A beige-tinted scene appeared in front of Nova's eyes, while a dreamlike haze settled into his mind.
「Nngh… sluggish...」[Nova]
He felt powerless to move any amount- as if his blood had frozen in his veins.
「...I don't remember this from last time?」[Nova]
Out of the corner of his eye, a young boy formed from nothing.
「Who… is that?」[Nova]
As he tried to turn to look, he lost his balance and began to fall.
「My balance?!」[Nova]
He closed his eyes as a reflex, bracing for the impact of hitting the floor, but it never came.
Slowly, he opened his eyes, finding himself in an exquisitely decorated room.
「...Where… am I?」[Nova]
He felt as if he regained some control over his body, regaining control over his hands.
He looked down at his hands and body before a shadow cast itself over him.
「Who?!」[Nova]
A man with a speckled beard stared down at him, placing a hand on his head, but the man's face seemed to have been faded out somehow.
「What is happening…? Who is this person?」[Nova]
After a moment, the man took his hand off of Nova's head and stepped back a bit.
『Okay! You can do it! I believe in you!』[Bearded Man]
He watched Nova expectantly, but patiently.
His feeling of freedom vanished as fast as it had come.
Nova felt his hands get forced to the front of him by a mysterious force, forcing him to keep his hands there.
「...What does he expect out of me?!」[Nova]
Nova slowly saw something change.
Mana had started to build up all around him, floating into the air.
They swirled about him in the form of various bright lights, but Nova maintained his gaze forward.
「What am I doing…?」[Nova]
Before long, the bright lights began to coalesce in front of him, forming a blue light that seemed to draw even more of the lights toward it.
After a moment, it seemed to draw even more of the lights in.
The mana began to flood into the center of the light, looking similar to a whirlpool of tiny lights of various colors.
『You're doing it! Keep it up!』[Bearded Man]
Nova felt his mind blur for a moment, causing his eyes to blink shut.
In the single moment of his eyes blinking, his view changed from looking at the spiral to looking at a pair of hands.
「...Hands..?」[Nova]
He scanned the hands before following the hands up to the arms.
Whoever's body the hands belonged to, they wore a strange robe that covered their face and most of their body.
Through the shade of the robe, the person's eyes pierced back at Nova.
「...Wait...」[Nova]
It seemed as if he was staring at himself, or another part of his body.
The person shut his eyes in person synchrony with Nova, before he suddenly found himself in the place of the person again.
「What…?!」[Nova]
Though Nova wanted to step back and startle, the strange place he was in restricted him from doing so.
Before long, he found himself looking at the man with the speckled beard again.
His face remained faded out, giving Nova the feeling of having something on the tip of his tongue.
「...This power feels so… strange.」[Nova]
『Astounding! You've managed to merge your consciousness to the...』[Bearded Man]
The man was cut off suddenly, replaced by a bright white light.
The beige space suddenly became brighter and brighter, as Nova felt a strange rushing sensation in his chest.
Once the light began to become blinding, Nova's lungs seemed to be filled with something.
「...I… Can't breathe...」[Nova]
He felt like he was suffocating, as if smoke had filled his head and clouded his mind.
A voice echoed softly from far away.
「Wake up...」
「Wake up…?」[Nova]
「Wake up…!」
A rushing feeling went through his body as he felt himself accelerate faster and faster.
「Wake up.」
...