Beyond Cloudfall - Chapter 1

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Retranslation

Once, on the day that I lost everything…

I met my dragon.

The Arbiter: The has been judged! All greed and wickedness shall perish. May the King and the Sacred Judicator always protect Philos!

The Arbiter: The Sorceress has been judged! All greed and wickedness shall perish. May the King and the Sacred Judicator always protect Philos!

MC: !

Blood-red rain drips into my eyes, then flows into gurgling rivulets at the bottom of the Abyss.

Through my blurry vision, lightning tears through the heavy night in the sky above Philos.

MC: I don’t want to die here….

Darkness encroaches from the edges of my vision spreading toward its center. In an increasingly world, the Wanderers’ claws glint coldly as they descend.

MC: (I refuse to accept this….)

There’s no way to avoid it.

MC: (...I refuse to accept this!!!)

??? I like your eyes.

??? Very beautiful… These eyes are inscribed full of hatred, defiance, and a greed for life.

---

The wind stops. Time seems to be tightly clutched by an incorporeal hand. I heavily close my eyes, and then, with great effort, reopen them again.

White light flashes across an ancient cliff wall, revealing the shadow of an enormous horned beast.

MC: This is…!

Iron chains are tightly twisted around its wings—if not for the greatsword embedded in its chest, its towering, massive body would practically blend in with the rock wall.

??: If you want to live on, then make a deal with me.

??: Pull out this sword.

MC: (The Evil Demon….. really exists…?)

?? You don’t have any time left to ask questions.

The next moment, the stagnated air resumes flowing, a rancid wind rolls forward, and the previously frozen Wanderer once more charges at me.

Defiance and furious indignation make me instinctively raise both hands, turning to firmly grasp the rust-stained sword—

I want to live on…

MC: Regardless…of the price that has to be paid!

The instant it’s pulled out, rust melts away, and the greatsword transforms into light that surges into my body, entangled with a strand of black and red mist.

In the chaos, wings flap, suddenly stirring up fierce winds and sand.

I’m thrown onto the shattered rocks, and through my increasingly blurry gaze, all I can see is a single dark red, gem-like eye.

Enormous wings, like Doomsday’s shadow, sweep across Philos’s lands and cities.

---

That day, the young woman who originally should have been executed released the Evil Demon from the Abyss.

That was before humans became the of this planet.

Major Mistranslation Alert: Original English mistranslated this as "before humans arrived on this planet."

Over ten thousand years ago, dragons once occupied Philos’s lands.

Dragons are naturally evil and feed on human souls. They excel at luring out the ugliest parts of a person’s heart, leading humans to and into slaves of desire. The greedier the soul, the more alluring it is to a dragon.

Therefore, dragons are seen as the incarnations of evil demons. Whenever dragon-borne disasters appear, they symbolize the coming of Doomsday.

Until 1600 years ago, when the planet’s last dragon was sealed into the bottom of the Abyss.

Doomsday gradually became a legend no one mentioned anymore. The age of humans had finally arrived.

---

My chest feels like it’s being torn open. All I can feel is something pressing down on my entire body, immobilizing me.

The towering building rises, its top vanishing into pitch-black darkness. A claw covered in scales presses me firmly down onto the central dais.

MC: (What happened…. I completely can’t use…)

Lowering my gaze, I only see pale golden light being pulled by an invisible force, torn from my body, strand by strand.

MC: (It hurts so much….)

I struggle to turn my head away. Once again, the shadow of the enormous dragon’s horns and wings is cast onto the wall illuminated by flickering firelight.

Consciousness snaps back sharply, and I instantly cry out in pain.

MC: Stop…! Our deal…. It clearly was to let me live!

The demonic shadow lowers its head and then its voice is transmitted into my head.

Dragon: Being a also

MC: Stop…. No!

In between life and death, an uncontrollable trembling surges forth from the depths of my soul.

The phantom of a greatsword appears in my hands and plunges into the dragon’s chest.

The dragon’s agonized cry echoes through the hall. The force pressed upon my body vanishes and I swiftly sit up, clutching my chest.

It is only after my breathing steadies that I discover my chest hasn’t been cut open as I had imagined.

Dragon: You said it. “Regardless of the price that has to be paid.”

On the wall, the shadow of the great beast disappears, and a man walks out of the darkness across from me with bloody mist curling around his entire body.

He looks at me like I’m prey. Just like the dragon, he possesses a pair of eyes as beautiful as garnets.

MC: …I released you, and you saved me. The deal we struck in the Abyss has already concluded.

Slowly, he draws closer, and I hastily grope about as I slide off the other end of the dais, barely managing to maintain distance between us.

MC: Though dragons feed on the power of human souls, it must be offered willingly.

MC: So… as long as I’m unwilling, you can’t eat me.

The demon before me narrows his eyes and strolls toward me from the side of the dais.

Dragon: And what of it?

Dragon: Rather than demanding your bland soul, first…

Dragon: You must return what does not belong to you.

The dragon crooks his finger, and once again, that golden light is pulled from my chest.

MC: You… Stop…!

However, the more I struggle, the more I can clearly see a strand of strange, black mist entangled with it.

It’s as though there really is a piece of a soul that doesn’t belong to me fused with my body.

Dragon: The feeling of your soul being torn apart, it’s really not that painful, is it?

The dragon abruptly drags me sideways across the dais, his blood red eye gleaming

For a brief moment, my consciousness is drawn into the vortex of an abyssal whirlpool, and in this moment, I believe I’m about to be —

Wind howls through the crimson valleys as countless Legion of Justitia soldiers holding sharp blades thrust their weapons at my chest.

Very quickly I realize this isn’t my experience, and the body enduring all the pain also isn’t my own.

This is the dragon’s memory.

The power tightly gripping me trembles and suddenly lets go, the valley and the wind vanishing like fading oil paint.

Strands of light rapidly flow back into my chest, even dragging the evil dragon before me.

Dragon: ….!

Covering his right eye, he lies down on the dais.

Dragon: Your power…

Dragon: Where does your power come from?

MC: (My power…)

This is a question even I can’t answer myself. Before I can think more on it, a clawed hand seizes my chin and drags me forward.

Dragon: Look at me.

Cold sweat gradually blurs my vision, and with my neck still held in a violent chokehold, I’m unable to keep myself from meeting his eyes again.

A familiar voice echoes through my mind. It clearly is my own voice, yet the tone is so unfamiliar.

MC: (His eye… I really want his eye… this eye, it’s mine…)

Dragon: It’s growing stronger and stronger… the scent of desire.

Dragon: …

Dragon: Speak your desires, and then offer me your soul. I will let you die painlessly.

Dragon: Unless you want to become a puppet in a dragon’s cave.

I endure the pain of fingers clenching so tightly they almost draw blood, but how can anyone sell their soul to a demon?

MC: I… don’t really want anything…

Dragon:

A fingertip brushes across my bitten, bloody lip, tingling and numb, but in the depths of his right eye, a blood red light faintly begins to glow.

MC: (About to… suffocate…)

MC: (I can’t… At least I should make something up, just to get through this…!)

Ten million thoughts that can barely be called “excuses” flash through my mind at the same time, but I only manage to grasp one—

MC: Send me… send me back to Ivory City! I want to go back!

Dragon: Your life is hanging by a thread, yet you dare to play such a

MC: …I’m being sincere! I live in the Sanctuary, but the Legion of Justitia condemned me as a sorceress and threw me into the Abyss.

MC: I refuse to accept this… I want revenge!

With my heart thundering, the hand secretly reaching for my dagger trembles. But suddenly, the restraint loosens, and without warning, I’m thrown back onto the dais.

Black mist flows across the sparkling surface of the dais and withdraws into his palm. The wounds on my body also subsequently heal without a single scar left behind.

Dragon: Lead the way.

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