Abandoned buildings, sand covering the roads, and the silent darkness of night—only the sound of the cold wind could be heard.
As far as the eye could see, there were only ruins left behind by a civilization of intelligent beings.
At that moment, an entity emerged from one of the collapsed buildings. No matter how you looked at it, it was a person.
He was wearing a suit that covered his entire body and a helmet that enclosed his head without a single gap.
With a deep voice indicating that he was a man, he spoke.
"Hmm, this makes me 100% sure that all creatures on this planet have gone extinct, and that this extinction happened decades ago. But this is strange... seems like I have to go there."
After saying that, he looked into the distance and began walking toward what looked like a multi-story building. At the top of that building, a bright light shone, illuminating the road the man was walking on.
He walked slowly, as if enjoying the surrounding atmosphere, even though there was nothing to enjoy in such an environment. Who knew what he was thinking behind that helmet?
After some time walking, he finally arrived at the building.
He stopped right in front of it, bent both knees and—
*Boom.
He jumped several meters into the air, leaving dust where he had stood. Using several footholds, he leapt and swung toward the top of the building. Clearly, he was no ordinary being—this could be seen from his illogical movements.
Upon reaching the top of the building, he looked around, and in front of him was a humanoid skeleton.
The skeleton seemed to be embracing something, which was the source of the mysterious light.
"Hmm? A human? So, this place was once inhabited by humans too... but this is really strange."
The man was confused upon seeing the skeleton. During his journey on this planet, he had never seen any concrete evidence of what species had once inhabited it. But by seeing this skeleton, he now knew that humans were among them.
What puzzled him was—why was this the only skeleton he could find?
The man approached the skeleton and began to observe it.
"With an environment like this, it seems this person died 1–2 years ago. Did they survive the extinction? Logically, that's impossible. Moreover, judging from the skeleton, they seemed to be just a teenager. This really makes no sense... What exactly happened on this planet?"
After examining the skeleton, he looked at the source of light in its embrace. What he saw was light—yes, a beam of light so blinding that he couldn't see the core of its source.
Without hesitation, he took it—and suddenly, the light from the object in his hand began to fade until it no longer emitted any light at all.
When the light disappeared, the darkness of night enveloped the world. All that could be seen was a sky full of stars decorating it.
But he didn't enjoy the view. He only focused on the object in his hand. What he saw was a round object like a marble with abstract carvings on its surface.
He truly was a super-being—somehow, he could see all of this in the darkness of night.
After observing for a moment, he gripped the object tightly and fell silent.
[ Beginning scan__ Material: Unknown__, Energy: Not Detected__, Information: Not Recorded ]
Lines of text began to appear before him. If anyone else had been nearby, they would never have seen those lines—because they were projected directly into the man's brain.
"What is this object? With light that bright, there's no way residual energy couldn't be detected! What on earth is going on with this planet?"
Seeing the analysis results only deepened his confusion about the planet.
"Haah... the night is still long. I guess I'll rest here for now and continue the research tomorrow."
The man looked around, and after finding a good spot, he lay down.
Slowly, his body relaxed, indicating he had entered the dream world.
<><><><><>
The man was dreaming—a nostalgic dream. A green garden adorned with beautiful flowers. In the middle of those flowers, a woman in a lab coat was watering them.
Her beauty surpassed the beauty of the surrounding flowers, her blonde hair shining like precious gold.
She turned around and smiled, saying:
"Have you found it?"
<><><><><>
The man awoke and looked around. Sunlight illuminated the surrounding scenery. It was a view he had grown familiar with lately.
"Haah~"
The man reflected on the dream he had just experienced. It wasn't his first time dreaming it—he had dreamed it dozens, maybe even hundreds of times.
It seemed his deepest desire was influencing his dream—the desire to return to the past, or more precisely, to meet the woman in his dream again.
"Meeting her again is impossible because she—no, everyone—is gone."
Suddenly, his hand began to glow, and the light came from the strange object he had held all night.
The light grew brighter and quickly enveloped the man.
"W-WHAT!?"
In an instant, the light disappeared—along with his figure, leaving behind the ruined world.
<><><><><>
"Ugh."
The man regained consciousness and looked around. What he saw was the complete opposite of what he had seen before.
Towering buildings, clean roads free of sandy dust, trees decorating every corner—he saw and heard the voices of humans everywhere.
But what he sensed from those people were emotions of confusion, curiosity, and anxiety.
Such emotions made them unaware that someone dressed like him had suddenly appeared among them.
"W-what is this?"
"What is this strange pattern?"
"A performance?"
"Could it be this?!"
Those were the words he heard, and he paid attention to what the people were looking at. Beneath his feet was a drawn pattern and strange writing covering an area several kilometers wide.
(What now? They don't even know what this pattern is! No—some people know. Judging from the mixed reactions, it seems to be known, but not common knowledge.)
The pattern suddenly emitted light. Seeing it, the man felt déjà vu.
"AGAINNN!!"
<><><><><>
After a few moments, he regained awareness and looked around.
He could see several people beside him, and they were in an open grassland surrounded by several knights in medieval armor.
Someone stepped out from among the knights—likely their leader.
The knight walked toward them and began to speak:
"Oh, Heroes who have been destined, welcome to our world. I apologize for my rudeness, but please, I beg of you—help us!"