In the stillness of light's absence, a magi's braid whips around, slicing the hollows. The vast dark gradually comes to an end as Judal takes his first step on land. There's a dimly glowing halo in the distance, and his feet begin carving a path towards it.

Rough undulations, jagged scars, cliffs jutting out of nowhere, and an assortment of craters are only a few of the ominous landforms erupting from this barren mass of decay. How fitting, he thinks, for retribution.

There are shades to darkness, he notices, once his eyes adjust to the lack of light. In this world, there is neither moon nor sun. The heavens are a canopy of pure black illuminated by pyramidal glitches in the fabric of eternal night. It's so dark, one can barely see where the earth threads itself into sky.

Higher ground reveals a huge, basin-like depression filled with sand, as if an ocean bed had indulged its thirst and swallowed every last drop of life. He treads on, too intrigued by this discovery to notice loose powder taking refuge under his toenails or the bits of grit that cling to his braid with the grip of limpets. His feet scour dust around because no wind will.

Judal no longer stubs his toe every few minutes, but his mind has yet to make sense of this world's perversion of life. At the next step, he falters, loses his balance, and falls facedown on leached ash. He furiously wipes his arms on his pants, which now imbue the pale taint of death. With only his footsteps to mark the transience of time, he walks and he waits for nature's voice to pop out any moment, but the shadows are still and the wind does not speak. Here even the magnificent humming of the rukh has lost its eloquence.

The faint glow he's been following emanates from a region of vile gas, rich with otherworldly hues. The river of luminous fog swirls around in clashes of color, reaching out to hug the earth and sky with the appearance of a writhing rainbow.

Judal surveys the scene with bored eyes. This would have been beautiful, perhaps, if it reminded him of anything else.

Fed up with the clinginess of land, he commands the rukh to lift him up, and that's when he realizes the greatest distortion of this place. He does fly, for the rukh have always obeyed him, but only a foot above ground. And just like that, two decades of treading sky crumple into noiseless smoke, leaving him land-bound and lost.

Something's very, very wrong with this world. This is no place for eyes or ears or humans or magi or anything.

You sure are lucky, Hakuryuu, he thinks, still groggy from the residual effects of dying yet not being dead.

He's not dead.

But he's not among the living.


"Alibaba-chan! Tell me about your journey. I want to hear every little detail, okay?"

"Sure. Where do I start?"

"Oh, the part where you found yourself in that strange dimension. And when you met up with Judal-chan."

"Well, two people went on a journey and returned to find the world reborn in their absence. Along the way they wondered why the sun and moon were hiding. They decided the stars alone were kind enough to visit the land of the dead."


If I'm trapped in a dream, there must be some way out, Judal thinks, deciding to explore this alien wilderness born of rock, mist, and darkness. Could this be the dwelling of the depraved? No, if that were so, there should be more people here. After what felt like hours of travelling, not a single living soul has shown up.

He is alone.

"Aarghh! It's too quiet!" He lashes out, flashing lightning...and...no lightning.

He is alone, no ice, no lightning, in a crazy place where the existence of nothing fills the gap of everything, and Hakuryuu's not here, and he just is.

Hakuryuu's probably brewing up a storm back in Kou, bringing their year-long efforts to fruition. Kouen will die soon. His dear king vessels will battle for supremacy, and one by one, the weak will be eliminated until only the greatest is left. Koumei first, then Kouha, Kougyoku, and finally, Kouen. Hakuryuu will emerge the victor; he knows this, as surely as he knows the flight patterns of rukh.

So long, Old Hag. Your fault for not accepting my offer in Sindria, and choosing that good for nothing drunkard king.

She'll die along with everyone else; the earth will swallow them up and thank him for it. Hakuei will be spared because Hakuryuu's got a soft spot for her. Despite all his talk otherwise, the prince of depravity can't purify himself of such bothersome filial attachments.

That's the thing with family. They drag you down.

Judal laughs.

He barely notices as his feet get caught in thick, sinewy strings, and he trips. Again.

Closer inspection shows a network of low-lying vines laid out like traps on the ground. This will be a rather difficult maze to navigate through, and being careful is not one of Judal's strengths.

Wait. Something moved. Impossible, plants don't-

A strange creature stares at him, with violet eyes a foot in diameter and gouged lumps dotting his spongy frame like a sweet potato. Just another typical dungeon creature, only bigger. Never mind. Nothing defeats this magi.

"Thalg Al-sarros!" Raising his wand, he creates a mighty…tiny icicle the length of his pinky. No, no, no. Never have the rukh failed him before.

"Thalg Al-sarros! Thalg! Thalg! Ahhhh!" His next attempts improve slightly. Now his icicles are large enough to grasp, and still utterly useless.

"Stop! Don't eat meeeeeeeee!"

He breaks into a run, cursing Kougyoku, cursing Hakuei, cursing everyone for being physically strong when he is not.

All his life, Judal has been surrounded by monsters, yet he has never been this afraid. And now, the monster has decided to swallow him whole. Squirm as he might, he can't escape the creature's hold.

This can't be the end. All it takes is one ice spear, just one, just one...Hakuryuu-

Then, when all seems lost, and this strange version of existence seems so ironically useless after all - the universe's plot, perhaps, to prolong his torture - the tendrils of death snap in half, releasing him.

He breathes.

His savior makes swift work of the monster. Before Judal has a chance to get to his feet, the monster has been reduced to a blob of mush and goo.

Here it comes. A foot-tall, ocher-hued, roll-shaped, downright creepy CLAY DOLL. The curious creature has a sword, and a queer, vaguely familiar horn projects from its round head. So, this thing is all it takes to rescue the great magi Judal.

The universe must be laughing right now. Judal ponders whether or not to laugh along with it, simply because either way makes no sense.

And then the creature talks. "Judal! Is that you?"

The freak of nature knows his name.

"Who-?"

"It's me, Alibaba."


"What were you thinking when you found him?"

"There I was stuck in the middle of nowhere trying my hardest to get back home, and the only other human in existence happened to be one of the last persons I'd ever want to meet."

"And what was Judal-chan's reaction?"

"He…looked as if he'd faint any minute. I think he actually did."


TBCIn the stillness of light's absence, a magi's braid whips around, slicing the hollows. The vast dark gradually comes to an end as Judal takes his first step on land. There's a dimly glowing halo in the distance, and his feet begin carving a path towards it.

Rough undulations, jagged scars, cliffs jutting out of nowhere, and an assortment of craters are only a few of the ominous landforms erupting from this barren mass of decay. How fitting, he thinks, for retribution.

There are shades to darkness, he notices, once his eyes adjust to the lack of light. In this world, there is neither moon nor sun. The heavens are a canopy of pure black illuminated by pyramidal glitches in the fabric of eternal night. It's so dark, one can barely see where the earth threads itself into sky.

Higher ground reveals a huge, basin-like depression filled with sand, as if an ocean bed had indulged its thirst and swallowed every last drop of life. He treads on, too intrigued by this discovery to notice loose powder taking refuge under his toenails or the bits of grit that cling to his braid with the grip of limpets. His feet scour dust around because no wind will.

Judal no longer stubs his toe every few minutes, but his mind has yet to make sense of this world's perversion of life. At the next step, he falters, loses his balance, and falls facedown on leached ash. He furiously wipes his arms on his pants, which now imbue the pale taint of death. With only his footsteps to mark the transience of time, he walks and he waits for nature's voice to pop out any moment, but the shadows are still and the wind does not speak. Here even the magnificent humming of the rukh has lost its eloquence.

The faint glow he's been following emanates from a region of vile gas, rich with otherworldly hues. The river of luminous fog swirls around in clashes of color, reaching out to hug the earth and sky with the appearance of a writhing rainbow.

Judal surveys the scene with bored eyes. This would have been beautiful, perhaps, if it reminded him of anything else.

Fed up with the clinginess of land, he commands the rukh to lift him up, and that's when he realizes the greatest distortion of this place. He does fly, for the rukh have always obeyed him, but only a foot above ground. And just like that, two decades of treading sky crumple into noiseless smoke, leaving him land-bound and lost.

Something's very, very wrong with this world. This is no place for eyes or ears or humans or magi or anything.

You sure are lucky, Hakuryuu, he thinks, still groggy from the residual effects of dying yet not being dead.

He's not dead.

But he's not among the living.


"Alibaba-chan! Tell me about your journey. I want to hear every little detail, okay?"

"Sure. Where do I start?"

"Oh, the part where you found yourself in that strange dimension. And when you met up with Judal-chan."

"Well, two people went on a journey and returned to find the world reborn in their absence. Along the way they wondered why the sun and moon were hiding. They decided the stars alone were kind enough to visit the land of the dead."


If I'm trapped in a dream, there must be some way out, Judal thinks, deciding to explore this alien wilderness born of rock, mist, and darkness. Could this be the dwelling of the depraved? No, if that were so, there should be more people here. After what felt like hours of travelling, not a single living soul has shown up.

He is alone.

"Aarghh! It's too quiet!" He lashes out, flashing lightning...and...no lightning.

He is alone, no ice, no lightning, in a crazy place where the existence of nothing fills the gap of everything, and Hakuryuu's not here, and he just is.

Hakuryuu's probably brewing up a storm back in Kou, bringing their year-long efforts to fruition. Kouen will die soon. His dear king vessels will battle for supremacy, and one by one, the weak will be eliminated until only the greatest is left. Koumei first, then Kouha, Kougyoku, and finally, Kouen. Hakuryuu will emerge the victor; he knows this, as surely as he knows the flight patterns of rukh.

So long, Old Hag. Your fault for not accepting my offer in Sindria, and choosing that good for nothing drunkard king.

She'll die along with everyone else; the earth will swallow them up and thank him for it. Hakuei will be spared because Hakuryuu's got a soft spot for her. Despite all his talk otherwise, the prince of depravity can't purify himself of such bothersome filial attachments.

That's the thing with family. They drag you down.

Judal laughs.

He barely notices as his feet get caught in thick, sinewy strings, and he trips. Again.

Closer inspection shows a network of low-lying vines laid out like traps on the ground. This will be a rather difficult maze to navigate through, and being careful is not one of Judal's strengths.

Wait. Something moved. Impossible, plants don't-

A strange creature stares at him, with violet eyes a foot in diameter and gouged lumps dotting his spongy frame like a sweet potato. Just another typical dungeon creature, only bigger. Never mind. Nothing defeats this magi.

"Thalg Al-sarros!" Raising his wand, he creates a mighty…tiny icicle the length of his pinky. No, no, no. Never have the rukh failed him before.

"Thalg Al-sarros! Thalg! Thalg! Ahhhh!" His next attempts improve slightly. Now his icicles are large enough to grasp, and still utterly useless.

"Stop! Don't eat meeeeeeeee!"

He breaks into a run, cursing Kougyoku, cursing Hakuei, cursing everyone for being physically strong when he is not.

All his life, Judal has been surrounded by monsters, yet he has never been this afraid. And now, the monster has decided to swallow him whole. Squirm as he might, he can't escape the creature's hold.

This can't be the end. All it takes is one ice spear, just one, just one...Hakuryuu-

Then, when all seems lost, and this strange version of existence seems so ironically useless after all - the universe's plot, perhaps, to prolong his torture - the tendrils of death snap in half, releasing him.

He breathes.

His savior makes swift work of the monster. Before Judal has a chance to get to his feet, the monster has been reduced to a blob of mush and goo.

Here it comes. A foot-tall, ocher-hued, roll-shaped, downright creepy CLAY DOLL. The curious creature has a sword, and a queer, vaguely familiar horn projects from its round head. So, this thing is all it takes to rescue the great magi Judal.

The universe must be laughing right now. Judal ponders whether or not to laugh along with it, simply because either way makes no sense.

And then the creature talks. "Judal! Is that you?"

The freak of nature knows his name.

"Who-?"

"It's me, Alibaba."


"What were you thinking when you found him?"

"There I was stuck in the middle of nowhere trying my hardest to get back home, and the only other human in existence happened to be one of the last persons I'd ever want to meet."

"And what was Judal-chan's reaction?"

"He…looked as if he'd faint any minute. I think he actually did."


TBC