The world was too quiet.
Rei opened his eyes to silence that pressed down like a weight. No voices. No footsteps. Not even the wind. Hurukoya—his home—was gone. Not destroyed. Not burned. Gone. Where houses had stood, there was only grass. Where the river bridge had been, only unbroken water.
His chest tightened. His body trembled.
"…Why am I the only one left?"
The question echoed, but no one answered. He was alone.
Nights bled into each other. Rei wandered the empty paths, trying to recall the laughter of his people, the warmth of firelight. Each memory slipped away, like smoke through his fingers.
His only companion was Enso—the energy inside him. But it no longer felt like his. It snarled and clawed, unstable, ready to tear him apart with every breath.
One night, he reached for it. A spark. A flame. A trick he had done countless times. But this time the fire didn't burn wood—it burned the air itself. Reality twisted, then collapsed into nothing.
Rei fell to his knees, clutching his chest.
"…I can't control it… and if I can't…" His eyes widened. "…I'll vanish too."
The silence pressed tighter.
A shadow followed him for days. At first he ignored it. Then he led it into the mountains, where escape was impossible. At the broken shrine, it revealed itself.
A girl. Silver hair. Dark robes. Eyes that seemed to look through him.
"You're not supposed to exist," she said.
Rei's Enso flickered wildly. "You've been watching me."
"I had to be sure."
"Of what?"
"That you're real."
Her words cut deeper than any blade.
Before Rei could respond, the world around him shattered. Mountains, sky, shrine—gone. He stood in a black void. A presence pressed into his skull, vast and merciless.
A voice whispered: "You are not meant to be. You should not exist."
Rei's eyes burned. His voice cracked into a roar. "Then why am I still here?!"
The void surged. Pain tore through him. His Enso cracked, threatening to unravel. A faceless figure raised its hand—
Rei screamed, and light exploded from his body. The void cracked. Reality split apart—
—and he fell.