In the middle of a dream.
"Where… is this?"
He slowly opened his eyes and found himself in a dim place.
Though calling it "dim" wasn't quite right—because he could still clearly see his own hands.
It was just that everything around him was the same color.
A color that couldn't be described with words—like chaos itself.
Aside from that, the only other thing he could see was the girl standing not far away.
Well.
A "girl" several hundred meters tall.
If he was a cripple in front of a demigod, then in front of this "girl," he was nothing more than an insect.
Still, her beauty was undeniable—easily among the finest he had ever seen.
Long sky-blue hair shone like a river of stars as it spilled over her shoulders. Her pink eyes were dazzling, like starlight itself.
They were strange eyes—eyes that seemed to reflect the Inner Sea of the Stars.
At the center of her pupils was a cross-like mark, like the morning star.
But what made him curious was this:
Why did such a beautiful woman have two enormous horns?
Why was her body covered in countless black chains?
And why was she standing here in an almost completely nude state?
Of course, he had seen plenty in his life, so none of that truly shocked him.
What he cared about more was this—
Who had brought him here?
And for what purpose?
With questions swirling in his mind, he slowly walked toward the towering woman.
"Excuse me… did you bring me here?"
"Aaaaa…"
As if she had heard him, the enormous girl lowered her gaze until it settled on him, responding with a meaningless sound.
At the same time, her pink eyes overflowed with an indescribable tenderness and affection.
The double-layered confusion hit him like a hammer.
"What does that even mean?"
Her overwhelming presence did shake his small, fragile heart a little.
But that didn't mean she could just refuse to speak like a normal person.
"Aaaaaa?"
It sounded almost like she was copying his tone—only using a single syllable instead.
To him, it was still completely incomprehensible.
"Alright. Fine. Don't bother. I'll find my own way out."
His head starting to ache, he gave up on communicating with her.
If they couldn't understand each other, what was the point?
But the moment he turned around, the sound of chains snapping suddenly rang out behind him.
—Crack!
—Crack!
He turned back.
The chains binding her hands had shattered, dissolving into the chaos the moment they hit the ground.
And her massive hands were slowly reaching toward him.
"!"
In an instant, his guard shot to full.
A god-hunting greatsword in his left hand, and a blade formed from a divine body in his right, he prepared for the worst.
The divine presence rolling off this woman was intense—like the Elden Beast.
No…
Perhaps even stronger.
Huh? The God-Hunting Greatsword was given away already?
Sorry. He still had a few hundred of them in his backpack.
Yet even with him fully armed, she didn't stop.
Her hands reached him… and then—
She scooped him up from the ground.
Not "grabbed."
Not "seized."
Scooped—gently, carefully—cradling him in her palms like a precious jewel.
"What is she trying to do?"
Even with confusion exploding in his mind, he didn't lower his guard.
If she showed even the slightest sign of attacking, he'd swing the greatsword without hesitation.
But she wasn't attacking at all.
Instead, like an elevator, she raised him up to eye level.
Her pupils—each nearly as large as his entire body—reflected his figure clearly.
"Aaaaa…"
She made that meaningless sound again.
And once again, he understood nothing.
But this time, there was something else in her eyes.
Confusion.
Genuine confusion.
She knew he wasn't her child—he was an existence from outside.
And yet she couldn't understand why this child—so much like the children she once held dear—had such deep sorrow and despair hidden in his eyes.
Still…
He was a kind child.
Those eyes of hers could see into the heart.
But being stared at so directly, even someone as thick-skinned as him felt a little embarrassed.
"Um… ma'am. What exactly do you want?"
This time, she didn't respond at all.
Instead, she shifted her hands and slowly brought him close to her chest.
Like someone praying, she gently closed her eyes.
Then a pale, misty glow rose from her entire body.
That light mist flowed along her arms, gathered in her palms, and overflowed—condensing in front of him into a glowing sphere the size of a basketball.
"What's this supposed to be?"
The strange ritual immediately made him tense again, ready to split the sphere in half.
But before he could act, he felt her hands tilt slightly, as if she were pushing him toward it.
"W-wait. You want me to touch that?"
He looked up at the colossal woman and pointed at the floating sphere.
"Aaaaa."
This time, he understood.
Yes. She wanted him to touch it.
Why could he understand?
Because if a head that big nodded at you and you still didn't get it, you deserved to be reforged.
Even so, he didn't really want to touch it.
What if it was dangerous?
But when he saw the pleading look in her eyes, his heart softened.
"…Fine. I'll touch it. Just once."
Hesitating, he put away both greatswords and reached out.
At the same time, his other hand gripped the Erdtree Seal tightly.
If anything went wrong, he'd immediately use a cleansing incantation based on the principle of regression and wipe away any negative effects.
Two meters…
One meter…
But just as his fingertip was about to touch the sphere, it suddenly changed shape—
Becoming a small beast.
It lowered its horns and slammed straight into his arms.
"What the—?!"
It didn't hurt, but it startled him so badly he almost formed a lightning blade and chopped on reflex.
But seriously…
What was this thing?
"Aaaa?"
He grabbed it by its horns and lifted it up.
Its tiny limbs dangled uselessly in midair, and its clear eyes were filled with pure confusion.
He looked at the little creature, then looked up at the woman whose eyes were slowly closing again.
That face.
That overwhelming divine aura…
"…Aren't these two exactly the same?!"
"Did she just… give birth to it on the spot?"
While he was still baffled, the nimble little beast flipped over, climbed up his arm, scampered onto his shoulder, and patted his hair with its tiny paw.
Like it was trying to comfort him.
"…"
What do you do when a cute creature pats your head?
Asking for a friend.
Urgent.
At that moment, the ground shook again—stronger than before.
He immediately jumped down from the high place.
Then he saw it.
The giant woman had fully closed her eyes again.
Chains shot out from the chaos below, binding her hands tightly once more, dragging her down into the swirling nothingness.
"What is going on?!"
Even now, he was completely, utterly confused.
He had no idea what had just happened.
Meanwhile, the little creature on his shoulder stared at the woman as if saying goodbye.
She was Tiamat—the Primordial Mother of legend.
And this adorable little form…
Was a method she had devised during her brief slumber.
Using her Authority, she had separated a portion of her divinity—her gentlest, kindest part—from her true body, transferring it into a new vessel.
Then she would send that vessel away—
Following this foreign child out into the world.
Doing so would greatly weaken her true body, including its immortality.
But it was the final thing she could do for her children.
Now, she was Tiamat…
And yet not Tiamat.
Or rather, she was the purest part of Tiamat.
At the same time, as Tiamat's original body was completely swallowed by the chaos, the chaos beneath his feet surged as well.
Like a colossal wave.
A tide that rushed up in an instant—
And swallowed him whole.
Morning.
In a room at one corner of Uruk's royal city.
The Tarnished, sleeping on the bed, suddenly snapped his eyes open.
Above him was the familiar-yet-unfamiliar earthen ceiling.
"A dream…?"
He murmured like someone still half-asleep, then slowly sat up, scanning the room.
His gaze swept over the furniture, then down over the bed beneath him—like he was searching for something.
But he found nothing.
Everything was exactly the same as yesterday.
No change at all.
"It was a dream… yeah."
But why would he dream something like that?
Frowning deeply, he scratched his head in frustration and looked down at the crimson tattoo on his right hand, full of doubt.
It had been so long that he couldn't even remember the last time he'd dreamed.
He recalled the last dream he had…
…was in his last dream.
"Forget it. I'll think about it after I get back to the Lands Between."
Since the sun was already up, he abandoned the thought entirely, opened the mission interface, and pressed the button to submit the mission.
[Group Notice: Mission complete. 10,000 points have been issued. Teleportation will begin shortly.]
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