew she was weak, but she had to do something, even if she dies she will not let her daughter die.

There was no time to think rationally, no way to reach a peaceful conclusion, only death awaited Aina if nothing was done.

So she ran.

She grabbed everything that could be of a little value in her house on a bag, what little money she had saved and food for a couple of days, she grabbed 2 big cooking knives and put them in her belt, then ran to the back and took an old hatchet that she used to cut firewood.

She grabbed everything and headed to the door, the bag was a little heavy…

Maria stopped for a moment and the weight of the situation hit her, it crushed her with a sense of powerlessness.

What was she doing? She was only one weak woman, she was no warrior, she had somewhat strong arms from a lifetime of work but there was no way she could trade blows with a soldier or the Village Watch.

How would she rescue Aina?

Could she fight the guards and the people present on the public execution? No.

Would she be able to run away with Aina even if she won? No.

Would she be able to escape pursuers? No.

Could she even get rid of the shackles that keep Aina chained? No.

No, no, no, and no. She couldn’t do anything, she was weak, she was useless.

Then, will she only powerlessly watch as her only daughter is killed right in front of her?

NEVER!!

Maria shook and bit her lips so hard that she drew blood.

She will not just stand by, even if she was powerless to stop them, she would still stand and fight for her daughter, and she would die protecting her, fulfilling her duty as a mother.

Maria dropped the bag on the floor, its weight would only hinder her in the fight.

She strode outside her house with only her hatchet and two knives.

She doesn’t plan to return, she no longer has hope.

If her daughter was fated to die tonight, then Maria would walk by her side to the afterlife.

But the people of the village would pay with blood for that.

Aina stood bound to a large wooden stake, a multitude of people had gathered in the biggest plaza at the center of the village, some were here to watch, while others were here to participate in the public lapidation, they were here to throw of stones at her.

None showed pity for her.

Some people had died in that incident 2 days ago, here were their friends and families, they wanted revenge for their dead, they were pointing all that anger and grief to her.

She was the scapegoat for their loss.

Aina raised her head and looked at the night sky, the stars were beautiful in the distance, far more beautiful than the angry torches that lightened the plaza.

“Now, begin!”

Someone in the crowd yelled.

Someone threw the first stone at her, it missed.

Then a second stone was thrown, it hit her lightly on a leg.

The third stone hit her head, and she felt the pain as blood started to run down her forehead.

One man raised his arm with a stone gripped on his hand, just when he was about to throw it, he felt a sting of pain on his back.

The man screamed and turned around as he dropped the stone, behind him was Maria with a hatchet in her hands.

“You…”

The villager didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence as Maria swung the hatchet and cut him on the neck.

The people around watched stunned as Maria killed the man, but some started to quickly react and tried to grab her.

“What do you think you are doing!?”

“Maria has gone crazy!”

“She’s the mother of the witch, she is a witch too!”

“Kill her, she murdered Bob, stone her too!”

“Kill her!”

The villagers raised their voices one after the other, many tried to grab Maria but she kept madly attacking them with the hatchet, she managed to cut many of them and crossed the crowd to stand in front of Aina.

Then the villagers started throwing stones at her too, this time many villagers threw stones, there was no hesitation, only anger.

Maria was hit on the face, arms, shoulders, and head by the stones.

“Mom! No! stop, stop! Mom, run, please!”

Aina saw her mother getting wounded in front of her, she screamed at her, but it was no use, the villagers would not stop attacking and Maria would not stand aside, it was only a matter of time until she was killed.

Tears ran down her cheeks as she watched powerlessly, tied to the stake, as her mother was stoned to death while defending her.

Aina felt despair, sadness, and pain as she closed her eyes, unable to watch anymore.

And then she felt it.

The familiar sensation that had caused her so much pain through the years of her life, it felt as if a thousand ants were crawling under her skin, moving along her veins.

It always started at some place inside her, but she could never pinpoint the exact origin, it seemed to move all over her body, she felt unpleasant and itchy when it was mild, but it could be very painful sometimes, and she would get spasms and fever.

But ever since 2 days ago, it had become even worse. She felt something burning at her from the inside, wishing to be let out, she clenched her fists as she felt the burning spread from her chest towards her arms and hands, it hurt a lot and she couldn’t withstand the pain, she screamed as she felt electricity coursing through her body out of control.

“Haaahhhh!!!”

Aina screamed in pain and Maria turned to check on her, thinking one of the villagers had hit her with a stone, she saw her daughter convulsing while arcs of electricity covered her body and jumped up and down around her.

Maria was surprised. She didn’t know the principles of electricity, but she was familiar with the lightning in the sky when there were storms and rains. But such things were seen high in the clouds, why or rather how were they around Aina’s body?

Maria got closer to Aina but was hit on her head and fell to the ground as she heard the villagers scream again.

“The witch is doing something, stop her!”

The scared people started to throw more stones and even pieces of wood towards Maria and Aina, intent on killing them faster.

Maria struggled to stand up, she had lost her hatchet and one of the knives during the fight just now, she gripped the last one tightly.

“It is certainly scary to die. But it’s not a big deal compared to the fear of losing you. If I don't do everything in my power to help you, I wouldn't be able to keep on living with that regret for the rest of my life.”

Maria muttered towards Aina as she turned to face the villagers one more time. She felt it was likely the last time.

No matter how hopeless this battle is.

No matter how much I will be shamed and wounded in public or show an unsightly figure, I can’t abandon her.

I won’t abandon my daughter.

Maria raised her hand with the knife in front of her and noticed the many wounds around her body but didn’t do anything to try to stop the bleeding.

She won’t forsake her daughter.

Even if it was the judgment of gods and men, she didn’t care.

There was only one thing that mattered: her daughter needed her.

So she would fight until her death, to gain even one more second for her daughter.

Maria knew she couldn’t win, but even so, no, precisely because of that, she must fight, to be a worthy mother in the last moments of her life.

Her vision darkened, and all noise around seemed distant, her legs lost strength, she saw arrows approaching her at high speed, and she waited for the end.

But it never came.

“What a courageous woman. Don't worry, you and your daughter are safe now.”

One deep voice boomed throughout the plaza, rising above all other sounds.

Suddenly, the pain was gone, and hope bloomed again.

As a tiger roared and lightning fell from the heavens.