Wake up. A voice echoed in his head. At times, it was soft, at others, it was louder, but none of them had seemed this persistent until the red glow broke the endless expanse of darkness. For the longest length of time, he had wandered around the dark, looking and staring at the others like him. Some of them were emulating his actions, walking and staring at the world around them, unable to make any noise.

Others dug endlessly at the land, unearthing what looked like little jewels that vanished after a few seconds. Even more people, whose features were blurred out, were writing something in mid-air with black liquid from their fingers. Within the hearts of some of them were small golden flames, and over the course of the teenager’s languid observation, these flames grew smaller and smaller over time.

The teenager shook his head as he watched a particularly large group of people draw an elaborate circle, as though as they wanted to use it to block out the red glow above their heads.

Wake up. The voice echoed in his head, but unlike the previous echoes, the words continued to repeat in rapid succession, and he bent over. O Hero, your atonement is not over yet.

Atonement? The teenager clutched at his head and knelt down, but none of the shadows cared about his abnormality. Yes…I’m not done yet. I will never be done.

In that case, what are you waiting for? A gentle voice spoke in his mind. If you are at peace, even in the depths of oblivion will you be content. Get back up. And see for yourself what you can do.

When he finally stood back up, the teenager was in a new place. Here, thousands of men and women were filing up together, their destination a small gate that reminded him of the torii at Japanese shrines. As they stepped across the gate, their heads vanished, replaced by a skull with glowing eyes. He stared at a pair who had just stepped across one of the thousand-plus gates, and then shuddered.

No…this is wrong. If I follow them…I can sense it! I cannot step across this gate. Now, there is something else I can do to get out of this place. There has to be! The teenager stared at the gates, but before he could wrench his body away from the alluring promises it made, a red comet streaked through the red-hued darkness.

And from it, he could sense a power that he’d forgotten about.

Divinity. Shocked, he looked down at himself, and saw a golden hue that encapsulated his entire body, burning bright enough to chase away the looming darkness. He could sense a channel back, where his will burnt brilliantly enough to link the him here and the real him together.

The teenager smiled. He opened his mouth, and felt the pain in his throat, the cold air trying to prevent him from speaking. But under the illumination of the red sky, he was able to funnel strength towards speaking.

“I am…Gemini. And my work is not yet done.” He looked at the staggeringly long rows of people who were lining up, as their eyes all turned to his now-shining body, which began to flicker in and out of existence. All manner of wounds began to return to his body…or rather, spirit. Giant lacerations that ran from shoulder to hip opened up, while flesh began to drop from his legs and hands, turning to wisps of smoke that danced in the dark.

The hero looked up at the dark sky, while sensing the increasingly-covetous looks the ones who were lining up sent his way. None of them moved; probably for fear that their place in the queue was hijacked, but as a solid pillar of gold light surrounded Gemini, all hell began to break loose. Hundreds of shadows sprinted towards him, their malicious intent causing ripples in the golden screen itself as the darkness receded from their faces long enough for Gemini to see.

They yearn for life too. Which is why they sought out any means of returning. Gemini thought back to the words that had echoed in his mind earlier. These people are those who are not at peace, those who seek out one more chance… The shadows began to batter at the pillar of light, but that was all they could do.

His eyes lingered on the torii. Who was behind this entire setup the hero had no idea, but at the very least, he would protect as many as he could once he returned. Not as a chosen of the Human God, but as someone seeking to make up for all the sins he’d committed under such a title.

Gemini closed his eyes as the last wound finally opened on his spirit. He could feel the pull from his true body now. Something had masked it, alongside his memories, but the abnormal red glow probably did something to dispel such an effect.

With a jerk, Gemini felt his body hauled up by his own will. Sounds of water running entered his ears, which was quickly replaced by the whistling of the wind as he vaguely felt an increase in speed. His eyes were closed the entire time — the hero felt that going against his instincts was a very bad idea at this juncture — but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t try to keep track of his surroundings.

It wasn’t going well, however. Time was a non-factor to the dead, if Gemini were to believe his senses. After what felt like days, the rushing sounds began to fade, but before Gemini could do anything else, something like a wall slammed into him, and he opened his eyes.

A solid wall of brown greeted his eyes. As it turned out, his entire body had been entombed in soil…his true body, that was. The clone he was using the entire time had probably been destroyed, from the sheer amount of power and from the activation of his Supernova Skill.

I wonder if everyone made it out safely…He tried to rub his nose, only to realise that his body was literally incapable of moving. A Paragon’s body was strong enough that not breathing, eating or drinking for months was not something impossible, but the rumbling from his stomach was a clear indicator that things weren’t going all that well.

Digging up whatever power he had left, the hero emitted a shockwave of energy from his body, and climbed out from the subsequent passage he’d created.

Spitting out some soil, and taking in the scent of fresh air, the hero looked around and frowned. Sure, he couldn’t remember where he hid his true body previously, but he was quite sure he didn’t bury it in an area of blood-red soil. A red star glinted as he dusted sand off himself, vanishing over the horizon a minute or two later.

Where the hell am I? The hero looked around, and after a few minutes, decided to head towards a cluster of rising smoke, long and dense enough that human activity was probably ongoing. Against the sky, which was tinted with an odd red, it was eye-catching enough that the hero couldn’t have thought of another direction to head in anyway.