Weeks passed.
Spring slowly gave way to summer.
The lush green scenery faded, replaced by a sea of yellow.
A young man slowly opened his black eyes.
At first...
All he could see was darkness.
After struggling for a moment, a faint light finally entered his vision.
He wandered through the streets for what felt like hours.
Despite being in the middle of a city...
There wasn't a single sign of life.
The young man was none other than Haziqa.
Who else could it be?
He kept walking.
And walking.
And walking.
With every step he took...
His hopes slowly crumbled.
He had no idea that he was already dead.
After all...
His death had happened in less than a fraction of a second.
"What is this place...?"
He frowned.
"I remember heading to school... What happened after that?"
He lowered his head absentmindedly.
Then...
His expression froze.
"What the...?"
"I don't have a shadow."
Only then...
Did he finally notice.
"...Am I dead?"
His calm reaction was strangely unnatural.
Under normal circumstances, anyone would have screamed...
Collapsed...
Or broken down in tears.
Yet Haziqa did none of those things.
It was as though he had accepted the truth long ago...
Or perhaps...
He had simply lost the ability to feel.
The memories of his death were hazy.
That was only natural.
He didn't even miss his family.
It was as if the bond connecting them had been severed.
Days passed.
Then weeks.
Then months.
Yet he never encountered another living soul.
"I guess..."
"This dream is going to last for a while."
He forced himself to believe it.
Months turned into years.
His search remained fruitless.
As time passed...
A terrifying thought slowly took root in his mind.
"...What if..."
"...My previous life was the dream?"
He desperately rejected the idea.
"No."
"That's impossible."
He shook his head and continued wandering.
Years continued to pass.
Eventually...
The thought became impossible to ignore.
After all...
He never felt hungry.
He never grew tired.
He never needed sleep.
Neither his height nor his weight changed.
Time itself seemed to have abandoned him.
Finally...
He asked himself a single question.
"...What am I?"
It sounded like a simple question.
But its meaning ran far deeper.
For the first time...
Haziqa no longer viewed himself as human.
The instant those words left his mouth...
Blue flames suddenly appeared all around him.
Large ones.
Small ones.
Countless blue flames drifted silently through the empty world.