Humans were strange creatures. Historically, they were one of the weakest creatures ever to be born in the world. At least when compared to other species that had once lived in the world. They were still stronger than small insects and animals like ants and rabbits, but in the grand scheme of things, they were just a weak species whose inherent strength could not rank in even the top ten thousand creatures of the world.

  Yet, it was also their inherent weakness that allowed them to survive the chaotic era before the Age of Gods. If they even existed at that time. The Age before the rise of the Gods and Origin Beasts was too chaotic, and too ancient for any records to survive. The only thing known about that period was that it was an Age of War and Conquest. An Age of Slaughter. And an Age of Legends.

  Giants of Edwall, Sirens of the Mist, Darkblood of the Nether, and Fighting Saints of Narhog were just a few of the countless legends passed down from those times. Whether those legends were true or not did not matter. The point was, all those legends pointed to a time when countless strong creatures roamed the world, conquering it in the name of their species, the strongest of which came to be known as Gods and Origin Beasts.

  After defeating countless enemies, and trampling over their legends, the Gods and Origin Beasts divided the world amongst themselves, marking the beginning of a new Age. Of course, the Age of Gods was not much better than the Age of Legends. For the weak, it was still an Age of Slaughter. A time, where whole species could go extinct on the mere whims of a random God or Origin Beast.

  For humans to survive such a time, their inherent weakness was one of the most important reasons. Had they not been weak, they would not have survived the purge of the Gods and the Origin Beasts, let alone garner their interest. It was their inherent weakness, and their desire for strength, which led to the Gods experimenting with them, ultimately granting them the ability to Wander the Origin Sea, and harness its powers. Rest was just common history. Or at least to those from Orthodoxies.

  As a civilian, the stories that Alnea had grown up reading were mostly about the greatness of Orthodoxies, with no mention of events prior to the time they became favoured by Gods. Even of that time, the stories focused mostly on the Orthodoxies themselves, and the sacrifices they made for the rise of humans. Things that could not glorify their image had no use being disseminated to the masses, it seemed. The Orthodoxies…

  Regardless of what the Orthodoxies propagated, the truth was that it was the inherent weakness of humans that allowed them to survive the ravages of time, giving them enough space and time to walk step by step towards the peak of the world, and create their own Age. In contrast, the myths and legends that once used to roam the world, and even dare to fight against the Gods and Origin Beasts, were swept away by the river of time, erasing all of their traces in the world.

  Given their past, and the path they had walked, Alnea thought that the most obvious choice for humans back then would have been to continue to unite with the other races, and learn from each other’s strengths to cover each other’s weakness. That was how they had gained their strength and status in the first place. By constantly striving to move forward, and making up for their shortcomings.

  Yet, the moment that Gods and Origin Beasts left the world, humans began to declare themselves as the king of the world, conquering one territory after another, slaughtering all those who stood in their way, forgetting that not long ago, they used to be the same as those myriads of races. Then again, they even dared to point swords at each other’s throats. Slaughtering other races should not seem too surprising.

  Rather, in comparison to fighting other races, they preferred to fight amongst themselves. Their thirst for power was so strong, that they did not stop even after the Thralls were practically knocking on their doors. It was not until they felt the threat of annihilation, that they let go of their differences, and came together to meet their enemies. Even then, they did not stop playing tricks against each other, trying to draw more benefits to themselves.

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  …No matter how many times he thought about it, Alnea could not understand what his ancestors were thinking about. Rather than learning lessons from their past, they preferred to make the same mistakes as those who had been swept away by the waves of time. How could a race be so pure and tenacious, yet so rigid and foolish at the same time?

  Humans… They truly were strange creatures. Funny, even. No matter how complicated they were though, Alnea was not qualified to say anything about them. He too was a human, after all. And just like his forefathers, he too refused to learn from his past. At least that was the case a few days ago. Not anymore.

  Standing in the empty, white world—Mirror World, Alnea looked at the shadow squirming on the ground in front of him. Unlike the shadows he usually faced in the Mirror World, the shadow in front of him did not have any obvious shape. It just spread on the ground, like a mass of black ink, almost like a normal shadow. Except, it was not. Normal shadows did not form on their own. And they certainly did not have inky black masses bubbling out of them. Yet, despite the strange appearance of the shadow, Alnea did not show any signs of surprise. And rightfully so.

  “Why are you staring at your Heart Shadow?”

  Alnea paused in his thoughts, as a wide smile spread out from his Heart, and made its way to his face. Tearing his eyes away from the shadow, he turned towards his left, and found the source of the voice that had broken him away from his thought. A young girl, dressed in all white, just like the world around them. Yet, bright as the world was, it could never hide her shine. Especially those of her eyes.

  “I was waiting for you.”

  “…Were you waiting for me, or were you waiting to see the Shadow of my Heart?” Yuri said, with the corner of her lips raising upward in a smirk. “Give up. Unless you defeat the Shadow of your Heart, I will not let you see the Shadow of my Heart.”

  “I have already faced, and accepted my Heart,” Alnea said, turning back towards the shadow with a confident grin on his face. “It is only a matter of time before I defeat it.”

  “You have been saying that for a week.”

  Losing the grin from his face, Alnea turned his stiff face back towards Yuri, and said, “This time is different.”

  “And how, may I ask?”

  “…I gained a few things in the Advanced Arcanist Trials yesterday.”

  “…Have you started learning how to hide things from me now?”

  “If I had told you, then I would not have been able to give you this surprise, would I?”

  “…That is a good reason. But your surprise also needs to be just as good if you want that reason to hold.”

  “…Step back,” Alnea said, as he turned back towards the shadow with a solemn face. Taking a deep breath, he squatted down, and dipped his right hand into the squirming black mass on the ground, causing it to boil with an even greater fervour. Noticing the change in the shadow, he then quickly withdrew his hand, and retreated a few steps back. But that did not stop the changes in the shadow.

  Rather, as Alnea retreated away from the shadow, it became even more volatile and aggressive than before. From just bubbling on the ground, the small inky black blobs of shadow began to jump into the air, leaving behind trails of inky black mass following behind them, that solidified as soon as they came into contact with air. And as the blobs fell down, they used their solidified trails as a base to jump even higher, almost reaching his height at their zenith, before finally coming to a stop.

  It was just that the trails they had left behind had already solidified, so when they stopped, the blobs of shadow came to a rest on their solidified trails, and not the ground, forming a rough outline of a humanoid. The outline was too rough though, so the shadow squirmed yet again, expanding out horizontally, filling up the missing gaps in the outline, and contracting where it needed to create a gap, coming to a stop only when the outline had been transformed into the shape of a human.

  However, the shadow had yet to complete its transformation. At the moment, it was still just a simple Shadow, making it no different from the other Shadows in the Mirror World. For it to become the Shadow of his Heart, it had to assume the shape of his Heart. And so, it did, digging out from within itself what it had copied from him earlier, assuming the shape and form a girl.