Hello darkness.

Was what Adrian would’ve said if he could as his soul floated in the endless darkness that surrounded him from all angles.

Unlike when he was first here, he couldn’t talk or even move, it just felt as if he was laying on his back and floating down a river.

A river of darkness.

And yet, he felt so very calm right. No, that wasn’t quite right.

Rather than calm, it would be more accurate to say that he felt nothing at all. Of course he remembered what just happened and he was certain that he was dead.

But even then, he felt nothing.

Even though he wanted to be angry, it was as if he had forgotten how to feel the emotion or any other emotion.

He just continued floating through the darkness, completely at peace.

Adrian had no idea what would happen from the moment on, was he finally going to face judgement?

Would he finally find out that there was a heaven and hell all along?

Or would he just endlessly float in this darkness?

Well, he didn’t have to guess for long, because the next second, he felt a force pulling him towards a certain direction.

Adrian couldn’t fight it anyway, so he just let himself continue being pulled and after what felt like an eternity, he finally noticed a beam of white light ahead.

The light grew bigger as the seconds passed, or rather, he was getting closer to whatever that was.

Before he fully comprehended what was going on, he went through the light and the dark void immediately transformed into a void of whiteness.

He finally slowed down and soon realized that he had been granted control of his limbs again.

"What now?" Adrian muttered as he looked around, it seems he could finally speak again.

The only difference was that he was still completely calm, unable to actually express any kind of emotion.

As if an answer to his question, he felt himself being pulled downwards, but a lot gentler this time.

He continued falling for a while before it was suddenly cushioned... literally.

It felt as if he had just landed on a bed of something impossibly soft.

Surprised, he looked down and that’s when he noticed what he was sitting on.

Dolls?

Actual hand stitched dolls, and the strangest part was, most dolls here looked familiar, there was one with golden hair that had an uncanny resemblance to the prince.

There was even one with white hair that had her hand stitched to an unfinished one dressed as he normally did.

But the strangest of all the dolls was one that didn’t seem to have any facial features, save for the smile stitched to it.

For some reason, he felt as if he had seen that creepy looking doll before, but he just couldn’t remember where.

But before he could try and recall,

"Ah," A voice suddenly pulled his attention from the dolls, "I-I didn’t have time to clean up before pulling you here, I hope you don’t mind."

Adrian looked towards the speaker only to freeze, slowly, he called out in question, "Isla?"

Yes, the person before him was a girl that looked no older than twelve, with a head full of white hair and eyes that were a mix of multiple colors that all seemed to blend perfectly together.

There was no mistaking it.

"Hmm?" The girl seemed a bit confused by the name she was addressed as before realization dawned on her, and she shook her head, "no, I’m Avera."

Avera?

The same name as the world’s?

"Hmm," the girl, Avera, nodded, "that’s because I am the world itself."

Adrian stared at her in silence for a few seconds, his expression not changing in the slightest despite the fact that she could read his mind, and the absurdity of what he had just heard.

"I see," he finally said.

"You’re taking this better than I expected," she muttered.

"I don’t think I have much of a choice," Adrian replied calmly, his gaze moving from her back to the dolls beneath him, "and even if I did, I don’t think I can react properly right now."

"Ah... right," Avera nodded, clasping her hands together behind her back, "that’s my fault."

She took a small step towards him, her bare feet making no sound as they touched the endless white.

"I had to strip away most of your emotional interference to stabilize your soul when I pulled you in," she explained, "if I didn’t, you would’ve shattered on the way here."

Adrian glanced back at her again before he asked, "so I’m dead."

"Yes," she answered without hesitation.

"What happens now?" He asked after a moment of silence.

"For now?" Avera looked at him for a short while before smiling, "what would you like to drink?"

"..." Adrian silently looked at her, without saying anything.

"What?" She asked, seeing the look he was giving him, "it’s not everyday I get the chance to meet a visitor, much less my chosen champion."

"Champion?" He asked again, noticing how she said the word.

"I haven’t explained yet, have I?" She moved closer again, stopping just a few feet away from him, "you see, I was the one that summoned you to my world."

"Or rather, brought you back."

"So I wasn’t randomly selected for reincarnation?" He asked calmly, already knowing the answer to that.

"No," Avera shook her head, "I chose you because you were the most fitting and also...."

She suddenly trailed οff, stopping whatever else she was about to say before shaking her head and muttering, "not yet."

"I see," Adrian nodded looking directly at her, "then why am I considered your champion?"

"I can’t say much right now, since even a mention of their name would alert them," Avera answered, "but what do you think happened to me after the end of the manhwa you read?"

"The protagonists lived happily ever after?" Adrian answered without much thought, after all, that was how all such stories ended.

As if it was some type of fairytale.

"No," Avera shook her head and the white void around them suddenly transform, "this is what happened."

Surrounding them now was a destroyed world, one that barely resembled the Avera Adrian knew.

Corpses were scattered everywhere, both of beasts and human, and cities seemed to have long fallen.

In all, it was a sight of absolute destruction, and the only one ’standing’ was the Prince that had his golden sword, Excalibur, stabbed into the ground, supporting him.

"The corrupted beasts and spirits won?" Adrian asked, looking at the scene in front of him.

"No," again, Avera shook her head before pointing upwards, "they finally arrived."

Following her finger, Adrian looked up, and floating in a fractured sky were beings made completely of light, so much so, their forms couldn’t be made out.

"This is why I summoned you," Avera said, "to help prevent this future."