Ismael meditated alone at the top of Paradise for hours, thinking of every possible scenario. He had that idea in mind that, if made real, could change everything in a blink of an eye. He hesitated, his heart beating in his chest, afraid and uncertain. "That's too much, nobody should have to do this. Nobody should have that kind of power. Who will I become if I go through with this? What am I, then? But can I really keep going like this?"
"Humble Dragon God, I require your holy presence in this sanctuary."
His vision turned to black, not because of any rule or any system, not because of any spell, but because of the sheer size of the Drgaon God who transported his entire physical being into Paradise. Ismael, for who the most abnormal thing he had seen so far was Basil Morgan, was shaken by this sudden arrival.
"Humble Dragon God, may I propose something to you? I must say, for you are the one for whom I used to pray, your presence gives me the confidence to serve you well."
"What is it that you want, human?"
"I want this world here to cease existing and to recover all humans into a world other than the Lifeline, where they will have forgotten everything about this place."
"And what will you acheive doing that? There are forces out there more threatening than myself."
"I would assume so. My goal is to free everyone, including my sister Yael, from this abominable kingdom of realms of suffering. Reconnect us all through a different place in the cosmos and make it so that I am the only one to keep memories intact."
The Dragon God pondered the question for a moment and came back to him with a response.
"I want you to do something for me. You will chase the aborrhent creatures of the other worlds for me. I will not be able to join you from there, you will be on your own. You will now be given your life back, and you will use it to kill those monsters."
"I'll do it. Just tell me what I'm looking for."
"You'll be looking for the Forgotten Cardinal Sins. Now go."
The Dragon God engulfed the entire Lifeline in a terrifying noise, when he let go, no humans were left, and the fields were empty and burnt, the military bases left in ruins and the debris of Cressenie had no one to remember them for anymore, that bench was taking dust. Even in this new world, for each second that passed there, centuries went by in this long gone territory. Grey dust accumulated and in millenias, no one came back.
A mother in a large house was calling her child to come eat for breakfast, and a happy young girl came running, hugging her mom.
"Today will be the best day of my life! They are taking pictures of everyone at school, and the craziest picture takes the reward, a brand new set of band equipment. I've been wanting to get my hands on a guitar that has a clear sound."
"Then prepare your most beautiful smile, Awane. Stay with your friends and don't let them go!"
"Yes, mom!"
Awane left after eating gracefully, joined her friends one by one on her way to school. They were all there, maybe eight or eleven years old, some had candies in their bags, some had soft sodas, and other chocolate or apples. They sat on a bench and a few minutes before taking the picture, another kid joined, of the same age.
"Can I sit with you guys?"
"Yeah, what's your name?" A girl asked.
"Ismael", the boy replied.
"I'm Genova, nice to meet you!"
He sat down in the middle and did some silly faces that made his classmates his new friends. They valued his friendship and honesty above all, his humanity and care for others. He showed to be extremely protective of them specifically, and on that day, they didn't win because they were too good at the task, they won because the other team of a different class and grade had no expression, it was a completely different emotion.
They were sitting on another bench, being dead serious, no happiness involved here, like they were staring into the school photograph's soul. With the equipment, they went to Genova's house that was massive and made it to a room where they could play their instruments without bothering anybody. Awane and Ismael had guitars, Basil Morgan was on the drums, Raven was on the bass and Genova was singing.
They felt a connection, as if they had been together before. Ismael had not dismissed his mission, but he was forgetting himself in this moment. This was never about individualism but collective reunion, and he could see his friends from a while ago, now playing together and he shed tears here and there, playing with even more soul and passion.
Elsewhere, kids had united in a treehouse, and a girl with pink hair gathered her classmates to a presentation.
"Everybody comfortable? Cool. My name is Karin, and I have a gift. Among all worlds and realms, one constant remains, the Ether. And I am connected to it. This day felt weird for all of us, it's because for us kids, this is our first day here, our first day of school."
"What do you mean our first day here?" A kid asked, frightened.
"We belong to a different world. The Lifeline. One of us from Genova's class, made a deal with the God of the other world, and now we're stuck here. That kid is Ismael. He was in his twenties prior to the incident. We couldn't stop him before but we can kill him now."
"We're kids, we're not going to kill anyone, Karin. You're talking nonsense."
"He took you away from me, Grant. He took Awane. He took every single person and thing I ever held dear. Capucine, you too. You should know the things he's done to you."