Maria looked at him optimistically. Small tears filled the corners of her eyes.

"I see. I think I love that idea. When should we do it?"

"How about right now? We leave our old self behind for good and strive to become the best version of ourselves. I mean, now’s a better time than never, right?"

"You’re absolutely right."

Jacob smiled, stood himself up and walked over to Maria holding out his hand to help her stand. She grasped his hand with a gentle touch and sat up off the ground.

"Thank you."

Maria silently walked over to the gravestones and picked them up on by one.

"Let’s reuse these, just in case we can’t find any stones big enough wherever we choose to leave our past self."

"I think that’s a good idea. Do you need help carrying those?"

Maria smiled at him.

"I got them covered. You can carry the basket."

’Is she boasting her strength? I can’t even tell.’

As they looked over the vast landscape in front of them, Jacob spotted a quiet-looking meadow that was mostly flat but filled with flowers of all kinds of variety. He got close to her and pointed towards it with his finger.

"What do you think?"

Maria took a moment to respond, still smiling.

"It looks very peaceful. I love it."

"Very well. Let’s try to hurry before the sun starts setting. I’ll lead the way."

"After you."

Jacob and Maria slowly walked their way towards the blissful meadow. There were a few rivers they had to cross to reach it which allowed Jacob to mess with Maria. When they were about to reach the other side of one, he splashed water all over her back and started laughing. In response to this, Maria seemingly sent the entire river flowing at Jacob with a push of her hands. Before he got swept away from the current, Maria grabbed his hand and started laughing back.

’That damn curse. This isn’t fair!’

Walking across a small plain, they both spotted a deer bending its neck towards the dirt to eat something. They both studied it carefully. Maria whispered into Jacob’s ear.

"It’s beautiful. Look at its ears constantly moving. It must have great hearing."

"I personally like the look of its eyes. They are so dark it looks like they are reflecting the world back at itself."

After Jacob accidentally stepped on a small stick, the deer ran away from them towards a river.

"I’m sorry. It looks like I scared it."

Maria simply chuckled.

"It’s okay. It was just scared of the sound, not you."

After a little bit longer, they finally reached the meadow they had seen on the top of their slope. It was just as breathtaking as he could have hoped. It was quiet, the wind was flowing gently through the flowers, and the sun brought their colors out in shades Jacob didn’t think possible.

"We made it. This place is... gorgeous."

"I agree. Let’s find a good spot to make the graves."

Jacob and Maria walked right to the center of the meadow and placed down the large stones. Jacob then took out his sword and using the sharp point, started carving something into them.

"Jacob, what are writing?"

"You’ll see."

When Jacob pulled away, the words were written clearly on each tombstone. They individually read:

Crimson Prince

Nobody

Mr. and Mrs. Rose

When Maria read her parents’ grave her heart ached. She looked at Jacob wistfully.

"I thought I should give them a name. You are Maria Rose now, so they must be Mr. and Mrs. Rose. It only feels right."

Maria walked over to Jacob and hugged him tightly. Jacob welcomed her warm embrace with no hesitation. However, when Jacob held her, he noticed something odd off in the distance in the meadow. It looked like a dark black rift had broken through reality and was quietly standing above the flowers.

It didn’t destroy anything around it, but it felt like it was calling to Jacob to come closer. After three moments had passed, Maria looked up at Jacob to see what he was staring at. Following his gaze, she saw the rift too.

"What? What is that thing?"

Jacob took a moment to himself before speaking.

"I’m... unsure. However, it feels like it’s calling out to me. Do you feel that too?"

Maria hesitated.

"I do. Should we check it out?"

"Let’s just make sure it isn’t dangerous. I don’t want this spot to be ruined when we just found it."

As Jacob and Maria got closer to the dark rift, the call to Jacob was getting louder. It seemed to be having an effect on Maria too. She looked at it with her emerald eyes and tried to study it.

"What do we do with it? It doesn’t look like it’s harming anything."

"I have an idea."

Jacob reached for his sword and pushed it towards the dark rift. Using its edge, Jacob tried to quickly poke inside of the rift to see if that would make it disappear. However, the moment he put his sword in, the rift grew larger than his body and swallowed him whole.

’What the hell-’

Jacob was left floating in an empty void that felt vaster than the universe itself. Pressure was weighing on every inch of his body that made it feel like he was an ant teleported to the bottom of the deepest part of the ocean. He couldn’t move a single muscle like he was locked into space itself, and he had a strange feeling that if he wanted to move, he needed permission from someone... or something. The only feeling he felt around him was a terrifying, overwhelming power. Suddenly, a voice spoke into Jacob’s head.

"Crimson Prince Jacob. You are chosen to be the witness of the end. You have been marked. This is your destiny. May death be the last thing you see in this world."

Jacob tried to let out a scream, but all that came out was air. A black skull started burning into his right arm. Its eyes were dark and devoid of any light. Its mouth was wide open with strange glowing runes in them. With every moment that passed, the symbols would change. The pain was greater than anything Jacob had felt before, as if the marking was burning into his very soul.

As time passed on in this lifeless void, he could feel his energy sapping at an alarming rate. Whatever, or whoever he was in the presence of was slowly killing him. Not soon after panic started setting into his mind, Jacob was thrown back to reality in the meadow. He could still feel the burning sensation of the marking on his arm.

Maria was laying down in the flowers staring at the sky, heavily panting. He crawled over to her as quick as he could.

"Maria! Are you okay?"

She was still staring at the sky with a dazed expression. Finally, words found their way out of her mouth.

"Did you see that too?"

"I did. What the hell was that?!"

"I don’t know. There was a voice, and a very powerful presence. It felt like my bones were being crushed every moment I was in there. I just felt so... powerless."

"I experienced the same. Did the voice tell you anything?"

Maria looked over at him. Her jade eyes looked fearful.

"Did it tell you anything?"

Jacob looked away for a moment before responding.

"It told me that I was going to be a witness to the end and how it was my destiny or something. It’s odd. The whole experience is foggy, but those words feel like they’re etched into my brain. Did it say anything to you?"

"It told me I was going to be a harbinger to the end of the world, and it gave me this creepy symbol on my left arm.

As Maria lifted her white sleeve, the same skull marking that Jacob received was now pulsing on her smooth skin.