Endless darkness.
Reilo felt weightless, like a homeless soul wandering through a directionless realm of darkness.
Loneliness, the unknown, fear.
"Is anyone there?"
Is anyone there? Anyone there, anyone there, anyone there...
"Hey!"
Hey! Hey, hey, hey...
Reilo kept shouting, but only his own echo answered. He walked a long way forward, yet couldn't find a single landmark or tell where the echoes came from.
He didn't know how long had passed. It felt like months.
Gradually, Reilo thought he saw a white speck of light in the distance. In this lifeless darkness, it stood out like nothing else.
Like a traveler dying of thirst in the desert who had spotted an oasis, Reilo rushed toward it without hesitation. When he drew near, he saw that it was a mass of milky-white flame.
Strange visions flickered at the tip of the flame, like fragments of someone's memories.
"Who are you?"
Reilo asked tentatively. In the pitch-black space, he couldn't even see what he looked like.
After a long while, the white light showed no response.
Mustering his courage, Reilo moved closer and tried reaching out. In the glow of the milky-white light, he saw his hand: pure black, without a single discernible detail.
Yet Reilo seemed unsurprised, accepting it as naturally as something in a dream.
Reilo's fingertips crept closer and closer to the milky-white flame.
Whoosh!
The instant Reilo's fingertips were about to touch the flame, it burst into a blinding radiance, as if it would illuminate the entire space.
Amid the endless milky whiteness, Reilo's tiny black silhouette was like a candle flickering in a gale, on the verge of going out, leaving behind only a faint shadow.
The memory fragments at the tip of the flame spread along with its milky-white glow.
"This place will never be our home!"
Gradually, the milky-white light began to dim. As an angry roar rang out, Reilo watched everything unfold before him like a cold, detached onlooker.
"This is..."
Reilo calmly gazed at what lay before him, like a soul stripped of emotion.
The boundless expanse of outer space rippled with a tremendous disturbance, the nearby void wavering like water.
Then—
A grayish crack slowly opened at the center of the spatial ripples. It grew wider and wider, as if something inside was forcing its way out.
Crack, crack, crack!
The sound of space breaking drew in drifting light and meteorites from the surrounding void. Amid a fantastical azure radiance, an impossibly vast metal castle squeezed through the rift and floated in the boundless darkness of space.
Countless people moved through the metal castle. Most wore one of two kinds of clothing.
Some wore pale golden armor, their expressions stern beneath their metal helmets, like members of a strictly disciplined army. Others wore loose gray robes, with a mysterious six-pointed star emblazoned on their backs, apparently a family crest.
At the top of the metal castle, several powerful figures gazed down at the strange world in the distant void.
It was a gigantic planet, its outer surface wrapped in dense meteorites, accompanied by a strange moon that gave off a faint reddish glow.
"This is the new world we discovered. The Faith Power refracting and scattering through the nearby void can be sensed from here, flickering like a beacon and marking it against the backdrop of the Cosmic Starry Sky. No explorers have yet descended to its surface, but its atmosphere is wrapped in dense meteorites, making it difficult for starlight to penetrate. We therefore believe its laws should consign it to eternal night. For now, we'll name it Night's Veil World."
A family member in a flowing robe analyzed the situation calmly.
"Faith Power?"
The general from the military department scoffed, flanked by disciplined soldiers of light.
"Hmph. Who knows how much Faith Power this world's god has amassed—or whether it's as terrifying as those prehistoric alien races!"
"Ever since we mastered Space-Time Channel technology, we've been exploring the nearby void, making contact with civilizations in unknown worlds and trying to trade for better resources. Unfortunately, our space exploration technology is still in its early stages. The indigenous creatures in the few worlds we've discovered have all been rather hostile toward us."
"That's only to be expected. Civilizations born in worlds with different rules, backgrounds, and cultures are bound to greet strange visitors from another world with suspicion and fear."
Everything aboard the metal castle spoke of power, civilization, reason, discipline, and order.
"Make every effort to establish peaceful relations. At the same time, analyze this world's high-energy resources and advanced life forms as quickly as possible, record the data in the Star Core, and send it back to Orora World. If they refuse peaceful contact, determine whether they're worth conquering by force!"
Rumble, rumble!
At last, the metal castle crossed the endless void and broke through the meteorite barrier around the strange world, entering its atmosphere.
"Hm? It isn't night!"
Someone muttered in surprise upon discovering that it was actually daytime within the atmosphere.
Beep, beep, beep, beep!
Alert! Alert! Alert!
Enveloped by unknown laws and order, affected by an unknown Energy Magnetic Field, energy propulsion system malfunctioning, Anti-gravity field escape failed, spatial barrier breach failed, distress signal transmission failed. Affected by the world's gravity, the Void Fortress is about to crash. All units, prepare for an emergency landing. Countdown: 664, 663, 662...
Deprived of power, the metal castle blazed like a colossal fireball as it scraped against the atmosphere. With a series of muffled rumbles, it plummeted from the sky toward the vast, desolate continent below.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
The earth-shattering impact sent dust billowing into the sky like a colossal mushroom cloud.
The impact shattered the metal castle, sending chunks of rock soaring like fireworks before raining down again. Each fragment blazed with crimson fire as it fell across a corner of the barren continent. Countless primitive creatures were wiped out in an instant by the shock waves. This catastrophic upheaval stirred the civilizations nearby.
Inside the metal castle, casualties mounted and chaos reigned.
"Star Core, analyze!"
Amid the unprecedented disaster, one of the space exploration technicians almost roared the command.
"Beep, beep, beep! An unknown magnetic field from Night's Veil Moon has reflected an unlimited number of times between Night's Veil World and the meteorite barrier. The Void Fortress's propulsion system, designed according to the laws of Orora World, has failed. Evacuate the magnetic-field barrier of Night's Veil World as soon as possible and contact Orora World."
Everyone's faces turned ashen.
"This isn't Night's Veil World at all. It's Star Curtain World, a place sealed off from the rest of the universe by a meteorite layer!"
In this world of strange laws, they were subjected to an immense, unimaginable pressure and repulsive force. At the same time, the entire world seemed like a giant magnet, pulling them in.
Escaping the world's magnetic-field barrier by their own strength was simply impossible!
The powerful Gulan Civilization had endured for more than ten thousand years in a corner of this desolate continent.
In that barren corner of the vast continent, the Gulan Civilization enslaved Dwarves to forge the finest weapons, captured Elves and gouged out their most beautiful eyes as totem offerings, and forced Gnomes to build magnificent Magic Eye Pyramids...
Until one day.
A huge metal castle, trailing billows of smoke and blazing with crimson fire, fell from the azure sky. A group of strange creatures calling themselves humans had entered this world.
They always gazed at the moon in terror and kept trying to fly higher into the sky. They could barely adapt to anything in this world.
They claimed to come from a place called Orora World and possessed incomprehensibly powerful abilities. After losing the means to return, they fell into despair, and divisions gradually emerged among them.
The six-pointed-star humans, wielding terrifying strength, relentlessly exterminated the surrounding native tribes, plundered their resources, and searched for a way back to Orora World.
The armored warriors, after suffering one failure after another, gave up trying to return. They began to stop the six-pointed-star humans from carrying out their genocidal slaughter, and even joined forces with the neighboring alien tribes to wage a prolonged war against them in that barren corner of the continent!
The six-pointed-star family's warriors roared furiously, "You traitors! You dare to hide here and indulge yourselves, escaping the constraints of the family rules!"
The golden-armored warriors stood their ground. "You've waged a horrific war of extermination, abandoning all humanity. The endless vengeance of this world's native creatures will eventually destroy us!"
Time passed, and the killing continued.
Hatred buried everything.
"Burn those evil Witchers, and let the world remain forever in light, justice, and order!"
Like a rat lurking in the shadows, a member of the six-pointed-star family took the spaceship's central information Star Core and gazed at the stars in the night sky, roaring in despair: "This place will never be our home!"
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