Wendell looked out beyond the tavern, and for the first time, the world felt wrong.
Where broken stone and jagged ruins should have stood, traces of life began to surface. Streets shimmered faintly, buildings outlining themselves in pale light, as though history were layering itself over the present. These were not random memories drifting through his mind. They were fragments of lives, people Wendell had once known, paths he had once walked, moments he had touched or witnessed.
A sudden flash caught his eye.
A ruined building reconstructed itself before him, stone and timber twisting back into their former shapes. A soft overlay of light traced walls, doors, and windows, revealing a city that lived and breathed once more.
Wendell staggered backward. "Another flashback?" he muttered.But this one felt different, deeper than the golem, heavier somehow.
The scene sharpened.
A young girl darted through the streets, laughter ringing across the cobblestone as she ran without fear. A young woman followed closely behind, guiding her with careful hands and watchful eyes. Something about the woman tugged at Wendell's memory, a familiar shape, a presence remembered from another life.
Then a man stepped into view.
Pale skinned, with faintly purplish eyes, his long beard split at the chin and braided neatly down past his neck. He wore robes fashioned for luxury rather than warmth, clothes that marked status, not survival. A monocle rested upon his nose, its gold inlay catching the light. Etched delicately into its frame was a single name.
Wendell.
Recognition struck him like a blow.
It was him. His family. Many years ago.
The trio moved through the streets as if the world itself had paused for their amusement. They weaved around pedestrians and vendors, smiles wide, unburdened by the dangers that loomed beyond their sight. When the adults finally caught the girl, they bent at the waist, breathless, laughing through open mouths.
"How nice," Wendell whispered. Warmth rose unbidden in his chest.He longed for those days, simple, untouched, whole.
But the happiness did not last.
The child slowed, her gaze lifting skyward. Curiosity touched her expression, but beneath it stirred something older, instinctive dread. The man noticed instantly.
"What are you looking at, little one?" he asked gently.
She pointed toward the horizon. "What's that big mushroom there?"
The man followed her gaze. His jaw tightened.
The shockwave came before he could answer.
The ground buckled. The air screamed. Wendell watched as the man seized the child and dragged the woman down just as a distant, deafening explosion tore through the world. Stone rattled. Windows shattered. Something deep and primal had warned him. It was written into his movements.
They rose shakily and turned toward the city walls.
Beyond them, climbing into the sky, bloomed a massive mushroom cloud, dark blue, immense, growing by the second. Its origin lay in another city entirely, but its consequences would not respect distance. From its heart poured chaos.
Aether.
And with it, monsters.
The man wasted no time. He grabbed the woman's hand, secured the child against his chest, and ran. Panic spread through the streets as people fled in every direction. Beasts screamed. Buildings cracked. They reached a small tavern that had somehow endured the initial devastation.
He ushered them inside, slammed the door shut, and guided them down a hidden staircase at the back. He did not follow.
Instead, he turned back into the street.
The earth groaned beneath his feet as jagged stone surged upward, reshaping itself with unnatural speed. Within seconds, a towering golem stood where the ground had been, nearly as large as the tavern itself. The man climbed onto its back and directed it toward the city gate, clearing a path through the fleeing crowd with methodical precision.
The mushroom cloud continued to swell behind him.
When they reached the gate, it was already sealed. Alarm bells rang. Soldiers scrambled. The golem slowed just long enough for the man to leap down.
Without hesitation, a thin, luminous string extended from his hand. He tied one end around his waist and passed the other to the golem. Understanding flickered in the construct's eyes. With a single motion, it hurled him skyward.
Wind roared past as he landed atop the city wall. Heat surged through his body. He did not pause.
He leapt.
The string reappeared, catching the stone as he rappelled down the far side, striking the ground below in a controlled freefall. As his boots hit the earth, Wendell saw it.
At first, the shapes on the horizon resembled distant mountains.
Then they moved.
Fear flared, but only for a moment.
Standing amidst the growing chaos, the man whispered a phrase that did not belong to this world. A small stone appeared in his hand. He tossed it aside.
It grew.
Stone screamed as it expanded, reshaping itself into a golem far larger than the last, twenty meters tall when it finally finished assembling.
"Could Melody do that as well?" Wendell murmured, watching his past self with dawning understanding.
To the left, an army gathered, if it could be called that. Poorly armed. Poorly armored. Hastily assembled. Looking back to the horizon, Wendell saw the truth clearly.
The Aether explosion had not merely destroyed a city.
It had summoned a horde.
Hundreds of creatures poured forth behind the towering silhouettes, flooding the land like a living tide. Explosions still rippled across the distance as shadows advanced toward the walls.
The soldiers marched out to meet them.
Desperation clung to every face. Desertions began almost immediately. Morale shattered before the battle even started. The commander took his own life the moment the shadows resolved into form.
Leadership fell to a young man, barely thirty. He stood tall, masking terror with false confidence, barking orders into a storm that did not care.
Then the true threat emerged.
Five massive figures broke from the horizon, each dwarfing the walls themselves. The largest stretched over two hundred feet in length, nearly eighty in height.
Wolf monsters.
Ninro.
Creatures of the Noctin rank, vastly superior to Ravik beasts in both size and intelligence. They bore disfigured, zombie like forms, clearly warped by the Aether blast. And yet they moved together.
A pack.
Ninro hunted alone.
This could only mean one thing.
A Mutated Alpha.
The wolves flowed past lesser creatures as if they did not exist, their massive paws eerily silent beneath the thunder of distant destruction. For a moment, they veered away from the city, angling toward the wasteland beyond.
Hope flickered.
Then they turned back.
The pack accelerated, charging straight for the walls.
Wendell watched dread spread across the young man's face. Futures flashed behind his eyes, every one of them ending the same way.
Wendell already knew the outcome.
After all, he was watching himself.
This was the battle that led to his capture ten years ago.And the battle that would eventually take his wife.