[V]
"My Mata's awake."
The boy's beating heart was stifled, he could not begin to assimilate the oddity of it all. It shook a place deep within, quaking the boy's silent yearning.
He was petrified.
For one, Yuki did believe, but the boy did not ever foresee the peculiar to be lingering with him.
"This, Yuki, is what's called a Mata." Moru pointed at his right eye. The glinting orb prominent as day.
Yuki...
Calm down, aren't I enough of a testimony for magic to exist?
"I must be dreaming, yes, I must be!" Insanity was at grasp, approaching, nearing with each minute that passed. The boy, this poor boy had finally lost it.
Don't fool yourself, Yuki.
"Yuki, you aren't dreaming. You're perfectly awake!" The man blurted. Hatanabi realized, that the subtlest methods never worked, it never did, and so he exhorted.
For what is faith without action.
The dismantled thoughts of the lad lit an idea in his mind.
Faith; for the longest time, this boy believed. A world, so farfetched, so bat-crazy, would exist. Along with his minuscule existence, a new hope sprouted, it flourished with the same unchanging light.
Action; this boy readied himself, dream or not, Yuki's sights were set, a new world, a vision of great change. It was unparalleled, a faith seemingly impossible to eradicate. He reckoned, Yuki had hoped, and finally would decide on taking action.
"Yuki!"
His train of thoughts were interrupted, Moru catching the boy in a tight, long embrace.
"We need to go now, Ebony has requested for your presence in less than a day, we need to make haste." Yuki, at the most random times, had trouble catching up with concepts that were too simple.
But that wasn't it, it was a concept far beyond what his hypotheses could have imagined.
Yuki, I swear if you're not going to snap out of it I'm going to bite you!
The feline warned, an attempt that was nothing short of adorable and feeble.
"Geez, I'm sorry I was at it again, I just really have a hard time processing seemingly impossible concepts." He gave a half-hearted smile that faded along with the wind.
Finally.
Shiro groaned in frustration.
————
The flowing of the clouds was an endless exhibition of beauty, a sight all too permeable to the mind of the spectators. Indeed a breathtaking spectacle.
The plane flew with an immeasurable speed. After all, it could be felt inside the aircraft.
Shiro wasn't all too pleased with the pace, thus, the latter passed out not too long ago.
"Yuki, come here, I will explain to you at least the gist of everything in Lota, the so-called original side of the world."
Moru gripped the boy's wrists tightly, his eyes glowing a strong shade of emerald green.
That glimpse, like all the dreadful glimpses of truth, flashed out by the seemingly piecing-together of magic that used to seem so nonchalantly non-existent.
Hello, Yuki. Welcome to my mind.
Yuki marveled, a world, new, eccentric, an excursion that the boy thought was into uncharted lands, though little did he know that it was somehow foreign yet all too familiar. It was nostalgia hitting the heart, simply put, it was magic.
Yuki, this is where I was born, an exact parallel of the world you live in, the original, the home of Murans, Mata wielders, Lota.
It had occured to the boy that he had seen this very picturesque moment before, in a dream of some sort, it acted like a memory that somewhat struggled to resurface in his broad and almost open-minded brain.
Next, our so-called Mata manifests in our right eyes, very rarely there are individuals who manifest them in both eyes, a probability of one in a trillion.
Each Mata is unique and varies in a wide variation, each one much more important than the other. That's why in this world there's a hierarchy, the strongest get to sit on top and look down on those below, but some just simply govern them.
Take me for example, my Mata lets me carry the subconscious of another individual into my own, I'm quite feared in Lota, I guess maybe that's why I'm part of the administration there.
"Sir, curious, how do individual's possess the so-called mata?" The mindful that was beside Moru had asked, ostensively trying to get his hopes up.
After we're born, curious one. After we are born.
Yuki tried to stop the thought, but was still ultimately dissapointed. For his eye's suffering was nothing but an assumed ailment. The boy reassured himself, uttering to no one that he wasn't 'anything special.'
Moving on. Non-mata individuals like you could only be transported there through a higher-up's permission. Dean Blue has personally requested you to attend her school, Axiom. Besides being a scholar, other reasons are still unknown as to why she specifically chose you. Oh! and you best hide your identity, you're the first human to enter the real Axiom.
You may know Axiom from your world a little bit differently, a high-esteemed school, prestigious as you humans call it, sadly, it's nothing but a façáde, though not entirely wrong. Axiom is the greatest school in Muran history. Helping pioneer the rise of the current King's forefathers which you'll eventually come to know.
Hopefully, you will soon know what you've been called for.
Lastly, a little riddle-like message.
When the hands stand upright, a hidden truth shall unlock, slowly grasp its meaning, for it is not what it seems. A price is paid for everything, keep that in mind. Do not be led astray, a red-eye is keeping watch.
The boy was no short from tired. A drowsy mind consuming his very essence.
Sleep had overtaken the boy, Yuki's poor resting conscience laid bare, a world all too unfathomable-in a vivid dream his heart had accepted, but was it really acceptance? Yes, he tolerated the matter, though that was all that was there to it. Tolerance, tolerating the defiance that occupied a tiny space that destroyed logic itself, it was simply bizarre.
____________
Yuki had finally awakened from his long dream, it was followed by a putrid headache that seemingly crawled and wriggled in his tiny abyss, it felt like a rock was being weighed on top of his skull. Unbeknownst to the boy, their plane had already arrived which was why Moru had come to the boy's quarters which was on the other side of the plane.
"Good you're awake!" Moru chimed his pupils ultimately a subsiding color of green transposing towards pitch black.
Purrrrrr....
The boy cocked his head towards the intense purring, it was Shiro, its atomic figure amused the boy, and then again Yuki pressed a passing thought onto his brain, his stature was small, this very existence of his felt small, literally. For a second the latter considered himself a hypocrite, a tiny naive hypocrite.
Moru sighed which caught the naive boy's attention.
"Want to get taller?" the boy nodded hesitantly.
"Same." Moru giggled, a sly smirk forming on his lips.
A brief silence came, a whiff of disappointment floated with the wind.
"Well we're here in the Philippines, let's go we're inside the Mountains of Sibuyan, the Spegel is your first step towards Axiom." Moru broke the silence.
_________
The boy tip-toed towards the gigantic mirror, the guard near it touched the plasma-like substance, it reminded Yuki of liquid mercury. His mind suddenly doubted, the boy worried for himself, though the boy mindfully swept the thought away, he thought of himself as unfit, worthless as a human, unworthy of an elaborate hoax. He mocked himself, the latter was always like this, degrading himself, degrading the worth that he possessed.
"Here Yuki, grab my hand." Moru extended his arms.
Don't worry, Yuki. I'll grab onto the bag.
The feline assured.
A hesitant boy, with an unknown world that awaited for no one. A lost soul that was trying to find purpose in a world where uncertainty was constant. Trying to see the brightness through all of the grey patches in his life, leaving a world filled with unfamiliarity, abandoning all sense of sanity, crossing a bridge between his reality and the truth.
And, with that, he took his first step.
An odd sensation indeed, plummeting whilst flying, Yuki's world was oscillating without reason, the boy felt like he was in an impervious state, guising himself through space and time itself. It was as if everything was ascending alongside him, waiting for an inconstant arrival of gravity, a faltering fall that anticipated all.
"Where a-" the boy's words were impeded, a utopian paradise in the midst of his relatively miniature presence.
This plane of existence was beyond what the boy could've imagined, with every turn it's invigorating sight filled Yuki's eye with wonder, its splendor spanned as far as the eye could see, a breathtaking sight that touched the boy's heart with a nostalgic magic. It imitated the sky, the vast and glorious sky that stretched to no end.
Wow!
"Friends, welcome to Lota, the original plane of existence!" Moru exclaimed.
A petite woman approached the three who still held their unwavering smiles. She had not shown any signs of youth abandoning her. The woman's caucasian nose as flawless as could be, her right eye a flickering streak of purple which when juxtaposed with her hair was near identical.
"Moru, you're late." Her vibe was stern, explicit, her lips twitched in irritation at the Japanese man.
"By how long? 5 minutes?" Moru gave her an 'are you serious' look.
"Five minutes is already a lot of time. I'll let you go this time, but don't expect next time." She turned towards boy, scanning him with conciseness.
"Yada, yada, you always say that." Moru dismissed.
"Is this the boy, Yukiora Auli?" She angled her head towards Yuki, her left eye's iris now smudged in a warm and vibrant purple.
"You remind me of someone." Her gaze manifesting ruth towards Yuki, though she quickly recoiled.
Seconds later, a circular maelstrom materialized, a swirling purple that appeared in a cloud-like state, as if on the woman's command.
The boy could only stare in awe, his mouth was running out of words to describe all of the absurd occurrences that were happening to him, though his mind also evidently did not mind playing along with all of the oddity.
It came off to the boy that he had deliberately accepted everything, or was he just blindly following? Still, he could not shudder the mere thought out of his brain, and with that, the naive boy silently gave up.
"Enter with me, the lot of you, my Mata's portal is directly connected to Axiom's Room of Mirrors," she wasted no second and started walking towards the swirling haze of purple.
Moru appears to have some business with her. We can surely trust her.
Although the boy was ignorant of any cryptic lore, he certainly was familiar with the concepts. But when fantasy is met with reality, it becomes a whole different story. Like always, the boy still had doubts, a never-ending circling of boggling questions that toyed with his ability to deduce.
"Let's go, Yuki." The man clasped the human's palm, dragging him in a not-so intense manner.
Nonetheless, one thing fueled this boy to keep on moving forward, it was always curiosity. Like all, it always got the better of each individual that succumbed to its tempting nature.
For a reason that came off as foolish to most likely everyone, unlike a coin, Yuki tried to assess the 3rd side of everything. Contemplating a future that could help him resolve his own problems, similar to every human, which all possess avarice.
"Wait for me!" The boy shouted.
Without a doubt, the latter started to slowly submit to the oddity. But it did not come without setbacks, a wide array of lapses.
Yuki! Yuki! Mr. Moru, Yuki fainted. His eyes are bleeding.
Regardless of the poor feline's struggle, Moru could not hear, an unsuccessful undertaking.
"Boy! Yuki! Hang on." The emerald-eyed cried out.