Truth and Family: A God's Journey

The winds, sharp as shards of glass, swept through the land and filled the air with a chilling sense of dread. Above, the cavern's frozen ceiling seemed to stretch wider with every moment he lingered atop the hill of ice.

From every shelter below, people emerged from their slumber, drawn to the white-haired youth who stood aglow, radiating a brilliance that pierced the gloom.

"Oh, almighty, Prince, you have returned after eons of cold and suffering." A woman with gray hair said, her voice trembling with a mix of awe and hope, as she bent down and kneeled before him.

Her eyes glistened as if holding back tears, reflecting both reverence and the burden of long-awaited relief. "May our passage and visage of the new incarnation shall not pass and wither with memories of the old."

Asahi, stunned by her cryptic words, stepped back, his mind a whirlwind of confusion and uncertainty. He felt as if he were an actor thrust onto an unfamiliar stage, expected to play a role he couldn't recall.

The eyes of the people around him, filled with an almost tangible reverence, weighed heavily on his sense of self.

His heart raced, a pounding rhythm mirroring the chaos in his thoughts.

Watching as everyone kneeled before him, he couldn't shake the fear that he was an imposter in their midst—a misplaced savior they desperately needed.

With a mix of awe and apprehension, he saw people from all around the icy expanse kneeling on the sunlight that just barely skimmed the surface of the inner cradle, and he couldn't help but wonder whether he was truly the figure they awaited or just as lost in the mystery as they were.

"Why kneel before me? Don't my actions already question my worth to lead you? Am I not just one of you, uncertain and lost in this frozen world?" Asahi's voice wavered with a mix of desperation and vulnerability, his words betraying an inner tumult that gnawed at his core.

Doubt flooded his senses, the weight of uncertain expectations bearing heavily upon him.

His heart yearned for clarity and understanding, yet all he felt was an overwhelming void, a longing to belong somewhere he feared did not exist.

Just before he finished, a man with golden hair and shimmering amber eyes kneeled before him and...

"Our beloved Prince, after millennia of turmoil," He bowed down deeply, showing his utter respect to Asahi. "...has granted us the privilege of light and the rising sun of what once was an endless night."

Another golden-haired wanderer called out loudly as Asahi retreated, unsettled by their behavior.

"Legends whispered of a prince whose return would signal the end of the endless winter."

Before he could grasp his thoughts, a memory fluctuated beneath his gaze.

. . .

[The Second Incarnation will live on!]

["Yes. The Adtraic. They returned! He fell from the heavens here to greet us all."]

["We thought the sky had disappeared into complete darkness..."]

["Everyone of the Adtraic Cult knows each and every member of the Adtraic family."]

Unlike the Adtraic Cult, these followers looked genuinely lost and confused.

This strange devotion compelled Asahi to step forward as their guide, even though fragments of his past remained frustratingly out of reach.

. . .

With every step, the world seemed to swallow him further, the frozen landscape twisting into a maze of uncertainty. Light, now slipped just beyond his grasp.

It was now only a faint glimmer, cut off by a wagon lodged between icy chasms—a stark sign of how treacherous his journey had become.

The wagon now stood as a barricade, dividing the familiar from the shadowy unknown that beckoned beyond.

The cyan light refracted over the glacial walls. Terror had clung to him as people revered his return within the march. The sunlight passed them. Concern for Grandpa, Primrose, and Trid grew slim. Where did they go? What happened to them? Were they still at the shoreline? Questions started to brim up. But before they could be answered...

"Lord Asahi, why the sad face?"

"Why is our prince frowning?"

Asahi was met with even more questions that avalanched on what was already a pile of questions.

"I'm... pondering," Asahi replied as the followers nodded in absolute agreement. "Do any of you remember the name..."

Before he could say it, an overwhelming sensation poured over him, as though a gentle hand guided him through time's veil.

His pulse quickened, and his senses were engulfed in a cascade of vivid memories.

The aroma of blooming flora, the rustle of leaves in a gentle breeze, and the warmth of the sun bathing a vibrant kingdom in life unfolded before him like a forgotten treasure revealed.

"Gwenneg?" Asahi mumbled as the followers' bantering grew silent.

"You need not doubt yourself, young one," an old woman with silvery hair and purple eyes said as she grasped Asahi's hand. "You are the rising star. The boy, pivotal to letting the ancient creators shine."

As ice golems emerged from the depths, the woman continued.

"Long before we have existed, the ancients laid the foundations of our world. Their return, heralded by a white-haired presence and another dark-haired creator, promised us a revival of their legacy. An age before the Adtraics rule! Knowledge that can shape a world." She turned to the sunlight, something in her mind.

"It was prophesied that even the greatest experiment ever will come to fruition: The ability to turn a human into a powerful creator."

In that moment, understanding dawned on Asahi.

The lady spoke not of the Second Incarnation of Gincad, but of something far more ancient...

"The first incarnation of the world?" He muttered. "How can a human turn into a creator?"

The Second Incarnation, for all its secrets, paled beside the enigma of the First.

Never before had he heard anyone speak of the world's First Incarnation.

It was the most mysterious age... before the Adtraics dominion.

He had wondered what it was like before, but his parents would not speak a word, nor would they allow anyone else to mention it, not even their own children.

To them, it was taboo, not supposed to be uttered or spoken of.

And yet, under ice of who knows how long it had been, arose with people older than Asahi and even Achlys and Acheros themselves, before their dominion of the world.

"Mother, Father, what have you been hiding from me?" Asahi asked the air as his fists gripped in rage and confusion.

Not to mention the mentions of the 'experiment' also came to his mind. He figured that the dark-haired creator mentioned by the old woman could be no other than Akwan.

And yet, he vanished in just a blink of an eye. This caused him to question.

"And what is Akwan doing?"

. . .

Now, this was truly the predicament.

These people hadn't only belonged to the Second Incarnation but also to the First Incarnation of the world, far deeper than any place in the world of Gincad.

With this, plus the reminder of what stakes he had, and the 'experiment', Asahi went deeper into the chasm of ice, unearthing entombed castles in the midst of the edges of the ice cliffs.

As he walked along the empty corridors, he noticed paintings of people long gone. One had red hair and green eyes, while the others had silver hair and magenta eyes.

The walls seemed almost frozen in time, not just by sheets of snow and ice, but by the shroud of mystery and beckoning. Asahi, although feeling the abiding chill that swept the chilling floor, monologued to himself, writing down in his notebook.

[The air here feels unnerving and stale. These people still follow me, worshipping me as if I'm their deity. It unsettles me at times.]

As he wrote, memories of the Nameless Caverns surfaced. It was there he had first glimpsed the Guardian, a cosmic knight whose purpose was tangled in ancient mysteries. The name Kendra echoed in his mind, a blue-haired figure intertwined with water, shrouded in shadows.

Scenes of skeleton-laden corridors and the radiant golden light flooded back, each memory a stark reminder of the trials he had faced and the burdens he carried.

[This... reminds me of the ruins I saw in Linuxinia. Cold and barren. Almost lifeless and abandoned. Where is Primrose? Trid? or even Grandpa?]

After slamming his book shut, Asahi found four bouncy ice slimes jumping from one tile to the next.

"The thoughts will have to wait."

Now, without immortality and the curse, he can fight with all his will.

And so, he effortlessly sliced four of the bouncy slimes into oblivion, chipping the ice off their backs.

Then, with a deafening roar, an ice golem emerged from the depths, chasing Asahi and his followers.

Luckily enough,

(PEW)

A golden luminance shot from nowhere, shredding a layer of The Golem's skin. Asahi, shocked and confused, wondered where the light had come from. But then, a blonde-haired maiden wearing a blue coat appeared, saying to Asahi.

"Escort the followers toward a safer place, deep underground. Monsters rain from the sky and only touch this surface."

Despite the stranger's tone, she seemed friendly enough to battle. So, Asahi took the girl's words and fled as a golden luminance encircled the golem.

. . .

Deeper they ventured, where light remained untouched in the vast icy cavern. Snowflakes swirled in dense flurries, joining the slow descent of icicles from the vaulted ceiling.

"Lord, Asahi. Our savior in arms. Why descend deeper, far from the light?" One asked.

Asahi had no words. He still longed for answers ever since his encounter with Paxon. Mustering up a tiny rage, he took two steps forward and replied, his fierce gray eyes recollecting the horrific series of events that had happened two loops ago.

"Just follow me to safety." He said, clenching his breath. "No time for caution. I still have people I want to find."

Right, he still had to find Primrose, Trid, and Grandpa.

Not only did he need to do that, but also find word of Paxon's past.

This realization quickly drove him out of the corridors, into the dining room of the crumbled castle. From there, even more paintings of past people had been fashioned neatly in the empty, rusted hallways. One had platinum hair and green eyes, while the other was a man with blonde hair and pink eyes. These paintings belonged to...

"The Second Incarnation..." Asahi said with trembling lips. "All of these paintings, this castle, belonged to Gwenneg, the nation that I had dominion over."

As silence fell between the people, Asahi continued to monologue to himself.

"The gift from my father. He gave me this nation to rule over..."

Suddenly, memories from all over flickered past his vision. The beautiful shoreline, the tall waterfalls, and the mountains.

This was HIS nation. But it wasn't always green.

Before he had dominion over the nation, all of it was covered in ice and flakes, far from being saved. Then, Acheros, Asahi's father, simply commanded the snow to 'begone' and instantly all of it melted.

Truly, this was the pinnacle of his power, and yet for some reason, he succumbed to The Engulfing Light. And that once lush terrain got enveloped and swallowed by the Greater Ruler of Snow and the Ruler of Ice.

"So... it wasn't always green..." Asahi mumbled as he slid his fingers on the stone walls. "Why did my father choose this nation out of the three?"

The deeper Asahi descended, the more recollections he gathered. He remembered the blonde-haired man, the one with shimmering violet eyes. It was placed in all the paintings of the empty labyrinth of corridors. This being, although cryptic and mysterious, drove some sort of connection to none other than... Paxon.

The moment he uttered that name, Asahi's memories flooded back.

. . .

A kingdom suspended in the clouds. Five figures gathered near the circular table of Greater Rulers. The Ruler of Ice, Fire, Earth, Snow, and Light all gathered together with the five cloaked figures. Then, as they began their discussion...

"Tell me, why should we focus on the world below?" The Greater Ruler of Fire, having brown hair and a flaming gradient of red, caged his fingers, his tan skin absorbing the sunlight. "Isn't the world of Gincad done for? There are thousands of worlds out there, why—"

"Because the Prism of Creation decided to settle here." The Greater Ruler of Earth, with black hair and orange eyes, exuded an aura of maturity, a woman of incomprehensible skill. "Not that, but the Orb of Destruction too. Not even the Adtraic know why it chose this world out of all places."

As discussions bandied about, Achlys, the white-haired woman cloaked in shadow, began to mutter under her breath.

"Our dominion of the world is final. My children and my husband have claimed all four corners of our world." She spoke formally, her thick white locks of hair fluctuating within the breeze passing through the floor of clouds. "Though the Orb of Destruction and The Prism of Creation settled themselves here, it does not mean that this world is finished."

Acheros, stepping forward, took a drink of pure water from the fountains and took a sip, glaring his magenta eye at The Greater Ruler of Fire.

"Why ensnare yourself in doubt, young one? Don't you, too, have an element to wield?"

The Ruler of Light and Snow stood still in silence, not daring to speak against the Owner that stood before them. Asahi and Aletha gathered behind Achlys, wearing cloaks that hid their appearances, as the debate grew dire.

"As I said, The Prism of Creation will NOT move anymore. Although moving from world to world, it is situated here, and we must accept that."

All went silent after his wise words.

"Mistakes are what drive us to become better Rulers. No one, not even Rulers, can live lives without mistakes. Now, let's focus. It's either we work with allies or become our greatest enemies."

The second they said that, a blonde-haired man with violet eyes approached the giant marble table.

"As the Ruler of Memories, I do have to agree with Acheros." He said, sitting down on one of the pearl thrones. "Why live a life of perfection when mistakes are what build a journey? Memories are what form us, am I correct?"

All the Greater Rulers nodded at his words.

A deep feminine voice sounded from the other table. "Wise words, bravo. You truly know how to set up a scene." A woman with long blonde-dark hair approached them. A halo hovered over her head and her eyes, a beaming cyan with a gold pupil at the center of her iris.

"Now, make haste. As the Ruler of Light, I have to agree with the Ruler of Memories. Light is what remains in an endless sea of darkness."

"Sea of darkness?" The Ruler of Snow replied. She had bright blue hair and dark azure eyes. "You mean, The Black Flood? The one responsible for all the stars' and worlds' deaths?"

Asahi, driven in confusion inside, simply spectated the scene like a phantom floating above a haunted house. He could neither interact nor act. All he could do was watch the past unfold.

"Gwenneg shall belong to my eldest son, while Callista shall belong to my older daughter."

"So, then what about the silver-haired girl?" The Ruler of Fire replied.

"Azzazel."

"That deserted nation?" The Ruler of Light asked, scratching the back of her head.

"I shall make an oasis," Acheros said as he slammed his fists. "My little sapling, Aiyana, deserves better. But until then, Ruler of Memories, Earth, Fire, Snow, and more... shall respect the boundaries of my children's nations. And shall not forget, even when time toils us all."

As the memories started to fade, a vision of The Last Calamity flickered into being. The Kingdom in the clouds, along with the castle, crumbled before destruction. These enigmatic people, although powerful, could not stop the chaos that swallowed the world in calamity. Just when he could get more answers, Asahi's vision flashed to the present.