Five billion years ago, in Sonata Expellion—a cosmic region located quadrillions of light-years away from the Milky Way Galaxy—something was born.
An entity without a name, formed from a collection of data, information, and consciousness that had begun to shape itself. This entity was spherical, and its appearance resembled a shining light.
Sonata Expellion was no ordinary place. That region stood under the authority of the Primordial Gods, beings whose forms were nearly limitless and whose bodies resembled humans, yet radiated a glowing white light. Their facial features, hair, and silhouettes were all faint and indistinct.
In front of a majestic blue gazebo, three Primordial Gods stood in silence.
Ontarios, the God of Creation. Mornapheus, the God of Kindness. Senorama, the God of Causality.
When Ontarios raised his hand, the nameless entity slowly lifted from its place and moved to the center of the gazebo, floating soundlessly. Mornapheus and Senorama only watched, waiting without daring to interrupt the creator's decision.
Ontarios stepped closer. The light from his body shimmered through the cosmic air.
"From now on, your name is FLY."
Senorama narrowed his eyes. "FLY? What an odd name… even for a special entity."
"Be quiet. You have no right to give your opinion."
Mornapheus coughed softly. "Stop arguing. We need to finish this quickly."
Ontarios looked at FLY with great seriousness, then said, "Remember this well. The purpose for which you were created is to search for Aoi Hiroshi, whose existence has been lost since that battle."
Ontarios raised his left hand. In an instant, FLY's body was lifted upward, floating higher before being thrown far beyond the cosmic flow.
Ontarios' silhouette remained amidst the light.
"Search for your host out there. Without a physical form, you are nothing more than an abstract being drifting with the current. You will not be able to interact with the outside world."
"And if that happens... then you will utter... your first sentence."
From that moment on, FLY—the entity that had once been nameless—became different from the rest of the creations. It was created to search. And because its existence was still a concept without a body, it needed a host in order to touch the outside world.
...
In a dark forest, a bright light appeared in the sky. Not an ordinary light, but something resembling a comet that seemed to be falling at high speed. The longer it fell, the clearer the comet became.
On the other side, a teenage boy with slightly wavy hair, wearing a gray shirt and shorts, walked through the dense forest. This boy was named Rei, and he held a torch as his only source of light in the forest.
"Huh, damn it! I'll show them that I can do it too!" he said while pushing aside the blocking bushes.
"You think only you can cross this forest!! I'm Rei, and I can do it too. I even did it alone, you know!"
After ranting for quite a while, Rei continued his journey toward the end of the forest. He quickened his pace while still complaining from time to time, confident in his ability to cross the forest alone.
Rei reached the middle of a three-way fork. To the north, there was a straight path that might lead to the edge of the forest. To the east, there was a path slightly covered by bushes.
Just as he was about to continue, an air current suddenly appeared, likely caused by a high-speed shockwave, coming from the east. The wave struck the forest like a storm. Bushes were torn from the ground, leaves were scattered into the air, and tree trunks were lifted upward.
Several animals such as deer and squirrels ran for their lives, birds began to fly away, and Rei tried his best to withstand the strong current.
"HAAA!! WHAT IS THIS?!!"
The shockwave grew stronger and stronger. Rei's balance began to falter as several uprooted bushes and leaves struck him multiple times.
However, with his determination, he kept holding on, even trying to move toward the source of the explosion. Rei did not give up and kept pressing forward, even as the pressure of the wave occasionally lifted him off the ground.
Damn... I can't die here.
𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘐 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵.
No... I can't!
Suddenly, the wave emitted a rapid buzzing sound, sending Rei flying backward a considerable distance. And in an instant, time seemed to stop.
The animals that had been running, the birds that had been flying away, and the trees that had been standing under the force of the current all came to an instant halt.
All forms of life seemed to stop, and with everything that had happened, the time that had once been halted now felt as if it had been rewound.
Hey..
I see it...
The trees and bushes that had been uprooted returned to their original places. The animals and flocks of birds that had been fleeing now returned to normal.
I SEE IT!!
And Rei, who had been thrown backward, returned to the position where he had been standing in the middle of the fork in the road.
ARGHH! WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED!!
Now everything had returned to normal, with no sign of the damage caused by the shockwave that had previously struck the forest. The forest, which had once been chaotic, was now silent again.
Rei stood up and stared toward the east, where the shockwave had first been felt. With great confidence, he slowly walked in that direction. Rei passed through many bushes, then stopped at the last bush that had previously blocked his path.
There, he saw an unusual sight.
This can't be...
What is that?
There was a vast grassland ahead. And in the distance, there was a spherical entity shining with a bright, dazzling aura. The entity remained motionless, not moving at all.
Yet strangely, there was no sign whatsoever of an explosion or any catastrophic event that could have caused such an extreme shockwave as before. The grassland looked normal—indeed, very normal, with no trace of anything strange.
Rei, who had previously looked ambitious and energetic, now began to forget his original purpose. He chose instead to walk toward the entity without thinking of the consequences.
Rei stared at the strange entity with a hint of caution.
I have to be careful... If this thing explodes... I'm done for.
Ah, who cares! I'll justtake one step closer!!
Without any warning, Rei touched the entity with his right hand. One second passed and nothing happened. Five seconds passed and still nothing happened. But... ten seconds later, the structure of the entity began to change.
The spherical shape that had previously been maintained now broke apart into fragments and scattered in all directions. And Rei began to panic because his right hand felt frozen and could not move at all.
"Hey, you weird entity!!" Rei said angrily.
At the same time, the fragments that had previously shattered and scattered began to rebuild their structure and merge back into the sky.
"Even though I don't know who exactly caused it, I'm sure it was you! You caused all this trouble by making that shockwave happen!! That hurts, you know!!!"
Five seconds, one second, even zero seconds. It felt incredibly fast when the shockwave happened again. But this time, it was stronger—twice as strong. Rei, unable to react in time, had no choice but to suffer the fate of being thrown backward once more by the wave, without even realizing it.
The wave swept away everything around it, then distorted the surrounding space, and in an instant turned the space into emptiness. It even sent Rei flying and rendered him unconscious.