Empty, flat, and the high temperature that purges water instantly. The dryness breaks the earth and turns it into smaller bits flowing with the desolate wind. In this land called Oblivion, an area secured from the other worlds, was a man named Tus Gilgar. Unknown to him, his age is 218 years as of this year, but despite the age, his appearance looked to be in his late teens to mid-twenties. Wearing tattered clothes showing skin that has been tanned underneath the non-existent sun that shrouded the world in light, he ran huffing, and puffing as the earth behind him was sprayed into the air occasionally. If one watched close enough, they would be able to see something slithering under the surface of the soil where its outline could vaguely be seen by the movement of the ground.

Determination and an abstract craziness was fully expressed by his eyes. He stopped in a rare place where there were rocks which spread out a mirage of water into the air more strongly than the sand. Tus turned back to the slithering shadow and picked up a rock hot enough to bake food with in his callused right hand.

“Come, I’ll show you who your daddy is!” Saying such words, Tus brought himself to a battle ready posture, bending his knees and elbows like he was ready for a wrestling match. Just beyond his sight, a green light lit up, flashing a glow bright enough to compete with the sun.

Sensing it, he looked in that direction and his pupils shrank. “That is…” An indescribable excitement and hope swelled in his heart as his gaze fully focused on the light that appeared as a diamond that was just hovering in the air.

The sand in front of him burst with a snake that had sharp bone spurs that came out of its back. Its entire body resembled that of creatures in legends, five feet in width, and twenty feet in length. Its bared teeth emanated like death’s scythes as it bit down upon Tus. However, even though Tus was caught by surprise by the green diamond, he was still prepared to counterattack.

Swiftly dodging to the side and fixing his gaze upon the behemoth that ate dirt, he hopped forward swinging his insignificant rock. His action appeared like throwing a pebble at an elephant, but against expectations, the rock hit the snakes’ weakness, a delicate scale right behind its head. The instant that the rock made contact, the snake stiffened and fell onto the ground, paralyzed.

Tus grabbed one of the scales on its body and skillfully pulled it off. A large chunk of raw meat dripping with blood was in his hands. With a rumbling stomach, he indecorously ate it all in one bite, including the uncomfortable scale, while running to the green diamond, jumping right into it.

“I can finally go home…” Tears welled up in his eyes as he touched it. The portal rippled and Tus was violently pulled into it by a strong force.

………

Surrounded by old trees, a perfectly preserved altar showcasing a vast desert with hundreds of terrifying monsters stood alone. It was just this altar with no other features around in the overgrown forest. Even though this area seemed to not be much, it was declared to be a forbidden land long ago, and isolated from the rest of the world by many allied forces.

The allied forces included the hegemons of the surrounding areas, Families that made lineage the most important, Organizations that defined techniques and discipline of the self as the most important, and Countries that brought forward the idea that governments, whether a kingdom or a democracy ruling everything was the most important. The reason why they were allied or protected this area is due reasons that have long since been forgotten by the public besides a few vague stories.

At this time, the altar flickered with a green light as the eyes of the monsters portrayed glowed with the color of red. They appeared to move, converging on a single point on the altar as if they wanted to keep something from getting out. The green light flickered once more as the faint sound of roaring came from the forest. The monsters all opened their mouths simultaneously with it, seemingly emitting the loud sound.

For a third time, the green light flickered, but this time the surroundings around the altar glowed with its color. The air rippled like water, converging on a single point with the intent of rejection and restraint. The atmosphere in the surroundings became heavy with tension, forcing the neighboring creatures to issue high pitch cries as they fled.

For a fourth and final time, the point where the ripples gathered was forced apart by a green diamond, as if hands were ripping and tearing the gathering ripples. Tus shot out of the portal that was soon crushed by the rejection of the world, hitting the ground with a force that made an indent, and causing him to bounce three times before being stopped by a tree.

The ripples that appeared in the air disappeared along with the roaring monsters that returned to their positions with apparent dissatisfaction. A faint ripple came off of Tus’s body that no one could see. It was a smaller form of the same rejection that occurred before. However, Tus couldn’t feel it, but anything else could only sense it.

After coughing a couple of times, Tus slowly stood up with his trembling body. Although his face was pale with blood flowing out from the corners of his mouth, his eyes were alert, checking every nook and cranny in the vicinity. The actual wounds he sustained were minimal as the portal gave him physical protection, but the moment of hitting the ground still allowed for pain to be felt and a bit of physical trauma to be left.

He felt like a heavy burden was lifted off of his shoulders and he breathed a sigh of relief while sitting down, his eyes resting on the altar. Looking around once again to check the surrounding, his face slowly revealed doubt.

“Where am I?”