“Sure, you’ve been worshiping that Icarus girl, but I’m the one who ferried you into this world.” The Nameless One’s first breath of words drifted like cold smoke and froze Lilith in place. Back when Van Yu became Lilith, she’d asked the system why she’d been dragged across fate; the system hedged and stammered like a jammed clock. Turns out it was this Grim Reaper’s handiwork all along.
“Icarus came to me wanting someone outside the ordained path, a soul not on any ledger,” the Nameless One said, her tone light as falling ash. “She asked me to choose from the dead to help her fight the Taint. She didn’t grasp my authority, didn’t grasp how reviving the dead stains me like ink on silk. But I couldn’t refuse. So I pulled you from another world and tucked you into the body Icarus crafted.”
“So I’m only here because you needed a prop to placate Lady Icarus?” Lilith’s temper flared first, then her stare tightened like a drawn bow. “Sure, you’re a god, but toying with people is rotten. I’m from another world—yanking me over like a weed won’t cause fallout?”
“Nope. Your world’s dimension is so low that even if I blow it up on a bad day, nothing breaks that matters.” The Nameless One waved her hand, scattering words like dust in sunlight. “Dragging you over for a few days… uh, years, is nothing.”
“So I’m your chip to appease Lady Icarus, stuffed into a body built to fight the Taint. What’s that got to do with a curse?” Lilith pressed a hand to her brow like holding back a storm and looked at the Nameless One. “What is the Demon King’s curse anyway? I never heard the Taint wields curses. And why, after being cursed, did I become the Dragon God’s favored White Dragon? That’s not ‘feel my pain’ at all.”
“That curse is also part of Icarus’s design,” the Nameless One said, voice smooth as still water. “You don’t innately command the Taint. Icarus needed someone who could hold all Taint, then push further and purge it from the world. So this body was born. The instant the Demon King cursed you, the Taint began to swap your flesh, drop by drop, like ink seeping into paper. By now, roughly half your body is composed of Taint’s matter. To keep it from seizing your reins, Icarus went to the Dragon God for a blessing. With that blessing, while the Taint refashions you, it’s guided to shape toward the White Dragon—bone-white scales instead of black rot. Once the Taint spreads across half your body, the Dragon God will seize control of the Taint’s flow. Then all Taint will become part of a newborn White Dragon, and Icarus can clear the world’s Taint like wind sweeping fog.”
“So my body’s a battlefield between the Dragon God and the Taint. When the Taint climbs far enough, this shell turns fully into dragonkind, and the Taint vanishes from the world.” Lilith’s mind pricked like needles. “But what about my soul? By Icarus’s plan, you only needed an empty vessel to bear Taint.” She thought of games from her previous life and felt like a jug filled with orange juice. “Stuffing my soul into this shell just makes the plan wobblier, right?”
“No, no, no. Someone has to pilot the shell,” the Nameless One said, shaking her head, the motion crisp as a bell. “Icarus built combat functions to slay the Demon King of Taint. Without a pilot, it’s just an empty suit. A soul can restrain the Taint’s erosion for a while, like a shield in rain. That resistance fails past a threshold, sure—but the Dragon God needs that window to lay arrays on your body. That’s why you were placed here.”
“So I’m just here to buy time?” Lilith sighed, a wind through dry reeds. “In that case, you could’ve grabbed anyone. Why me?”
“You were anyone. I picked at random,” the Nameless One said, blunt as a pebble tossed in a pond. Before Lilith could fold into silence, she added, “But you’re more than a delay. Icarus gave you Saint and Hero—titles like banners in a storm. Your presence stokes human confidence like a hearth in winter. And later, this body needs a soul to keep it walking. Like it or not, it’s a life now; you don’t leave a lantern burning unattended.”
“So there was no real curse on the body from the start, and I’ve got no shot at going back to my world?”
“Not quite. You can go back—just not by me right now.” Her words lit a small lamp in Lilith’s fog. If there’s a chance, she’ll chase it; her family is waiting across that river of stars.
“How do I get back?”
“Well, to return, you’ll need to find my true body,” the Nameless One said, rubbing her chin, thoughts drifting like drifting snow. “My body’s buried—no idea where. I used to be a god jointly worshiped by three races: Demon, Vampire, and Undead. My body lay in their shared domain. About a thousand years ago, the three split like ice cracking on a lake. I don’t know which side ran off with my body. I’ll have to trouble you, Lilith—please search.”
“Huh?” Lilith’s doubt rose like a dark eyebrow, sharp as a hook.
“Anyway, find my body and I’ll send you home. Do your best.” The Nameless One waved, a lazy breeze, and let out a yawn. “Alright, time’s up. I’m sending you back.”
“Wait, I haven’t finished—” Alarm struck first; Lilith stepped forward like a startled deer. A sudden force hooked her neck and yanked her backward, brutal as a tide.
“Bye-bye.” The Nameless One smiled, waved, and dissolved into a curtain of darkness.
“Ugh… ah.” Lilith clutched her head and pushed herself off the ground, the world ringing like a struck gong. Nameless One had tossed her back hard; her soul settled into her body like a cloak not yet fitted. Thinking back, their talk felt more like a soul slipping out under moonlight—no wonder returning left a hazy mismatch.
The Little White Dragon fought off the dizziness like foam fading on waves and lifted her eyes to the sky bright as spilled jewels. Asterios had said that after touching the crystal stone, she’d see the true Star Canvas.
In the next heartbeat, she went still as carved jade.
An eye was looking at her.
