I closed my eyes for a moment, utterly exhausted. Nico, back to his old self, caught me and gently laid me on the ground.
Faintly, I saw Sylvia still lying weakly on the ground, but then Sasaki Kojiro came and picked her up, running behind Nico.
Thank goodness…
I couldn't feel my body anymore. My bones felt like they'd been forcibly twisted, and the lingering wounds on my body started to ache as soon as I tried to move a limb.
Suddenly…everything slowly faded from my sight…
I hope…they aren't going through the same thing I am…
– –
I opened my eyes as sunlight began to grace my face. I stood up and looked around.
What is this? Where am I?
I was standing in a vast, sprawling grassland. The wind felt incredibly fresh here. I could hear birds chirping, occasionally flying in circles above my head.
As I gazed at the horizon, I was startled to see a wave of aurora filling the sky.
"Beautiful…isn't it…?"
Someone suddenly spoke from behind me, a woman's voice. I instinctively turned around, searching for the source of the sound.
"Who's there?" I said, looking in every direction.
"Nothing is more beautiful than dreams and imagination."
This time, it was a man's voice. It was a bit deeper and slightly echoing.
"A beautiful…dream…"
The woman's voice appeared again, followed by the slightly echoing man's voice. Maybe it was just my imagination, but it felt like they were talking to each other.
"Humans prefer to live in imagination rather than face reality."
"Is that so…?"
"Their minds have killed their souls, and now they are filled with desires."
"Think…what's most important to you…"
To me?
"It doesn't start now. But the time will surely come when we truly meet!"
Who?
"Your choice…What…do you want to do?"
What? What do they mean?
"Don't worry! This world is still new; there's no need to make it newer."
"The world…is merely an illusion…"
"Your life is not merely the result of other people's thoughts!"
"You…aren't truly living…"
Just as I was on the brink of immense confusion, the voices slowly faded, and I saw two figures standing on the swaying grass. Directly behind them, a large red moon illuminated their bodies. I was a little scared, but then they both extended their hands and began to speak in unison.
"Welcome to my dream world…"
The sky, filled with auroras, suddenly spun and slowly faded. Grass flew, and the wind blew so strongly it felt like I was being flipped upside down.
When I opened my eyes again, I was suddenly in the middle of outer space, floating.
The sun was clearly visible from my perspective, and Earth—my home—was also incredibly clear. Stars were scattered, filling the sky beautifully.
As I shifted my gaze, a butterfly suddenly fluttered right in front of me. I tried to touch its wing, but instantly, I was pulled from behind, and my vision slowly blurred and then disappeared.
I slowly opened my eyes. I realized I was in the middle of ruins shrouded in a thick black fog. I tried to stand and look around, but I saw nothing but floating ruins of buildings.
I held my head, thinking this was just a bad dream. But as I thought that, someone suddenly tapped my shoulder.
I was startled and turned my gaze behind me, but I saw no one. A snap of fingers echoed, and the floating building debris began to coalesce, forming an enormous castle.
A grand red carpet unrolled before me. I walked slowly into the castle. The castle gates opened and closed automatically. There was a statue of a woman sitting and smiling. On each side of the carpet were statues resembling knights. They held swords, as if propping themselves up.
Their faces felt familiar…
My feelings were conflicted. I felt a bit scared, but I tried to be brave and step forward, approaching the woman's statue. As I took a step forward, the statues lining the red carpet suddenly raised their swords, forming a tunnel. I looked clearly ahead and saw someone sitting on a throne.
I began to walk closer. Slowly, the silhouette revealed itself, but as I took a small step forward, it suddenly snapped at me, telling me to stop.
"Stop!"
My body reflexively froze. I couldn't move; it felt like something was holding me back.
The silhouette rose from its seat and slowly walked towards me. I could only stand still as the shadow stared intensely at me. Its steps gradually grew closer, and before I knew it, it was right in front of me.
I couldn't see its face, even from such a close distance, just a few steps away. But its voice was clear enough when it began to speak.
"Tell me," it began, "What makes you meddle in this matter?"
What?
I wanted to answer, but I couldn't move my mouth at all.
"Didn't you yourself say you didn't want to get involved?"
"..."
"But why are you here now, entering this child's body?"
Now I understood; it was talking about Adam, the Servant currently inside my body.
The silhouette began to circle me, then continued its interrupted speech. "What's your reason?"
It was no use; I couldn't even move my mouth. At least if you want me to answer, release whatever's holding me back first!
"If you're answering just to protect the people you love, I don't think that makes sense."
"From the very beginning, you lived alone, fought alone, and died alone. No one cared about you. The people you created didn't even care about your presence."
"Even so, I won't risk fighting you. I've seen far into the future, right there I lost, and that's why I brought you here."
The silhouette stopped directly in front of me and extended its hand, then touched my head.
"Return to the true dream!"
Everything suddenly turned to ash, and my vision slowly blurred. I felt as if I was flung far into space and time. It felt like being swallowed into eternal darkness. I couldn't feel my body. I couldn't even tell if it was hot or cold. Slowly, my vision faded, and then everything vanished from before me.
– –
"Andri!!!"
"Andri!!!"
I slowly opened my eyes, hearing someone shouting my name.
I woke up and looked around. My vision was a bit blurry, and my head ached slightly from the light reflecting off the open window beside me.
"Hmm…" I mumbled for a moment, then continued, "What happened…"
I heard the laughter of some of my friends, who were looking at me with surprise.
I realized now I was in class and had fallen asleep.
My teacher threw a piece of chalk at me, hitting my forehead.
"Ow!"
"Wake up, you lazybones! Seriously, sleeping during class time."
I rubbed my forehead because of the pain from the chalk. Ghoell and Keant, sitting beside me, stifled their laughter, covering their mouths with both hands.
For a moment, I reflected on the dream I had just experienced. I felt like a slightly different person. Vaguely, I still remembered everything that happened in that dream. But for some reason, there was something unsettling deep within my heart. I couldn't recall it precisely, but this nagging feeling truly made me a bit uneasy.
For example, the initial event that made me turn into a luminous figure, then defeating an Egyptian queen whose body was pierced by her own scimitar. And also… Ugh, damn it! I can't explain it; this whole dream is driving me crazy.
"Ow!"
Another piece of chalk flew and hit my forehead.
"Andri! I'll punish you if you keep daydreaming like that!!!"
The teacher looked extremely annoyed and yelled quite loudly, immediately filling my previously quiet classroom with laughter from my classmates. I could even see Ghoell and Keant roaring with laughter at my ridiculous behavior. In the end, the teacher did punish me. I was told to clean the toilet until the class was over.
Now it was break time, and I tried to stretch my body in my seat. I felt a bit tired from cleaning the very dirty student toilet. After stretching, I slowly relaxed my body while reflecting on those dreams.
Ghoell and Keant slowly approached me. Ghoell jumped towards me and forcibly wrapped his arm around me.
"Yo, Andri!! Goodness, what were you doing earlier? You looked like an idiot, Hahaha!!!" Ghoell said, laughing loudly.
I couldn't refute his words; there really was something strange about me.
"You're always like this, it's not like you to act this way. Is something wrong?" asked Keant, standing behind Ghoell.
I pushed Ghoell's arm off my shoulder and leaned weakly back into my chair. "I don't know… I just feel like something's off."
"You're always off," Ghoell retorted.
"That's rude! Even so, I can be a normal person!"
"Examples?"
I rested my hand under my chin and looked up, thinking for a moment while mumbling, "Hmm… I brew coffee for 7 minutes and wait 2 minutes after it's poured into the cup."
Ghoell stared at me with disgust, "Ugh… what does that have to do with being normal?"
"You're something else, remember, coffee tastes best when brewed for exactly 7 minutes! Otherwise, the caffeine won't work perfectly in your body. Oh! And you can enjoy it with one or two biscuits. But I recommend not chocolate, because mixing chocolate and coffee is a strange combination."
As I launched into this nonsensical conversation, they both moved closer and whispered. For some reason, it felt like a student being bullied by their own friends. It was a bit hurtful, but for me, this kind of thing was commonplace in our friendship.
"Hey Keant, I think this kid's brain is short-circuited!" Ghoell whispered.
Keant nodded in agreement, "I get it, maybe some of the chalk the teacher threw got in and ate his brain."
Hearing their somewhat hurtful whispers, I immediately brushed them off. "Hmm? What are you two talking about?"
"We should be asking you that. Why are you talking about how to make coffee?"
"Huh? Weren't we talking about normal things?"
Ghoell patted my shoulder as if he understood everything. "Andri, you don't seem well. There's a mental hospital near this school, let's go!"
Huh? What's with this kid? Don't we usually talk about stuff like this?
– –
Under the burning evening sky, I walked slowly, enjoying a pack of bread I'd bought earlier at the convenience store.
I walked, pondering the dream I'd had while sleeping in class. When I tried to recall it, my head throbbed, and my vision blurred.
I stopped for a moment and tried to shake my head to forget everything; maybe it was just a random dream. After all, dreams are unpredictable.
As I was about to resume walking, my gaze was suddenly drawn to a single star shining brightly in the sky above me. Wasn't it still evening? I checked my watch. 5:30 PM. It felt too early for stars to appear. Usually, they showed up at 6 PM or a little later. I stared intently at the star. It had such a beautiful glow, like looking at another world from afar.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I did this breathing exercise to help calm my mind, which had been a bit chaotic lately. With that strange dream on top of it, my head felt like it was about to explode. With half a pack of bread remaining, I walked home, ignoring the shining star in the evening sky.
The next day, I took a different route home. Ghoell and Keant invited me to play at the arcade. We spent almost three hours there. It was 7 PM now, and the three of us decided to leave and end our gaming session. We waved goodbye and went our separate ways. As I was about to pass a karaoke place with several adults lining up, my head suddenly throbbed with immense pain, making me stumble slightly.
Just as I was about to fall from the sudden pain in my head, a man suddenly came to my aid, helping me stay upright. His grip was so strong that I was slightly impressed by all the muscles in his arm.
"Are you alright?"
"Ah, sorry… thank you…"
"Glad you're okay. Why did you suddenly fall?"
"I don't know, my head's been aching a lot lately."
He released his grip and stood directly in front of me. Now I could see him clearly. He was big-bodied, but his hair was a bit sparse. The formal suit he wore suited him perfectly, and the square bag he carried made him look almost like a bank employee.
"Be careful, you might be overthinking things."
Ah, he might be right! For some reason, lately, I've been overthinking the events of that dream. I looked more closely and saw an ID badge clipped to his upper pocket.
"Thanks, Nico!"
The man was slightly surprised when I blurted out his name. Ah! Come to think of it, why did I call him that? His ID actually read Nicolas Luis.
The man smiled warmly, closing his eyes for a moment, then replied, "Ah! No problem. Be careful on your way home, okay!"
I just nodded, starting to feel something strange. I felt like I'd met him before, but I couldn't pinpoint where. Oh well, maybe it was just my imagination.
We both went in opposite directions, walking away from where we'd met. For a moment, I stopped in the middle of the road. Amidst the crowd of people passing by, I looked up at the sky and saw a single, bright star. As I watched it from afar, it was exactly like the one I'd seen before. When I continued to stare intently, my head suddenly started to ache again, so I hurried home, enduring the pain in my head.
Now it's the fourth day since my head started hurting. I've been wrapping myself in a blanket and hiding like a mouse.
Klink!—a message notification.
I opened it. Ghoell sent a message inviting me to play together at the city forest.
Klink!
Keant replied, wanting to join because he was bored.
[How about you, Andri?] Ghoell's message read.
I was a bit hesitant. On one hand, my head sometimes hurt terribly, and if I went, things might get worse. Should I refuse?
Klink!
[Your head's been hurting lately, hasn't it? Maybe a walk and some nature would help a bit,] Keant's message read.
That's right! Maybe this is just a trivial matter I'm overthinking. Perhaps seeing and enjoying nature would make me feel much better.
[I'm in! Wait for me, let's meet at the station]—my message sent.
– –
The three of us took the train and finally arrived at the city forest, protected by the city's caretakers. We went deeper inside, enjoying the fresh atmosphere in the midday under the lush trees in the forest. Even though it was midday, for some reason, it didn't feel too hot, perhaps because these trees protected us from the scorching sun.
The three of us stopped at a spot and saw a towering cliff right above us. Ghoell looked at me with his mischievous gaze; I knew what he wanted to do now
"How about it?" Ghoell said.
"How about what?"
"Come on, you must be thinking the same thing as me, right?"
"That's too dangerous, idiot! Besides, you don't have any protective gear, do you?"
Ghoell puffed out his chest and gently patted it with his hand. "Have you forgotten my nickname from elementary school?"
"No! Actually, I don't know…"
"Ugh… this kid, Keant, please tell him!"
Keant nodded slowly and looked at me sharply, then grabbed both my shoulders tightly. "Listen, Andri, Ghoell used to be a monkey who suddenly transformed into a human after drinking some radioactive liquid accidentally dropped by an evil scientist—"
Before he could finish his explanation, Ghoell suddenly cut him off and pulled Keant's collar.
"Wait! What are you saying?"
Seeing Ghoell's annoyed expression made Keant stifle a laugh, then he replied. "Huh? Didn't you tell me to tell him the truth?"
"What truth are you telling, you idiot! You're just making things up!"
"Oh… really? Hehehe."
Ghoell let go of Keant's collar and forcibly turned his face away. He looked a bit annoyed. This kid is quite funny when he's annoyed.
"Tch, fine. I'll climb it myself!"
Ghoell took off his shoes and put all his belongings at the bottom of the hill. He started climbing now.
"Amazing… he really is like a monkey," I said, admiring Ghoell as he scaled the cliff incredibly fast. For a moment, I shifted my gaze; Ghoell had already completed half of his climb.
"Right?!" Keant said with a smile.
"Hey, I can hear what you damn guys are saying!!!"
A moment after laughing, Keant suddenly called me and showed me something; there was a path beside the cliff. When I looked back, there was a stairway behind it, so why was he climbing?
Just as I was about to tell Ghoell, Keant suddenly tapped my shoulder and told me to be quiet. Ah, this kid was worse than I thought.
Keant and I followed the stairs, and now we were both at the top of the cliff.
A beautiful view spread out before me: clouds stretched wide across the horizon, trees swayed, and leaves flew in the wind. It felt like… I'd been here before…
As I was thinking about that, a bright, dazzling light suddenly blinded my eyes, making me look away and accidentally stare up at the sky.
Right up there, I saw a star that had been continuously showing itself lately, as if it were truly there just for me. I began to feel this was just a coincidence, but for some reason, I started to feel something strange and unsettling. As I thought that, my head suddenly began to ache again, so I had to sit down and lower myself. Ghoell shouted in surprise behind me when he saw that Keant and I had already reached the top of the cliff he had struggled to climb. He looked truly angry and annoyed now.