"Ugh..."
"Where am I...?" Dylan said.
When he looked around, he was floating in space. He was surrounded by various celestial bodies around him. It was strange he was suspended in space and can't even move from the spot he was in.
"Where is Rose?" Dylan looked everywhere for her but he still could not see her.
Dylan was downcast. The last thing he remembered was that he was holding Rose in his embrace while waiting for his doom. "I must have died, huh... Things would be easier if I had Rose beside me at least I wouldn't feel so alone."
He thought to himself, "Is this what it feels like to die? Because it surely is different than what I thought."
But then, he remembered something before he died, "I clearly saw the bomb go off but suddenly, everything became white..."
"Is this Heaven or Hell? It seems that I am in outer space though..." He thought this was somewhat strange where he was situated.
If he were in heaven should it not be warm, pleasant and relaxing as if you were in paradise? Conversely, if he were in hell, should it not be hot, uncomfortable, and gloomy?
"Although if this is neither heaven nor hell... where the hell am I? Was I rejected by both?" He joked to himself. He did not know whether to laugh or cry if that were true. He was left rather helpless on what he should be doing right now.
Then, a mysterious force was abruptly dragging him downwards and his body was left with no choice but to follow the sudden change in this space.
It was as though he was being sucked in a black hole.
"It hasn't even been a minute since I woke up in this place! Where am I being taken to?!" As much as Dylan tried to stay calm, what was currently happening to him was something so fantastical that it made him dumbfounded.
Then, he could see the scenery shift as he was moving at impossible speeds.
He was seeing the countless galaxies form and crumble, stars being born and dying, comets flying across the vast cosmos and wonderous mass of nebulae.
Then, he suddenly saw that his body was being guided to a particular planet. It seemed to be several times bigger than the earth itself. However, it did seem to have life within it considering that it had an atmosphere and an abundant mass of land and water.
Unbeknownst to him, this was called the Great Mystic World.
"Wait, am I going to crash into that planet?!"
He broke past the atmosphere of the planet as he was quickly traversing and he could see the ground.
"What the fuck is going on?!" Dylan could not understand what is this mysterious phenomenon that was happening to him right now.
Fearing that he might hit the ground, he tried to close his eyes but before he could, he saw something majestic.
"What a city..."
It was only an instant but he saw from a bird's eye view the gorgeous architecture of the Soaring Cloud City.
Then, the next he saw was that he was about to hit a long black haired youth who was embracing what seemed to be a female.
"Look out!" Dylan closed his eyes bracing for impact but nothing happened.
Instead, he found himself in another space. This time, it was completely dark. Like earlier, he had no idea what was going on.
"What is happening right now? Aren't I supposed to be dead?" Dylan was trying his best to make sense of what was currently happening but he truly could not think of anything.
"This seems so removed from reality. It feels like I am in an 'isekai' story? Am I actually undergoing a reincarnation right now?" Dylan deduced as he had been a fan of anime growing up so he was quite familiar with the concept of reincarnation.
When he was a kid, Dylan had found a cracked TV that was actually still working while scavenging for scraps. It was there he encountered anime which made him immersed like any other child.
Although he had to move to different cities every few days, he would scavenge for TVs and eventually learn to fix it whenever he got the chance. Watching anime became his favorite past time back then.
Inspirational series like One Peace, Naurotu, and Gleach were something that helped him mold his values to become the person he is today. Anime was still something he watched even when he was already an adult despite only having time for 1-2 episodes a day.
"Well, at the very least, this world does not seem to follow the Goddess and System trope haha. Otherwise, I would have seen a Goddess that will give me a broken skill or a System that will give me insane hacks." Dylan smiled as he further joked to himself.
"Who is there?!"
Dylan looked at the direction where the voice came from.
Then, he saw the boy who he was about to hit earlier. Now that he got a good look at him. This youth had a pretty well built body with long hair. But the most distinguishing features that he had were his heterochromia: a deep blue eye and the other with the color of crimson orange.
"My name is Dylan Ford. How about you? Do you know where we are?" Dylan Ford replied.
"Oh, my given name is also Dylan. What a coincidence that is haha. I have no surname though." The younger Dylan answered the question as well.
'I wonder what is the thing that he is wearing but it seems so sophisticated. It seems rather different than what the nobles wear.' The younger Dylan seemed to notice the modern black suit that Dylan Ford wore.
"Unfortunately, I don't have the slightest clue where we are, Sir Dylan. The last thing I remember was I was hit by a gigantic pure white lightning while I was protecting a female acquaintance. Then, the next thing I knew I was in this dark space. I just kept on walking towards this direction because there was something that was urging me to." The young Dylan thoroughly explained.
"I see." Dylan accepted that explanation as he thought, 'His eyes were behaving quite evasive when he said that he did not have a surname... There must be some story to that... But I don't think I should pry.'
"Well, Dylan, I'm not sure what you mean by pure white lightning but I did see that I was about to hit you earlier. Then, suddenly, I also arrived here."
"It seems we need to find out where we are first. But before we do that, it's nice to meet you, Dylan." Dylan Ford offered a handshake with a smile.
"Nice to meet you too, Sir Dylan." The younger Dylan also hurriedly went up to shake his hand.
Their hands grasped each other and they felt something so distinct yet so familiar. It was as if they have found a missing piece of themselves with each other.
This peculiar feeling made them look at each other as they said. A name subconsciously escaped their lips as they spoke in unison.
"Dylan Starland..."
Once they shook their hands and said that name, the environment around them changed! It was as if there connection had welcome the awakening of something.
The space around them turned was no longer pitch black. There was a source of light that initially blinded them until it settled down to a manageable degree.
They both looked at the source of the light that just emerged.
Stunned, they saw an absolutely grand and majestic mansion shining brightly. The light it emitted was not that blinding type of light. Instead, it was pleasant to the eyes and had a warm feeling to it.
For Dylan Ford, this mansion far surpassed any billionaire's mansion estate in Earth that he has seen and visited.
The architecture and the landscape of this mansion was incredible as it size was massive. The way it was designed and built was absolutely awe-inspiring. It both had the feeling of elegance and imposingness blended into one.
Different gems and jewelries were used to decorate every single facet and aspect of the mansion. Just its height spanned about a thousand meters and a width spanning tens of kilometers.
The door of the massive mansion alone had decorations that had an alternation of diamonds, rubies, sapphire, emeralds, jades and many jewels that he could not recognize as it formed ancient runes that gave of an archaic aura.
The mansion was mainly vibrant gold in color.
It had two massive golden pillars in front of the mansion designed like the Greek columns as many pillars, though a little bit smaller in size, continued endlessly in a horizontal manner.
The gate outside the palace was made of crystal glass as it caged the entire massive mountain. It had an ark above it with herbs that emitted aura of mysticism as it formed a hanging gardens that may be greater than the hanging gardens of Babylon.
Between the door and the gate, a luxurious fountain can be seen as water as clear as a cloudless sky forming a pond comparable to a lake. It felt like it was ambrosia gushing out of the mouth of the fountain.
Beside it was a heavenly garden that filled up the entirety of the land which was designed as beautiful as though a work of art. It had heavenly herbs and fruits that seemed to be otherworldly in nature.
But both Dylan Ford and the younger Dylan could only look from the outside of its massive gates.
The gates were towering at least two thousand meters tall while seemingly encompassing the entire mansion. It seemed that each steel rod that formed the gates were made from mythological adamantine just from the sheer aura that they exude.
However, vines and herbs were growing on these steel rods of the gate.
"Majestic... Beautiful... and ... Grand." Dylan Ford marveled at the massively large mansion that suddenly appeared.
"Who would have thought that there was a building this marvelous that existed..." The younger Dylan was shocked to see something like an immortal`s abode magically appear in the space that he was in!
Then, a name synced mysteriously within their minds,
"The Cosmic God Mansion..."