His lungs felt as if they had gotten 10x heavier while he was sinking into this strangely deep pond. By the time he reached the bottom and opened his eyes, he saw the countless rocks on the floor.
As he was an awakened and technically a master at the same time, it would be easy to hold his breath and yet.. he purposely chose not to put much effort into holding it.
He was like a blade taken straight out of a furnace, not even getting a chance to be formed, and shoved into cold water.
If he was a blade, he would be the hardest blade in the world — two worlds even. He believed it wouldn't be cocky to say his ambitions outweighed everyone else's.
But still.. the hardest blade was the easiest to break. It was the hardest, so it was wielded the most. Thus, it was damaged the most and lost its sharpness the most. That's why it broke faster than other swords.
But he couldn't break, not now or in the future. That thought led him back to why he jumped in here in the first place — to answer Professor Julius about the ending of that fairytale.
Through the corner of his eye he saw a fish. He instinctively used his abilities on it, and gills appeared on his neck.
Wait.
Before, to take something he had to lose something first, but now.. could it be this is one of the things that was possible once he had awakened? That's pretty convenient.
At the same time, it's extremely dangerous. It makes it much easier for him to become a monster.
Taking a deep breath with the gills, he sat down at the bottom of that pond and entered his soul sea.
---
Where was he? This wasn't his soul sea. It was like he was in a world of complete white — no, it wasn't like he was, he truly was in a world of pure white at the moment. He pressed his fingers together and couldn't feel anything. He couldn't smell anything either. All of his senses were gone other than his sight.
With no reasonable theory, he simply walked, and walked. How long had he been in here? How long had he been walking? Is he dead? Could he have died at the bottom of that pond? Or perhaps a gate opened up at the bottom and his consciousness got sucked in. Maybe he's challenging the second nightmare somehow. Or maybe he's just having a dream.
Every step he took, these thoughts got louder, but all he saw was white. He lifted his hands up and saw that they were fading — no, it was more that his whole body was slowly fading. It wasn't only his body; he was fading too. By that he means his mind — everything that he is was slowly fading in this white wasteland.
He tried something he never tried before; he attempted to speak.
"I.. am lost from light."
Suddenly his fading body stopped fading. It didn't return back to its previous self, but it halted temporarily. Soon enough, he started fading again, so once more he spoke.
"I am lost from light!"
The fading stopped once more, so he stopped walking.
And he began running, shouting all the while.
"I am lost from light! I've lived the life of a proud wolf and will die the death of a lowly sow!"
With those words, some of his body and self came back, so his strides grew wider.
"I am lost from light! I am a hero!"
And with those words, his body began to fade once more.
What was happening? Was it limited or something? Or was it that..
Once again, he ran.
"I am lost from light! I'm not a hero of any kind! I'm someone who's just claiming to be one in order to repent for the actions I have committed! But in truth.. in truth! The past year I've had moments that made me forget those heinous actions I have done! Something I swore to never do! I'm nothing but a hypocrite who's claiming to be a hero!"
His hands had come back.
"I am Auro of the Nine! I'm a selfish person! I'm someone who holds those who I care about so close that they could melt into my skin! And I do that knowing that my company will only bring them misery!"
His feet had come back.
"I am Sunny! And I.."
Suddenly he stopped.
He could answer for Lost from Light, he could even answer for 'Auro,' and yet he couldn't answer for himself.
Gritting his slowly fading teeth, he shouted into the white void.
"I am Sunny! And despite knowing all of those things! I wouldn't change a thing about myself! That's because!"
He ran. As he stretched his arm out, a black door appeared in front of him.
"I selfishly want to dream!"
He woke back up, still at the bottom of the pond.
Yet he woke up with the answer to the end of that fairytale.