A grey sky met Gaius’ eyes when he next woke up. A black, swirling rift that took up most of the skybox was the first thing he took in, and as he pushed himself off the ground, a smooth, chilly sensation travelled up his arms, and the boy shivered slightly.

He was dressed in a black suit, with a single white inner shirt. A small black bowtie adorned his neck, and as he looked at his attire, Gaius began to remember what just happened. The boy had been fighting off a Demigod, only to be overpowered. In the end, Gaius had decided to become a Knight, and in the course of doing so, he met the great god who had brought him here, to the world of Orb.

This was where his mind or his soul — he wasn’t sure which one it was, or whether they were separable in the first place — had met the Chanter of Innocents. And if he was here right now, it could only mean that his physical body was still trying to recover.

“You’re awake.” A voice spoke in Gaius’ mind, and he turned to see the old man again. Weiwu, the Chanter of Innocents, looked like an elderly sage, but his frail appearance didn’t stop him from taking on the Human God at all. “Normally, only people who have been injured in spirit or on the verge of death appear on a higher layer, but you are my chosen. You’re an exception.”

Gaius glanced at the elderly man, whose lips were once again out-of-sync with the words he heard, and then understood that some arcane principle was at work here. He knew that the Chanter of Innocents spoke in either Middle English or Early Modern, but since he only touched on linguistics briefly, he wasn’t sure which was which.

Still, for something as convenient as an automatic translator…I wonder if I could get my hands on one too.

“Where am I, uh…elder?” Gaius asked.

“Senior will do,” Weiwu replied. “You’re in the same place. Your body is too injured to house your spirit, so your instincts brought you here to preserve your little life.”

Gaius looked around properly. It was indeed the crystalline world he’d visited for a brief moment, right before he turned the tables on the Human God’s familiar spirit, but he was standing on an azure crystalline staircase that seemed to end in a vertical wall.

“Follow me.”

The boy saw no reason to disobey, and looked around the crystalline world as he followed the Chanter of Innocents up the staircase. This was the true Orb, the Orb that predated the appearance of the two ancient gods, Pabar and Tiadall. He could sense a lingering air of death, and as that thought flashed through his mind, Weiwu stopped his ascent.

“Each and every gemstone contains someone’s soul,” said the elderly man. “In other words, the energy inside, the one the people up there call ether, is a soul. Only then can we ensure the constant mobility of consciousness, enabling the stability of Orb’s reincarnation cycle.”

Gaius glanced at the huge crystalline structures. “How about them?”

“These are the denizens of the true Orb. The two alien gods, when they fought here to the bitter end, eradicated my people’s physical forms. But over time, my people adapted, creating a new world of their own,” Weiwu replied. “Incidentally, I’ll be bringing you there for an experience. As the Abyss Sovereign, you should know the people you’ll be protecting.”

The boy was silent. “There’s really no way of getting out of this, is there?”

“The others turned into that” —Weiwu pointed at the swirling rift, which seemed a bit illusory right now— “to avert a future where the Demon Sovereign crushes the last of their children. What do you think?”

He glanced at Gaius, who was feeling the beginnings of a question. “I see. But do I at least get to return to my world for some time?”

“You’ll be able to do anything you like, eventually.” Weiwu looked into Gaius’ eyes. “In a few years or decades, I’ll vanish, like that seed of hope watching your body right now. I cannot compel you to do anything. The most I can do is to make you know what is at stake. Come on, let’s go.”

He resumed his climb, taking small steps up, towards the Crying Abyss. Gaius followed quietly, his eyes taking in the brilliant sight the whole time. The great god was clearly trying to show him something, and Gaius had a feeling that he was about to touch on more and more secrets.

Before long, the two stopped at the last step. Beyond the last step was a vertical wall, which extended ceaselessly into the enormous rift above.

“How do we continue?” Gaius asked.

The great god looked at him silently in reply, a gentle smile on his face. Gaius looked back for a few moments, and then understood. Breathing out slowly, he pulled his right foot away from the ground. For a moment, the world shook, and as he placed it onto the vertical wall, gravity itself shifted.

“Logic, rules, phenomena…in here, all things must give way to one’s will,” said the Chanter of Innocents. “If you think you can, you will.”

With a gentle step, Weiwu now stood on the same road as Gaius. “And sometimes, it’s just about looking at things. Take a look behind you, and see what I mean.”

The crystalline staircase was still there, leading up into the crystalline city that Gaius had seen earlier. There was virtually no difference; at its end was also a vertical wall that led to the nexus of gem-encrusted buildings. It was a reflection of what Gaius had seen earlier, before his viewpoint changed.

“I understand now.”

“I know you do. Let us proceed on.” The Chanter of Innocents laughed and walked off into the distance slowly. “This place is the prison of the great gods of my Orb; they can only watch, and have little recourse in intervening.”

Gaius was silent.

“The Crying Abyss has enough power to rouse their children awake, but they can no longer touch it. And though they are the final object of a…cultivator’s vows, all words go through me,” Weiwu continued quietly. “And soon, they’ll go through you. But they are, in the end, the enemy of this world. It is a pitiful end for them and me both.”

“This place…” The boy smiled sadly. “It’s a chokepoint. What is it that you ask of me?”

“To guard this place. To crush any spectres that form. The Crying Abyss is the final destination of all desires cleaved away. Knights, Lords, Paragons, Demigods…all of them are missing a part of their will, which was discarded and sent here,” said the Chanter of Innocents. “These discarded fragments gather over time. Your job is to crush them.”

The boy breathed out slowly. He had a feeling that this was going to be the longest employment in his whole life.