Blink.
He opened his eyes.
'Where am I?' Sein thought to himself.
In his field of view, he was in a strange world of darkness. It was so dark, in fact, he couldn't even tell if he was opening his eyes or not.
Sensing that he was in a strange space, he calmly sat up.
And as he stood up, his hand touched the floor and a clear sound of water rippling rang.
Ripple.
'Water?'
Sein lifted his eyebrows in surprise.
Ripples of water—or at least, what seemed like it, rippled every time he moved and touched the floor.
Seeing that evoked a certain sense of nostalgia rising up in him.
Compared with the scene in front of him, he couldn't help but be reminded of a certain space in an anime he saw before. A cliché you could say.
'The Mind realm.'
Or the realm of the subconscious.
'But, usually, isn't that the case when someone accesses their unconscious or someone else?' He wondered.
'Oh… wait. That… seems to apply to me too.'
He remembered now.
Earlier, he and Reyn were about to go out and grab some dinner, but all of a sudden, a headache struck. And it was not just any ordinary headache either, it was an agonizing and gut-wrenching headache, like someone pierce a sword in his head and twisted it inside his brain.
It was simply that painful.
And then naturally, he collapsed right on the spot.
"..."
He was silent.
'That kind of headache wasn't normal at all.' He narrowed his eyes.
Of course, it wouldn't be normal. After all, he was healthy in both mind and body, and he hasn't experienced any kind of sickness or disease for the past five years as well… To be struck suddenly by a weird headache for no reason at all, now that was strange.
And looking at this place now, he guessed it must be related.
At least, he thinks so.
He stood up.
Looking down, he could now somewhat see the floor resembling a mirror. Or a liquid mirror…? Anyways, that too is also strange. And when he walks around, it does feel like he was walking on water too. How magical and strange at the same time.
And there is this space as a whole too.
"How strange, there shouldn't be any light source in here, and yet, I could see this clear water mirror-like floor and my reflection so clearly, and if I look up, all I can see is darkness all around me." Sein said in amazement.
"I guess I should walk around more and see where it gets me."
With now a goal and a clear resolve to see this through, he walked straight.
He walked and walked and walked.
And finally.
On what feels like a lot of time had passed, with no time to indicate the passing, he finally saw something.
A floating white glowing incandescent cube that seems to emit glowing white smoke or mist.
From afar, it resembles a will-o-wisp.
But, getting closer, you can see its outline resembling that of a cube instead of a sphere.
Seeing it, he couldn't help but be reminded of a certain cube lying at his desk. Therefore, he narrowed his eyes.
Upon much closer inspection, it also somehow resembles a rubik's cube.
"...Ah!" A wave of realization hit him.
'Could it be… that cube was the one that gave me that headache? Or else, why would something that resembled it so closely appear in this strange space?' he pondered silently, assessing the situation before him.
"..."
He frowned.
'...Dang, if it weren't for that guy, Reynold, I wouldn't be in this strange situation right now… I'll get back to him later. I'll make sure to remember it.'
"...Anyways, might as well find out." He started walking towards the incandescent rubik's-looking cube.
One step.
Two steps.
Three steps.
He got closer and closer.
Then after a few more wary steps.
He stopped.
He looked at it closely.
It was still the same. It was still glowing with a white aura which made it look incandescent and mysterious.
But…
There was one thing that was missing from it.
And that was sound…
…And perhaps also temperature.
After all, there were no sounds coming from it nor were there any heat or coldness to be felt even though it was spouting smoke or mist. And that made it quite eerie. And at the same time, it made it look like just an illusion. A projection.
Now, you may think that's normal, but even in this strange space, sound still exists. Temperature too. In fact, this strange space he was in was naturally cold. Therefore, this made the suspicious floating white incandescent cube even more unusual.
"..." He stared intently at it for a while.
After a moment of hesitation, he reached out his hand toward it.
Tiiiiiiiiinggggggg!
The moment his hand made contact with the white incandescent floating cube, white light suddenly surged, and an ear-splitting sound reminiscent of a glass being hit with a fork, but multiple times that louder than a bell, erupted, thereby blinding him on the spot and rupturing his eardrums in the process as well.
"Urgh!"
'What—'
Before he could even react, he was swallowed by the light.
Swooooosh—!!!
***
Blink.
A white tiled ceiling.
Circle lights flickering around above it.
Sounds that you can hear around all the time.
He was now back in the real world.
He flinched and shuddered. As if the feeling only caught up to him just now.
It all happened in just a blink of an eye. It was too fast for him to even react on the spot.
A situation all too familiar to him.
Since he just woke up, his eyesight was blurry. But, he could tell that he was in an unfamiliar room laying down on a bed.
"Ah, you're awake now." Suddenly, someone said something beside him. Seemingly calling him.
'Huh? Who?' He was confused. Who was calling out to him?
He turned his head around to his right side.
"Phew, I'm glad you're fine. I was worried, you know?"
His vision was now beginning to clear and he could now make up who it was.
It was Reyn, looking at him from his right side.
"Oh… Reyn. It's you."
"Yeah, it's me." Reyn smiled.
"… Am I at a hospital right now?" Sein asked.
"Mhm-mh, you are." Reyn nodded.
"I see."
"..."
"..."
Silence pervaded the room.
'...This is awkward.' Sein thought as his eyes darted around the room.
"I'm sorry for collapsing earlier." Sein apologized with a wry smile.
"Ah, no, no, it's ok. It was an unexpected situation after all. It wasn't your fault." Reyn consoled him.
"But, still…."
"It's really ok!" Reyn grinned.
"Ok… if you insist." Sein could only smile helplessly.
"What time is it now?"
"It's 8:49 PM now." Reyn said.
"I see… Then, what about dinner? Have you eaten yet?" Sein asked.
"I haven't yet, unfortunately." Reyn placed her hand on her stomach while putting on an exaggerated expression.
Sein was surprised, "Oh, really? Then, wanna eat with me? I'll treat you to a meal."
"Oh, are you sure about that? I won't be polite then." Reyn agreed readily—in fact, even excited.
"Wait here, I'll ask the nurse to discharge you." Reyn grinned as she stood up.
"Ok, thanks." Sein nodded as he grinned as well.
He watched her walk through the door and left.
Clack.
As he was waiting for Reyn, he silently organized his thoughts.
'Now that I'm awake, I can feel my mind clearer than before now.'
'And if I think about it more closely enough, I don't think that place was in my Mind realm or something. Or rather, it closely resembles a dream more than anything.'
'After all… I have been experiencing it a lot these past few days. I could at least tell it's a dream at the very least.'
'I'll take a look at that cube later on after dinner.'
He narrowed his eyes, '...Of course, I won't forget getting back at Reynold too. Out of all the things I have to do, that is the most important of them all. I can't forget it.' Sein was petty about it, so he made sure to list it as the most important thing out of all the things he had to do.
Clack.
The door opened.
Reyn had returned.
"I'm back. The nurse said you can now be discharged." Reyn was awfully in a good mood.
"That's good. Where do you want to eat?" Sein asked.
"Hehehe, since you're treating, and the new restaurant at Matina is almost gonna close now, let's go to a bar I frequently go to!" Reyn said excitedly.
"Okay, let's go." Sein said with a smile while simultaneously fearing for his wallet a bit.
'Oh, well.'
***
Clack.
'I'm finally home.' He said to himself in his mind.
'But still, that girl, Reyn, sure can eat a lot…' Sein was a bit dumbfounded after his wallet flattened a bit.
But, anyways, he was finally home sweet home. After all, wasn't there a saying that nothing beats home? And sure enough, it was true.
He put all of his things where they rightly belong, changed clothes, took a toothbrush and washed their face, and finally, he laid on his bed.
"Ahh~ Man, what a day…"
"..."
"...I'm probably gonna have another dream again… I hope it's something nice though." Sein hoped so.
As soon as he said that, he slowly drifted to sleep.
Zzz…
Zzzzz…
Zzzzzzzzzz….
***
.........…..
.......
...
…
He opened his eyes.
In his view, there was a sight that was nothing at all like his room nor was there anything like it in his room to begin with.
A cloudy blue sky.
Birds flying about in the skies.
The sounds of grass swaying in the wind.
Birds tweeting and crickets chirping.
The sun, shiny and bright, was fully showering him in its light…
He was once again lying down on some grass.
Though, this time, there seems to be life in this dream at least.
He sat up and took a look at this new dream.
He seems to be stranded in a grassland with few trees and with mountains in sight.
Currently, in short, he was in the middle of nowhere.
He looked at his back, thinking to see something similar like in his recent previous dream, but it was still the same surroundings.
…Well, he figured that was the case since the sun was blinding him with its light after all.
After a few moments of taking in the surrounding view, he stood up.
"Well, for starters, I guess I should walk and try to see whether there is a village, no? Since this dream seems like a fantasy world to me."
That's right, this world awfully strikes in resemblance to another world. A fantasy one at that.
In the distance, in the sky above, if one were to squint their eyes, they would be able to see a flock of dragons or wyverns flying together heading to a mountain range.
Seeing such creatures made Sein conclude that, perhaps, he is in a fantasy world.
Although, there was a chance that he was mistaken, and those were actually just a flock of birds.
Anyways, he was particularly excited about it.
Thus, he walked.