Agony.
It felt like a white-hot poker had been driven through his chest. Each faint heartbeat sent a fresh wave of tearing, breath-stealing spasm through him. His consciousness floated in an endless dark, adrift on a sea of icy pain like a piece of wreckage in a storm.
"Ugh…"
A raw, guttural sound was forced from his parched throat. His awareness, like shattered glass, struggled to piece itself back together.
Hurt… Gods… why does my chest hurt so much?
He fought to think, his mind turning like rusted gears. Cold stone beneath him. The thick, coppery stench of blood. His face was pressed against rough ground, sticky fluid soaking his cheek and neck.
His eyes snapped open.
Dim light filtered from some unseen crevice, outlining a ruined stone chamber. The walls were covered in faded, unrecognizable etchings. The air smelled of dust and ancient decay. And beneath him—a pool of dark, not-yet-congealed blood, seeping from the horrific wound in his chest.
"Where… am I?" he rasped, the voice unfamiliar and hoarse. "Who am I? I'm Qin Yi… a student at Dashia University…"
Fragments of memory crashed against the pounding in his skull. Library stacks, an unfinished thesis on a computer screen, the familiar city lights outside his window… vivid, yet impossibly distant.
Then, another torrent of memory—sharper, more primal—slammed into him, brutally overwriting the first.
No… that's not right… I am Cayan… Cayan von Alt, son of the Lord of Greystone March, Eastern Provinces of the Empire…
Two identities. Two lives. Warring for dominance deep within his soul. His head felt like it would split open. He was Qin Yi, an ordinary student from a world of peace. He was also Cayan, a young noble from a brutal, dangerous world, albeit an overlooked and lesser son.
"Gods, my head!"
As he tried to wrestle with the chaos, a terrified, shrill cry echoed from outside the chamber.
"B-Boss! Trouble! The… the brat! He's not dead!"
Cayan (or rather, the newly fused consciousness) jolted. The voice was laced with fear, but it also triggered ominous premonitions from Cayan's memories.
Outside, a man in ragged leather armor, a scar marring his face, scrambled backward, his face pale as a shroud. In his hand was a rust-stained shortsword, its tip still dripping blood—the very blade that had pierced Cayan's heart. "I saw it! I saw you run him through! How can he be alive?! Ghosts! Or some foul thing possessed him!"
"Shut your yappin'! Keep your head! How many times I gotta say it? Panic kills faster than any Entropy Worm in this cursed waste!" a rough, impatient voice growled from a passage further out. Heavy footsteps followed as a hulking, muscular bald man with a vicious claw-mark across his face and a fierce demeanor stepped into view, followed by two other rough-looking men. He absently toyed with a writhing, faintly glowing red worm-like creature—an Entropy Worm. "Not dead, eh?" the bald man, called Barton, stopped, a flicker of surprise crossing his brutish features before being swallowed by immense greed. He rubbed his head, grinning to show yellowed teeth. "Heh! Lads, we just hit the jackpot! Knew it! A noble whelp like him had to have more than the paltry stuff he offered for his pathetic life. Must have a high-grade survival Worm on him! Third-Rank, maybe higher! Come on! If he's clingin' on, let's finish the job proper!"
Driven by lust for wealth and power, Barton led the way back into the chamber. His three lackeys exchanged nervous glances, steeled themselves, and followed.
They failed to notice that deep within the ancient ruins, triggered by Cayan's awakening and the fusion of souls, a dormant mechanism of incalculable age activated. An invisible, complex energy field pulsed out, sweeping the ruins and forming a massive, nearly imperceptible dome of force that sealed the structure completely. A carrion crow attempting to fly into) the ruins' range hit the field and poofed into a mist of blood and feathers, while a nearby stream continued to flow unhindered—the barrier blocked only living things. The ruins were now a trap; entry was permitted, but exit was denied.
Simultaneously, from deep within the ancient stonework, a sphere of soft light emerged. It seemed incorporeal, drifting effortlessly, ignoring physical obstacles, phasing through walls as it moved unerringly straight towards Cayan's chamber.
Inside the chamber.
"Boss… what… what is this?" the scarred lackey stammered.
Barton and the others stared. The youth, Cayan, who had just awoken, was now enveloped in a faint, almost transparent yet incredibly resilient film of light. It glowed softly, protecting him within.
Barton tried to kick it, but his boot was repelled by a gentle yet immovable force. He stabbed with his iron sword; the tip skittered off the film, sending ripples across its surface but failing to penetrate.
"Damn it!" Barton cursed, but the fire of greed in his eyes burned hotter. "Knew it! Gotta be at least a Third-Rank defensive Worm! Maybe higher! The brat's hanging by a thread—perfect time to claim it! This is it! I'm set for life!"
"Stand back!" Barton growled, tossing his sword to a lackey. He took a deep breath, focusing. The red Entropy Worm in his hand glowed brightly, writhing and extending like a living thing, instantly forming the shimmering, heat-hazed phantom image) of a fiery gauntlet encasing his right fist. The air around it wavered with intense heat.
"Kid," Barton sneered at Cayan, who looked dazed and pained within the light, "taste the power of my newly Ascended Second-Rank 'Inferno Fist' Worm! Let's see how long your shell holds!"
BOOM!
The fiery fist hammered into the light film with a concussive thud. Flames spat. Heat washed over the room. The film wavered violently but held firm. The impact sent fresh agony through Cayan, his wound weeping blood again. He nearly blacked out from the pain.
"Entropy Worm… Worm…" Cayan muttered incoherently. Barton's attack and the word itself were keys, unlocking another floodgate of Cayan's (the original's) memory.
Basic knowledge, from elementary education), known to every Imperial child, surfaced. The famous text The Passing of the Primordial and the Proliferation of Laws echoed in his mind:
'In the beginning, there was only the endless, seething Sea of Chaos… The Primordial God—Anus… resolved to carve out a stable, Ordered Universe where life could flourish… The Sea of Chaos gathered all its retaliatory force and struck Anus a mortal blow… His divine form shattered… The fragments of His agony, His will, His final resistance to the Chaos, mingled with its energies and underwent a bizarre mutation, birthing the universe's first native life—Entropy Worms…'