(Meanwhile, Leo)

While unconscious, Leo experienced a phenomenon that felt a lot like a Ghost Dream in the sense that his awareness had been pulled away from his physical body and into a separate space altogether, leaving him conscious, aware, and able to think, while his connection to the real world felt distant and thin.

He knew he was no longer where his body was.

That much was clear.

His form existed, yet it did not feel solid, his outline made of drifting mist rather than flesh, edges blurring and reforming as though this world did not require him to be fully defined, and when he moved, there was no weight to his steps, no resistance, as though his form had no mass at all.

'This sensation is strange….'

Leo thought, as he felt as though he had been pulled into a Ghost Dream, however, it wasn't a Ghost Dream for sure.

There were no memories pressing into his mind, no inherited emotions dragging at his thoughts, no bloodline visions demanding his attention, and no feeling of being shown something against his will.

The battlefield was gone, and with it the noise, the pressure, and the constant tension, as they were all instead replaced by a silence that felt wide and calm.

Color stretched endlessly in every direction.

The sky above him flowed in slow layers of color, bands of violet, gold, cyan, emerald, and rose drifting into one another without clear boundaries, like liquid light spread across an endless canvas, shifting gently as the colors overlapped over one another.

Whereas beneath his feet lay water.

A thin, perfectly still layer that never splashed when he stepped and was smooth enough to mirror the sky with flawless clarity, making it feel as though he was walking across a reflection rather than solid ground.

*Step* *Ripple*

Each step sent soft ripples outward.

Small.

Measured.

The reflected colors bent and flowed with them, turning mundane movement into something mesmerizing.

'Where the hell am I?' Leo wondered, as by now a clear premonition had settled in his chest that a dreamscape like this could not possibly mean anything simple.

"You're right, Leo Skyshard, the space you are currently standing in is for sure not simple…."

A gentle female voice entered his ears, calm and unhurried, as Leo immediately turned to face the source of the sound.

Standing before him, cloaked in the same shifting rainbow colors as the sky above, was a beautiful lady whose face seemed to change slightly every second, her features flowing from one stunning woman to another as though she possessed no fixed appearance at all.

'Who is she? And how did she read my thoughts?'

Leo wondered, as the lady standing across from him smiled softly, then tugged at her rainbow-colored dress before giving him a courteous bow.

"Greetings, Leo Skyshard, I'm Irina… however, you may call me Lady Destiny."

The lady replied, as Leo felt his pupils dilate sharply at the explanation.

'Did she just say… she's Destiny?'

He wondered, as disbelief began to coil tightly in his chest.

The lady simply smiled in response, a calm, patient curve of the lips that carried neither urgency nor expectation, as she allowed the silence to stretch naturally, giving Leo the time he clearly needed to steady his thoughts and let the shock settle into something manageable, as only once his breathing evened out, did she finally speak again.

"Yes, I am Destiny, one of the two origin beings of this universe, alongside Karma," she said gently, her voice carrying the weight of truth without pressing down on him.

"You may think of me as an existence that stands a tier above the Gods you are familiar with," she continued, unhurried. "However, I possess no physical vessel, and because of that, this dreamscape is the only place where I can manifest before you."

As she spoke, the water beneath Leo's feet rippled faintly, reflections bending and reforming in quiet acknowledgment of her words.

"I call this place the Land of Fate."

Leo remained silent, his face frozen in a stunned expression as he listened, his mind struggling to properly anchor itself to the meaning of what he was hearing, as though any sudden movement or interruption might shatter the fragile clarity forming in front of him.

He did not speak.

And so, she continued.

"Only a very small number of individuals have ever been permitted to enter the Land of Fate," she said, eyes steady on his. "With the last such opportunity being granted to your ancestor….."

Her smile deepened just slightly.

"The Timeless Assassin."

The words struck him harder than anything before them.

'The Timeless Assassin was here as well?'

The thought echoed through his mind, sharp and disorienting, yet Leo held his tongue, instinctively sensing that interrupting her now would be a mistake, since whatever was to follow next would naturally carry far more weight than his questions.

"Just as you stand before me now,

He once stood here before me as well.

Anxious, uncertain, and unaware of how deeply this meeting would shape the path that followed."

She paused again, allowing that truth to sink in before continuing.

"Of course," she said calmly, "I did not summon you here for idle conversation, nor do I intend to keep you here longer than necessary."

The reflections beneath them shimmered faintly as she folded her hands in front of her.

"However, the weight of what I intend to reveal cannot be understood without proper context," she explained.

"And so, I must speak around the reason you were brought here, instead of addressing it directly for now."

She explained, as by now, Leo felt his composure returning, the initial shock of meeting Destiny herself fading into focus, as he straightened his posture and prepared himself for whatever came next.

*Nod*

He gave her a small nod of approval, as Destiny smiled and continued.

"I assume," said softly, watching him closely, "that you are aware of the Cult's Great Prophecy?"

She asked, as Leo raised an eyebrow, uncertainty flickering across his expression, as he wondered whether she was referring to the same prophecy that predicted the rise of the next Timeless Assassin? Or whether she was referring to something different?

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