Sun opened his eyes, expecting his brothers and mother in front of him while lying on a soft straw bed. Instead, he saw a clear blue sky over him and no sign of wind blowing against his body. When he pushed himself up, he saw an endless shallow ocean stretching in all four directions. He sat upright and looked underneath himself. The still water was clear enough to reflect his face.
His long, brown dreads reached his chin, and his goat-like eyes were replaced with the same deep blue eyes his mother possesses. Underneath his dreads were white feathers that grew out of the back of ears. His nose was no longer abnormally large, and his canines shrunk, though his upper canine was twice the size of his lower ones. Sun could not help but compare his teeth to a vampire. He was naked, so he examined his new body. It looked much closer to his original body, but it felt slightly shorter. Sun was planning to measure his height, but first, he needs to figure out where he was.
Despite the eery silence of the flat still ocean, Sun could hear water splashing. Sun turned around and saw a dog trying to dig through the floor under the water. The dog had a metallic bronze frame and eyes red as a rose. It was the dog he meant long ago in his dream.
Sun realized that the ocean he was standing on was similar to the ground that turned to water in his past dream. He was dreaming about his past life when he was a child. Then the dream changed into a nightmare when he met the robotic dog. The ground turned into a large puddle of water, and the dog was trying to kill him before he woke up.
Sun touched the water with his hand, and it felt cold and wet. Then he pinched himself to feel pain. And he did feel pain. This dream felt incredibly real compared to his other dreams.
"Why can't I get through!" The dog yelled. Its static voice made Sun's spine shiver. Suddenly the dog stopped digging and started sniffing the air. Then it turned its head towards Sun.
Sun got up on his feet and ran up to the dog. Before the dog could react, Sun delivered a front kick on the dog's side. The dog landed on its back, exposing its bottom. Its belly was made of transparent plastic, and inside were wires running down from its legs to the base of its neck.
Sun tried to jump on top of the dog, but the dog suddenly spewed fire out of its mouth. Sun backed away until he was out of reach. The dog stood up while glaring at Sun, "It's you again, the trespasser that escaped termination. And your soul has transformed into its proper form. That's why I can't go back to my master because you now have a thread connecting you to the sea. And I must have entangled myself on your thread." The dog's legs extended longer, and its red eyes grew brighter. "Your existence is dangerous! You have managed to break through my master's spell. I don't know what kind of being you are, trespasser, but I will not let you undo my master's plan. Termination begins now."
The dog charged forward with its out wide open. Its fiery canines burst into flame. Sun lowers his body, hoping to grab the dog's upper body before it could bite him. But a bright blue spear suddenly penetrated through the dog's spine. The loud sound of metal getting crushed surprised Sun that he fell on his butt. The dog's body collapsed inward into the spear before falling on the floor.
A piece of the dog flew away and landed on Sun's lap. He held high in the air and examined it. The metal piece had engraving similar to the ones his mother drew while hiding in her makeshift room. They were strangely beautiful.
A figure hidden by a large black cloak landed next to the spear. The person's lower face was obstructed by a white mask. "Nice to me, you kid. I didn't think I'll ever see a goblin like you in my lifetime. My name is Pagasa, the wizard," He pulled the spear off the dog's body, then it shattered into several blue shards before fading away. "And you are."
"I'm Sun," Sun jumped back on his feet and raised his fist, "And you're not that thing's master, right?"
"No,"
"Oh, thank god," Sun dropped his hands and sighed in relief.
Pagasa rubbed his chin, "If you don't mind Sun, I have several questions. May ask you them, and in return, I shall answer any questions you may have."
"Alright, that's a deal."
"Ok. First question. How did you turn into a goblin? Or rather that type of goblin?"
"I honestly don't know."
"Do you remember what happened before and during your transformation?"
"Yeah, I was fighting a troll to protect everyone."
"I doubt you transformed just because of that. Were you perhaps using mana before the fight, or at the very least had to contact with it?"
"My mom!" Sun slammed his fist on his hand. "She was healing me during the fight. Do you think that's the reason!"
"Probably not. I have tried that theory multiple times in the field and have yet to find any positive results. However, the difference between my experiments and your experience was that instead of fighting for your life, you fought to protect others — your selfless act versus my subject's more selfish desires. But I need to test this theory out first. Also, what is ███?" Pagasa pulled a large black block out of thin air.
"I don't know. But I've seen those ███ before, usually replacing parts of my memory."
"I see," He threw the block away. "Now it's your turn. Ask me anything you want?"
"Ok. Where are we?"
"We are standing on the surface of the Infinite Sea. A sea that stretches infinitely across, and its depths are equally infinite. And the water we are walking on is mana, and this is the sea in which all sentient life form get their mana."
"Um, you said the depth is infinite." Pagasa nodded, "But the water could barely pass my ankle."
"That is because your body and soul have a limit. You can't pass a certain line unless you want to die. Observe," Pagasa dived under the water and swam underneath Sun's feet.
"What the fuck?" Pagasa leaped out of the water, knocking Sun off his feet. "How did you do that?"
"I'm a wizard, Sun!" He stretched out his arms, revealing his wet cloak sagging from the weight of the water the garment absorbed. "And I have full mastery of mana! But I must warn you. The deeper you dive, the harder it is to navigate inside the mana. Eventually, your body will deteriorate inside the water. Even if you bring clothes that can protect you, like my cloak, you could get lost in the darkness."
"So you brought your clothes then because I was going to ask why I'm naked, and you're not."
"Bahaha!" Pagasa laughed. "You can only bring clothes soaked in mana that it eventually develops an equivalent body but made entirely of mana."
"And how did you get here?"
"Astral projection. Your soul and any item with a mana exclusive version of itself can travel through projection. But it's very difficult to pull off. Now I believe it's my turn." Pagasa cast warm winds that blew his cloak dry. "What tribe do hail from?"
"I'm from Lev."
"Oh, a warrior tribe. Interesting. And you fought a troll."
"Trolls," Sun corrected him.
"Are you insane?" Pagasa's face had a grave expression, "Your tribe is near to the tribe called Shaka, the second biggest goblin tribe in the forest. Do you know what they do every spring to tribes surrounding their city?"
"No,"
"Simply put, your tribe shows any sign of weakness; they will conquer you and your tribe."
"What! What should I do?"
"Move."
"Move?"
"Listen, Sun. You are more important than you think you are. It will take a long time for me to explain the role I request you to fill, and I don't know when you'll return to your body." Pagasa walked towards Sun and placed his right hand on Sun's shoulders. " So I need you to come and meet me in person down on earth. I can't enter the forest because those dogs know me, but the only dog that knows you is dead, so that's good. Of course, it's your decision, and I can wait." Pagasa removed his hand on Sun's shoulder and took a step back. "I waited for a century for someone like you to appear again. I can wait longer."
"Fine, I'll listen to your story. But I made a promise that I needed to do before meeting you."
"Thank you."
"So, how do I find you?"
"By your tribe's location, you can find my home southeast from where your sleeping right now. I live on the Mt. Heart in the Dwarven," Suddenly a loud screech blasted in Sun's ear.
The noise was so loud that he couldn't hear any words coming from Pagasa. Then Sun began to fly away from him, or rather, he started falling towards the blue sky. The sound in his ear slowly lowered its pitch and was starting to get bearable and recognizable. It sounded like Rock yelling.
Sun closed his eyes and then opened it again. A roof now replaced the sky. To his side was Rock yelling while holding his buckler. Smoke and Stick tried to calm him down.
"Why did you have to wake me up? I was about to get a very important answer." Smoke and Stick turned their head and saw Sun pushing himself up while rubbing his eyes.
"Sun! Rock! You had us fucking worried!" Stick yelled while hugging Rock and Sun.
"So, I'm not dead, right?" Rock asked.
"What's that?" Sun pointed at Rock's buckler.
"Oh, this." Rock gave the buckler to Sun. "Stick's follower found it."
"And Rock used it to beat the shit of the troll in the middle of town. He even used that blue stuff that Cala used." Smoke said.
Sun wasn't paying much attention as the three told their story. Sun was too distracted with the buckler and the piece of metal he held on before waking up. They both had similar engravings on its surface that look like a form of script handwriting. Sun looked at his brothers and said in an urgent tone, "Where did you find this?"