Echoes of the Fractured God

In a dark room barely lit by a small oil lamp stood a man of short stature. The shadow of his large hood obscured his visage.

A wavering figure coiled in the lamp's trembling glow, its silent contortions seeming to whisper towards the hooded man, who stood still as stone beneath the weight of his robe – a statue watching a phantom dance.

Slowly, the figure wavered, then slipped into the shadows, vanishing without a trace. The man remained still, as if rooted in thought, digesting whatever message had just been passed between them.

Meanwhile, Nyxir had landed in the dark world and was drawing divine energy into himself, strengthening his soul. He had decided to try could draw divine energy into himself after discovering he could practice faster in the dark world, and luckily, it worked, which left him thrilled as well as a bit surprised.

He already knew his current form was his soul, which he had transferred his consciousness into before descending to the dark world. He, therefore, believed that he could train his spiritual power, which in a way is strengthening his soul. But to absorb divine energy into his soul, he never thought it was possible because divine energy majorly strengthens the physical body, while spiritual energy improves the soul's perception and strengthens the soul.

He continued to drive divine energy through his body, constantly trying to surpass his capacity limit. After some time, he felt fatigued and decided to stop training. He took a stroll through the dark world in a random direction.

He wanted to explore this empty darkness and see if he could, by any chance, come across something which he coincidentally did.

Right at the front sat a small, unmistakable white point of glowing light conspicuously standing there, it was too eye-catching to be missed in this world of total darkness, and although Nyxir could see clearly in the dark, he still could not miss such an anomaly standing at his front.

"Has this been here all along, or did it just appear?" he stood at a distance while staring at the light in amusement.

He had unconsciously believed this world to be empty and devoid of light whatsoever, despite his attempt at searching around to see if he could bump into something. And when he eventually did, his reaction was that of shock as someone who had just witnessed the impossible.

"A light in this place?" he moved towards the light slowly while carefully surveying his surroundings. The anomaly he just saw had made him raise his guard, even though he had always assumed it was extremely safe in here.

As he approached the light slowly, he saw what the object giving out light was. It was a round orb that seemed to radiate all colors and also seemed to be colorless at the same time.

"THE ESSENCE ORB!" Nyxir was shocked to see what he had just received and had placed on the table in his dorm, floating gently in the dark world.

"How did it get here?" he moved forward to get a closer look, and creases started forming on his forehead.

Orb, or rather, what seemed to be the orb, was nothing more than an illusory projection, like the moon's reflection on a lake: no matter how hard one tries to grasp it, their hand will simply pass through.

"Why is a projection of the orb here? What does it do?" Nyxir extended his hand to grab it, but only grabbed thin air as his hand passed through it.

After pondering and trying to no avail, he decided to call it quits and leave the dark world.

When Nyxir opened his eyes, he first looked towards the table at the small case that sat there motionless before sighing with relief.

'Maybe it is not because of the orb.' He thought.

For some reason, his mind went to the orb in the case that was given to him; he wondered what could have happened that would make the orb appear in the dark world.

"Wait a moment….." He paused slightly before rushing off to the table. He quickly opened the case, and his face fell.

What remained in the case was white dust as if all essence in the orb had been absorbed and its structure had collapsed.

"damn it. My intuition was correct!" he blurted out as he dipped his hand inside the case to feel the remnant of the orb.

Essence orbs are used to train magical power, and he had not even had the time to peruse it before he discovered that the orb had been reduced to dust.

Although the orb itself wasn't particularly expensive and was a consumable item, its true value lay in its rarity. It wasn't something one could simply buy with wealth, as its appearance was unpredictable, and its origin tied to elusive phenomena few ever encountered.

He stood motionless at the table, staring at the remnants of the orb. He knew what had happened to the orb, and although he was intrigued, he still could not help but think it was a loss, as he didn't know what purpose the orb served in the dark world.

But since the orb is still somehow in his possession, he knew he would soon find its use.

"I should take the time to look around." he walked towards the door and turned the handle slowly before stopping.

He looked towards his left at the corner of the room, shrugged, and opened the door, leaving the room to head outside.

Meanwhile, the shadows in the place where he looked a moment ago stirred as if they were alive before turning still.

"Hey Nyx! Right timing, come quickly."

A voice called out to him as soon as he stepped out into the field. He had memorized some of the path and important places on his way to his room, and Ivarin had also told him about the main field, which made him come out for air.

It was already nearing evening by the time he came out of his room, and he was already famished. He planned on finding something to eat, which was his primary reason for stepping out of his room; the exploration was just a convenience.

He walked towards the white haired Ivarin, ignoring the gazes fixated on him; he didn't even know why they were looking at him in the first place. All he wanted to do was to find something to eat, and as long as there was no obstruction to that, he would be fine with just their intent stare.

"What happened to you, man? You were just holed up in your room for the entire day?" Ivarin grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him towards a small tree which stood by a corner, under which some three other boys took cover from the sun.

"What are you up to now?" Nyxir frowned at Ivarin's pull and resisted slightly.

"Some people want to meet you." Ivarin grinned and winked at Nyxir, who hurriedly slapped his hand away and raised an eyebrow, prompting him to go on.

"Sigh."

"They are your new fans, you don't think you can get fans on your first day, right?" Ivarin nudged him on the shoulder and gestured with his eyes in the direction of the tree.

"What fans? What are you talking about?" Nyxir's brow furrowed further.

"Well, you know when I told you Caelia has lots of fans and they are mostly boys from my ascendance?"

"They knew Caelia was interested in you and wanted to meet the legendary guy who could make their revered queen work up." Ivarin quickly went over the details and pulled Nyxir again.

"Wait. Don't tell me you started all this?" Nyxir wriggled free of his grasp with a displeased look.

"No, it wasn't me, they just came to me and told me they wanted to meet you. Maybe it's because they have seen us together multiple times." Ivarin spread out his hand and explained.

"They are not bad, you know, if you get to know them."

"Must I go?" Nyxir asked as he moved slowly towards the tree.

He would have loved to enjoy his peace alone during his training, just like in his former life, but Ivarin was the type who loved to cling to someone he barely knew, and he could not just shut his goodwill down, after all, he is not that type of person.

As they neared the tree, the boys who were still trailing them with their eyes changed their position and smiled towards the approaching duo.

"Nice to finally meet you. Nyxir, right?" one of the guys who appeared to be the leader extended a handshake towards Nyxir.

"My name is Chris."

"Nice to meet you, too." Nyxir returned his smile and shook his head.

"You don't need to be tense with us, we are only curious about you." Chris nodded and gestured towards the other two boys.

"That guy over there is 'Dre.' And the other person is Kreal," Chris pointed towards them as he introduced.

"Hello, Dre. Hell__...." Nyxir turned towards the other person and suddenly froze as he felt a chill, his whole body tensing up in alarm.