In the heart of a green and red forest, distant cries of strange creatures echoed through the thick, dry air. The heat was oppressive, like the peak of summer—yet not a single leaf or blade of grass showed signs of wilting.

Towering umbrella-shaped trees formed an elegant canopy overhead, their wide branches filtering the orange sunlight into soft amber rays. The sky above, when visible, was a flawless blue.

Beneath the trees, waves of meter-long crimson grass stretched across the island in every direction—lush, vibrant, and oddly still.

Suddenly, something moved within the swaying grass. The rustling was faint, almost imperceptible, as a figure crept forward with slow, deliberate steps. Each breath she took was quiet and measured, her presence barely disturbing the world around her.

A sleek bow rested in her grip, drawn and ready, her dark eyes locked forward—twin abysses of concentration. She was staring at her prey...

...A Cursed Tyrant that resembled a monstrous bull. Its massive body could easily be the size of three grown elephants. Its legs were golden, mechanical constructs that shimmered beneath its weight, and its thick, curved horns glowed with a faint hum of power.

Its armored hide bore no obvious weak points, and its very existence radiated an aura of danger.

She exhaled softly. She only had three arrows left. Meaning she was left with three chances. That was all she'd get against a creature this powerful—and this cautious.

The huntress lay still, submerged in the tall crimson grass, her breath calm and even. She watched with unwavering focus as the creature lowered its massive head to graze.

A small smirk touched her lips.

She notched her arrow, its shaft crafted from the bones and teeth of another Cursed Tyrant she had brought down months ago. Slowly, she drew the bowstring until it brushed the corner of her face.

With one eye closed, her aim sharpened.

Pew!

The arrow sang through the air, slicing the wind with deadly speed.

The Bull sensed the threat too late. Its head jerked upward just as the arrow buried itself deep into the thick muscle of its neck.

Golden blood sprayed in arcs, glinting in the filtered sunlight. The creature let out a guttural, agonized howl as the bleeding continued.

From the tall grass, the huntress sprang like a shadow erupting into the light. Her sudden appearance startled the Bull, its red eyes widening as she landed effortlessly on the dirt before it.

The poison laced on her arrow was already doing its work. The mighty Bull staggered, its vision flickering. Its once taut muscles were now trembling.

Using venom to weaken a creature of such majesty would've been called shameless by many. But how else could she survive? She was only a First Gate Ascender, and this Bull… it was near the level of an Emperor-class beast.

Howl!

With fury outweighing its pain, the Bull reared its head and roared.

Then, it charged.

The ground shuddered. Trees swayed, and some birds took flight in panic.

This was the wrath of the Golden Bull, once a living sigil of the God of War. Its fury radiated like heat, its madness blazing in its eyes. Steam hissed from its nostrils, each breath a blast furnace of rage.

But the huntress didn't flinch. Instead, she dropped the bow and spread her arms wide. Her feet rooted into the soil, and her eyes blazed with conviction.

In ten more steps, the Bull closed the distance, thundering toward her like a living calamity.

Just as it lowered its horns for a killing blow, the huntress unleashed her bloodlust. The sheer weight of her will stopped the majestic beast for half a breath. Its golden eyes flickered with hesitation.

But it charged anyway. It was not smart. And because it was dying, it was desperate.

Luna met it head-on. Her hands shot forward and caught one of the gleaming golden horns.

The beast blinked, utterly shocked by this small being's strength. It pushed with all its might, but the huntress only moved a few inches as her mighty strength overpowered the bull's.

Then, with a shout of effort, she flipped it clean off the ground. The Bull's massive body soared through the air and crashed through a line of thick trees, snapping trunks like matchsticks.

Before it could rise, she was already upon it. Her fist came down like a meteor, smashing into its skull with a brutal crack, bursting one eye from the socket.

Ten more devastating blows followed, each powered by her full strength and assisted by the poison already coursing through its veins.

By the final blow, the Bull lay still.

It was Dead.

'Good job, Luna.'

Luna exhaled, her chest rising and falling. She dropped onto her back in the red grass, eyes staring at the orange-lit canopy above.

She hadn't taken a single wound this time. And that alone felt like a miracle. Every fight against a Cursed Tyrant demanded planning, patience, and restraint.

Even then, survival was never guaranteed because many Cursed Tyrants had terrifying abilities. Some were simple and could be countered, while others affected the laws of the natural world itself.

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The Golden Bull had been one of the more dangerous ones. It could grow larger and stronger the longer a battle dragged on. And so, Luna was lucky to end it quickly.

After catching her breath, she siphoned pure essence from the Bull's remains, letting its golden energy pour into her soul. Then, she carved out a portion of its meat—enough to last a few days—and left the rest behind for the scavengers that would soon arrive.

By the time the sun dipped below the forest canopy, casting the world in gold and crimson, Luna had reached the outpost.

A wall of mahogany trees surrounded it, etched with ancient runes that cloaked it from cursed eyes. Within stood a wooden cottage, weathered by centuries of neglect. Vines and colorful parasitic blooms had overtaken it, giving it the appearance of something born from a forgotten nightmare.

Still, it was a sanctuary.

As she stepped inside the cottage, the fireplace roared to life, golden flames flickering to greet her. The warmth filled the cottage instantly, giving her a feeling of home.

This was no ordinary place. It was a Fire Keeper's Outpost—one of the many left behind across the Divine Realm. Storm had explained them to her in the coral building as scattered safe havens built by Fire Keepers of the past. They were solely designed to help the next generation.

Luna was the last Fire Keeper, and as much as she would love to go find the other outposts-- she wasn't strong enough to venture beyond this island, not yet. The cursed creatures here were already hard to fight, even for her--someone who was much stronger than an ordinary ascender.

She set down her supplies and closed the door behind her.

After cleaning herself up, Luna picked up her communicator and opened it with a tired sigh, still rubbing her wet hair with a warm towel.

'Thirteen messages from Mira. I'm glad I left it behind.'

She tossed a chunk of the Bull's meat into the fireplace. The flames flared a brilliant blue, reacting to the cursed flesh like it was fuel from another world.

Crossing the creaky floorboards, Luna sat in the far corner of the cottage on her makeshift bed—a pile of sleeping bags stacked together, worn from a year of restless nights.

This bed had seen it all. Her grief when felt alone in the world. Her anger after losing a battle and her silent resolve.

She collapsed into it, letting her body sink into the familiar comfort. Then, she tapped her communicator, and Mira's voice filled the room in a low whisper.

"Hey, Luna. I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that I found a better connection point. The bad news… It's near the Floating Forest Islands. You know what that means, right? Scouts will find that place soon. I suggest you leave immediately."

Luna didn't move. Her gaze stayed fixed on the rotting wood of the cottage ceiling.

"Now, the other good news is I've found our first possible Visionary. His history is nonexistent. And guess where he is? Hehe...In The Northern Settlement and posing as a Knight."

There was a flicker of energy in Mira's voice now—excitement, hope.

The Visionaries were elusive. Untraceable. They lived in the cracks between timelines and almost sounded like myths. They had no pasts or records, and everything they were involved in had been erased from reality. They controlled the world, up to the point where they decided who lived and died.

"Because he's in the Northern Settlement, I tracked down a gate that might open near there. It's not a two-way portal, and Ascenders will be sent to contain whatever crosses through. I'll send you the coordinates soon, or call you directly."

The last message clicked off, and the silence returned.

Luna stared up at the ceiling for five long minutes. Her face was blank, mind processing everything—every threat, every possibility, every memory.

Then her expression hardened. With a thought, she activated her nanoskin armor. A soft whir of nanomites responded instantly, crawling over her limbs in silver and black threads until they morphed into a sleek, leathered armor set.

It shimmered like metal but flexed like cloth, tailored to her body with precision. This wasn't just any armor. It was a high-grade, House Feng original, forged by the legendary smiths of her family. And because Luna wasn't a registered member, this armor had cost her a fortune to have it made to fit her desires.

The Forge Masters of her Clan were no longer just blacksmiths, but engineers of mystic warfare. They had mastered the crafting of nanoskin-type armor, but such advanced suits were far from ordinary and could only be used by ascenders.

Each nanomite in the armor required a continuous stream of energy to shift, adapt, and harden on command. And on top of that, the more refined the divine essence, the stronger the suit became.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

A piercing sound interrupted the silence.

Luna looked down at the device strapped to her wrist. It looked like an old-fashioned silver digital watch, but its true function was far more advanced—it tracked spatial disruptions and pinged her each time a Gate appeared in the Divine Realm.

She groaned and tapped the screen. The noise stopped. This time, however, it wasn't a gate but a call.

"Where?" she asked flatly.

Mira's voice buzzed in through the small speaker. "I'm not familiar with the region. But I know you've explored it before. So it shouldn't be too hard for you to figure out."

A rough holographic map of the divine realm projected above the screen, displaying coordinates and terrain in shifting golden light. Luna studied it in silence, committing every ridge and landmark to memory before the feed blinked out.

Mira had deleted it from her end to stay secure. The technology the pair used was "borrowed" from the Government's Research departments and, therefore, could be tracked down should they leave behind anything.

With the gate tracker on Luna's wrist and the gate trackers of the mortal realm, the two could compare signals coming from the gates and then figure out exactly where the Gateways had opened on both sides. The one fault about all of this was that the Gate Tracker Luna wore had a small range due to the divine realm being Vast.

The rough map was something put together by secret government scouts that were currently exploring the divine realm and stealing resources to use in the mortal realm.

"I could not display the map any longer, or else they will know I am in their network. I hope you've memorized that," Mira sighed.

"I have. My memory is superhuman. Have you forgotten?" Luna chuckled.

"How could I? You never shut up about it." Mira groaned. "Anyway, I've got a summit in the East to attend, but I'll be in the Northern Settlement soon. We'll regroup there."

"Alright. I'll get moving soon."

The device disconnected.

When the meat was ready, Luna removed it from the flame. The bull's cursed flesh had cooked into something rich and dark, the outer layer seared by the fire's blue tongues. She ate it with a handful of rice and water from her leather water pouch.

Afterward, she moved toward the bed.

With practiced ease, she lifted the sleeping bags and pulled out a rolled cylinder. Simple as it looked, this was actually a map drawn on parchment. It had belonged to the First Fire Keeper, and it was perhaps the most valuable item in the entire cottage.

It revealed the locations of Sun God temples scattered across the Divine Realm. No mortal maps had this level of detail, making it something extremely valuable.

Luna unrolled it, located her current position, and matched it with the coordinates Mira had sent.

Once she confirmed, a satisfied smile appeared on her face, and she summoned the Sun Ember. Using the contents of the rough map, Luna managed to find a sun god temple not so far away from the Gate's position.

The sword responded to her will immediately, humming with ancient power as it manifested in her hand.

Luna closed her eyes and started pouring her essence into the blade, focusing her will to activate the sword's second ability—one she had only recently awakened.

The edge shimmered with concentrated light. And once it did, she made a clean, horizontal slash through the air.

Whoosh!

Reality itself split, and a line of searing golden light tore across the space in front of her. The air bent and twisted—and then snapped, revealing a rift.

Beyond the rift was a ruined temple, carved from red and white stone. Its roof had long since crumbled, and most of the pillars lay broken or half-buried beneath golden dunes.

This was one of the many abandoned temples of the Sun God.

Luna was meticulous as she cleaned out the cottage. No trace could remain, not even ashes. She burned the sleeping bags, destroyed leftover supplies, and wiped every corner with methods she'd learned specifically to counter Ascenders with investigative gifts. Being a Forgotten meant being hunted by powerful beings. Because of that, Caution had become Luna's religion as she got more and more used to being more powerful.

Once finished, she picked up the map and drew her hooded cloak over her head and stepped through the rift.

On the other side, Luna was welcomed by the brutal heat of a desert sun. Dry, searing air hit her face as golden dunes stretched far and wide.

The rift closed silently behind her, leaving nothing but the wind.

Tut, tut, tut.

Her boots pressed into the warm sand as she approached one of the ruined temple's remaining pillars. She pressed her palm against its surface, and her essence reacted with the sacred stone.

These pillars were beacons for those connected to the Sun god. This is how the Fire Keepers managed to navigate the divine realm, despite being mortals from the mortal realm.

When she got used to the Sun God's sword's second ability, Luna came to discover that its portal ability had never been random. It always brought her to sacred places linked to the Sun god—even though most of them were in ruins. In the early days of her journey, the sword had taken her to unknown temples, many of which were crawling with cursed creatures. Some were too strong to fight, so she had to wait out on the sword. Others were barely manageable because she was still learning what she was capable of as a follower of the True Path.

The first creature she killed in the Divine Realm had been one of those—a flaming tiger beast that ruled this very temple. Luna remembered how it had roared with sunfire… and how she had returned that fire with her own.

"The Gateway should be a day away," she murmured to herself as she thought. "Gateways attract cursed creatures… if I find a horde, I'll find the path to the Mortal Realm."

With that, she took off in a steady run, cloak rustling in the dry wind. It shimmered faintly, bending light to mask her from view. She followed her senses—and soon, they led her to the edge of a marching horde heading northwards.

From her elevated vantage, she spotted them, and what she saw chilled her.

There were hundreds of cursed beings. Thirty cursed tyrants, their twisted forms towering above all. Sixty generals, brutal and precise. Countless cursed soldiers and beasts formed the body of this army, all marching toward a distant, single source of light.

'The Gate is too small to support the entire horde. It will collapse as soon as the cursed tyrants force their way through.' Luna's gaze did not leave the army of marching creatures.

She narrowed her eyes as she watched. Their heads were tilted toward the portal, mesmerized by the scent of life on the other side. Some creatures growled lowly, shoulders brushing in tension, but not a single one attacked. Even in this chaos, there was a shared hunger keeping them in check.

"They'll sense me if I use any essence right now…" Luna whispered, eyes darting across the horde.

After observing them for a while, she melted into the background, walking in the shadows of a massive, hairy scorpion beast that was about as large as a house. Its tail glowed red-hot, its carapace dark and jagged like obsidian.

This was the perfect cover, thanks to the cloak Emily had passed down to her years ago.

Luna stayed close to it, matching its steps, following the burning heat of its movements as the horde advanced.

And after two days of nonstop walking, they reached the Gateway.

It was time to return home.

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