"Your schizophrenia is getting worse?"
"Correct..."
Sitting in a bleak room, Lune stared at his therapist with a somewhat calm expression. He wanted something from this man, perhaps it could be help? He wasn't sure.
["I am not a mere delusion of your mind, Lune."]
"He's talking to me now."
The therapist crossed his legs and wrote something down on notebook paper.
"What did he say?"
"I am not a mere delusion of your mind, Lune."
"Hm..." The therapist paused and continued to write. "Schizophrenia is unpredictable, but those voices are ultimately of your creation. Lune, do you have problems with your identity?"
Lune went silent as he thought about his identity.
A simple young man who lives on Hestia, and a guy who's more or less average in looks. He indeed wanted to be more. The voice in his head often claimed it was once a man named Aurei, who was a literal god that presided over knowledge.
"The voice calls himself a god, maybe I've been reading too much fiction or playing too many games..." Lune lowered his gaze.
"Interesting... a god, huh?" The therapist noted down Lune's words and let out a deep breath. "Have you ever heard of something called the Veil of Astrea?"
Lune thought for a moment, "Is it a game?"
The therapist chuckled, "Not quite." He raised his hand and left his palm up, suspended in the air. "Did you see anything?"
Lune formed an odd expression.
"Uh... you raised your hand and held it out?"
The therapist jokingly waved him off and continued to write. "I'll prescribe you medicine to calm your symptoms, and let's discuss your academic performance lately." He slid a stack of papers towards Lune.
Lune did not need to look at them to know it was time for him to sigh. He tightly closed his eyes and said:
"I'm sorry."
***
Washing his hands was a young man with unkempt blonde hair, crimson eyes, and a passive expression.
The only thing in Lune's mind was the sound of the rushing water; the annoying 'god' who often monologued in his head had finally gone dormant.
"What's up?"
Lune slowly looked to his right to see a young man standing next to him. The young man's smile grew the moment he noticed Lune turn.
"Just um... Dealing with life, what about you?" He turned back toward the mirror.
"Haha, life, that's a fortunate thing to deal with. But, to answer your question, I'm doing okayish."
Lune chuckled, "Fortunate thing to deal with, huh? That's an interesting response."
His words echoed in the restroom.
Lune swallowed and took a glance to his right. Nothing was there. His mouth slowly opened, and he felt his chest tighten.
'...Am I seeing random people now?'
["You should head home, your last class does not require mandatory attendance."]
Hearing the enigmatic voice in his head, Lune's lips folded, and he let out a tired sigh.
"Has the voice of a god become my impulsive decisions?"
Lune chuckled and left the restroom. The moment he walked out, he bumped into a rather stunning girl, one he had known. An aristocrat known to everyone walking the campus, Strevia Welhardt.
"Shit, my bad." Lune quickly bent over and picked up her textbook. She looked at him with an odd expression before a corner of her mouth raised.
"What's your name?"
He stared into her enchanting brown eyes, which caused him to momentarily avert his gaze.
"Lune Erhat." His eyes followed her platinum hair down to her face.
"Lune Erhat. I'll remember that." She placed strands of her hair behind her ear. "My book?"
He stood still, staring at her for a moment before shaking his head.
"Right, sorry."
He extended his hand to hand her the book, and the moment the two made contact, he looked up at her eyes and noticed they had shifted to a dark violet color, her pupils condensing into a slit-like shape.
'Huh?' His eyes quickly widened as he stared into her eyes.
Strevia tilted her head slightly and pulled the book away from him.
"Is there something in my eyes?"
He blinked a few times, and they returned to their normal brown color.
"No... Sorry."
He swallowed and walked past her.
'Do I just need sleep?'
***
'I can't get her eyes out of my mind.'
He shifted in his bed.
["Rightfully so, even I'm not sure what she was. Well... I've been dead for millions of years, so it's no surprise things like this have begun to appear after I cracked the Veil of Astrea."]
Lune's eyes immediately narrowed, and he turned over.
"...Veil of Astrea. What was my therapist speaking of?" He reached over to his nightstand and picked up his phone.
'Veil of Astrea.'
He searched for it and scrolled for a fair amount of time, yet no relevant results appeared.
"Sigh."
"What's wrong with me... the therapist probably didn't even mention anything about a Veil of Astrea."
He lifted his blanket and turned, only to see a shadow outside his window. He immediately flinched and blinked a few times.
A person was standing right outside his window...?
He shook his head; such a thing was impossible. He wasn't even on the ground floor.
"Who are you?"
He heard a voice from behind his head. A feminine, recognizable voice.
"..."
He turned away from the window.
'Strevia Welhardt!?'
"How did you get in here!?" He quickly tossed away his blanket. "No, no, this is just another delusion of my mind... such a weird thing to even imagine."
"You took a glimpse into my true form; even a Lightbearer wouldn't be able to do such a thing... a better question to ask would be what are you? You seem confused yourself."
He anxiously swallowed.
"You're only in my mind..."
He felt, for some reason, his schizophrenic hallucinations were trying to tell him he was something beyond a regular person.
Her brow lowered at his words, and she opened her mouth:
"It seems you need some confirmation."
She blinked across the room and gripped him by his throat, raising him above his bed.
"Aghhk!" He yelped.
Strevia immediately raised her other hand, covering his mouth.
"It'll be an issue if you wake up your family."
'Alright... Alright! She's not a hallucination!'
He began to panic, realizing that whatever this was, it was actually happening. His phone fell from his hand, and Strevia quickly collected it.
Her eyes lowered and then lifted back up, staring into his.
"You were looking up the Veil of Astrea?"
He nodded.
"...How peculiar," She thought for a moment, "Incomprehensible even."
His vision immediately faded, and he lost consciousness.
***
Lune woke up and immediately yawned, rubbing his eyes.
'So it was a dream...'
He looked out his window for a moment.
"Shit..."
'What time is it!'
He looked over to check his phone, but noticed something odd in the corner of his room. A person.
"It seems your Veil has finally been lifted... that girl must have been the final catalyst. It's good to formally meet you, Lune."
The familiar voice no longer echoed in his head; instead, it came from a man sitting in a chair in the far corner of his room. The man was incredibly handsome, with long black hair and bright green eyes that seemed to glow in harmony with it. He was wearing a gaudy, ancient robe that gave him a truly divine feel.
"I've finally lost it."
"You still think you're sick? Even after that woman assaulted you? How stubborn." Aurei smiled. "Lune, go look in a mirror."
"Go look in a mirror?" He got out of bed and awkwardly walked past Aurei, entering the hallway. He turned toward the bathroom and took a step.
"Lune, you dyed your hair?"
He frowned and turned around to look at his sister standing behind him.
"What do you mean?"
Sera laughed, "I can see the roots, there's no hiding that. It looks good, maybe you'll get a girlfriend."
Lune felt his eye twitch and hurriedly went to the bathroom. He entered it and immediately looked into the mirror.
"..."
His hair, which had been fully blonde, the roots had begun turning black.
Aurei entered the bathroom, standing behind him. He was surprisingly tall, around 200 cm. He made Lune, who was about average height, look like a child.
"I'm not sure what could've caused this physical change, but I can only assume it's because I live inside you. How pleasant, if you begin to look like me, you'll be far more handsome."
Lune could only continue to stare.
'Could it be possible that Aurei is more than a manifestation of my mind?'
Had Lune not been schizophrenic this entire time? He had been simply haunted by an ancient exiled god, who, for some reason, spends most of his time monologuing in Lune's head.
'The medicine wasn't working, because... I'm not sick.'
"Finally done being stubborn?" Aurei patted Lune's shoulder and vanished.
["Go to school, and avoid the girl. She's dangerous."]
Just like that, the echoing voice had returned to his head. Yet the dark roots in his hair remained.