Volume 1: Prologue: Dream

 The world was frozen.

Amidst the wreckage of fallen buildings and cracked pavement, remnants of what looked like an army could be seen scattered around with shards of a broken mirror; as if reality had fractured and nothing was meant to exist anymore.

Above this shattered world, stood a lady. She treads on the broken glass suspended in space and frozen in time as if this world didn't have the strength to witness her true self. Her perfectly coiffed bun of golden locks was matted with blood and the blue suit she preferred as armor fell in pieces around her. Even though she knew she didn't have the strength to continue anymore, she looked forward, her gaze burning with the blue fire of purgatory to look at the only other person still standing.

She remembered his warm smile, the one that seemed to thaw his very being as if the previous one was a lie. She remembered his promises, his confidence, and his fears. She reminded herself that the man she had come to know no longer existed.

He watched. Watched as he drowned in fate, unable to surface. Watched himself be as helpless as a newborn to even think of resisting. Watched as all of his dreams came crumbling down around him and his nightmares rose up. His charcoal hair just as bloodied as hers, his obsidian eyes swimming in as many emotions usually kept hidden.

He gritted his teeth as he kneeled on the consequences of her fury, his body still whole even as his mind fell to pieces. He could feel his world slipping out of his grasp. The glass breaking under the weight of his knees felt like his promises, breaking. His confidence shattering and all of his fears coming true. 

With the bearing of a god untouched by the filth around him, he prayed to the only goddess he believed in. The one in front of him. 

'Please...'

She forced herself to smile her very best and breathed in.

The world was compelled to obey when she spoke; a single word tumbling out of her blood-soaked lips.

"Burn."

 And reality complied.