WITCH OF THE END

In the hushed depths of the Astral Vigil Sect, where silence clung like a shroud, two figures glided through the shadows as the rest of the sect slumbered. The air was thick with the weight of secrets, and the walls hummed with the dream realm's eerie pulse.

One of the figures was Luna, her long dark hair cascading like a midnight river. She led the way, her snow-white skin glowing faintly under the light of a crystal clutched in her hand. Its soft radiance danced in her eyes, casting fleeting glimmers across the obsidian walls as they squeezed through a narrow passage. Each step was deliberate, her breath steady despite the thrill of defiance coursing through her veins.

The second figure was Anna, who followed close behind. Her green eyes were sharp with vigilance, while one hand was clutching a curved sword shaped like a scythe.

Their footsteps were silent, absorbed by the passage's ancient stone as they navigated the hidden path Luna was certain led to the forbidden shrine of the goddess.

"Are you sure the watchers won't notice?" Anna's voice, low as a whisper, trembled with unease. In the Astral Vigil, where her strength was but a flicker and her status a mere whisper, breaking the sect's ironclad rules felt like tempting fate itself. Luna didn't care much for these rules, hence why she was here. Anna only followed because she wanted to see a god's shrine.

"You're a Saint. We'll be fine as long as we return to the surface by sunrise." Luna's lips curved into a faint, reckless smirk.

Anna's green eyes narrowed, her scythe sword glinting faintly as she trailed behind. "We've been wandering these tunnels for hours. Are you sure we're not lost?" she asked, her voice now edged with frustration. "I only agreed to become your ally because you said that humans can attain godhood. So far, it's been two days, and you're only showing me your madness."

"Madness?" Luna scoffed, her complexion pale, devoid of all emotion yet burning with an inner fire. "I've been like this for many years. But believe me, these singularities are real. They feel like memories engraved deep in my soul."

Anna's brow furrowed, "And you said that you often awaken memories through your bloodline and acquire special skills. Wait, why are these different again? The singularities?"

Luna sighed, the sound heavy in the claustrophobic passage. She was glad to have someone to tell of all of this to, but she hadn't anticipated how overwhelming the truth would be for a Mortal Realm Native. It hadn't even been a week yet, and Anna knew so much already.

"The singularities are more like my experiences, like fragments of my jeonsaeng (전생)," Luna explained, her voice laced with a quiet ache. "Each time I sleep, they return, like shards of a dream piecing themselves together. My mental self thinks my ability to acquire skills from memories is… glitching. I want to say that someone is messing with my head, but I should've known."

"Your mental self?"Anna's tone sharpened. "Excuse me!"

Luna's gaze drifted to the crystal's glow. "Oh… It's the manifestation of the concept of Imagination in my mind. She ensures that nothing attacks my mind. Though recently, it feels like I need to get stronger and find a way to strengthen it. The titan attacked my mind. It's no longer a true resistance now that I'm against stronger opponents."

Anna fell silent, her questions swallowed by the weight of Luna's revelations. It was no surprise that such truths could overwhelm even the strongest minds. Luna had brought her here not for companionship but necessity because Anna's Concept of Advancement could be used to analyze and anticipate dangers when normal senses weren't enough.

In her most recent dream singularity, Luna had used in this very passage, accompanied by a faceless figure whose name slipped through her memory like smoke. Other than that detail, everything else burned clearly in her mind. She remembered the alien presence of the primordial dream goddess, which urged her to seek this sacred place in the first place. The need to come down here had rooted itself since then.

At the passage's end, Luna raised her light crystal. The walls gleamed with ancient writings written in a tongue perhaps older than the stars themselves.

Luna had come across many inscriptions like this, so she understood what they meant almost immediately. The Divine Realm was no place for the careless. Its sacred temples, groves, and shrines were sealed against the unworthy. Knowledge was often a treasure fiercely guarded, accessible only to those who proved their worth through trial and sacrifice. Luna had learned this the hard way, as she had picked up the ancient language along the way and became fluent enough to translate most writings.

"The Dream is a haven for those fleeing war," Luna read aloud, though her voice was still a whisper echoing softly. "Here lies the shrine of our dead goddess, who weaves dreams for her blessed."

The writings glowed faintly under the crystal's radiance, while some runes started to pulse as if syncing with the rune of the sun god on her arm.

Anna's green eyes flicked to the cryptic writings. "I am guessing they're referring to the war against the Servants." Her tone was cautious but curious. "The archives in the Saints' wing mention them briefly, describing them as these godlike creatures… extensions of the gods."

"That's because they are."

Luna nodded and crouched to trace her fingers over the stone. The runes were cool and thrumming under her touch. She then channeled a thread of essence into the wall in hopes that she would activate a magical mechanism that might reveal the entrance.

If one thing she had learned from playing an unhealthy amount of games was that there was always a mechanism, a trigger to unlock hidden passages. She just had to find it.

"The gods made the Servants as their successors," Luna continued without diverting her focus. "But, as you'd guess, Servants can't attain godhood. The whole war was a demand from the servants who wanted to achieve absolute divinity. Little did they know that actions have consequences. And not even the Servants are safe from them."

As she listened, Anna suddenly came up with an idea. It was a dumb idea, but she took the chance anyway. "There is something I want to try."

"Try away." Luna straightened and stepped away from the wall.

Anna then pressed her palm against the entrance of the wall and closed her green eyes. A wave of zenshi surged from her body. Now that her mastery had improved, the zenshi had acquired a white–blue glow as it charged her second gate with power.

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The cave shuddered with a low tremor that rippled through the stone. When she opened her eyes, they were glowing like twin emeralds in the dim light. This continued for a few more minutes until a malevolent presence countered. Its suffocating pressure crashed down like an unseen tide, and Anna gasped, blood spilling from her lips as she staggered back, yanking her hands from the wall.

The pressure vanished as swiftly as it had come.

"Heh…" Anna wiped the blood from her mouth with her uniform's sleeve, a wry grin masking her pain. "It resisted my Aura. There's something powerful beyond this wall."

Luna felt the sun god's rune itch from under her clothes. "Anything else?"

Anna nodded. "Only Qi can open the entrance…but it's a specific kind of Qi. Divine Qi."

'So this shrine only calls for those from the Divine Realm. The Feng clan may have come from the Divine Realm originally, but that doesn't mean that I can produce Divine Qi. Lucky for me, I have Razchar's lineage.'

This was the perfect time to test her growth. "I've got this."

She replaced Anna's position and pressed her palm on the stone. She then delved deep into her Soul Gate, reaching for the gold-red essence of Death's former servant. His Will surged, a living force that pressed against her mind like a blazing storm, threatening to overwhelm her and take over. But Luna wasn't the same person she was many years ago; her Will pushed back as she fought for control.

Each heartbeat was a grueling battle. Golden wisps of Divine Qi flowed from her hand, threading into the wall's magical runes, igniting the runes with a radiant glow.

The stone answered her call and groaned with a deep, resonant hum that echoed through the chamber as the shrine's power stirred. They were lucky to be hidden underneath the castle; otherwise, this noise would've alerted someone above.

When she felt like it had taken enough, Luna severed the connection to her Soul Gate. She coughed up a mouthful of blood and absentmindedly spat it away like it was nothing but a nuisance. This was Balance's retribution for tampering with godlike powers. It was a searing punishment that tore at both her soul and body and left her with wounds that would linger for days, perhaps weeks.

But whatever, pain was something Luna was now used to battling as someone who had fought countless life-or-death battles. She wiped the blood from her chin, her dark eyes unyielding.

The entrance to the shrine trembled, and the wall's lines revealed themselves as the wall moved to reveal a room that stretched out like an illusion of endlessness, though its true size was no larger than a modest hall. The air within thrummed with power, heavy with the presence of the Goddess.

Every wall was made of mirrors, but the glass was not pristine. It was clouded with streaks, wrapped with age, and fractured in places so that reflections bent and multiplied in unsettling ways. A single figure standing within would see themselves repeated a hundredfold, each image distorted: faces too long, eyes misplaced, mouths twisted into silent screams.

When they walked past the threshold, the mirrors did not reflect multiple images. Instead, they reflected a single image—that image being only Luna.

While she was creeped out by this, Luna expected this to happen in a place connected to the gods. She did not rush to call for the Sun Ember simply because a different god created this place. That could mean that the sword's abilities might be limited in this space.

"Heck, I wonder if I can even summon it in this space."

The darkness here was very similar to the darkness in her mental space. It was not absent, but alive, pooling in the corners and bleeding into the mirrored surfaces, so that the room seemed to breathe in shadow.

Light had no natural source here. Instead, it flickered faintly from unseen cracks, caught by the mirrors and reflected into broken glimmers that never gave clarity. The result was a shifting haze of silver and black, a place where outlines appeared and vanished without warning.

In her singularity, this shrine was more of shattered mirrors than a whole. There was light leaking from everywhere, indicating that a battle had taken place and this place had taken the damage.

However, that hadn't yet happened. The mirrors were still in place, and the darkness still breathed like a living entity.

"Are you sure this is a shrine?" Anna was stuck between dread and awe. The mirrored chamber felt like a fracture in the Dream Realm itself. A dimension woven from illusion and menace.

"It is. No other god has dominion here, except the Dream goddess herself."

Luna made another step.

Crack!

The mirror-like glass floor splintered beneath her weight, a shallow film of water rippling across its surface. The air grew heavy, thick with the scent of damp stone and iron, metallic and stale, clinging to their lungs like a warning.

With a second cautious step, the cracks spiderwebbed further, the glass groaning under the strain. A head, Luna's reflection stared back, its eyes unnervingly alive, watching her with a predator's patience, waiting for her next move.

"That thing is watching you." Anna pointed out with a complicated expression. Her eyes were fixed on the reflection as she reached for her sword.

"I know," Luna replied. "I am the one who opened the entrance after all."

Luna had never come across a mirror creature. But she was well informed, thanks to the journals left behind by the Fire Keepers. To them, these creatures had fallen into madness and were almost extinct.

'They're a hive mind of highly intelligent and powerful beings. They have strength similar to Emperors with the ability to mirror anything perfectly.' The notes mentioned.

The being's luminous eyes shifted between Luna and Anna. And as its gaze locked onto Luna again, another reflection shimmered into existence. This one belonged to Anna, clutching an identical scythe-sword, its expression a copy of the same one Anna was wearing.

[Mortals. Turn back before we decide whose life we will take. This is the goddess's shrine, and you're not her worshippers.]

A voice hissed, resonating from the fractured mirrors. This was Great Communication.

Luna swallowed. In the presence of beings that could erase her with a thought, boldness was her shield. Superior entities often spared mortals who dared to defy. After all, what was more intriguing than crushing an ant that believed it could triumph?

"Her worshippers died with her," Luna declared. "I am Lunaris…"

The creature interrupted.

[We know who you are, Mortal. You have come to us many times and we have said no each time.]

"Many times?" Luna reacted. "Then you know what is causing my Dreams…or Nightmares?"

[…]

The mirrors fell silent, their reflections rippling like disturbed water. They chose not to answer. Instead, the air thickened with killing intent.

Anna reacted first and raised her blade as soon as she felt the killing intent coming in her direction. Her reflection suddenly moved with a speed that nearly eluded her eyes. She parried the first strike, her scythe-sword clashing against its twin in a burst of sparks. The force was staggering, hurling her backward into a cluster of mirrors.

She crashed through the shattered glass. She hadn't expected such raw power packed into a single blow.

Luna quickly flicked her wrist, revealing the shadow dagger hidden in her sleeve. Her feet tensed, ready to spring when the mirror creature vanished and reappeared before her.

[You come here asking the same questions, cycle after cycle. We answer because we must. But now, you're weaker than we remember.]

Bam!

A blow struck Luna's solar plexus with powerful force, launching her small frame off the glass floor. She crashed into the chamber's mirrored walls.

Glass shattered in a jagged symphony, cracks spiderwebbing across the surfaces.

'That hurt like hell!' Luna coughed as she rose from the wreckage. Her body was marred with multiple shadow cuts on her face that did not bleed, but closed almost instantly as the essence in her body worked on its own.

[Hmmm…regeneration. I guess I will have to do more damage for you to get the memo. Is that what you humans like to say?]

Its face fractured, splitting into a grotesque mosaic of multiple eyes and noses. Each feature twisted into a nightmarish parody of Luna's own.

The water film on the floor rippled violently as its body shattered into a swarm of reflections, each a distorted echo of Luna herself.

Luna swung the Shadow Dagger and parried the first strike with a flash of dark steel. Her strength held firm against the creature's onslaught. Another came with a wild swing, but Luna caught its arm and wrenched it with a fierce pull and hurled it across the chamber. It smashed into the mirror wall, exploding a cascade of fractured light,

'Flames.' Luna roared internally and summoned a torrent of crimson fire. The blaze erupted into a searing heat that drove back the swarm of reflections.

At the same time, her power drew the golden light of the sun, which poured through the cracks of this pocket dimension, its radiance piercing the darkness that breathed. The Fractures widened, and more beams of light seeped through, illuminating the chamber in a divine glow.

The mirror creatures wailed, their distorted forms writhing in agony under the sun's touch. Even Anna's reflection, which was locked in combat with her scythe sword, recoiled, retreating into the shadows as the golden light burned away its strength.

This gave Luna an idea of what was going on.

"You fear the sun." Her tone was sharp with triumph.

She laughed and conjured more flames. The brighter they burned, the wider the cracks grew, and the louder the creatures shrieked out.

[That's enough!]

Seeing its kin roar in pain, the reflection let out a roar that covered all the cracks with shadow.

Luna released the flames. "So your kind is hiding here for a reason," she said, her eyes glinting with the fire of her discovery.

[We're creatures of the Divine Realm. Therefore, we were also cursed by the Heavenly Supreme. The sun's light brings us the Curse of Madness. But in shadow, we are free. I won't risk my people's lives for this. I yield]

With that, the image of Luna broke, its form unraveling like smoke. It was replaced by an orb of raw, dense energy. It had no face or shape, pulsing with an eerie prismatic glow that seemed to bend the air around it.

'I can't believe this is the creature I've just fought.' The strength she'd clashed with now felt like a fragile illusion masked by the Dream Goddess's power.

[We now see why the Astral Vigil wants you this time. You're much stronger. Fire of that kind hasn't existed since the Age of Heroes.]

Luna dismissed the Shadow Dagger and dipped her head to the being. "I came here because of a Dream."

[We know…you always do]

She turned to Anna. She nodded in response, as if giving her approval to ask. This was the first singularity to lead her to something useful--most of them were cryptic and a broken mess. But the one that led here was clear for a reason.

"I have questions."

[We can only answer three]

"What are Dream Singularities?" After gathering her thoughts, she asked.

[Collisions of multiple memories from different moments]

Luna was tempted to ask what those moments were exactly. She didn't.

"Why am I experiencing them?" she asked the next question.

[To prevent your death]