“Xerxez!” A voice pierced through his slumber, jolting him awake. His hand flew to his stomach, a sudden jolt of memory reminding him of his near-fatal act, and the strange energy that had consumed him. Now, he found himself in an unfamiliar place, his vision blinded by an intense, dazzling light. He desperately searched for the dagger, but there was nothing but the all-encompassing white glow.

“Am I dead?” His voice echoed in the ethereal space as he struggled to grasp at the light around him.

“Xerxez,” the familiar voice called again. It wasn’t the first time he’d heard this man’s voice, yet no matter how hard he strained his eyes, he couldn’t discern the speaker’s face.

“Who are you? Your voice… it is known to me, yet not the ancient tone of my grandfather.” Xerxez heard the very breath of the spectral entity, a living sound in the ethereal realm. “Am I dreaming?”

“It is time for you to rise,” the figure advanced, a silhouette against the relentless glare, its features still obscured, a phantom woven from pure light. “You are not dreaming, you just drunk thinking that this place was a mere illusion.”

“Why do you forever dog my steps?” Xerxez’s voice, though a mere whisper in the vastness of his mind, was an accusation, laced with a raw, primal anguish. He fought desperately to quell the tempest within, to dispel the mental intoxication that chained him.

“I know every single thing in your life…your fury… your sorrow… your despair… your pain—”

“Enough!” Xerxez roared, his voice a lion’s guttural protest, a sound that ripped through the very fabric of this unknown landscape. “Your words are a torrent! You claim to know all this, yet why do you offer no aid?”

“Aid?” The figure halted, drawing a deep, resonant breath before dissolving, its shadowy form melting away into the depths of Xerxez’s sight. For a few agonizing seconds, silence reigned, absolute and profound.

Xerxez frantically searched for the vanished entity, but it was gone. Yet, as he willed himself forward in this unknown place, the very dimension around him convulsed and transformed. The blinding light softened, morphing into a gentle mist that slowly, inexorably, began to recede. With each passing second, images flashed before his inner eye—heroic deeds, acts of valor, countless sagas of human courage—until the mist vanished entirely, revealing a serene, hallowed realm. The searing glare was replaced by a dimension crafted from marble, a grand expanse of black and white checkered squares. Statues, like silent, monumental chess pieces, stood sentinel around him.

“A chessboard? What is this place?” Xerxez whispered, his gaze sweeping across the panoramic vista. It was a vast pavilion, seemingly floating in the cosmic void, the immense chessboard at its heart. Comets blazed past, their fiery trails painting streaks across the eternal night, and planets, vast and majestic, hung so close they felt within reach, their light a breathtaking, spiritual tapestry.

As his feet touched the hallowed ground of this new dimension, the last vestiges of his drunken stupor vanished, clarity washing over him like a pure, celestial spring. His mind, now sharp and untainted, flowed like untroubled waters. This was a sacred place, a divine sanctuary Xerxez had never known existed. A colossal energy, primal and profound, emanated from the very core of this realm, drawing him deeper.

“This… this must be a multiverse!” Xerxez breathed, a revelation dawning upon his soul.

“At last, you have teleported in my dimension.” The voice returned, its power undiminished, and Xerxez finally saw him. Far in the distance, upon a magnificent throne adorned with intricate designs of ancient weapons, the figure was seated, kingly and imposing, surrounded by the silent, watchful statues of this chessboard realm.

“Who are you?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep