"Where am I?"
Gaku murmured softly. As far as he could remember, he had been sitting on his plush sofa, lost in the pages of his favorite novel. He shouldn't be here—in a vast, white, empty room where nothing existed but a hollow void.
"Damn it... my head."
Gaku's hand instinctively pressed against his skull, trying to quell the throbbing pain searing through his mind. It wasn't very effective, but the pressure offered a small mercy of relief.
He stood up slowly, his legs trembling slightly from the lingering pain, and fixed his gaze forward. Standing before him was a slender woman clad in white. Her hair flowed loosely as she sat upon a blood-red throne.
The first thought that flashed through Gaku's mind upon seeing her was, "Am I in heaven?" But that thought was instantly shattered when a look of pure disgust pierced right through his heart.
"The core of your soul is so filthy, so revolting. Have you truly never done a single good deed in your world? You are more like a demon than a man."
The words stung Gaku so deeply that he found himself shouting, "No! That's impossible! I've never done anything evil before—never!"
The woman gave a thin smile. "You cannot lie to me. Your soul is pitch black; there is no conscience, no light in you at all."
"What... what do you mean?" Gaku's voice shook, his mind reeling from what he had just heard.
Throughout his life, Gaku hadn't committed any crimes. In fact, he had been kind to his colleagues, worked hard, and was always there for friends who needed him.
"You still don't understand? In this world, every living being has a soul color. White represents purity, and purple represents evil. But you? Yours is black. Do you have any idea what that means?" the woman asked, her eyes narrowing.
"I... but I've never done anything wrong!"
"Silence. I've had enough of your tiresome nonsense. May you die quickly in your new world."
"New... world?"
Suddenly, Gaku's vision turned white. His entire body went numb, and he felt himself falling onto a floor as he drifted into unconsciousness.
But just before he blacked out, one last voice reached his ears: "Why does this creature have a black soul? I have never seen anything like this before..." Those were the final words Gaku heard before he lost his senses.
Hours passed before Gaku felt his body recovering. He could move again, and a gentle breeze brushed against his exposed skin, bringing a faint sense of comfort.
However, when Gaku opened his eyes, he was struck by a wave of pure shock. This was not the world he knew. Everywhere he looked, there were only massive green trees—a forest that looked entirely untouched.
"Where is this? I've never seen trees like these... it's so dense. I have to get out of here before I run into any wild animals."
Gaku scanned his surroundings and spotted a comfortable-looking tree to lean against and catch his breath. "There, that looks good enough," he muttered.
But before he could even stand up, he froze. The gentle breeze continued to touch his back, but he realized something was wrong. It wasn't a natural wind.
Gaku spun around, his eyes widening and his mouth hanging open. His fingers wouldn't stop shaking at the sight of the figure before him.
It had massive wings and stood twice the height of a man. It was a Valkorax—a monster resembling an eagle, but gargantuan and terrifyingly aggressive.
"This can't be real, right?.." Gaku's gaze remained locked with the eagle's sharp stare.
Before Gaku could move to escape the danger zone, a massive claw from the eagle's foot swung toward his back. Gaku managed to dodge, bracing himself against the tree behind him.
But before he could even breathe a sigh of relief for dodging the Valkorax's first strike, his face turned deathly pale. He looked at where he had just been standing and saw one of his legs, completely severed, still lying there on the ground.
Gaku looked down at his own body. A surge of nausea hit him instantly as he saw blood gushing from the stump where his leg used to be.
His gaze snapped back to the Valkorax, his eyes now pleading and desperate.
"Don't come closer! Don't kill me! I'll give you anything! Please, stop!"
Gaku's voice was broken and shaky, fueled by pure terror and vulnerability. But all hope vanished as the Valkorax charged, tearing through the bushes and knocking down small trees with its raw power.
In one swift, unavoidable motion, the Valkorax's sharp beak lunged forward, piercing Gaku's chest and pinning him to the tree behind him.
"AKKKHHHH!!!"
Gaku's scream echoed through the woods, but it was futile. He was alone, trapped in this place. Besides, what was the point of begging? A monster doesn't understand human speech; it only knows hunger.
Gaku's body grew weaker, his face turning white as he lost more blood. He could only stare feebly at the beak buried in his chest, unable to fight back.
The Valkorax pulled back from its hunched position, while Gaku's body remained stuck to its beak.
Gaku thought it would all end in a quiet death, but reality turned even more horrific as the Valkorax forced its beak open.
Gaku let out one last weak scream as his body began to tear in two. But just before the end, the world suddenly shifted, and Gaku woke up in the exact same spot where he had first arrived in the forest. No blood, no wounds.
"I'm... alive again?"