Ashar and Maereth travelled for several nights through the desert, with Maereth using her invisibility to ensure they were never seen. Each night, as they sat by the campfire, Ashar closed his eyes and returned to the Higher Realm through the Eye of Sophia.
In the past, Bethryl would always be there. They would sit together and watch the strange sights around them, at ease in each other's presence. Ashar would make quiet jokes about what he saw, and Bethryl would respond with a faint smile.
Now, she was gone.
"To become the person who can face the world," said the Old Man of the Noctis Mountains, "you must make a sacrifice. You must sacrifice the person who came before."
"I have already done that," Ashar replied. "Take a closer look at me, old man. All I have ever done is sacrifice."
"Yes, you have begun the process. The person you once were is already fading, and it is unlikely that you will return to him. But you have not yet become what you truly could be. Your state of being is still unclean."
"What are you talking about?"
"Your next step is to acquire a Second Tier body. For that, you must find a temple that teaches the Abrahamic Path. Understand this: a Second Tier is not merely an increase in power. It is a transcendence into a higher state of existence. To reach it, a sacrifice must be made. Only then will you approach perfection."
The following morning, they continued onward. At last, they reached the end of the desert of the Dream Dimension. The sand faded beneath their feet, replaced by the beginning of a rainbow-coloured road. Its surface shimmered with translucent light, and lone figures stood scattered along its edge.
"Now what?" Maereth asked. "Is this another hallucination?"
"No," Ashar said. "I'm not entirely sure what it is, but if I look closer, its properties resemble a river. Best not to step into it."
"I hate this place."
"Why?"
"Nothing follows any kind of order."
"Reality itself has no true order. And if anything appears to resemble order, it is only an imperfect reflection of something greater. You must have realised that long ago."
They waited among the silent figures. Maereth noticed how Ashar observed them all, and a cold dread passed through her. She could no longer understand him. For a moment, she wondered if he would kill them too.
But he did not.
From afar, a long boat approached. The longer she remained in this place, the more she witnessed things that defied understanding. It made her question how much of what she believed about the world was truly real—and how much had been shaped for some unseen purpose.
A small, crooked figure leaned out from the vessel.
"Greetings, travellers! We are now taking passengers aboard!"
A bridge extended from the ship, reaching across the rainbow road. Ashar studied it carefully. It appeared to pass through major points within this region of the dimension, but the temple he sought, the one tied to the Abrahamic Path, was not nearby.
He summoned the Eye of Sophia. The Old Man revealed the way.
Without hesitation, Ashar boarded. Maereth followed.
"Terrible events in the desert, haven't you heard?" one said.
"Yes, some kind of plague, or beast. Such things are common outside the jurisdictions."
Ashar kept his head down and took a seat.
The ship itself was unimpressive: rows of wooden benches, with the captain hidden in a separate compartment, his voice echoing outward.
"Everyone get comfortable. In one week's time, we will reach our first destination."
"One week?" Maereth exclaimed.
"It is travelling across an entire dimension," Ashar said. "Did you expect it to ignore the limits of distance?"
The journey began.
The boat moved through shifting lights and colours—through fragments of worlds, distant stars, and echoes of music. At first, Maereth struggled with the stillness, but in time she could do nothing but stare in wonder.
In a place like this, life did not feel like a struggle, or even a blessing. It was something else entirely, a dream beyond comprehension.
Issen would have liked this, she thought.
He had always spoken of leaving everything behind, of wandering freely. She had laughed at him for it.
Now she stared into the distance until all she could see were memories.
I wish it was the two of us here, she thought.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" she said softly.
Ashar remained still, expressionless.
"This dimension was never meant to exist."
"Oh," she replied, bitterly, "I forgot who I was speaking to."
"I showed you Algoth, a being from the Higher Realm. There were others like it, entities that tried to merge the Higher Realm with the material world. The Dream Dimension is the result of that failure. An accidental overlap. Everything here, these places, these people, are anomalies."
"Maybe," Maereth said, "but every person here has a past, a future… a story."
"A story?" Ashar let out a faint laugh.
"Yes. I'm sure they do. And probably better ones than yours."
"You're right. There are many stories here. Tragedies, comedies. Heroes and villains. But if you strip them down to their core, they are all the same. The same primitive struggle, like animals fighting to survive."
"We are not animals."
"No. We are worse. We are animals who believe ourselves to be heroes. No matter what we do, we convince ourselves we are right. But what are we, truly, except fragments in a storm of chaos? There is no story here, only the endless continuation of nature's violence, until it finally ends."
"And what are you, Ashar?"
He paused.
"I am the ending."
His eyes rolled back.
Once more, he stood in the Higher Realm with the Old Man. The space around them pulsed with dense, dark red energy. A biting cold ran through Ashar's bones.
He stood in silence, fully focused.
"You said a sacrifice is necessary," Ashar said. "That to reach a higher state, I must give myself up. Why?"
"Because a lower being cannot fully devote themselves. Consider love. On a good day, a person may embody it. On another, they may betray it. Not because they are flawed, but because they are human. A higher being is beyond that contradiction. They have sacrificed themselves until only their ideal remains. They are no longer divided."
Ashar nodded slowly.
"I understand. But one last thing."
He raised his gaze. His red eyes met the Old Man's hollow stare, and within it, he saw countless bodies falling, weeping, dying.
"You are a higher being, aren't you?"
"I am."
"Then what ideal did you sacrifice yourself for?"
The Old Man smiled.
"Return, and fulfill your purpose, Ashar. You have seen enough of this world."
His smile widened.
"Don't you think… it's time for a bloodbath?"
Ashar's consciousness returned to the boat.
He sat in silence.
And in that moment, he made his decision.
When they reached their destination, he would save every passenger aboard, by killing them.