Aren raises his brow when he sees a brick grave. Just why is there a grave out of nowhere here? He knocks on it. "Is something in there?"

When he hears muffled screams, Aren steps closer to listen. The sounds are rather familiar. He takes a deep breath. Naughty is in there, isn't? It's impressive that his younger brother is able to trap a god.

"How do I break this?" Aren sighs. The magic is rather strong. It will take a long time to break this thing. He wonders if Ari is also here. He should look for Ari first.

Aren takes a step away from the grave, not bothering with the god anymore. When he hears his muffled pleadings, he stops and releases his breath. How long would it take to find Ari in this place? Having a god by his side would be better.

"Don't cry." Aren furrows his brows and puts his hand on the grave. "I am going to take you out of here."

He doesn't notice a woman standing around twenty feet away from him, watching him conjuring the fire.

Karma purses her lips and clasps her hands behind her back. Her eyes become darker, filling with indifference. This world has been bothering her for a while. Bad. Good. So many people owe each other and the karma accumulations have surpassed her patience. The gods haven't been doing a good job. It has to be reset before she could move to the next world. She did warn the Renasir.

All the chess pieces will be gathered soon. Then, she will begin her judgment.

***

Noras raises his head and looks up at the sky. It's bright, clear, and unchanging. The leaves of the tree have turned black and shrunk. The grass has turned yellow and dry. At the seam of the small dimension, there are large tears. However, the small house is still intact.

He steps toward the quiet cottage. As he gets closer, he sees some toys on the porch. He stops in his track when a pale girl with long dark wavy hair comes out. She looks to be about twelve or thirteen. Her golden eyes stand out the most.

"I won't leave." Kresi says to him quietly, "I have no interest in getting reincarnated."

The souls of the children who died in Belan were taken to this small space created by one of the children. This place, in reality, is nothing but an illusion. This place is a small place between life and afterlife. This place is meant to be a resting place for the souls before they could reincarnate, but it's never meant to be their homes.

"You are the only one here?" Noras can't sense any other soul inside. "The souls must have gone back to Iravan."

Kresi doesn't answer him. He looks familiar to her. A distant memory emerges in her head. When she was young, her mother taught her the names of the thirteen gods. One of them was the god of light. She snickers. "It's you, King of Gods and Mortals, Noras."

Her tone is rather insulting. However, Noras doesn't take it to his heart. Children are often testing adults. Besides, he could see it in her eyes. She has suffered a lot -- even in her afterlife.

Staying here even after her friends were gone… It speaks a lot.

"Can I take a seat?" He asks her with a solemn voice.

"If I say no, would you leave?" Kresi spits the words at him. "Of all the gods, I hate you the most. I don't want your unholy feet inside my home."

It's his holy fire that killed her family right in front of her. The fire… She will never forget it. She grew up while she was being hunted.

***

After Shayera brought her here, everything was fine for a while. It was peaceful. Not everyone had realized that they had died. But the truth couldn't be hidden for long. They eventually noticed that Gabriel had stopped visiting. Mirai and Pebby were missing. Quinn was nowhere to be seen. Aeline was also gone. Whenever they reached the end of the forest, they would find themselves back in the cottage. Some of them remembered their deaths.

Shayera had to tell the truth to everyone. Even Rui finally understood what death meant. After that, all of them decided to stay the way they used to. They were family.

Then, the guides started coming here.

One by one, they began to disappear. Maybe they were getting tired of living every day in this fake heaven that Shayera created. Shayera accepted it. She also sent Rui away. In the end, it was only Shayera and Kresi left in the house. One day, Shayera asked her to reincarnate with her.

"They said that Iravan is not the same anymore." Shayera had told her, "We will not have any bad memory. We can start anew. You and I will meet again. Kresi, please come with me."

Due to karmic reasons, all the children had to go back to Iravan. The soul guides had shown them that the children were reborn in a good family. They were living a happy life. However, Kresi didn't want to go back to that world she hated the most. Everyone could forget, but she couldn't. Everyone including Shayera died because of her.

When the soul guide came again, Shayera was ready to leave. Kresi watched her hold the guide's hand. Then, Shayera turned around and looked at her. "Kresi, aren't you coming?"

Kresi smiled at her. "I hope that there's only happiness in this life, Shayera."

Shayera widened her eyes when she realized that she had been tricked. She tried to jerk off the soul guide's hand. However, the decision had been made and it couldn't be changed. In the next instant, both the guide and the soul were gone.

Since then, Kresi was living in that house alone.

***

Unholy?

This is the first time someone called him unholy.

Noras stays still on the spot. He hasn't realized that he would be hated to this extent by someone. Then again, this is the harbinger of the dark god. He didn't want to agitate this soul.

However, the hatred in her eyes raises the hair on his skin. It reminds him of Amara. That mortal had destroyed nearly destroyed the world using the Dark God. If he takes her now, he has to give her a body for the trial. She won't forget her past life. A mortal like her is dangerous. Instead of taking this grudging soul with him, he should go back.

As he turns around, words of the dark god pop up in his head again. Amara became like this because of a wrong judgment made by him. That started everything. Everyone including him paid a price in that war. Did Adira only become a prisoner? No. He and the other gods had to sleep for more than ten thousand years.

This child also became like this because of his wrong judgment.

"Your name is Kresi, isn't?" Noras looks at the girl. His wrong judgment took away Amara's lover's life. But he had never met this girl before. "Why do you hate me?"

He dares to ask this question. Isn't he a god? Kresi fists her hands as all the memories resurface in her head. "Have you lost your home? Have you seen your world getting burned right before your eyes? That happened to me. Your holy fire burned all of them right in front of my eyes. Is reincarnation enough? Dying and getting reborn in good families? Does it change what happened to us? Why did you create such a world where the cursed children were hated like that?"

The dark ehr was corrupted. It could infect and control the dark ehr wielders. It was the reason why they were hunted down and killed. Noras exhales. He understands the child, but there's nothing that he could have done back then. "Child, good and bad times are a part of life. Death is an absolute truth in a mortal's life. I am sure that you know why the cursed children were hated and killed like that. It wasn't their fault, but it couldn't be helped. I heard that you were the daughter of the previous Renasir. Surely, you understand. Your mother has also reincarnated somewhere. If you want, I can take you to her."

Take her to her so-called mother? Kresi laughs. "Are you sure that you want to take me to her?"

It's not a good idea. But he's trying to lure her. Mortals are usually attached to their mothers. Noras gives her a nod. "She won't remember her past life. But I can let you see her for a moment."

Let her see her mother for a moment? Kresi shakes her head. "You are worse than how I imagined you."

He creases his forehead. He's losing his patience with this girl. She keeps taunting him. "Kresira Mirin, do you know that I don't need your permission to take you with me?"

"Is that right?" The corner of her lips curls up into a chilling smile. "You could do that. After all, you are a god. Mortals like me have to follow the words of gods. But I am curious why does the god of light suddenly remembers an insignificant mortal like me?"