What is illusion? What is reality?
I chased the truth all my life. But only in death… did it finally answer.
...
Grizzle Kingdom's capital, Oremaw City, shimmered under the twilight as festivities began at Sunstone Manor.
Angus Winston raised his wine cup, his gaze drifting across the glittering hall of nobles and scholars.
Pride filled his aging chest. So many had come just for his birthday.
'Fifty years ago, I was nothing... just a ragged scholar.'
'And now... I am the Imperial Teacher.'
He chuckled softly, stroking his beard.
'What more could a man want?'
He downed the wine.
"A toast to the Imperial Teacher!"
Their voices echoed in perfect rhythm. Angus nodded, pleased.
Just then— "What in the skies!"
Shouts erupted from outside.
"Fireballs—falling stars!"
"No... that's not right!"
"They're headed for the manor!"
"Where's the Imperial Teacher?!"
The celebration froze. Glasses stopped mid-air.
Angus frowned.
'What now?'
He stepped out first, ready to scold whoever was causing the fuss.
But the words died on his lips.
High above, two silver streaks raced across the sky—one chasing the other, fast as lightning.
'What in the world…?' Angus couldn't finish.
In the blink of an eye, the two lights halted above Oremaw.
Then— a thunderous voice ripped through the sky.
"Hogar Rhoen! Don't test me!"
Gasps echoed in the courtyard.
A second voice rang out—cold and cutting.
"Yanek T'soan! You think hiding in the Aether Dimension changes anything?"
"Hand over the Tier 3 Method… or I'll tear it from your corpse."
"Magicians...!" someone screamed, falling to their knees. Others followed suit.
Angus's mind reeled. A word he hadn't thought of in decades clawed its way up.
'Magic… real magic…?'
He stared, stunned, muttering, "This… can't be real…"
But the two in the sky paid no mind.
Yanek laughed bitterly. "I spent a century trapped being a Tier 2 Wizard."
"After such a long time, I found a way out—and... you expect me to just give it up?"
Hogar's voice softened, almost mournful.
"So many wizards stuck at the wizard stage... for centuries… do you know why?"
Then his voice turned sharp.
"Because there's only one Arcanist method for one wizard."
"And now that I've seen the way forward, do you think I'll let you live?"
Yanek barked a laugh, "A hundred years as brothers, and now... we've become enemies!"
Hogar said nothing.
Then Yanek muttered something low. "I know I'll lose."
"Escape's unlikely. But you forgot one thing…"
He looked down.
"These mortals. This city."
"Can you survive the Terrene Mist in a place this dense?"
Hogar's eyes widened.
"What are you doing, Yanek?!"
"Trying to live," Yanek grinned. "That's all."
Angus's heart raced.
'Terrene Mist? What's—'
Then—
The sky split with red.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The roar swallowed everything.
Flames bloomed.
And Angus saw only crimson before everything went dark.
...
Angus woke up unsure how long he'd been out.
His head spun. The memories came back slowly—fire, thunder, the sky cracking open.
He coughed, blood dripping from his lips. His arms trembled as he pulled himself upright.
Night still lingered. But the Sunstone Manor… was gone.
Charred walls. Scorched bodies. The scent of burnt flesh clung to the air like a curse.
Everyone who had toasted him hours ago—gone.
His wives. His sons. All of them are dead.
He didn't cry. Didn't scream. His face was blank, eyes vacant.
After a long moment, he dragged himself forward, limping over splinters and ash.
Oremaw City was a jewel of the kingdom. But now... it looked like the mouth of hell—buildings shattered, corpses scattered, flames dancing over ruins.
Maybe one in a hundred lived through it. Maybe less.
And all because of those two—those Magicians.
Angus stumbled through smoke and ruin until his legs gave out beneath a broken wall.
His ears rang—like the world had drowned in silence. Deaf, maybe forever.
But that didn't matter anymore.
'Magic.'
'Real magic.'
'Power that could split the sky.'
'So that is what a magician is...'
He wanted to laugh.
All his life, he searched for traces of the Beyond.
As a boy. As a scholar. As the Imperial Teacher.
He'd scoured the kingdom from the Frozen Ocean to the southern seas.
Yet... he'd found nothing. Nothing but silence.
And now, when he'd already given up, when his body was fading… they appeared.
And... destroyed everything.
He wanted to be angry. To curse. But what was the point?
Even heaven seemed to mock him.
And yet…
A part of him was grateful.
'At least now I know. Before death came, I saw them with my own eyes.'
If he were to start over again, he wouldn't waste fifty more years chasing ghosts.
Because now—he believed.
Angus smiled bitterly.
'From nothing to Imperial Teacher… you really think I did it alone?'
...
Angus touched the old pendant at his neck. A worthless trinket, or so he'd thought.
He didn't speak aloud—but he thought the word:
'Blur.'
The world… shifted.
The air turned thick, dreamlike. Stone and ash rippled like water. His vision wavered, as if reality itself exhaled.
The pendant pulsed once—soft, deliberate.
And then seven glowing characters floated before him:
"Blur the line between Illusion and Reality."
They scattered into light, forming a soft screen before his eyes.
"Energy restored."
"Would you like to freeze this reality and return to the anchor point?"
...
Scenes rushed across the curtain—moments from the past fifty years. His life in this world, from the very beginning to now.
Angus stared, stunned at the marvel.
This—his pendant was called 'Blur', a strange artifact he had once stolen on Earth years ago, before crossing over to this world.
He had always believed it was this pendant that simply brought him here, granting him a new chance at life.
His first life in this world had been dull. Ambitious, yes, but powerless.
He failed the exams, failed the path of officials, and gave up at thirty. He ran a business, lived quietly, married, had children, and ultimately died old and disappointed.
But... just before his death, 'Blur' awakened, and he finally understood its true, profound purpose: to turn reality into illusion and illusion into reality.
In simple terms, it could turn back time, like a time machine.
It allowed him to return to the very beginning, to the moment he first arrived in this world—undoing everything that followed.
Thus began his second life in this world, one of glory, status, and power.
But now... all of it... is in ruins.
'Did I misuse it?' He didn't know.
But even so, Angus didn't activate it. Not yet.
'There are still things left undone.'
He closed the light curtain and let the illusion fade. Reality returned—broken, bloodstained and... real.
'There is still work to do before I rewrite this world.'