An unfamiliar sight displayed before his eyes as Beatrice touched his skin. It brought him on an unfamiliar fast-paced journey like that of a motion-picture film, yet he understood everything clearly. They were like hidden puzzles of memories he had forgotten and buried.

Kino found himself in an unfamiliar place. Gray cloudy skies block the sun, and the cold, hard ground he was stepping on had dead leaves scattered in his every step. He was in a garden. He looked around, and the plants and orchids were withering like it wasn’t taken care of.

He looked up to see a huge, old castle in front of him. Like the garden, it looked dark and gloomy. Dead.

Where am I?

A woman in a simple dress came out of the backdoor. She had an umbrella in one hand and in the other was a child. From how it looks, it’s a newborn. The woman looked up at the skies and her eyes gaped open in awe. “The sun… i-it’s back?”

Kino was taken aback when her eyes moved and landed on his. Those features, that hair, and eyes… so was the baby.

Wraiths!

The woman took a step forward. Her eyes were sparkling as she looked at him. She mindlessly put her umbrella down and started sprinting towards him.

Kino prepared his attacking stance and awakened his arms but the woman only walked past him like a ghost. He was taken by surprise.

W-What?

He looked at his hands, and then the woman behind him spoke.

“Look, Magnus! These flowers are blooming! They never bloom in years! And the sun has returned too! My child, these happened after you were born. Could you be a miracle?” The woman hugged her baby and sobbed. The way her shoulders shook, she was very emotional.

“Magnus?...”

The daffodils she was staring at swayed by the sudden gust of wind. Kino closed his eyes to protect himself, but as soon as he opened them, he felt warm and heard voices around him.

Then he found himself inside a simple banquet. There were a lot of people around in exotic clothing, with the same features of silver hair and red eyes.

So this is… Agartha.

His eyes followed the red carpet he was stepping on and found the same child at the end. This time, he’s grown into a toddler.

And this is Magnus… Are these his memories?

The child was trying to walk and people were cheering him on. By the throne sat the Emperor. He had the same vibe as the older Magnus he met for the first time. Magnus looks like his mother the Empress, and it was the same woman from the first memory he came from.

But why am I seeing these?

An older child from his peripheral vision in a royal uniform caught his attention. He watched him enter a door by the corner. Thanks to his enhanced eyesight, Kino knew it was Magnus as well, but older than that toddler on the throne. This Magnus is probably around seven to eight years old. He followed the older child and stepped outside the door, where a vast ray of light engulfed him.

When his eyes adjusted from the brightness, he found himself in the same garden. But this time, the dead flowers he once saw were all green and blooming. There were clear blue skies now, and the sun was shining above.

A hearty laugh and a little chuckle was heard around the garden. Kino followed the voices and found little Magnus running and getting chased by a younger kid, probably around five years old. Their features resemble their mother, yet he can see the heavy resemblance of the father mixed on the younger child.

“Magnus! Valerius! It’s time for your ethics classes, you two!” The Empress appeared in the garden.

Magnus’ smile vanished and pouted his lips. “But mom?!”

“No buts. Come in.”

“Alright. Let’s go, Vale.” He held his brother’s hand and walked to their mother. Kino’s eyes soften.

Is this really Agartha? It looks just like my world, and Magnus seems like a normal kid. Where did everything go wrong?

The opened castle's double doors were as bright as the doors he was from, so he took it as a sign as the path to the next memory. He followed the three inside the castle.

He stepped out on the balcony of the same castle, and there was the Emperor at the front with Magnus of the same age beside his father, and beside him was an elderly man in a white hood wearing charms and holding what seems like an old book. The Empress and his younger brother he called Vale were standing behind. Cheering could be heard below the balcony, so Kino looked to see what was going on until the Emperor spoke.

“My citizens, the prophecy has come for my firstborn! It’s been revealed that the first prince was born gifted with abilities far superior to any of us! My son will win us wars, expand our territories, and bring us to the paradise we’ve been striving for! The destined savior who will end our thousand years of suffering! Our new god!”

The crowd’s cheers roared louder. Kino looked at the young Magnus, and it was the first time the child had an expressionless face.

“Mom? What did father mean by that? Big brother is a god?” Young Valerius asked the empress.

The Empress smiled genuinely. “Yes, my child. He’ll be the savior of this empire and this world.” The child looked at his older brother’s back and bit his lip to say something, but chose to close his mouth.

The place shifted, and Kino found himself in a dark room. From how it looks, it’s Magnus’ bedroom. The child grew a few years in this memory. His parents and brother were around him. He looked ill as he lay in bed.

“F-Father, mother, I had a dream. I-In the next hundred years, we will attain paradise. We will win wars and territories. The elder wizard’s prophecy on me three years ago, I saw it in my own eyes...”

The Empress and the Emperor looked at each other in disbelief. “C-Could it be…”

Bright light from the other side of the room shined. Kino looked behind and saw the same balcony from the previous memory. The Emperor was declaring a few words again, and Magnus beside him looked more expressionless as ever.

“My son, Magnus Everhart, saw his prophecy in his dreams last night. He had a dream of the world a hundred years in the future!” Murmurs immediately spurted upon hearing the Emperor’s introduction. Fear was evident in their eyes.

“He has seen the next century? The same powerful foresight ability as the Demon Lord?”

“He couldn’t be his reincarnation, right? I’m afraid.”

“But the royal family are the Demon Lord’s descendants… It shouldn’t be surprising.”

The Emperor seemed to hear the reactions of his people when he continued speaking. “Magnus has told us about this empire reaching our paradise. The thousand years of rock bottom are finally coming to an end! The Everhart empire will destroy every territory in our way and make them ours! We will prove how powerful we can be!” The citizens, despite worry, gave applause to the Emperor’s announcement. “Because of this, I’m declaring my son, Magnus Everhart, as the Crown Prince!”

If he can remember, the wraith granny mentioned this information before.

So Magnus’ real power is to see the vast future… that’s why he’s called god?

Several years have passed before Kino’s eyes. Through the years, the Crown Prince grew into a fine young man and immediately turned into a powerful, commanding knight. On the other hand, his brother Valerius tries so hard to catch up to him. He struggles harder as his big brother was born special, and the people’s expectation of him was to effortlessly achieve what his brother has done despite the difference in their skills and power.

“I heard you failed your squire training. Why couldn’t you be like your brother? You give me nothing but disappointments!”

“Please don’t be so harsh on Valerius, he’s just sixteen!”

“I don’t want to see his face right now. Make him return to his room. Damn it, why do I have to name him after our god? He’s the very opposite of him!”

With the help of his superior, physical strength and special foresight ability, Magnus has won several wars and kingdoms in the name of Everhart decades after becoming a knight. Kino noticed how the smiling, innocent little boy turned into an emotionless, ruthless warrior, like a robot programmed to only do its job. In the span of a hundred years, Everhart Empire became the most powerful empire in Agartha taking over almost half of the world, proving the prophecy and Magnus’ foresight real.

Wraiths have much longer life spans than humans. The old wraiths on Earth must probably be so old now, probably a thousand years old, at least.

As Kino watched every battle further, he noticed how the ruthless knight eventually turned into a blood-hungry monster. He learned to enjoy wars and domination, acting exactly as Kino did whenever he was in his awakened form. Kingdoms and empires that were once looking down at Everhart learned to fear his existence.

In the war against a smaller, oriental empire, Magnus stood at the top of the thousand decapitated corpses he’d slaughtered while he held a morningstar in his hand, where the head of the enemy emperor was stuck on it. His men watched him laugh tyrannically before the bloody sunset. “I WON’T STOP UNTIL I CONQUER THE WHOLE WORLD!!!”

“I guess, he’s the opposite of his ancestor, after all…” Citizens would say at the parades when Magnus wins a war.

“Mother, I love you…” After some time in the next few years, the Empress dies of an illness. Magnus blamed himself on her deathbed. Valerius was only silent in the dark. Like him, the second prince finally turned into a knight, but not as popular as he is.

“Why didn’t you stop her death? I thought you were a god?!” A blow hit Magnus on the face after the funeral. He just stood in front of his sibling. “Are you proving to our people that you’re in fact the Demon Lord’s reincarnation, huh?”

Magnus gritted his teeth at Valerius’ provocation. He’d always been mad at him since they were children. Can the future show him the next five hundred years just so he could know the reason why? “I can only see what’s coming. I can’t stop what's about to happen.” He only muttered.

Another hundred years have passed and the emperor married a new woman. They had three children together. Kino instantly recognized the youngest girl in the family. It was Beatrice.

Having three new siblings somehow repaired the relationship between Magnus and Valerius. One day, the Emperor spoke to Magnus after he conquered another kingdom for the empire. Half of the world became part of the Everhart Empire at this time. “It’s time for you to choose a bride, Magnus. You’re not getting any younger. Start a family of your own. You’ve done enough for us.” He told his son. Kino found himself at the same banquet. It was a dull place when Magnus was a toddler, but now it looked rich and extravagant thanks to his hard work.

“But father… not yet.” He was looking from afar. His mind isn’t at the event. “Once I’m done with my duty, then I’m going to settle. Paradise is still far from my hands. I have to keep moving forward to give our people a comfortable life. The Demon Lord’s days should never happen again. I won’t let it happen again.”

He’s thinking about the battlefield…

“You should at least consider it, my son. The throne is yours once I’m gone. A special boy like you has to produce descendants. Who knows, your children could inherit your strength and rare foresight ability. The empire you saved from the mud would remain in power. You don’t want your hard work to be put to waste, do you?”

Magnus returned to reality and sighed. “You’re right.” He looked at the ladies from beside his father’s throne, and his eyes flew to a beautiful woman in a blue dress. Even Kino’s eyes widened upon seeing the woman. The lady looked back at the Crown Prince and gave him a warm smile.

She looks exactly like…

“You looked interested in that young lady. That’s Hana Homa from the Homa House, one of the most influential noble families loyal to the throne.”

The memories shifted again. Magnus and Hana Homa could be seen happily meeting each other. They got married eventually and had their own child in the next hundred years.

The next memory was in the throne room. Magnus knelt before his father. He was still in his armor, soaked in blood. “We discovered an underground organization of unlicensed wizards in the Yirith Empire, a territory in the eastern continent, who learned certain black magic several years ago, from this expedition. This magic makes them cross worlds to save their people and cattle from our upcoming attack. They knew that we would attack after invading the smaller territories around them. The black magic was spread around the outskirts and is being used by several citizens, making it nobles or commoners, each day. Priests, shamans, and wizards have the authority to open them. A leak from one of my sources reveals that some of our citizens travel to Yirith to enter the other world, too. The Everhart Knights inside our empire managed to stop the people they could find, and the army I brought successfully conquered the Yirith Empire in the last two months. Here, I finally got my hands on the original magic scroll of the spell.” Magnus handed a scroll to the Emperor and the latter opened it. “It’s a spell to cross a gate in another world, similar to our world…”

Kino moved closer to the Emperor and peaked to see the scroll’s content. The writings were foreign to him, yet Magnus and the Emperor’s words were enough to understand what they were talking about. Is this how the Gates originated?

The Emperor looked at one of the guards near the throne. “Call the Wizard Tower President. Tell him I need him. This spell needs to be inverted to pass the authority to the Everhart family. Every priest, shaman, or wizard who is found enchanting this spell to let our citizens escape should be punished accordingly, and so are the said citizens. My son has been working hard to give everyone a good life in this Empire, and them, stepping into another world despite that means they do not appreciate him.”

“As you wish, your majesty.”

So the H-types entering our world were seen as traitors. The Emperor has a point. Why do the Everhart citizens have to jump over on Earth when the Everhart Empire is this prosperous?

“What’s wrong?” In a snap, Kino found himself inside a bedroom of a huge mansion. There was a dim light by the table stand, Magnus and his wife could be seen sitting on the bed together. They looked like they just woke up in the middle of the night. Their newborn child sleeps soundly in the crib.

Magnus didn’t answer, but he looked troubled. Hana cupped his face to make him look at her. “C’mon, tell me. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Please go to sleep. You’ll wake our child.” Then he stood up to wear a coat.

“But----M-Magnus! Where are you going at this hour?”

“I just need some time to unwind. I’ll be back.”

It turns out the future he saw in his dream bothered him so much. Kino followed the door he disappeared into, where he didn’t expect what he would find. The Everhart Empire was in chaos. The royal castle, buildings, and houses are burning down. Mutilated bodies of citizens were everywhere, women and children were pooling in rivers of blood. The sunset was as red as when Magnus stood at top of the corpses he killed in one of his battles.

What happened here…?

He found a tall dark figure in the middle of the smoke in the burning plaza. Kino couldn’t bear the heat. He was convinced that it was Magnus until he saw Valerius’ face, and behind him were thousands, millions of Everhart Knights. Their eyes were glowing blue, and their faces were emotionless as if someone brainwashed their minds. It took him seconds to notice that a man was kneeling in front of the second prince. It was Magnus holding his dead toddler. There was also a hole in Magnus’ chest and at the side of his abdomen.

Kino looked at Valerius horrifyingly. What leads him to do this… to his own people?

“How did you manage to convince the world that you’re god? You couldn’t even stop my invasion, brother.” Valerius coldly spoke.

Magnus kept his head down, staring at the cold body of his lifeless child. “What have you done to the army? Why do you have to betray your empire? What would you gain from this?! You… didn’t even spare my child…”

“Why? For power. All my life I lived in your shadow, as the younger brother of this chosen god, the savor of Agartha, the opposite reincarnation of the Demon Lord… Bullshit! I may not be as strong as you, but I have the same achievements! I and my men almost died in battle in the cold western territories, but did anyone appreciate that? No! They’re focused on your extravagant wedding with that whore of a woman!”

“Keep my wife out of your mouth!”

“I’ve never even heard the Emperor praise me for what I do. I don’t even think he sees me as his child. All I could hear from his goddamn mouth was Magnus, Magnus, Magnus! I’m sick and tired of all of it!” He unsheathed a claymore from his back and pointed it at Magnus’ throat. “And you, you killed our mother! The only person who didn’t make me feel like a failure for not catching up to you. The only person who believed in me! How come you’re declared as a god when you can’t even slightly alter the future! You should’ve prevented her death! Now I have no one who sees me!”

“I told you that I can’t! Believe me, I tried! Even if I wanted to, I can’t change anything… not a single thing…” Magnus growled in a hoarse voice. “You think I chose this life, Vale? Ever since the prophecy came and I developed this stupid foresight my life has never been the same. I had to endure the pressure society and the family gave me at such a young age. For hundreds of years, I tried to prove to everyone that I am not Vincenzo’s reincarnation. I acted like a hero and did the job people expect me to do because the future is set to happen even if it’s against my will!”

“Mentioning that name is an unforgivable sin!”

Magnus clutched the corpse of his dead child tightly in his arms. “All I wanted at seven years old was to play with you, and live a normal life, even when the world looks down on us…” Then his eyes glared back at the standing Valerius. “So how could you betray us like this, Vale? You destroyed everything just like that… I sacrificed our playtime, my childhood, relationships, to achieve the paradise I worked hard for. I did it for our freedom from the chaos and suffering to make everyone happy, and this is the reward I get?”

Valerius moved forward. “Do you even hear yourself? Have you ever wondered why despite this empire getting bigger, our people keep sneaking to enter another world using forbidden magic? Your eyes were too focused on the battlefield that you couldn’t see the people you were fighting for are dying of plague, poverty and hunger! You never gave them a satisfying reason to stay here! Because for hundreds of years, not even once did you check the faraway lands you destroyed the second you won against their men. Do you think our father cares about them behind our back? No! You’re too busy killing people off to look at the consequences of your actions. Between the two of us, brother, you’re the heartless one.” Magnus kept his mouth shut. Kino was clueless to understand the context of their argument in this memory. But based on Magnus's reaction to Valerius’ words, Valerius’ words were true. “Now you want me to feel guilty for what I’ve done. Why should I? I’m tired of being invisible because of you. You had all the time in your life to give me a bit of attention but you were too busy trying to prove yourself to everybody and leaving me completely behind! I just wanted to catch up to you, but you just kept going farther away.” Valerius shook his head, eyes watering but he didn’t let a single drop shed. “Once I finally kill you, Magnus, the world will finally see me. You and all the people who ignored my existence will feel nothing but regret in the abyss with the Demon Lord.” He smirked and lifted his claymore. “When you meet our ancestor, please ask him if I did a good job. After all, he destroyed Agartha thousands of years ago too. Funny isn’t it? I’m named after Valerius, but I did the will of Vincenzo.”

Valerius whipped his weapon to decapitate Magnus. Kino could only watch until the memory shifted and he was brought to another place.

The skies were as bloody as ever. As if the heavens knew how tragic their world was to become. Decades seemed to have passed, as Magnus’ hair grew longer and features matured similarly to the first time he stepped out of that yellow gate. He’s still alive, showing he survived the decapitation of Valerius’ claymore. He was with one of his younger siblings and they were walking together in a forest. It seems the younger boy saved him from Valerius. Magnus looked weaker in this memory, far from the mighty warrior several hundred years ago.

“Carmine, g-go find Beatrice and Nero. I-I can handle myself. If they get brainwashed like the army, you’ll have no one to help you.”

“B-But I got you, brother, and I don’t want you to get killed!”

“I said I can take care of myself! Leave and go find them!”

The young boy he called Carmine had been crying as he looked at his older brother. “I-If you really want me to leave you alone, please open the gate and go to the other side----”

“I told you, I will never do that.”

“But Valerius will kill you! You only have one core left! That’s why I can’t leave you behind! Please!”

So the hole on his chest and abdomen was where his cores were located.

Sounds of rustling leaves were heard. Carmine looked at him with fear. “They’re here, let’s hide!”

“I told you, just leave me alone and find our siblings!” Magnus pushed the boy away. “Carmine, I-I’ve had enough. I did everything I could. I finally gave up. So please…”

“B-But you’re our god----”

“Stop calling me a god! I am not a god! I never wanted to be a god! I just wanted freedom, but I never wanted… to be the ‘me’ you all created in your heads…” He slumped down in the dead leaves scattered on the ground.

Magnus…

Kino saw the same scene before. When Magnus was born, the castle gardens were as dead as this forest. He offered a good life for his people for a while but ended up returning to the same dead soil before his death. Kino realized he’s been watching Magnus’ life before his eyes in this dimension. The monster he keeps calling him lived a tragic life too.

The rustling leaves became louder. With all his strength left, Magnus lifted Carmine’s body and pushed him farther away in the bushes, wiping the trees his body would hit into. “M-Magnus! Don’t leave me!”

But Magnus ignored his cries and glided in the skies as he could. Soon after, he was found by the ogres Valerius sent to find his scent. He was close to dying, and all Kino could do was watch.

Magnus awakened his wraith form and slaughtered the ogres chasing after him, one by one. His body swayed until he could only get support from a nearby tree to make himself stand. He laid his back on the tree and looked at the red moon. He closed his eyes in the middle of his deep breathing.

“Someone, give me our freedom. Kill them all… for our sake… for me, for the empire, for the old Agartha I-I thought I built…” Those words he said, it was like he’s actually pertaining to Valerius and his men, and not to the people of Kino’s world.

“It’s like he’s calling for me.” Kino suddenly muttered to himself. He was watching from a hill close to where Magnus was. The words Magnus spoke were the same words he kept repeating in Kino’s head. Even after his death, that was his wish.

With all the power left in him, Magnus finally opened a yellow gate to make his wish come true. But before that, he looked behind and made eye contact with Kino, which was a surprise for him.

He can see me…

“What are you doing here?”