A boy of twelve or thirteen lay in the middle of an enormous rocky expanse. Around him stretched nothing but sharp stone. Between the rocks, dried-out shrubs pushed up here and there, and bare, dead trees rose from the ground like bleached bones.
His face was pale, nearly drained of color. His body was thin, almost without muscle. Then the boy's eyes snapped open.
"Who am I? Where am I?" His voice came out hoarse, as though he hadn't spoken in a long time.
In the next instant a sharp pain drove through his head. It hit without warning — heavy and viscous, as though someone were crushing his skull with an iron band. His thoughts scattered. His breathing broke.
"A-a-a-ah!"
In that same moment a rush of memories tore through his mind. And an instant later the pain vanished.
Images, voices, faces — everything poured in at once, swirling in a chaotic torrent. Home. The Academy. Training. People. But the pain disappeared as suddenly as it had come.
The boy was breathing hard, palms pressed into the ground. His face was twisted — not in fear, but in rage. His chest burned, and a wave of fury swept through his heart and mind.
But he didn't cry out.
Clenching his teeth, he got to his feet and looked around.
Around him was nothing but rock — but the sky... the sky was completely unreal. No sun. No clouds. No moon. It was neither night nor day. A dim, ominous light saturated the space. The sky was stained a deep crimson — dense and heavy, like congealed blood. It felt as though this world had become stuck in an eternal twilight.
"What is this place?" he murmured.
No answer came, of course.
The boy sat down slowly, crossed his legs, and closed his eyes. His breathing gradually evened out. He tried to feel something — spiritual power, his Battle Soul, his bloodline.
Nothing.
He looked inward, and saw only emptiness. Cold and lifeless.
He opened his eyes. The eyes that had once been vivid and bright had dimmed noticeably, as though the life had drained from them. His body trembled — not from cold, but from understanding.
"No... No! The Battle Soul, Spiritual Power, the Bloodline — they're gone. All of it is gone!"
He collapsed. His knees buckled, his hands clawed at the stone, but it wasn't enough to hold him. His entire body shook.
"Father... forgive me..."
Tears came on their own.
In that moment there was no rage in him. No anger, no hatred. Instead he felt hollow.
"Father... everything you did for me..." His voice broke. "They took everything from me..."
He didn't know what to do. He felt it clearly — it wasn't only his power that was gone. Even his body had become weak and feeble. He had been reduced again to an ordinary, helpless person.
For a twelve-year-old child, this was too much.
"A-a-a-a-ah!"
He couldn't hold it back anymore. The cry tore out of him — ragged and raw, like the howl of a wounded animal. He curled on the ground, knees drawn to his chest like an infant. Anyone who had seen him in that moment would have felt pity.
"Why! Why! Why did this happen to me?! Please, someone help me! Anything — give me a sign, tell me what to do!" He screamed between sobs, his cry saturated with rage, despair, and bitter outrage.
The scream dissolved into the crimson sky.
Time passed — how much, he couldn't say — before silence returned. The tears dried. His face went still, almost dead.
"I'll get it back... I have to get it all back!" The boy's eyes burned with a terrible light.
"I am Fan Yue, and I swear I will kill that creature and take everything back." He carved this vow into his mind and his heart.
Fan Yue rose again. He wanted to believe this was a dream, but he understood perfectly that it was real.
"First I need to figure out where I am."
He looked around once more.
"This doesn't look like the Mother Planet. Nothing but rocks. And it feels like there's no life here at all."
He raised his head and looked at the crimson sky.
"Why is the sky so red... How do I get back?" he murmured.
For now, his only goal was to understand where he was — and how to leave.
He began exploring the terrain. Coming down a small slope, he noticed a stream.
At the sight of water, thirst hit him suddenly. His throat was parched, his tongue heavy. Only now did he realize how exhausted he was.
Fan Yue threw himself toward the water without thinking. He cupped his hands and drank greedily.
"Hah..." He exhaled. "Not bad."
He wiped his mouth and kept walking.
Less than ten minutes later, a sharp pain seized his stomach.
"A-aah!"
He doubled over, clutching his abdomen.
Damn... what was I thinking...
He sat on a rock for a long time, waiting out the spasm. Only after a while did the pain begin to ease.
He kept going.
About two hours passed. He climbed and descended slopes, peered into crevices between rocks — but the world around him remained silent. No people. No animals. Not even a trace of life.
I need to find shelter and food. I don't know how long it'll take to find a way out.
But what could be found here was completely unclear. A bleak wasteland stretched before him. Sparse moss clung in the crevices of rocks; a few wretched shrubs poked up here and there. No insects. No birds. As though the very air was dead.
Am I going to starve?
In the very moment that thought crossed his mind, a sinister growl came.
R-r-r-r...
Fan Yue spun around.
"What—"
On a high rock nearby stood an enormous black dog. Its body was lean and sinewy, almost dried out. Crimson eyes burned with an ominous light, and hot steam billowed from its jaws.
"A spirit beast?" Fan Yue whispered — and immediately frowned. "No... it doesn't look like one."
He knew quite a bit about spirit beasts. But this creature he had never seen before.
The dog snarled.
"Gra-a-ar!" It launched off the rock like a black shadow. Fan Yue had no time to react before the dog had already sunk its teeth viciously into his arm.
"A-aah!... Why does it hurt so much?!" Fan Yue was accustomed to pain — but he couldn't understand why an ordinary bite could cause this much of it.
He clenched his free fist and instinctively started striking with it, but the pain made it hard to focus. By sheer luck his elbow connected with the dog's head. The creature released its grip, stepped back, and snarled.
"R-r-r-r..."
"Ha..." Fan Yue retreated, breathing hard. He looked down at his arm, bracing for blood — but there was none. Only the imprints of teeth and a pulsing ache.
He looked up at the dog and narrowed his eyes.
Its teeth... they're blunt.
The teeth were dull. Worn down. As though someone had deliberately ground them flat. But that wasn't all. Looking more carefully, he saw the claws were in the same condition — blunt and eroded.
What? Why is it in this state?
The dog launched again. Having understood that biting would get it nowhere, this time it began hammering at him with its front paws.
"Gra-ar!"
Fan Yue tried to dodge, but his speed failed him. He was knocked off his feet, pinned to the ground. The blows kept coming.
One hit.
Another.
This thing thinks I'm going to die. Fan Yue's hand found a heavy rock. He grabbed it, swung with everything he had, and drove it into the dog's head.
BOOM.
The dog staggered. And the boy kept hitting.
"Die! Die!"
Rage flooded through him. Not the rage of a spirit master. A raw, animal determination to survive.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The creature's skull cracked. The dog lurched and went limp, leaking dark blood.
Fan Yue collapsed beside it, breathing hard.
"Ha... ha..."
His heart hammered like a runaway thing. His whole body shook.
He had never in his life been on the edge between living and dying. Even though the creature was weak, for the first time he could smell death this close.
The boy stared at the fallen dog's carcass and thought.
Is this... edible?
But he had no choice. He grabbed the body and began looking for shelter. The jagged rockscape was so deeply carved that finding a space large enough for a person turned out to be surprisingly easy. It wasn't a cave exactly — but it was enough to take cover.
Fan Yue gathered dry branches, lit a fire with considerable difficulty, and managed a rough attempt at roasting the meat.
He ate like he'd been starving for days.
"Full..." he muttered, wiping his mouth. "Even if it tastes disgusting."
He ate roughly half the roasted meat and kept the rest just in case. In his hands he held the creature's spine — with the tips and edges slightly worn down.
Fan Yue closed his fingers around it.
Good enough for a sword.
With his stomach full, he felt a crushing exhaustion and drowsiness descend on him. His thoughts grew thick, his movements slow. He wedged himself into a narrow crevice between the rocks, blocked the entrance as best he could with branches and stones, and almost instantly plunged into a deep sleep — as though he had simply lost consciousness.
But in the same instant he seemed to wake.
A strange scene unfolded before his eyes.
An extraordinarily beautiful girl stood in a familiar setting. She wore the green uniform of Shrek Academy. Long black hair fell softly to her shoulders, her skin shone like jade, and her eyes were deep and clear as a starlit sky. There was a natural refinement about her, and a calm strength.
She looked at Lan Xuanyu and spoke.
"Xuanyu, the Beast God's Heavenly Tribulation is about to begin."
Lan Xuanyu nodded and smiled slightly.
"It seems you can't wait to see it, Fan Yue."
Fan Yue's eyes snapped open. He was lying in the crevice, breathing hard. His heart was beating too fast.
What was that?...
He shook his head, driving away the feeling of unreality, and crawled outside. He gathered dry branches, relit the fire, and finished the remaining meat.
But in that moment a black dog burst out of nowhere and with a roar launched itself at him.
"R-r-ra-r!"
Fan Yue was on his feet instantly, gripping the improvised sword. His hold was steady — despite his weakened body, years of martial arts training had not vanished without a trace.
He stepped forward and struck.
The bone connected squarely with the dog's head.
"Ra-ar!"
But the "sword" was far too blunt — more of a club, really. The dog, stripped of sharp teeth and claws, swung its paws clumsily. A human with a feeble body and a beast with a crippled one clashed in a wretched but genuinely deadly fight.
But it ended quickly enough. Fan Yue stood, breathing hard. His entire body ached, bruises and scrapes already surfacing on his skin.
"My body is too weak — I can't move the way I want." Even in childhood he had never felt this powerless.
Thirst came again. Finding no other option, he went to the stream and drank. The stomach pain followed immediately.
Hurts...
Fortunately it faded after ten minutes. He ate more meat and sat thinking.
I need to strengthen my body... But that's very risky. He was afraid of being attacked during training, so he drilled only briefly. Then he crawled back into the crevice and slept.
And again — a dream.
The first-years of Shrek Academy and representatives of various organizations were watching a furious battle in the sky.
Two black dragons were clashing violently, tearing the space around them apart. The sky had darkened. The blows of spiritual and mental force made observers dizzy. Many felt their bloodlines responding, the life energy around them surging, their own bodies strengthening.
CRACK. Lightning split the heavens. The dragons fought on.
Their bodies grew translucent, gradually diminishing. Fissures appeared in the sky, splitting space itself.
The girl named Fan Yue watched with wide open eyes.
Fan Yue's own eyes snapped open. He clenched his teeth as understanding finally crystallized.
How did I not see it before... That's her. The Heavenly Crow.
Fan Yue's face went dark, his eyes filled with a rage that had nowhere to go.
But why am I seeing her? The boy turned this over, but couldn't arrive at any reasonable answer.
I don't have time to dwell on this. It's good that I can keep watch on her. But... does she see me too? He had no idea how to check or find out.
Leaving his shelter, he ate the rest of the meat first, then set out again to explore and hunt. He encountered another black dog. And defeated it again.
Five days passed this way.
Fan Yue sat beside the carcass of yet another black dog, breathing hard. This one had been noticeably larger than the others, its coat visibly darker.
"Damn, this black dog was stronger than the ones before." He grabbed his left forearm, where a massive bruise was already swelling.
He dragged the carcass back toward the crevice.
In those days he had tried everything he knew. He had even attempted Blood Breathing — but with no result. He had completely lost the ability to sense any form of energy.
But there was something else. A more significant problem.
Fan Yue looked at his hands.
Why can't I remember a single sword technique? I can't even recall my spirit skills or combat skills. Everything is too blurred — the only thing I can clearly remember is Blood Breathing.
He didn't understand what was happening. Every day it seemed like he was losing something more. But his ordinary memories remained intact.
Every day he searched for a way out and explored the terrain. And the farther he went, the stronger the black dogs became. Their teeth gradually sharpened. Their strikes grew heavier. They themselves grew more dangerous.
Food. Searching for an exit. Fights. Sleep.
That was what Fan Yue's life had become.
Twenty days in this place had been hell — not only for his body but for his mind. He lived constantly on the edge. Any mistake could be his last.
But the worst thing was falling asleep.
Every time he closed his eyes, the same image appeared before him.
The Heavenly Crow — living his life, wearing his name, taking everything that had been his.
Fan Yue hated those dreams.
He stood beside another black dog's carcass, breathing hard. His face was pale, his lips chapped, his chest heaving in sharp pulls.
"I'm leaving." His fingers curled until they ached.
"I will get out of here no matter what, and I will take back everything that belongs to me." Fan Yue ground it out between clenched teeth.
He picked up the carcass and returned to the crevice.
As before, he butchered the animal with cold efficiency and speed — his movements had grown more precise. He drained the blood into a crude flask he'd sewn from the hides of the dogs he had killed. Then he built a fire and ate the meat, washing it down with the thick, warm liquid.
"Both the meat and the blood taste disgusting. But drinking the blood beats drinking that cursed water."
When he was done, Fan Yue sat with his back against the stone and closed his eyes.
Time flows differently here...
He had understood this long ago.
Twenty days spent in this world equaled only five outside. He had pieced this together from the dreams — the intervals between them were too short. Comparing the sensations, he had concluded that time here moved roughly five times faster.
In that time his body had grown stronger. He was still lean and short, but his arms had become hard, his movements sharp. Color had gradually returned to his face, and his gaze had cleared. In those eyes burned hope, and rage.
About thirty minutes passed, and Fan Yue stood.
"I don't know how long I'll be here. I need to find a proper cave."
He set out looking for shelter near the stream. The water caused stomach pain, but it was necessary for keeping his body clean.
He found a spacious cave fairly quickly.
Sizing up its dimensions and position, Fan Yue decided to stay. Up until now he had simply lit a fire at a crevice entrance and crawled inside to sleep — but now he understood that if he was stuck here for a long time, he needed to think about how to live.
He began setting up.
Splitting and shaping the bones of the black dogs, he fashioned the simplest tools. He also began marking the days — each one that passed he carved a notch into the cave wall, creating a rough calendar.
Day by day.
He ranged farther, exploring the edges of the rocky mountains. But no matter how far he walked, the landscape barely changed. Stone. Crevices. Emptiness.
The rocks seemed to go on forever.
Fan Yue stopped and looked out at the horizon.
"These mountains have no end," he said aloud.
But he had no intention of giving up.