"WHAT THE... Huh?" Akira shouted in confusion. He was certain he had just died. Yet, when he opened his eyes, he found himself standing in the waiting area of the arena, completely unharmed.
"What the hell just happened?" he muttered, more bewildered than anything else. Just moments ago, he'd felt the excruciating pain of his head exploding, only for it to vanish in an instant as though it had never happened.
"Is this an illusion? No, it's way too real…" Akira tried to make sense of what had just occurred.
Just as he was thinking about that, the door to the waiting room swung open, and his mother rushed in with a pale face. "Akira! Are you alright? Do you feel dizzy? Any pain? Headache? Burning?" she fired off questions without pausing.
Akira looked at her, his eyes glowing in excitement, "I am fine, Mother, but more importantly… what was that? How did you do it? Was it resurrection magic? How did I just respawn like that?" His barrage of excitement completely drowned out her panic.
"Sigh seems like you're fine… you're much calmer than your father and I were when we first went through this," she said, relief washing over her as she observed her son, who is more excited than anything else.
"You and Father went through this, too? Is it some kind of magic? Wait… is this really the legendary resurrection magic?" Akira asked.
"It's not exactly resurrection magic. It's more of a rite of passage in our family," Yuki said with a serious tone. "You see, this arena has been used for generations as both a training ground and a tournament venue in our family. Whenever someone suffers a fatal injury here, they're healed and teleported back to the waiting arena. In our family, when children reach a certain age, they go through this as a way to overcome the fear of death and learn to fight with their full strength in a real battle."
Her gaze softened with a trace of nostalgia. "When it first happened to me, I was so shaken I couldn't sleep for days. Your father went through the same. As for how this arena works… I honestly don't know. That part has been a mystery even to us."
Akira listened intently. It made sense now, but something still puzzled him.
Yuki, however, was grappling with her own thoughts. Every child who had gone through this rite of passage had been left shaken, often traumatized, by the experience. The pain of dying was all too real, and none of it was dulled by the magic that revived them. Yet Akira stood before her, completely unfazed. He had experienced the pain of his head exploding, but he showed no signs of fear or trauma. Instead, he seemed more curious about how it all worked than anything else.
While she was relieved that he seemed ok, she was also deeply worried. It wasn't normal for a child his age to be so unaffected by such a harrowing experience. Her son's calm demeanour confused and concerned her.
"Are you sure you're okay? Did you not feel any pain when your head exploded?" Yuki asked with concern.
"Huh? No, I felt every bit of it. It's the first time I've had my head explode, after all. It was painful… well, at least for a moment," Akira replied with a nonchalant expression, as though he were discussing about the weather.
"But you look completely fine! Back then, I was so scared I couldn't even speak for a while. I mean, you could have really died and gone to heaven or something," Yuki said. After all, that was the normal reaction.
"I mean, it was painful and shocking. But the pain and shock completely disappeared when I opened my eyes, and I didn't feel any fear or anything like that. I mean, it's not like I can do anything after I die, right? So… I don't know how to explain it, but I'm completely okay," Akira tried to explain.
He couldn't tell her the real reason, that he had already died once and spent a long time in the void. For him, death wasn't all that frightening. If he died again, he knew he would just return to that void. Perhaps it was terrifying for others, but not for him.
Yuki observed him closely, still unsure of how to process his reaction. She sighed inwardly. "This isn't normal for a child his age," she thought. "He didn't even seem fazed by the pain or the idea of dying. Is it because he's the destined one? Even so..."
Shaking off her thoughts, she decided to focus on the task at hand.
"Oh, right! Mother, you said this place was used as a tournament arena, right? What kind of tournament? Is it big? Who will participate? When does it happen?" Akira asked excitedly, his mind now on a completely different track. As far as he is concerned, this arena only means one thing, a real-life tournament arc.
"It was a competition held within our family. No outsiders have ever been allowed here since this place was created," Yuki explained.
"Huh? Just within the family? But this arena is huge! It even has a massive audience seating area. What's all that for?" Akira asked in confusion.
"Well, our Starlight family used to be a large clan, with many people enough to occupy this arena. That's also why our house is so big. In fact, the white mansion across from ours, where the Sendo family lives, used to belong to us. But as our numbers declined over time, we handed it over to the Sendo family," she explained.
"Our family was that big? Then what happened to everyone? Why is it just us now?" Akira asked in concern.
"Don't worry. I'll tell you when you're older. You're not ready yet," Yuki brushed him off.
Akira sighed. "Alright, Mother…" He wanted to know, but if she wouldn't say, he could only let it go for now. The secrets of his family just kept piling up.
"Now that I think about it, my father and mother look similar, right? We all share the same purple eyes and white hair. Mother even mentioned that she and Father both went through this training as kids. And she said no outsiders have ever been here... It can't be, right?" Akira's thoughts wandered into dangerous territory. A suspicion he'd harboured for a while resurfaced, but he pushed it aside. All he can hope is that nothing like House Targaryen is going on here.
But keeping that question bottled up didn't sit right with him. So, gathering his courage, Akira asked bluntly, "Mother… are we related?"
But the moment the words left his mouth, he realized how ridiculous it sounded.