Darkness slowly receded, replaced by a dull, throbbing pain that radiated through every inch of Jin Kai's body.
He lay sprawled on warm, coarse sand, half-submerged where the gentle waves still lapped at his legs. Blood trickled from a gash on his forehead and from several cuts along his arms and torso, staining the pale golden beach crimson in thin rivulets. His once-immaculate black robes were torn and soaked, clinging heavily to his bruised skin. The impact with the sea had been far more brutal than he had anticipated.
Jin Kai tried to move, but his body refused to obey. Every muscle screamed in protest. His limbs felt like metal weights pinned to the ground. Even breathing sent sharp stabs through his ribs. For the first time in centuries, he felt truly… fragile.
Sunlight filtered through his half-closed eyelids, warm and blinding. He blinked slowly, his vision blurry and unfocused at first, nothing but streaks of bright gold and shifting blue. Gradually, the world began to sharpen. The sound of waves crashing softly against the shore reached his ears, mixed with the distant cry of seabirds and the faint rustle of palm-like trees swaying in the breeze.
Then he noticed them.
Five small figures were standing in a loose circle around him, their silhouettes framed against the bright sky. Children, no older than ten or twelve years old, dressed in simple linen clothes stained with sand and seawater. Their wide eyes stared down at him with a mixture of curiosity, fear, and excitement.
"Is he alive?" one of the boys whispered, his voice trembling slightly.
"Look, his eyes are opened!" another child exclaimed, pointing excitedly.
The smallest girl among them took a hesitant step back. "I think we should get Elder Sister. She'll know what to do."
Jin Kai lay completely at their mercy, unable to lift even a finger. His pride as one of the God Kin burned faintly beneath the pain, but there was nothing he could do about it right now. He could only try to communicate with his eyes—blinking slowly, trying to convey that he meant no harm.
Inside his mind, chaos swirled.
What just happened…? The portal… the fall… those damn rules. His throat felt like it had been scorched by desert sand—parched, raw, and unbearably dry. He desperately wanted to ask for water, to say anything that might reassure the children or at least get them to help him.
He opened his mouth, forcing the words with all his remaining strength.
Nothing came out except a weak, rasping murmur.
"Water…" was what he intended to say. Instead, it emerged as a barely audible groan, hoarse and broken.
The children leaned in closer, their faces a mixture of awe and nervousness.
"Look, he's trying to say something!" one of the boys said, his eyes widening.
"Maybe he's hurt really bad," another whispered. "His clothes… they look expensive. And that ring on his finger—"
"Shh! Don't touch anything. Elder Sister always says strangers can be dangerous."
Jin Kai's mind raced even as his body remained paralyzed by exhaustion and injury. He could feel the remnant God Kin power sealed deep within him—cold and distant, like a locked vault. Only five uses remained. He didn't dare waste even one here on something as trivial as standing up, especially not in front of these innocent children.
The warm sunlight continued to beat down on his face, slowly drying the seawater on his skin. The gentle sound of the waves provided a strangely soothing backdrop to his current humiliation.
From one of the strongest in the God Realm to lying broken on a beach surrounded by mortal children… A bitter, self-deprecating chuckle almost escaped his lips, but even that died in his throat.
All he could do was wait, staring up at the curious young faces hovering above him, hoping that whoever this "Elder Sister" was would arrive soon.
Jin Kai lay motionless on the warm sand, the gentle rhythm of the waves the only constant in his haze of pain. Time had become meaningless — minutes or hours, he could no longer tell. The five children remained clustered around him, their initial fear slowly giving way to restless curiosity. They whispered among themselves, occasionally poking at the sand near his feet or pointing at the strange celestial ring still gleaming on his finger.
Then, faintly at first, he heard it: the soft crunch of footsteps approaching through the sand.
"Kids, what are you doing here?"
The voice was faint but carried clearly on the sea breeze, stern yet undeniably elegant, like the clear ring of a silver bell wrapped in quiet authority. This had to be the "Elder Sister" the children had mentioned.
"Elder Sister!" the five kids cried out in unison, their voices bright with relief and excitement. They turned toward the newcomer like ducklings spotting their mother.
One of the bolder boys stepped forward, gesturing animatedly at Jin Kai. "We were playing by the beach when we saw this man lying here, not moving at all! One of us was just about to run and get you!"
The woman — Elder Sister — approached with measured steps. Jin Kai's blurry vision caught the hem of her simple yet neatly kept plain robes brushing against the sand. She stopped a few paces away, her posture straight and composed. For a long moment, she simply observed him in silence.
Jin Kai could feel her gaze sweeping over his bloodied face, torn robes, and the numerous bruises and gashes that marred his once-flawless skin. There was caution in her eyes, the natural wariness of someone who had learned that strangers on a remote beach could bring either opportunity or danger. Yet beneath that caution, a flicker of genuine compassion softened her expression.
She knelt gracefully beside him, close enough now that he could make out more details: long, silky black hair tied back with a simple ribbon, delicate features that carried both youthful beauty and a quiet maturity beyond her apparent age, and sharp, intelligent eyes that seemed to miss nothing.
After a brief pause, she spoke again, her voice gentler this time but still carrying that underlying firmness.
"Little Jian, run home quickly and bring the stretcher. We can't leave him lying here like this, he's badly injured."
One of the older boys nodded eagerly. "Yes, Elder Sister!" He darted off toward the tree line, sand kicking up behind his small feet.
The woman turned her attention back to Jin Kai. She reached out with careful, cool fingers and lightly pressed two fingertips against the side of his neck, checking for a pulse. Her touch was surprisingly gentle despite the wariness still lingering in her posture.
"You're lucky the children found you," she murmured, almost to herself. "Most people who wash up on this stretch of coast don't survive the reefs. Can you hear me? Can you speak?"
Jin Kai tried once more to form words. His parched throat burned, and his cracked lips barely parted. All that emerged was another weak, rasping murmur, barely louder than the whisper of the waves.
"Water…" he intended to say. Instead, it came out as a hoarse, broken sound that even he barely recognized.
The woman's brows furrowed slightly in concern. She glanced at the remaining children. "Little Mei, fetch some fresh water from the basket. Quickly, but don't run with it."
A small girl nodded and hurried toward a woven basket resting a short distance away on a flat rock.
Elder Sister looked back down at Jin Kai, her voice softening further. "Rest easy for now. We'll get you off this beach and tend to your wounds. You're safe… for the time being."
As she spoke, Jin Kai's mind drifted through the fog of pain. Safe. The word felt almost laughable. A God Kin reduced to lying helpless on a mortal beach, dependent on the kindness of children and a young woman who probably thought him nothing more than a shipwrecked traveler. The sealed power inside him remained locked away cold, distant, and limited to only five precious uses.
Yet despite the unexpected outcome, a faint spark of gratitude stirred within him. At least he wasn't alone in this strange new world.
The warm sunlight continued to beat down on his face, the sound of the waves growing softer and more distant in his ears. His eyelids grew impossibly heavy. The voices of the woman and the children began to blur together, fading into a gentle hum. Exhaustion and pain pulled at him like an unrelenting tide.
Just… a little longer… he thought weakly.
Before Little Jian could return with the stretcher, Jin Kai's vision darkened at the edges. The world tilted, and consciousness slipped away from him completely.
Everything went black.