I WAS The Rank–1 Hero-Chapter 74: Wheel of Fate [1]

"You are the child from that prophecy."

Those words echoed in my mind continuously, bouncing between the walls of my thoughts like a cursed whisper refusing to fade away.

Prophecy?

I think…

I recalled it then—the last time I heard that word.

Goddess Ylthea had said the same thing to me. But she disappeared before I could ask more. Before I could demand answers from her.

And now, standing before me, Nathalia uttered the same thing again, as if she had known it too.

I clenched my fists, my throat dried out as I forced the words out.

"What is this prophecy?"

Nathalia chuckled. It wasn’t mocking, nor was it kind. It was the kind of laugh that carried a secret. One that only she was aware of.

"So Ylthea really didn’t tell you," she mused, shaking her head slightly.

There was something off.

I now noticed it.

She spoke about Ylthea so casually. As if she knew her. As if she understood what type of conversation occurred between the two of us.

How did she know?

Was it when she trapped me in her dream? Did she see everything?

Silence settled between us for a few moments before Nathalia finally spoke again.

A smirk tugged at her lips as she raised a hand and began tracing some symbols in the air.

Bright yellow light illuminated along with her graceful fingers.

And then she told me the prophecy.

"There was never meant to be a ruler beyond the gods, nor a force that could defy the cycle. Yet, from the ashes of Olympus, a paradox was born. His existence alone is an anomaly, and by his hand, the final era of the gods shall be written or erased. He will either forge a new order beyond divinity itself… or bring the gods to their end."

The room fell silent. As if the weight of those words was collapsing the very space around me.

I stood frozen.

’What…?’

Sera gasped beside me, but my ears barely registered it.

My mind kept replaying each word of the prophecy, dissecting them, analyzing them, tearing them apart and piecing them back together—

Ashes of Olympus?

Final era of the gods?

This prophecy… was about me?

It made no sense. And yet—

Somehow, deep in my core, it felt as if I had known it forever.

A strange familiarity. Like a memory long buried beneath inside me.

"Ugh—!"

A sharp pain erupted in my skull, tearing through my thoughts.

I staggered.

My hands flew to my head as the ache intensified, pounding inside my skull.

I clenched my teeth, trying to suppress this agonizing sensation, but it was useless.

I heard a distant cry.

Sera…

I heard her voice. But I couldn’t see her.

’H-Hey… What happened… Hu…man?’

She sounded concerned. But I wasn’t able to answer her. I couldn’t even focus.

The pain was just unbearable—

And then, suddenly, it stopped.

Just like that.

The crushing weight I once felt, the unbearable agony—all of it vanished, as if it had never been there to begin with.

My breath came out in ragged gasps as I slowly opened my eyes.

I froze.

My eyes widened.

There was only darkness surrounding me.

Endless. Infinite. Consuming.

I couldn’t see my hands. I couldn’t feel my body.

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Nothing.

My heart pounded against my ribs.

’What’s happening to me?’

Then—

The space flickers.

A scene unfolded before me, like a fragment piecing itself together.

I saw a massive fortress, its towering walls gleaming white under the golden sun. The air was crisp, filled with the distant hum of hymns.

White marble pavement below my feet.

People in white and yellow robes, walking the streets.

I instantly recognised this place.

Olympus.

But—

It wasn’t ruined.

It wasn’t reduced to ashes.

’This… was before its fall.’

Before its destruction.

I stared in stunned silence.

Why am I here?

For some reason, none of this felt strange to me.

It felt... familiar.

I wasn’t dreaming, that much I can tell. The air was too crisp, the warmth of the sun too real, the distant hum of voices all of it, too natural.

This was something else.

’Memories?’

The thought sent a shiver down my spine.

I found myself staring at the distance, towards the grand Olympus—the sacred realm where the gods resided.

It was breathtaking.

Olympus stood high, like a majestic tower, piercing through the clouds. A divine aura bathed its towering halls, reflecting the light of the sun above.

Rivers of liquid silver flowed between the streets. Bridges of clear crystal stretched over the waterways. And at the very heart of it all, a palace unlike any other I have seen—so vast, so magnificent, that its mere presence will make anyone fell to their knees.

It was newer, untouched by the destruction, as if it was constructed just recently. It was a stark contrast to the broken, abandoned Olympus that Ylthea had shown me before.

I stood in the middle of a white-marble road, its smooth cool surface beneath my bare feet.

And around me, people in white robes walked past me, engaged in quiet conversations with each other.

I glanced down at myself.

I was wearing the same robe as them.

’Eh?’

Who is this?

The thought echoed in my mind as I lifted my left hand to inspect them.

’Is this me?’

I tried flexing my fingers, but it didn’t move.

’What the?’

I can’t even voice out my words.

This body.

… this isn’t mine.

I was inside someone else’s body!

"Big brother!"

A small, cheerful voice called out from my right.

My head turned.

And then I noticed—

A tiny hand was clutching my own.

A little girl, no older than five, stood beside me. Her silver-white hair cascading into s soft waves down to her shoulders. But it was her eyes that caught me off guard—pure blood-red, shimmering with childlike innocence.

She beamed up at me.

"Big brother, I want an apple!"

She tugged at my hand, smiling brightly.

To be Continiued.