Within the long dream, you feel your consciousness violently pulled away, then shoved into another memory.
It's a memory filled with pain, anger, and defiance. It makes your heart tremble.
But the owner of that memory rejects the intruding presence, and your mind is forced into another memory entirely.
This one is warm and calm, so much so that it brings to mind the peaceful days of being cradled in infancy.
You open your eyes and see the people<//Haruka> who once lived on this land, bathed in the glow of the setting sun.
Out on the plains, several barefoot Tankuns carry bundles of quinoa, smiling toward the fiery setting sun.
They wear animal skulls on their heads and call each other by the names of beasts. Among them, there is no hierarchy, no elder or youth. They're equals, sharing all that the land provides.
It's late autumn. Cool winds drift through the open fields. Ravens soar in the sky. Thrushes sing among the trees.
They hold enough food to last the winter as they walk home, their hearts filled with gratitude toward the gods who watch over their tribe.
Back then, the Haruka tribe believed that this land<//Carcosa> had a soul.
Every leaf and tree, every stone and grain of sand, was said to carry the spirit of a god. They took only what they needed.
And left the rest untouched.
You do not step forward, because you already know how this story ends.
You remain at the edge of the vision, watching the returning figures grow smaller and smaller on the plain, until they vanish into the last light of the sun.
You know what happens next, don't you?
A voice asks from behind. You do not turn. That question signals the end of the dream.
Yes. Who wouldn't want that?
The figure behind you sighs and steps closer, wrapping a hand around your throat from behind.
But a dream is still a dream. Time to wake up.
Slender fingers tighten suddenly. Fingernails dig into your skin.
A sharp voice tears through your soul, dragging your consciousness out of the false paradise.
—Open your eyes, Gray Raven!
You lift your heavy eyelids. You're still in the dim forest. A blade presses against your throat, dragging your body awake from slumber.
The tribe's Holy Maiden has tied you to a tree and now yanks you up by the collar.
Spare me the pleasantries. You've already taken the liberty of rifling through my memories, haven't you?
Gray Raven. You followed me all the way here. So I assume you already know what I'm trying to do.
So what about you? Are you ready to sacrifice your life?
The silence doesn't last long. Without hesitation, you speak up, honest and direct.
What a sweet little dream you've built for yourselves. But did you ever stop to think if we wanted to be part of it?
The girl doesn't argue. She pauses in thought for a few seconds, then suddenly flips her blade and points it at your chest.
No. I have a better option.
I can turn you into a living dead. The ritual only needs your blood anyway.
I don't want outsider blood staining the sacred altar, but I'm also not about to waste such a perfect offering.
The blade slides down your neck, stopping above the ribs, right in front of your pounding heart.
The ancient oracle only said that powerful blood could summon Holy Death. It never said it could only happen once.
Once Holy Death resurrects all of our kin<//Haruka>, we can gather our forces again. We'll declare war on the Sanctuary, and on all of humanity.
And you... you'll stay with me. You'll be my living sacrificial tool.
If you behave, I might even help you take care of those archangels too.
Are you trying to provoke me?
Her gray eyes narrow. Like a beast sensing danger, the girl arches her back.
Canary lowers her bone blade, lets go of your collar, and grins.
You're not like the others. Not like those cowards who call themselves human.
You convinced me. I'll let you live until Holy Death arrives, so you can watch Sanctuary and humankind end.
You exhale in relief, then a crimson light flashes across your vision.
But only if you fulfill your role as a sacrifice.
The Holy Maiden slashes open your chest. Red blood splashes across her palm.
She raises her hand. Blood spills to the ground, and the entire ritual circle quickly lights up in blazing crimson.
Come on. Let's witness it... together. The end of the Scorched Borderland.
The Other Side Where Crimson Light Spreads
The silver-haired knight struggles waist-deep in a viscous pool of blood, holding the lantern aloft as he purifies wave after wave of tribal undead surging toward him.
The undead assault is relentless. As the lamp absorbs more and more souls, the burden on his mind grows heavier and heavier.
Amid the stench of rot and decay, only the distinct presence of the Blood Covenant radiating from the forest remains clear. It drives him to force himself up once more from the mire.
(I can't afford to delay...)
(I have to find a way out of this. Now.)
The knight grips the lantern tightly in his left hand. With his right, he manifests a gun and fires a blazing shot, burning a path through the forest.
Bam!
When the blinding light fades, Wanshi runs forward along the scorched trail.
Gray Raven—!
The bond of the Blood Covenant grows stronger. He can sense the Bloodsworn just ahead.
Then, from the far side of the sky, a brilliant pillar of light suddenly rises.
The murky red light engulfs the entire sky. The whole Scorched Borderland trembles and hums.
From the forest, a tree-shaped pillar of light rises, its glowing branches drooping toward the earth.
Wherever the light-branches reach, greenery and life shrivel into decay, as if all vitality has been sucked away.
Meanwhile, something stirs deep within the tree's core. It's alive.
From inside, "they" tear through the fleshy nest. Pale fingers stretch out, glide across the bark of the "tree," then rip open the blood-soaked sac. The figure steps out.
...A white giant?
He murmurs, as if caught in a dream.
The white giant, tall enough to almost touch the sky, stands still in the wilderness. Everything in their path withers and dies. The scene is exactly like the nightmare Wanshi has seen again and again.
At the giant's feet, the knight looks up. He's imagined this moment before—that the nightmare might come true. But not now. He didn't think it would be now.
He blinks and regains focus. In the distance, two figures beneath the tree remind him this is not a dream.
—Canary, let Gray Raven go!
The barrel of his gun is aimed at the girl far off in the distance. She doesn't flinch. She just laughs.
Told you. This time, I bet right.
Canary pushes the blood-stained human between them and flings her arms open like she's proudly displaying a trophy.
The Carcosa ritual is complete. Holy Death has descended. Our people will rise again. And this thirty-year war between humanity and the Sanctuary can finally end...
For people like you, this is not such a bad ending, isn't it?
No. Killing only perpetuates the cycle. It only brings more pain to this world.
He lowers his gun, but the white giant continues their march behind them, sucking the life from the ground as they move toward the blood-red sun.
Look at what you've done. How is it any different from what they did?
You want justice for the dead, judgment for the guilty... So do I.
But this... this path you've taken is something else entirely. It's twisted.
As the two exchange words, dead leaves rain down from the mountains and plains, falling into the blood pools formed by rotting tribal corpses. The leaves sink into the mud below.
Those people should have survived. They still had a chance to take back their fate.
They weren't meant to die just for the sake of vengeance.
Shut up! You don't understand why they chose this path at all!
Canary roars in fury, whipping up a storm. Black mist surges forward, scattering the falling leaves from her path.
You think I wouldn't have preferred to end all this your way—the polished, righteous way you keep preaching about?
We've learned something you haven't. No one can truly understand another's suffering, not unless they've lived it themselves.
We don't need your approval for our cause. Or our wishes.
She clenches her fingers. The fierce winds condense at her fingertips, forming a piercing stream of air aimed directly at the giant's skull.
Razor winds rip through the chaos, slicing through the air and piercing the giant's ear, forming a path that leads straight to the heavens.
I'll end this, and I'll do it my way!
The air pressure suddenly plummets. You feel your heart seize up, coughing out a mouthful of dark blood.
The magic circle on the ground drains every drop of magical power from your blood, converting it into the energy that fuels the white giant. It flows through the air, beyond your control.
Struggling against the crushing pressure, you force your mouth open, trying to warn the knight of the signs you've sensed.
Hold still. We don't know what will happen yet.
The knight steps in front of you, forcing his eyes open against the blinding light. He sees Canary lift her head and call out to the giant.
Holy Death... I am your kin. Your child.
Please, I beg you, bring our tribe back to life...
She draws her bone blade, slices open her palm, and lets the final ingredient—a drop of Holy Maiden blood—fall into the circle.
Now go! Destroy every last one of our enemies!
—BOOM!!!
The magic circle erupts into flame, feeding on the tainted blood like wax. It flares up before all of you in a blazing inferno.
With a thunderous boom echoing across the sky, the giant on the horizon slowly turns their head, their gaze falling upon the ritual fire.
In a single step, they crosse hundreds of miles of scorched wilderness and stand before the blood pool. Then they bend down toward the girl.
The giant pale hand lowers toward the ground again. Canary lifts her arms with reverence and runs to meet them.
Ah... Holy God... I've waited so long for this day...
Her expression is filled with pure, blissful devotion, the kind that's ready to die.
I've endured everything to reach this moment. Please... I beg you...
Take us away from this sea of suffering...!
She charges toward the giant palm, tears streaming down her face, but just before she can reach it, the hand withdraws.
She stops cold, frozen in disbelief. The giant says nothing. They simply rise to their feet and stand motionless.
W-why... the divine oracle promised...
The blood pooled in the altar slowly burns away. The ritual flames flicker and begin to fade.
When the fire finally dies, the silver-haired knight emerges from the smoke, supporting you. Both of you are stained with blood.
...Wanshi.
The giant kneels. A girl with black wings sits on their shoulder. As the giant lowers themselves, she is revealed to the two standing below.
Her voice is both airy and overwhelming, like a divine proclamation. Each word strikes with the weight of a hammer.
The chains that bound your heart snap. You exhale sharply, regaining control of your own power.
Wanshi, as if expecting this, releases you and steps forward alone.
...Who are you?
My name is Uriel. I serve under the Cardinal Deity as one of the Four Archangels.
You are the Holy Son. I have come to awaken your true memory.
Uriel leans forward, speaking as if from a towering throne high above. The giant beneath her blocks out half the crimson sky.
Holy Son. Are you prepared to remember everything?
Wanshi turns his head to look behind him.
You pull what little blood remains into condensed bullets and step up beside Wanshi.
You and the silver-haired knight stand together, answering the giant presence before you with calm voices.
Why do you call me the Holy Son? Why are you looking for me?
All I want is to understand why this world is filled with plague and suffering.
"Suffering"?
Her face shows confusion, but no mockery.
Holy Son, have you forgotten your first mission?
This world's order exists only because humanity brought this fate upon itself.
...So you've prepared a different kind of truth. Just for me?
Uriel gives no reply. Instead, she simply spreads her hands once more toward the person below her.
I cannot tell you the answer. This is the truth you must see for yourself.
But... if I am not mistaken, you have always carried many questions about who you are.
The answers you've been searching for, the memories you can't retrieve... they're just ahead.
The giant opens their hand, flattening their palm like a platform and placing it before the two of you.
Step onto the platform. I will guide you to the end of your search.
All your questions will be answered within the "amber."
...
Suddenly, a warm, steady hand presses against Wanshi's back.
Your hand seems to channel strength into Wanshi in delicate threads, flowing through his body and into every branch and vein.
The branches and veins surge uncontrollably toward the giant. Wanshi begins to walk, side by side with you.
This time, the giant's palm doesn't pull away. It holds you steady in its grasp.
The giant rises slowly, and the ground trembles beneath them.
—CLANG!
A shattered bone blade is tossed into the air, spins once in the palm, then lands at your feet.
Why... Why?!
The god we summoned by pouring in the last of our tribe's bloodline—why would it grovel before such vile outsiders?!
Liars... the Sanctuary, humans—you're all liars!
Canary stands on the ground, roaring in the direction where you departed.
I won't forgive you. Neither will Haruka<//tribespeople>.
Not in a hundred years, not in a thousand!
Mark my words! One day, someone will carry out the revenge I couldn't. You won't get to live out your days in peace!
Clad in a gray-black cloak, you pick up the dagger from the giant's palm, then quietly look away.
Canary...
This isn't over. We'll come back, and we'll bring the truth with us.
Through the gaps between the fingers, the world seems to rise higher. The giant takes a few heavy steps, then stops in front of the tree.
Where the placental sac used to be, a massive, blood-red amber now pulses gently, like it's breathing.
The giant flattens their palm, spreading their fingers to form a path, inviting you forward.
No one but the Holy Son is allowed to witness the true history from above.
But if this is what the Holy Son wishes, then I will obey.
Let's go.
You and the silver-haired knight walk side by side into the heart of the pulsing crimson.
