Kai sat on the edge of the bed, grasping for his breath. His fists were tightly clenched on the bedsheet, and cold beads of sweat were rolling down his forehead, some of them trailing into his eyes, making his vision blurry.
But he was so shaken that he didn't care about such an insignificant discomfort. With unfocused eyes on the floor, he thought. That wasn't… real, was it?
He had a dream. A dream, so realistic that he could still feel his legs shaking in fear.
In it, he was stuck in the void, where he saw endless darkness all around him. Darkness so pitch black that he felt instinctive fear. He tried to scream for help, but realized that he couldn't speak at all. Words left his mouth, but nothing came out.
He tried to look at his own body, but it was not visible. He tried to move his hand but realized that he couldn't. There was sensation, but he felt such intense weight as if he was trying to push up a boulder.
But he didn't give up, he kept screaming for help, for mercy, for god to save him. But nobody came to save him.
At last, he just stood there, feeling helpless. He thought back on his life, the good moments and the bad ones, the proud moments and the embarrassing ones. The one time when he made his parents proud by topping the class. Another time when he felt absolutely heartbroken when the girl he liked turned him down. So on and so forth.
He felt like crying. 'That was good life—'
Just then, he stopped because he realized something important was missing, something very personal.
'I can't remember my name. I can't remember my face, nor that of my parents or crush.'
A deep, unsettling feeling found its way into his stomach. He was losing his memories. He was sure of it. He could remember that just now he had thought of the heartbroken moment when he confessed to his crush. But when he tried to remember, he couldn't remember a single thing, as if that event hadn't happened at all.
'Am I dead? Is this what happens when you die?'
He tried to remain composed and thought of ways to get out of here, but no matter how much he thought it was no use, he had no idea what was going on. At last, resigned, he waited for all of it to be over.
He waited as time passed, seconds, hours, days.
'Wait, how much time passed?' He felt like he had been thinking for too much time, but at the same time, he felt just mere moments had passed. Maybe it was because of his numb senses, or because of him losing memories, or maybe in this void, time didn't exist at all, but…
Time had become meaningless,
'Does that mean I would have to spend eternity in this place?'
A deep sense of loneliness assaulted him. He felt his sanity like a thread slowly being pulled apart in the void, but at the same time, not ending this nightmare.
He was going insane!
Just then! Suddenly! A purple mist shimmered into existence, below him.
It was like a flower blooming unobstructed by the deep darkness. A beautiful purple flower that filled Kai's heart with hope and boundless joy.
He looked at the shimmering mist with keen eyes.
A blurry image of a figure appeared within the mist. The figure had white hair; he was wearing a dark high-collared coat with silver trim, and where his eyes were, the purple glow was deepest. The mist swirled and thickened; the shape became clearer.
He could make out that his clothes were actually torn in places, smeared in blood as if he had taken a hard beating by someone. And he seemed to be lying down on a circular platform with strange, glowing chains around him, not binding him, but they seemed to be inscribed with runes.
And the figure actually had the same glowing purple eyes as the mist, but he seemed to be in a daze. Unresponsive to the environment around him.
Just then, a change occurred. In the blink of an eye, a hooded figure appeared beside the purple-eyed boy, a dagger in his hand, aiming for his neck. But another figure, this one taller than both, lunged from the side, causing them both to stumble, accidentally plunging the knife into the boy's stomach.
Both of the figures began to face off with each other with short swords in their hands, but Kai's eyes weren't following them; his eyes were locked onto the boy. As he seemed to be coming back to the waking world as his dazed expression was gone, replaced by a pained one.
Then, a confused one as he looked above, and his eyes happened to meet Kai's
Huh, what's happening?
But there was no time to think, as in another moment, a resolute expression crossed the boy's face. As if he had decided on something. The glow in his eyes intensified. As the mist began to swirl like crazy.
Both of the figures were alarmed and tried to stop, but it was no use as a purple beam shot outward from the mist, stretching endlessly toward the darkness
The purple mist began spreading all around the space, covering the deep darkness in a thin layer of purple mist.
Before he could think things through, it also swallowed him, and he was woken up.