As the mist of the white void swelled and dissipated, only the faint voice from that girl echoed in his mind. The darkness around his vision expanded like a balloon, revealing a storm of bubbles rising to a rippling watery ceiling.
Schools of fish swam around the walls of coral. Beams of sunlight pierced through the blue ceiling, barely skimming over his pale face. Threads of his white hair flew back and forth like the waving kelp beneath him.
His lips were closed, hearing muted.
He drifted in a haze of confusion, every memory slipping through his grasp like water.
Saltwater stung his eyes.
Clusters of bubbles continued to slip out of his mouth.
Within five heartbeats, Asahi understood he was deep beneath the waves.
His mind grew numb from the surge of water bursting into his body; the seconds of the clock ticked as the light above him grew denser and denser.
Asahi felt his strength ebb away, yet even after two endless minutes, the water refused to claim him.
. . .
He couldn't hear anything. His legs were stiff, and his arms were... barely moving.
The sea's silence pressed in, heavy and menacing.
(Is this my world?) Asahi thought. (No... it can't be. Why am I underwater? Where is Aletha?)
Aletha. That name, that realization, made Asahi panic. He kicked his legs and flailed his arms, floating above the seafloor and searching for Aletha.
Just before he lost hope, Asahi found a girl with long white hair, slumped and floating above the roof of a sunken, ruined building. He cut through the vines and swam upward, dodging vicious sea creatures before finally grabbing the girl.
Five minutes slipped by, and the last bubble had vanished into the blue.
With all the energy he had left, he carried Aletha up to the surface.
Aletha's weight dragged him downward, but Asahi battled the pull with every ounce of will, legs churning desperately toward the light.
As his windpipe moved, Asahi felt a current of cold electricity pass through the air. His ears were unclogged. The sounds of the waves, the droplets, the fresh salty breeze-- he could hear again.
The waves were merely sleeping, sluggish and slumbering in their liquid robes. Asahi took a deep exhale and clutched Aletha tightly, keeping them afloat. He rubbed Aletha's cheek and saw the tattoo from faint rays glimmering. A relieved smile cracked up from his worried frown.
"Thank goodness you're safe." He whispered as he carefully swam forward. "Now, where did that thing take us?"
Night's deep blue melted into a radiant amber, as cloud shadows drifted across the water, drawing back the curtain for morning's arrival. Dawn was only heartbeats away.
Asahi turned to the horizon and saw a glistening orange ball of fire rise up from a waterfall of clouds. The warmth of its luxuriant golden rays shone across the expanse of the sea, then to their faces.
As his words faded, a towering wall of water surged toward them without warning.
It was a colossal wave tinted with cold blue, bubbling up with salt. His heart raced, his palms numbed.
Before Asahi glimpsed the distant shoreline, the wave hurled him and Aletha toward land, tossing them like helpless ragdolls.
. . .
From the darkness, flickers of bright golden sun rays fluttered through his eyelids. His heart thumped rapidly. He felt a breeze pass by, heard birds chirp over the trees, and his nose caught a whiff of a dense, earthy smell.
Asahi's mind spun with uncertainty; he had no idea where he had landed.
Usually, he would look around his surroundings and analyze, but because of the strength it took to keep both him and his sister afloat, and the fog that obfuscated his memories, Asahi decided to slump and rest on the ground like a dog.
After a relaxing break, Asahi lifted his body up and rubbed his eyes.
He was surprised to feel his strength return so swiftly, as if the earth itself lent him new life.
With the fog in his mind being lifted, he could think clearly and do what he had usually done when he awakened to an unfamiliar place.
Bushes crowded his right, while a forest of trees stretched to his left.
"I don't recall seeing the grasslands being so… closed up," Asahi said as he stared at the birds flying by, "Trees, bushes, and flowers. This is better than what I expected."
The image of the destroyed world he had in mind was a vast, endless brown plain with everything in shambles, an empty wasteland robbed of life. But now, seeing it in person, Asahi's views have shifted, driving him to think.
"It doesn't seem like five years have passed here." Asahi thought as he passed through an opening in the trees. A stream of falling leaves flew as his eyes shrank in absolute disbelief. "If that's the case, then maybe.."
Before he could finish, a sudden gust swept him forward, ushering him into the forest's shadowy passage.
. . .
Upon waking up in the water, he decided to wander the forest, continuing his search for his sister. After awakening from nearly drowning at sea, the first thought that sparked in Asahi's mind was, How did he arrive here?
Sure, he saw a shore, and yes, he was caught in a wave, but shouldn't that mean he had to awaken on the shore? Why was it that Asahi awakened in the forest, rather than on a shore? Where did his memory go? And most importantly, where did Aletha go? These questions bit his mind the more he walked.
"Hmm, if I were pulled into the forest, could that mean that Aletha is still…" His eyes broadened in realization. "... In the shore?!"
After his shout echoed, Asahi chased the sunlight through the trees, hoping to find the shore. Instead, he stumbled into a gloom-shrouded glade, where moss hung thick, gray flowers blanketed the ground, and withered logs lay scattered. Unease prickled at his skin.
After he passed halfway, Asahi stopped in his tracks and scratched his head, looking back and forth. He mumbled.
"This isn't anywhere close to the shore? Had I stumbled upon the wrong path?"
Suddenly, an unearthly roar sounded behind him.
"SCREE!"
A hot pain lashed across his lower back.
The sudden attack forced him to trip and stagger to the ground. He looked back and forth, trying to find where the attack came from. And then,
"AHHH!"
Soon, before he knew it, a red streak flew across him, forcing him to the ground. His skin immediately started to swell. Blood rushed to the area, making the pain in him sting like pure alcohol. He rolled around back and forth, crying and screaming, not noticing his human components.
"What is happening? Why can't I…"
A third scratch pierced through his right arm. The pain shot up in all three areas like fire. He cringed and rolled on the ground. He hadn't remembered screaming like this since he was young. His eyes darted back and forth among the shadows surrounding him.
But just as the blinding light could reveal the enemy, his vision blurred.
"AHHH! What is this?!" He said as he felt every corner of his body sting. "This sensation is so… unbearable! Is this what mortals… f-feel?! MAKE IT STOP!"
The agony eclipsed anything he had ever imagined.
It was like needles had been dipped in alcohol and jammed through his skin.
It was as if invisible knives stabbed him from every direction at once.
Asahi hunched down and tried to suppress his cries, feeling his skin bubble and swell up.
Then, as if fate conspired against him, his vision clouded further until even his own fingers faded into the haze.
Fear seized his tongue, his cheek, and his pounding heart as the creature loomed above.
A dark figure crept over his face, dangling its twenty long dark arms and wagging its hideous tail. Slowly, it started prying open its jaw, revealing seemingly endless sets of sharp, daggering teeth and a glowing purple circle at its tonsil.
It croaked and gulped, staring at Asahi's face with its two tiny glowing purple eyes. As it raised its claw, lowering its jaw toward his neck, preparing to slaughter the defenseless boy, Asahi lifted his arm and opened his palms, mumbling.
"This… has… to work."
Suddenly, a small white glow emerged above the tip of Asahi's palm. The monster stood still at its feet, tilting its head in confusion and curiosity. As if it were attracted to the light.
The idea was to summon a storm of darts to hopefully pierce the monster into oblivion with its sharp luminescent blades. He had always depended on this attack.
When he would be in danger, all it would take to save him was a barrage of sharp, magical white needles. It was the most basic attack he could use, and he had hoped it would work on the monster, too.
However, something was wrong.
Before the light could even form into the shards, it crunched into a tiny pulp, splitting and destroying itself until nothing remained.
Pure horror widened Asahi's eyes, freezing him in place.
"H-Huh?"
He tried again to summon the attack. First, a white ball of luminance would appear, then it should transform into shards of light, and finally, it should fly toward the target.
But instead, all the attack did was crunch into a tiny pulp, splitting and destroying itself like before.
This concerned Asahi. Never had he seen his magic perform like this.
To keep the creature distracted, Asahi tried to use another attack. A white laser beam.
He lifted his left arm, pointed it at the monster, and fabricated a white ball of luminance at the center of his palm.
All of his attacks were to be summoned by a white ball, but usually the ball shouldn't be visible, as the sheer speed of the summoning was so quick that all the ball would look like was nothing but a tiny flash.
But because of some sort of error, every attack Asahi used at the moment would just be a tiny white ball before shattering like glass.
With no hope of the attack, Asahi resorted to the only option he had.
He swung his fist at the creature's jaw and forced it to skid away. He saw the black goop and teeth of the monster fly into the air like pellets before crashing onto the dirt. Hope lifted him upward.
The creature reeled back to the tree and crawled up it on all fours, twisting its repugnant head and hissing at Asahi like a snake.
Although he managed to swing a fist at the creature, it looked like it was healing already.
"H…Huh?"
Suddenly, the creature threw its goopy arm through Asahi's chest and opened a massive wound, spewing white dust out of his body.
At this point, Asahi couldn't feel anything anymore.
His vision darkened.
He closed his eyes and trembled. He had thought returning to his world would be the greatest idea, but instead, it turned into a nightmare.
"ASAHI!"
A voice rang through the circle of trees, eclipsing the loud roars and even Asahi's rough breaths.
His eyes broadened in shock.
Behind the trees stood a girl. She had long hair down her back, wore black attire, and had a concerning gaze at the creature.
From his trembling lips, Asahi muttered with a smile of relief.
"Aletha…"