In another world, the concept of world-jumping—once completely foreign to Evan—had now become second nature. Determined to grow stronger no matter the cost, Evan had learned to see through the imp's games. This was just another distraction, another ploy to pull him away from his real mission.
So, in this new world, Evan turned to the imp and asked simply, "Where to?"
"To the village," the imp replied with an unreadable smile.
They began walking, their steps pressing into barren soil that seemed to drink in the blood of a thousand forgotten battles. With every footfall, Evan felt the weight of something unspoken—something final. That was when it hit him: he had never killed anyone. Never ended a life. And yet, here he was, walking a path that would eventually lead him to kill his own brother.
The imp caught the look on his face. That flicker of doubt. That silent grief. And he knew—the only way to truly shake Evan was to show him what death really meant.
They reached the village soon after.
The creatures there weren't human. Centaur-like beings, tall and weary, moved slowly through the dust. Their bodies looked drained of life, of hope, their eyes dulled by something far worse than pain. As they approached, one of the villagers looked up and, to Evan's surprise, recognized the imp.
"Igris?" the creature said hoarsely. "Old friend… what happened here?"
The imp stepped forward, his expression turning grim. "Tell me."
Igris sighed, the sound like wind through cracked earth. "We were peaceful… until the Sunwalkers came. They took the water. Left us with nothing but heat and dust."
And just like that, Evan saw his first enemy. His first real conquest. The Sunwalkers.
And something in him began to shift.
He felt just as mad as he did the day they dragged his mother away. It was all the same—just a few bastards more powerful than the rest, tearing apart everything beautiful in the world. That was when Evan made his decision: he would go to the Sun Walkers' castle.
The centaurs had warned him severely. Even the imp, who had been with him since the beginning, refused to follow. "This is your journey now," it said.
The castle was far—nearly a week's journey on foot—but Evan finally arrived. As he stepped inside, he saw them, gathered around a grand table, devouring meat like beasts. They weren't human. The Sun Walkers were towering, heavily powered beings with scale-like skin and red, soulless eyes.
Evan stepped forward. "I am the lost son of Nefarious," he declared. "This world is under my protection. Leave, or be removed."
They laughed in his face.
"Leave before we have you for dinner," one of them sneered.
Rage boiled inside him. Another set of monsters, threatening the innocent. Evan's eyes lit with fury. His skin began to seethe, the air around him growing thick, unstable. Flames erupted around the room. With a scream of rage, he launched into a frenzy, destroying, demolishing—killing everything that moved.
They fell one by one. Screaming. Burning.
Only one survived long enough to crawl away, bloodied and broken. Evan walked toward him, eyes burning with vengeance.
"For survival," he whispered.
And then he slashed him down.
Silence.
Evan stood alone in the aftermath. His first kills. The guilt hit him like a wave—sharp, cold, suffocating. He had set the centaurs free, yes. But he had also killed.
And now, forever, he would carry the weight of it.
The blood stained the walls, clung to his fingernails. Guts splattered like grotesque art. The stench of charred flesh hung heavy in the air.
And somehow, deep down, he knew: this was only the beginning. Nothing would compare to what he had planned for his brother… and the human race.
But Everytime he thought to reconsider and let go there was a pain in his neck, reminding him of all what happened and how if he didn't stop them it would happen to others so no matter how much he wantrs to reconsider he felt like it was his purpose to be humanity's end and so he would never find peace until it was over
But every time he thought to reconsider—to let go—there was a pain in his neck, a sharp reminder of all that had happened. A whisper of the past etched into his skin. It told him that if he didn't stop them, it would happen again. To others. So no matter how much he wanted to let it go, he couldn't. He felt it—like gravity in his bones—that this was his purpose. To be humanity's end. And until it was over, peace would never come.
And so he returned.
When the imp saw him from a distance, he knew—his plan had backfired. Evan had tasted blood, and worse, he might have liked it.
Everything—absolutely everything—had been designed to distract him, to deter him from revenge. The imp knew that revenge wouldn't bring him what he was looking for. But now? Now he needed a new distraction.
It was, admittedly, a pleasant surprise that the centaurs were finally free. But at what cost?
Because now, Evan—his ward—had taken his first life.
And when Evan turned to him, eyes dark with something new, and asked, "Where to now?"—he knew.
He would need stronger fights. More complex enemies. If he was to keep Evan distracted... he'd need war.
In the next world they visited, the imp already knew what Evan was planning to do. This time, the goal was to show him complex societies—something on par with the intricacy of Earth's humans. Don't get the story twisted: the imp hated humans. He found them repulsive, after everything they'd done to their world and to each other over the years. But he didn't believe in conquering, species extinction, or world destruction anymore.
He knew that when he was Evan's age—or even a hundred years younger—he would've jumped at the chance to go world-ending with Evan. But he'd done all that before, and it brought him no peace, no relief.
So the next world was the Praximas Dwarf World—a place known for its peace… or so the world claimed. The truth was, the imp had been there decades earlier, and he'd been deeply disturbed and confused by the societal norms and traditions everyone lived by. Still, he told Evan nothing. He wanted him to find out on his own, to see the truth, and maybe—just maybe—choose to be a peacemaker, not a conqueror.
And so, when they arrived, the imp knew exactly what his plan was.
...he saw that people were smiling, yes, but their eyes told a different story. Behind the laughter was exhaustion, behind the songs was silence, and behind the parties were whispers. Evan blinked, and the world seemed to shift—colors dimmed just a little, and the harmony started to sound more like a rehearsed tune than a genuine melody.
The imp, now short as always but always seeming smarter than everyone around him smirked. "Perfection can be a mask, Evan. Even paradise has pressure."
Evan looked again. He noticed how the dwarfs' routines were obsessively rigid, how no one ever strayed from the rules, how no one ever questioned anything. It was peace—but peace paid for with freedom.
"So what do I do?" Evan asked, his voice low.
The imp shrugged. "That's up to you. But sometimes the job isn't fixing what's broken—it's helping others see that something's broken in the first place."
And with that, the imp vanished into the mist, leaving Evan alone with a choice and a planet that smiled too much.
And so, Evan knew he had to get involved. He went to talk to one of the beautiful inhabitants, a mysterious woman who said her name was Nellyx. Although she was cheerful and smiled warmly, her eyes told a different story—one of fear, sadness, or maybe even secrets. Evan sensed that she wouldn't say anything out in the open, so he kept his distance and continued observing.
Eventually, the leader of the dwarfs summoned Evan. On a planet filled with dwarfs, standing at six feet tall made him hard to ignore for long. The leader, much like the rest, appeared small and harmless, but Evan could tell there was more going on beneath the surface.
Tired of pretending, Evan got straight to the point. "What is happening here, and how can I help?" he asked.
There was an immediate silence in the room. Then, the leader said calmly, "You must leave—before something far worse happens to you."
"Is that a threat?" Evan asked, narrowing his eyes.
"It's a warning," the leader replied. "For your safety… and for ours."
But, as always, Evan was headstrong and wouldn't budge. He stood firm and said, "I'm not leaving until you tell me what's really happening in this place."
But they didn't answer. And for a brief moment after that, something changed. The fake smiles slipped, and they seemed... real. Just for a moment or two. Then the masks returned, and that brief glimpse into something deeper crept into Evan's psyche.
"Why are they doing this?"
"How can I help them?"
"Do they even want my help?"
He couldn't take it anymore.
So he left the banquet. He wandered away, needing space, needing silence. And after some time alone, Nellyx joined him.
She didn't smile. She didn't pretend.
"Leave our world," she said quietly.
Evan blinked. "Why? What are you so afraid of?"
She hesitated, her eyes scanning the darkness beyond the trees. "If I tell you… I might not survive the night."
"Please," she said. "Just leave."
But he wouldn't. He couldn't. So she told him the story.
---
"Long ago," she began, "we were just like any other world. Creatures of joy and pain. We struggled, triumphed, lost, and rebuilt. And then… something came."
"A presence. A being of impossible power. It appeared before our leader and asked one question:
'What is your deepest desire?'"
"We weren't desperate. We had no famine, no plague. But our leader… he craved perfection. Peace. Eternal life. He asked the shadow being for a world unlike any other.
'We want peace and life like never seen in other worlds.'"
"The shadow being agreed… for a price."
"But our leader didn't ask what that price was. He accepted. And at first, it was beautiful. No pain. No death. No aging. A golden age…"
Her voice cracked.
"Until someone had a child."
"The shadow came. Like wind slipping through a window in the dead of night. And it said: it had come to take the child."
"The mother begged. Screamed. But the child was taken anyway. And that was the last we ever saw of them."
"We held an emergency gathering, and the shadow appeared again. This time, it showed us the clause… written in blood."
---
> This here lies the cost of immortality for the Dwarf Planet:
1. All newborns are property of the Death World.
2. The Shadow Being has ultimate dominion.
3. This world is mine. Your lives are mine.
---
"We realized the truth too late."
"And so… we smiled. Pretended. Because anyone who defied the illusion… vanished. Brutally. Without a trace."
Nellyx's voice was barely a whisper now.
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
"All I dream of now… is dying. Just to be free."
And just like that Evan realized who his next enemy was.