The Dark Prevails

"Who.. are you?" Elgin's mouth was gaping wide.

Although the angel had a beautiful visage, and an amiable expression to display, Elgin still felt a massive amount of fear as the figure slowly approached him.

As shocking as the entire situation was, Elgin knew that his excitement prevailed over anything else he had in his mind.

The possibility of this being the end to his eternal suffering. Was he actually going to be granted a chance to properly live now?

Whoever this angel was didn't matter. All Elgin knew was that he was sick of the world cycle he was trapped in. He would do whatever it takes to escape it.

"My apologies. I forgot to introduce myself because I was just too thrilled! My name is Regis, a First Class Angel serving under Goddess Litia's rule."

'Litia?'

Another name that Elgin did not recognize. And also, the reveal of a deity. It wasn't like religions didn't exist in his world. There were many believers of Gods and Goddesses, from righteous ones down to evil beings.

Litia was not one of the names he had heard before.

Sensing Elgin's total confusion, Regis calmed down and organized her thoughts. Where to begin with her explanation.

"First of all.. Do you know this world's name?"

Elgin shook his head. He knew the name of the continent, but not the world itself. There was only one continent known to man. The Azular Continent.

"This place is one of the lesser worlds my Ruler created, called Incrad. It's part of a series of realms all connected to the same seed of life, Yggdrasil. Although you may recognize the Tree of Origin that exists in the center of this world and call it by the same name, it is by no means the original one, but rather just a prototype of the seed."

'I knew there were worlds outside of my own, like the Players' home, but to think that mine was just a lesser world..'

Elgin had only known about his own realm, and it was already an unimaginably vast place for him, who wasn't even allowed to step out of his home.

Regis then began to thoroughly explain some details that shook Elgin to the core the moment he digested it.

This world wasn't originally like this. It used to be a completely fine realm, linked with the true Yggdrasil. It ran properly, and the concept of being 'deleted' and 'updated', like what Elgin experienced, was not supposed to be a thing.

However, one day, the Goddess Litia found out that the seed connected to this realm had been corrupted and tainted with an external force. In simple words, it had been hijacked without anyone realizing it before it was too late to do anything.

As of right now, Incrad was no longer under the reign of Goddess Litia, but rather this unknown being who tampered with the laws of the world as they liked. They did not do anything to the original inhabitants, but rather introduced a new system into it.

A survival game based around Yggdrasil, the Tree of Origin.

Individuals called Players would be summoned from another world. The Yggdrasil Tree that was supposed to give life to the world was altered by them into a tower with floors that totalled up to one hundred.

These Players were tasked to clear the challenges this tower had in store. With each floor, as the difficulty increased, the rewards too, skyrocketed.

To be able to orchestrate all of this, it was definitely the work of a creature no less than a Supreme Deity.

Creating a world was one thing, but hijacking another's realm without warning and even linking it with another dimension was another. It was an act impossible to do for someone of Goddess Litia's caliber.

Their reason for doing it was unknown.

In the first place, the perpetrator's identity hadn't been found out, so they didn't know where to begin to fix this problem. They were still able to enter this realm with no problems as well, but were incapable of making changes to it.

This led to the world being declared as an 'abandoned site' temporarily until they were able to find out more about the case. However, no matter how much time had passed, their efforts were wasted as they couldn't make any breakthroughs at all.

Regis had an unsightly expression by the time she finished her storytelling session.

"...So basically, you guys fucked up, and abandoned us because you didn't know what else to do? How useless were you guys, that you couldn't even manage your own creations?"

For Elgin, who had suffered for thousands of years being trapped in the world as a puny character, this reveal was worth nothing more than adding fuel to the flames of anger inside his heart.

"..Hey, to word it that way is a bit displeasing. It's not like we haven't tried regaining control, but.. even after Goddess Litia sought help from her allies, nothing could be done."

Elgin gritted his teeth.

The situation was worse than he thought. He looked up and met the angel's striking golden eyes.

He was certain. Certain that he wouldn't let the years he had suffered for all go to waste.

"So, if you brought me here, then there must be something that you could do for me.. for the world, right?"

He wanted to break free from his restrictions. And to do that, he believed that Regis could help him.

Regis nodded with a determined look, having lots of things to tell him.

Elgin, who was familiar with being disappointed over and over again didn't have much confidence this time around as well.

From Regis' stories, whatever he would have to face from this point onwards was not something trivial.

But for him, any hope was enough. A small possibility that he could hold on to.

Wherever this angel's guidance would take him to, he would have to see it with his own eyes before backing away,