the man, Neon, on his knees, sat there without feeling anything, for a very long time.
as seasons passed, the first of snow fell on the land that had never seen one in centuries.
the time continued it's march, seasons went by, but the snow did not stop from falling.
years after years.
time takes patience to pass.
but for the man, it was like a blink that came to be, not knowing when, yet fully aware.
the snow now thick on him, slowly started melting.
for what reason?
for the one to do so was standing right ahead of him. five paces afar
waiting for the snow to melt.
with nothing but his gaze alone.
"look at yourself."
black hair, dark eyes, leen physique.
but the face.
both had the same face, as if the same person, opposite of each other.
"incapable of even a response, let alone have a conversation with me.
look at what you have become.
we were so close to achieving our goals.
yet at the last moment, you had to hesitate."
trying to even see a hint of response from him
'no?'
"haha. hahaha haha hah!" as the dark hair made a 90° turn in exaggeration and lowered himself to pick up snow, slowly started making a snowball out of it.
"seriously." stood up again and turned back to throw the snowball at the pink haired one.
the snowball hit him, but it did nothing, not even a flinch or any form of dmg.
as if hitting a wall
"heh, it really feels like i am talking to a wall."
as he looked at the sky, ignoring the statue like him.
"we both lived almost the same exact life.
we both lost someone important to us."
now to look at his other self again
"we both had to face the same destiny, that which would have broken our shackled fates."
as he sat down to make another snowball.
"i tried my best then, yet i couldn't because of my inability!" and threw the snowball full force.
it did nothing.
"hah, and you could.
yet you didn't.
what was it that stopped you from taking that step?
was it love? or being forgotten by that love?
was it father, the one guy you wanted acknowledgement from?
what was it?"
no response came at all, like always.
"father did this to us, it was his fault.
from the very beginning, till now.
he thought to create a God.
the reality showed him otherwise.
he thought he had created a God, and made me a laughing stock.
while you became the imperfection.
a carefully crafted masterpiece.
the most perfect imperfection."
now standing completely calm again.
"it baffles me, being the same person that we are.
yet, here you are, feeling nothing, and not even a shred of emotion to show for.
and i, among all, am the only one with the most emotions, cursed to suffer from every pain till my end."
down cast eyes, tingent with something unexplainable.
"it is over now.
everything comes to an end.
for this world, that has arrived.
don't know about you, but i guess this time, it will be my end too."
as he turned to walk back, he looked one last time, at the man unable to even show a response.
"i wanted to run away, but i couldn't.
you can, yet you didn't."
and just like that, he vanished, distorting air into glass.
the blizzard resumed it's march again, and the snow started pilling up.
covering the man for the next ten years.
...
...
...
as ten years passed (for the record, thirty years after the disappearance of the prophesized hero.)
for the first time in a decade, a movement caught the snow pilled up on the man.
as a stranger came, clearing the snow, and making a straight road ahead of him.
his shovel caught against something hard and rocky.
"what the- it got chipped again."
blizzard had stopped it's march, and the first of the sun light blessed the land again, albeit the clouds had yet to fully clear.
it was a young man, clearing the way for his travel ease.
he opened his bagpack and pulled out a smaller sized shovel and started clearing the rocky something from the snow on it.
"guess i will have to clear whatever here is, since can't take all that round about trouble.
but if it's something unclearable. then i will be really troubled for real."
as he finally got to have a look at what was inside, his soul got to have a look outside.
"WAAAAAAH! WHAT THE HELL!?"
the young man jumped back and started calming his breathing.
not because there was a body in the snow that it scared him.
but because how it looked to him that gave him a fright.
eyes open, looking down.
he got up slowly and started clearing the snow again.
completely removing all the thick snow from the body.
although what he could manage to remove.
since all this snow was tough to begin with, it was easy for his work.
but privacy was privacy.
slowly he grabbed the arm of the body sitting in place, and with a hmph! pulled with all his might.
"?"
nothing happened.
"tougher than it looks, huh? guess because i didn't drink enough milk."
as he looked at the body.
"knowing full well about your shortcomings, you can even pull a mountain out. this is just a small body."
instead took out that small shovel again to dig the ground around it.
"i am not stupid enough to try different ways of moving a mountain out. i will just dig a meter deep ground at one side, and then slowly and carefully dig the ground beneath it so it will fall right into the ground and be buried forever, hehehe."
as he dug around a meter into ground and made a bit of way at the side for himself.
"i am a genius after all."
looked up to see no body in it's place to make fall.
tripping that he thought, he looked the other way. but still nothing there.
looked back to see it standing ahead at the cleared road he had made.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
and that made him scream again with equal intensity.
but the man didn't efen look back.
nor moved after that.
after calming himself down, the young man slowly came out of the ground.
gathered his shovels, packed his bag and strapped to his back.
from the back to the side, slowly made his way toward where he came from before.
'i'd better get out of here before this guy wakes up from his coma.'
as he made his way to the left side of the road he built, looked back one last time, at the man now standing still.
still, his humanity got the better of him.
"he-hey, i-if you g-go to the right, strai-aight that ro-road,"
as he stopped mid sentence and took a deep breath, to maintain his danger levels, slowly his breathing returned to normal.
"there is a- a small populace, ruled by the now fl-flame carrier. he is a go-good guy.
you must be hungry, staying in such thick ice for so long."
ahem not that that would be any bigger concern for someone found in ice.
"anyways, go there if you want to find something to eat."
waved his hand from afar "then i will be on my way." and ran the way deserted of life.
yay, lived another day!
with that, he vanished.
the one left behind, now, finally moved on his own.
waking up from his long slumber, and slowly looked above.
toward the sky that had finally seen the sun.
"you were right.
if only i had taken this step before.
but i can change that, can't i?"
one by one, slowly dragging his feet forward.
creating a path of his own this time.
wind howled the snow around him, as light started a faint typhoon.
his pink hairs started glowing bit bright.
his arms stretched wide, as his feets left the ground, moving forward.
floating toward the skies.
now reaching the clouds, coming face to face with the first rays of the sun.
that's when he saw it.
even before.
for the thing entering the solar system he nestled within.
he knew, he realized this even before it happened.
without even facing the thing that halted infront of the sun, looking smug, while facing a weird panel continuously scrolling reactions.
and even past that, a square box of light, made from the laylines protecting and connecting the universes with fate itself.
the beauty held by such fate was truly mesmerizing.
as the being facing the sun shot a beam of light, the inner structures started collapsing into itself, being swallowed by it's own mass.
but that was of no concern to Neon.
"whoever you are, it won't matter."
as his gaze fell upon the collapsing of the sun, only he could see.
he waited for the intruders to leave.
as that time arrived soon after.
almost at the same time, his body lit up and went berserk with unimaginable ammount of light.
lighting the highskies.
the same light that in the next instant enveloped the entire solar system.
from the outside, no one will see or know any difference.
"everything will start over again, and the cycle will begin anew.
but, the choice this time will be mine."
with that, everything vanished mid space.
...
...
...
as the Travel Cube traveled throw the space, as if in an elevator.
K looked around the view, now thinking to himself, when suddenly a big quack shook the space.
even though the laylines wobbled a lot, making the cube shudder mid warp.
K did not look concerned.
"hmm... weird."
the Travel Cube slowed down, and slowly reached a stopping point, stopping as it reached a reddened ground up, and withered.
only to see nothing but mountains making small eruptions ahead, faraway.
looking around, k found someone sitting on the ground with it's knees clamped to it's chest and arms around it, head against it's kneecaps.
as he made his way forward, toward the total skeleton like thing.
only because there was nothing else to be seen around him, not even miles away, just plain ground, charred with lava eruptions.
-i will never do it again!
-my god, pls forgive this pitiful heart for it's sins!
-to be found neither in heaven, nor hell!
-what are my sins worth for such punishment!
a male voice.
turns out the skeleton isn't just some remains left behind.
it was a talking skeleton. and all alone too.
but not unusual.
it couldn't hurt to ask it for directions
"hey."
-GOD!
-FINALLY YOU HAVE HEARD ME, YOUR HUMBLE SERVANT!
the skeleton stood up shouting toward the sky
"what is this place?" k ignored the shouts and looked around again.
-huh?
the skeleton turned around.
-who are you?
k looked at the skeleton again.
and said nothing.
the skeleton, now thinking to itself, sat back down again.
-you actually managed to disappoint me better than my own brother.
-come, sit down and pray, so god can hear you.
-and maybe forgive your sins that are too big for you, to be able to get exiled here.
k looked weirdly at the skeleton now back in his position, praying something again.
"i am not a sinner."
________________________________
are explanations like this necessary?
(for the record, thirty years after the disappearance of the prophesized hero.)
i was thinking if it break the immersion of the ones reading.
but thought if no one gets confused by authors' sudden duds here and there.
have a good day to you!
o(〃＾▽＾〃)o