The sirens were still screaming when the world went white.
Onyx barely had time to turn his head before the sky split in two. Heat swallowed him whole. Bone, breath, and thought vanished in the blink of an eye—no pain, no sound—just the cold silence of death.
And then... something else.
He opened his eyes to a vast, endless field of snow. No sun. No sky. Just silver ice, stretching in every direction, beneath an eternal aurora that twisted like a slow, dying storm. Onyx was naked, but he didn't feel cold. He didn't feel anything.
Except watched.
"You did not scream," a voice echoed—not in the air, but in the marrow of his bones. It was deep and brittle, like an avalanche that had lived too long.
A figure stepped forward. Towering. Cloaked in rags of frozen shadow, eyes like shattered moons glowing beneath a hood. His breath turned the air to crystal.
"I am the Frozen Watcher," the being said. "Once servant of God, now forgotten by all. And you, Onyx, shall be my new servant."
"Why me?" Onyx asked, without flinching.
"Because you died pure," the Watcher answered. "Innocent of sin. Unclaimed by Heaven or Hell. Unburdened by guilt. Yours is a soul unshaped—malleable, free."
A portal cracked open beneath Onyx's feet, a spinning void of frozen blue and black. "I will send you to Mirdo, a realm of gods, apostles, beasts, and stories long erased from your Earth. There, you will be reborn as the child of death and madness—born of a mother who has lost all life... and a father who has lost all sense."
A sharp chime echoed.
A transparent window appeared before Onyx, hovering in the air:
[ WATCHER SYSTEM ONLINE ]Servant: ONYXLevel: 1Blessing: Frozen SoulQuests Pending: 1
Enter the world of Mirdo. Survive.
"You will grow by my will," the Watcher said. "Slay beasts, complete tasks, and earn power. Your journey begins in blood, but ends—should you survive—with divinity."
The wind rose, howling like broken violins.
"Do you accept, Onyx?"
The boy nodded once.
"I do."