Circles.
Endless rotating orbits.
Many had lost count how long it had been since they started flying in this nightmarish vortex.
Lost.
Afraid.
Even Asahi struggled to find out where he was because of the consuming walls of blur and light. He tilted downward and found that his legs were confined into sheer winds. He felt as if his body was paralyzed. In reaction, his eyes broadened in shock, and his heart fearfully pounded against his chest.
(Where am I?)
Among this incomprehensible swirl of people and living things, Asahi had lost sight of Kendra; the one he had promised to bring to the surface. When he had turned to his left, he noticed a long, lengthy string of individuals flying around the gargantuan cave at rapid speeds. Their frightened screams had bounced from one ear to the other, encircling the large beacon of light located at the epicenter.
"LET ME OUT OF HERE!"
"Please, have mercy on us!"
Prayers of fear circulated around the vortex under the cavern. The winds screeched and whistled with the flying debris. The cyan light had followed the chains of the tens of thousands of floating individuals, blinding some eyes along the way.
Most of the people for Asahi, were just tiny blurs in drastic comparison to the millions of levitating silhouettes in the distance. He was unbelievably terrified how weightless he had felt as he soared from one giant stone pillar to several unrecognizable ancient underground cities.
(This… can't be real. This can't be real…) Asahi whispered to himself as he felt the winds enter his nostrils.
A light passed by his face. Over and over again, it had completely soared across his skin until it forced him dizzy. He saw the chains of people slowly expanding and stretching into the shape of circles. The frightening panorama before him felt so dream-like and nightmarish, that Asahi had almost thought he was dreaming. But when he had heard the floating children crying and vomiting as they got caught into the grasp of the swirling vortex, ensured him that this was real.
(I… I feel like…)
Abruptly, Asahi's white hair whipped across his face. He felt his body lift up and down repeatedly with the other several thousand chains of people of all colors like a sick and twisted carousel.
There were times where he had tried to move his arms. But immediately after he had moved just a single centimeter, Asahi's body would be forcefully moved back from the winds to his original position, rendering the task almost impossible.
(I can't breathe.)
As he continued to uncontrollably fly through the vortex of living things, he noticed that his feet had scraped off the same cliff he had passed by twenty-times before. Seeing that cliff each time he had soared with the whirlpool of living things made him uneasy, scared at what would happen next. But instead, nothing had happened.
Blonde hair. Gray hair. Blue hair. Green hair. Brown Hair. Pink hair.
Gray eyes. Brown eyes. Blue eyes. Golden eyes. Green eyes.
Long legs. Short legs. Buff chests. Slender chests.
Asahi struggled to identify every single being flying in the winds. Nevertheless, those colors were just a few of the many physical features he noticed as he flew inside the vortex of people.
When would this end?
What could I do?
These two thoughts lingered deep in Asahi's mind as he felt his heart bounce. While he continued flying around the light over and over again, Asahi slowly and hopelessly slammed his eyelids shut. The confidence, bravery, and optimism that had once shown on him drifted away from his grasp as he heard the echoing screams from around drown his thoughts into pure despair.
"Help!" A blonde one said as she felt her hair cover her mouth.
"Let me die!" A green-haired, short-haired man screamed as he flailed his legs around.
"I can't breathe. I… I can't breathe!" Panicked another as they continuously get pulled into the winds.
"Please, anyone… any god out there… Please save us." Murmured a preacher as they felt their skin rattle.
Terror stabbed Asahi's heart as he heard these scared voices. He had tried multiple times to reach for the people. But with each effort, it only ended up in failure. With nothing else to think of, Asahi floated sensessly in the vortex, silently pondering to himself as he recollected.
(I can not… bear to see my followers like this. This is miserable. All the millions of people being caught by this vortex. I find it hard to believe that it was The Guardian who did this.) As he felt the winds whistle into his ear, Asahi looked downward, focusing on the center of the funnel. From there, he had only seen shards of the knight's presence, nothing more, deeply concerning him. He squinted his eyes at the floating remains of The Guardian as he thought.
(I can't do anything but watch this event unfold. I feel like I'm losing my mind being here. Had hours passed? Are the people still alive? Where is Kendra? I… never thought that the cave would be this tall. I can barely see the ground anymore.) With this, continuing to pass by the same cliff eighty times, Asahi tried to find if there were any animals floating around the vortex.
Throughout his search, he only found lines of people. In one corner to the other, all he saw were individuals of different proportions and features flying around the light, forcefully. However, just as Asahi had decided to look back up, he found five shepherds rolling around in the vortex.
(Shepards?) Asahi thought as he pivoted his floating body to his right. (How are they still alive?) And then, from his left he heard sounds of pigs, birds, snakes, and cattle echo around. At this realization, Asahi found it hard to believe that animals could exist without sunlight. But then he remembered that people had also managed to survive too. With these thoughts, Asahi came to the conclusion that he was clueless on the longevity of his own kind.
. . .
(How did my people survive here?) This was the only question that popped out from Asahi's mind as he continued to fly along the vortex. Second by second, it continued to bite his curiosity over and over again, to the point where it almost made him insane. But just as his curiosity could overwhelm him, a voice called to him from his right.
"Lord? Is that really you?"
Asahi's eyes shrunk in shock.
It had been so long since he had heard someone talk to him, that when he had heard a voice other than a scream, it scared Asahi to his core. When he looked over to the source of the voice, Asahi found a man with short brown hair and blue eyes flying at the exact pace of him. His mind went aghast at this discovery, almost perceiving the man as some sort of illusion.
Nonetheless, when the man realized Asahi was looking at him, his face brightened up in relief, and he said.
"You… returned. You returned to us. I never thought to experience the day that I can see your face. But…" As Asahi tried to keep balance against the floating force, the brown-haired man continued. "... y-you're here. You're really here!" He said with a trembling expression.
Asahi struggled to keep his glare anchored at the man. There were so many people and animals flying past him, it almost made it impossible for Asahi to actually speak to the individual. But after several chains of flying individuals and light passed by their faces, Asahi still found the man flying next to him.
"Lord Asahi, is something wrong?"
Hearing this stupid question almost made Asahi rage in frustration. He found it hard to believe that this man was one of his followers after he had heard that.
Considering the nightmarish scenario taking place, one would easily admit that this was wrong.
Yet, for some odd reason, the man asked his lord that extremely idiotic question.
Struck with confusion and disbelief, Asahi replied to the man with a piercing glare.
"What? Can't you see what is before us?! There are millions of people flying around without control! Of course something is VERY wrong."
"That's a reply I would expect from my lord." The man replied as they passed five stone pillars. "Don't you remember who I am?"
Asahi responded with a quiet shake with his head.
"No."
The man, despite floating and flying around with the chains of individuals, decided to continue the discussion as if floating around was an everyday thing to him.
"Ah, that makes sense. It's been many years since you have seen us, so it's no surprise our beloved God would forget." The man expressed with a wide, wind-swept grin. After they passed by several towns embedded into stone walls, the man hurriedly revealed. "Look, it's been so long but… I'm one of the many Lesser Gods of Cleira! The God of…"
Before the man could finish his sentence, the pace of the vortex quickened abruptly, causing the man to fly away from Asahi's proximity with inaudible words.
As he watched the man soar uncontrollably towards a chain of swirling people, Asahi's facial muscles stiffened in shock at the man's mention.
(Did that man say… that he's one of the… Lesser Gods of Cleira?) He said with wide eyes.
Upon his words, the wall of winds continued to envelop Asahi's sight, and his head grew dizzy.
Something was trying to invade his thoughts; a moment he could barely recall anymore.
At that moment upon his revelation, as he stared into the eyes of hundreds in the vortex, memories of the past suddenly entered Asahi's brain.
* * * * *
Tiny hands.
Ten stubby little fingers glowed underneath the embrace of the sun.
Tiny feet.
Ten dwarfed toes wiggling underneath a much greater arm.
Fading out from the white glow, he noticed his body was noticeably ten times tinier than what he remembered. He nimbly tried to turn his head, but it was of no use. It almost felt to him as if every part of his body was fragile, like a thin sheet of glass.
(Why can't I move? What is this?) The boy thought to himself after he exhaled his first breath. Everything around him was giant. The leaves, the flower pots, even the body around him felt surreal to him. He was confused at first as to how he had appeared in such a strange place, but then… a comforting voice accompanied him with sounds of rapid, exhausted breathing.
"I… I did it. Even without the help of what mortals call midwives, I am still able to… give birth to a child."
Before his tiny eyes stood an unimaginably beautiful woman. Her hair was as radiant and bright as the clouds, her eyes were smooth and sharp like a beautiful clear night sky, and her skin was almost reflective because of how clean and spotless it was. Despite the tattoos she had bore all over her lower body and left shoulder, this woman appeared to have not shown any sign of age.
As Asahi felt a cold but comfortable texture tickle his back, the woman slowly kneeled over to him and smiled, cradling him softly against her arms.
"You are as beautiful as your father and I imagined you to be." She said, "A sweet adorable face accompanied with our respected birthmark. Oh, how blessed it is to have you born before your father and I's love."
While the bright, hopeful rays of the sunlight streamed down through the openings carved in the radiant white stone walls, the woman slowly slid her finger down the S 'birth mark' on the newborn's face and closed her eyes, feeling the shallow water cleanse the atmosphere of the surroundings.
Despite her rather revealing and otherworldly attire accompanying just a few corners of her body, the woman treated the newborn as if it was hers, cradling it, and singing while giving rapid breaths of exhaustion.
As she heard heavy footsteps resound over the walls in what could be perceived as something of the sort of a cathedral-like place, the woman rested near the newborn and whispered as the lovely chirps of birds flooded the sun-bathed building.
"It's been many hours since I have delivered you unto the world, dear. Although I might have not understood it before, I understand now how human suffering is connected to birth." Caressing the newborn deep into the soft bed of her arms, the beautiful woman slowly lowered herself onto the shallow pool of pure teal water carved with glorious markings around the edges, and whispered to it with a loving grin.
"But with suffering, comes happiness and relief. A feeling in which everyone should experience once in their lives. Though I may be ageless, let us all hope for many years of joy and love."
As she felt her child's stare dagger through her face, the mother took a nervous chuckle and realized.
"Oh. How silly of me. I didn't realize you couldn't understand me yet."
After a silence followed the mother's echoes across the walls, the mother changed her tone of approach while weakening her grip.
"Sigh. Birthing a child was a troubling-task for your father and I. Throughout all that time, I never understood the practices of how these mortals go through to birth their children, let alone how gods may take it. But after many years of trying…" With one warm breath, she took the baby back on her arms and slowly lifted herself up from the shallow tub of water, whispering with a memorable smile.
"... all of those difficult, confusing moments were worth it in the end. I can finally deem myself what mortals call a 'mother'."
Taking a large cloth from a stone shelf, she slowly wrapped it around her baby and said as she gently rocked him back and forth.
"Dear, you have been given a beautiful gift..." The mother said as the soft fabric fondled the baby's bare back. "A glorious and miraculous present on which we call life. It's an experience that contains both good and evil, problems and solutions, questions and answers. It's something that every god, monster, or human in existence, should ALL appreciate. Including me, you, and your father. It's something you are only in control of. "
As she rubbed her soft fingers across the baby's birthmark, she slowly leaned her child's soft ear over and whispered lightly.
"No matter the condition we are in, your father and I shall do our absolute best to take care of you."
. . .
After the mother had taken several minutes to comfort her newborn, the mother found a tall, large man with gleaming white hair and multi-colored eyes standing boldly atop a staircase leading into the shallow pool of water.
"Lest you be grateful for what your mother has offered you, little one." He said as he approached the mother in an elegant manner. "For all that you see before you belong to us now."
Standing near the corner of the mother's eye approached a man with soul-capturing beauty. His skin, radiant and spotless, shone like the lustrous clouds floating in the sky.
Any individual's focus would immediately anchor to his piercing, and sharp clear eyes; bearing colors of magenta and gray, before drawing downward to his hulking and powerful figure.
Thick black straps accompanied and outlined the man's bulging muscles and strong forehead, expanding in brightness while they stood.
Looking at the opening in the walls to his right, the man felt the sun stream through his lustrous, silky, and straight white hair. While he entered the shallow pool of water with his wife, the newborn watched in awe as all his father's stringy bristles melodiously flowed in the wind like his thick loose brown robe protruding down to his feet.
"Always remember this, little one..." He said as he touched the newborn's forehead with his finger. "That no matter the problems you are in, the dangers and miracles you make; come to the realization that no one is in control of you… except yourself."
After tapping the newborn's forehead, the father slowly tilted to the ceiling with symbols engraved all over and continued.
"Despite what I have said, your mother and I shall raise you right and feed you well, recognize you as the highest of our priorities..." He whispered to the baby as he slowly fondled their soft and tiny arms. "... and make you as strong and reliable as you want to be, my sapling."
As the sun slowly lifted up from the clouds, the mother turned to the father and whispered to him as the newborn stared curiously at their faces.
"So, honey. What should we call our new baby boy?" She asked her husband as they slowly stepped out of the shallow pool toward the entrance of the cathedral-like area.
From their steps, a kingdom could be seen down below, hovering above the thick white clouds. All divine buildings shone imperiously above the world under the rising amber sun, teeming with activity and life.
As they both stared into the glowing amber horizon, the father answered the mother's question as if fate had chosen his words.
"Asahi." He said boldly and strongly as he carried the baby gently. "Our child… the new God of The Adtraic…"
With a loud tone, when the winds from high above blew across his hair, the father uttered these words with a strong and powerful tone, echoing across every wall in the massive floating city below. "...will be named Asahi."
For most humans it was almost impossible to remember what happened during their first breaths as a newborn. But for Asahi in this case, he recollected the moments of his tiny self as if it had happened yesterday .
* * * * *
After the mother and father turned their heads and casted their gazes deep into the warm horizon, another vision overlapped the beautiful panorama.
The platinum streets teemed with people and chatter. From one corner of the block to the other, rumors bounced left and right about an announcement being made from the rulers of Cleira, The Adtraic. The sky borne beautiful rays of golden sunshine and thick white clouds, casting its smiling gaze down on the buildings composed of iridescent snow-white stone bricks.
Roads from all around were paved with silver and black outlines, their paths crawling all the way toward staircases leading down to the other stories of the city.
Walking up the staircases were lines of people all with different attire. Though they may be perceived as mortals, these individuals were not ordinary people. But ones with abilities.
Here in the world of Gincad, the residents of Cleira were recognized as Lesser Gods; people who had powers that surpassed the ability of an ordinary mortal, but were just barely weaker than the Adtraic. And among that massive sprawling group of Lesser Gods, was a familiar face bearing long messy dark hair, purple-azure eyes, and fair skin.
"Akwan!" One screamed out as they reached their sleeve-covered hand out from the tens of hundreds of people. "Over here!"
From beyond the wall of figures, approached a young man with slender proportions and light hair. His face was narrowly complex, at the expense of a few unique features being covered up by the veiling cloth that had rested around his shoulders.
Though the wind carried may have been strong and whimsical, the boy's long dark hair had remained stagnant like a statue.
"What is it my comrade?" He asked the young man as the fuzziness of the chatter grew.
"An announcement! After many weeks of dormancy, the partners of The Adtraic have once emerged to bless us with news!"
Upon finishing his sentence, Akwan carried a curious look on his face. The book that had remained sashed at his waist, the purple monocle stuck on his eye, and the general straightness of his pose had clearly identified that this boy was still in school.
Just when questions had just arisen from the young man, all of them were abruptly brushed off from a metaphoric wind as two pale figures wearing dark attire approached from the brilliant white bridge extending from a gate across the clouds toward a colossal mountain that dwarfed everyone beneath it. Their hair was as radiant as the clouds, their skin pale like the distant stars.
From close and afar, people began to chant their names as their superiors' shadows casted over all.
Akwan and the young man watched as more people continued to gather beneath the staircase leading toward the gate and bridge, awaiting for the announcement.
If it wasn't for Akwan's unique features, the brown-haired man would have lost him to the stampede that was the mob of lesser gods.
"The reaction the lesser gods are making is surprising in of itself, Kleio." Akwan mumbled to the young man, revealing his name indirectly. After that he took a pause; the dark-haired boy tilted his head up to the gate, hearing the cheers increase with each step the two divine partners take. "This announcement must be extraordinary if it serves as an excuse to delay academic activities. No teachers would allow any excuse." He finished as he wandered into the crowd.
Although the man with brown hair, Kleio, could catch up with the speed of the crowd; Akwan could not catch pace with the situation. He had almost felt as if he was weakly floating in a sea of individuals, mindlessly scavenging for any openings to gaze at.
"Acheros, Achlys, The Adtraic!" He heard with his rigging ears. "Our rulers! Our Sovereigns! For what they shall bring after weeks of dormancy!"
As Akwan finally reached an opening in the crowd, he swiftly tilted his head up and found a beautiful tall white-haired woman approaching the gate with an occupied bassinet gripped on her hands. Kleio and most of the people's eyes bulged with shock as they gazed at both her long silky white hair flowing in the wind with the cloth above the cradle.
The woman wasn't the only one who had carried the bassinet, but the white-haired man as well, indicating something so unbelievable to the lesser gods, that some have gone mad with curiosity.
"No. It… this can't be reality. Our rulers have birthed a god?!" One said with a loud, piercing tone.
Confused mumblings bounced back and forth the crowd as the rising golden sun shone brightly above the sovereigns.
"I never considered that The Adtraic could have ever delivered a god!?" A green-haired, golden-eyed man shouted from behind..
"Unbelievable."
"This can't be true."
"Is it a male heir?" Said a deep, masculine voice at the center belonging to an unbelievably tall and bulky figure.
"Could it be a female sovereign?" Whispered the maidens, mothers, and women as they desperately tried to push through the crowd.
Struck with this discovery, everyone in the crowd began conjuring up predictions of who and what the child would be. Some had rumored the child to be a reckless monster, others inquired that it could be a being that far surpasses that of their parents' power, and few had theorized that the child could have just been an ordinary, powerless person.
Akwan took a few steps back to process what this could have meant.
"Hmm?" He said with raised eyebrows as he saw groups scramble over toward the gate. "I never expected that. After all these decades of my sovereigns' reign, I never would expect they would actually put forth the initiative to engage in reproduction."
After minutes of theorizing on what the child would be, Kleio and others took the initiative to squint closer at the approaching couple. To their surprise, another bassinet was held on the King's right hand, quickly urging the group to burst in curiosity and shock once more.
"Another child!" Kleio shouted loudly, interrupting everyone's conversations. Immediately, all heads tilted up to the young man with curious and wide eyes. All conversations were muted to a stand still, leaving only Kleio's loud voice echoing across the entire kingdom. "There is another child held in the King's hands!"
Upon his screams, everyone gasped and looked forward at the approaching rulers. Instead of one shadow, there were four shadows casting along the surface of the stone bridge. This quickly urged the group to fall into a rampage of concern and predictions.
"Another child?!" Many people said, stammering in shock.
"How could there be?" Mumbled a blue-eyed, gray-haired woman.
"How. What is their motivation behind this?"
"What if the children are both a male heir and a female heir?!"
As voices of speculation continued to bounce across the group, eventually both the king and the queen, Acheros and Achlys, arrived at the front of the gate.
. . .
Two dominant figures stood boldly atop the platform near the last stair.
A careful and warm, hopeful wind blew from the skies through the thick and soft bristles of their long white hair, the clouds flowing like the waves of a sea. Despite starting at the very back of the large crowd, Akwan managed to reach the 'front-row-seats' of the audience.
From there, his eyes were blessed with beautiful sight; one amazing panorama that looked like a wide, clean painting hanging atop the churches of the kingdom.
The gorgeous golden sun sprinkled its heavenly rays at the two figures like a spotlight.
Silence enveloped the crowd as all caught on to the silent but directing gestures from the left arm of the tall, muscular, and honorable King, Acheros.
With his demanding gestures, everyone in the audience bowed their heads down at the two with appraisal and honor.
Even despite the dark attire The King and Queen had worn, their faces were all enough to balance and weigh it out.
The Queen's glistening, pearl-like dark gray eyes observed the sea of heads below. Her floating, crest of a beautiful sharpened halo dwarfed the world beneath her like the grand mountain in the distance. She kept the first newborn cradled safely in the cushion of her arms, while the King cradled the second one in his.
While seconds of silence had passed, The King and Queen remembered their choice.
Their eyes learned over to the two large, thin blankets covering the cradles.
It was at this moment that they had decided that they would let the wind unveil and reveal both their newborns out to the universe.
. . .
It had been nearly hours since the Queen had delivered the second one.
Though the everlasting pain of the aftermath of such may latch on to her, the comfort of her love for both of them had eclipsed all of it.
After the King gave his command, lesser gods slowly lifted themselves up from their bows, and casted their curious gazes at the two veiled wooden bassinets held safely on both the hands of The King and The Queen. All were silent with anticipation, waiting for any word to utter from either of both their ruler's mouths. Yet, even though minutes had passed, not one of them had said a word.
As the quiet soft winds whistled through the silent crowds, the flow of the warm air eventually reached the bassinet to the right.
With one gentle huff, the wind pushed the cloth away to the clouds, and unveiled an infant.
Silence was interrupted with chirps of admiration.
A fragile newborn boy witnessed his world unfold before his gaze.
Nearly countless eyes gazed at the baby with grins and smiles.
"Woah."
"Beautiful."
"Stunning!"
Feeling his nearly weightless petite body rise with two large arms, the newborn lifted his tiny legs up, and his two gray beady eyes glistened at the sight of the warm rays of the sun.
All gasped in shock as they noticed a birthmark plastered on the side of the baby's shining clear face.
A symbol that matched both the marks attached to both his mother and father's.
The shape of an "S".
As murmurs and mumbles of both satisfaction and admiration filled the people, the father's deep resonant voice echoed across every corner of existence.
"Behold," The father announced as the mother formed a beautiful, relieved smile on her face and held her newborn child. "...to the eyes of Cleira, this world, and the cosmos, I present before you,"
Taking a breath, everyone including the stars waited in anticipation for the father's final words.
Akwan rooted his feet on the ground like others as their hearts beat as one.
When the sun had finally touched the newborn's feet, legs, chest, hands, arms, neck, and head; the infant's appearance was outlined with an extraordinarily bright, resilient glow.
And with a loud, world-shattering voice, the father announced with ALL his might.
" Asahi Adtraic: The God of Hope!"
Seconds slowed down.
Everything in the world appeared disturbed by the father's announcement.
Trees from beneath the floating heavenly kingdom trembled with anticipation.
The humans and animals from below looked up and saw a wave of bright rays extend out to every corner of the world.
Following this, a storm of applause and cheers ERUPTED from the crowd as the newborn baby shines and projects his gaze on everything in the world. Celebration and Ceremonies followed afterward the announcement, with people scrambling over to see the new god of The Adtraic in all his glory.
Shadows.
One cradle remained veiled and hidden from the world that day...
. . .
Interruption.
://: Elongated pairs of swerving blinding tentacles overlapped the memory with flashing visions of stars and nebulas. ://:/
Forgotten.
: // : //
Monsters.
://://
Two sharp, fierce glowing white eyes peered from behind the flat view of blue skies and clouds.
A reality-trembling roar followed screams and squeals of agony and despair.
:/// ://
A head filled with clusters of glowing tentacles captured the presence of floating rocks.
The stars were disturbed.
They were scared, frightened to their very core.
:// :// : //
"ROAR!"
Echoes.
Their screams sounded so inhumane and otherworldly that it could instill fear upon anyone who had heard it.
Hunger.
Visions of a toddler's hand reaching for soft pastries on a plate filled Asahi's mind. It was incoherent that the only thing focused was those tiny hands, bread, and mouth alone.
Theft.
Robbery.
The pastries were taken by other hands, leaving a shocked and sad look on the boy's face.
"That's mine! Give it back!"
Visions of monstrous white strings eating mountains, planets, and galaxies filled his mind.
Everything was blurry. A mess.
A storm of recollections that couldn't be recalled.
("What is this? What is going on?!") Asahi's present consciousness mumbled to himself.
Before his mind appeared eight long spindly legs floating above the cosmos.
A monster.
It was a monster.
Their head… inhumane, covered in the blankness of black. Their body surges with energy, spewing and spilling out glittering essences with its long, sharp, and nasty jaw.
Behind "it" was a globe. A floating globe teeming with colors-- vibrant colors that matched hues of oceans, clouds, and land.
Lies.
Lips of a person invade the intrusive memories, their hair of unrecognizable shade or color.
:// Lies. ://
The stars were angry.
They surrounded that globe, encircling it with untamable rage.
Floating in the cosmos…
Hideous abominations of abnormal proportions lurked around it, opening their jaws and swarming.
:// Lies.://
White light. So bright. It ate everything and consumed the night. The tentacles melted into strings as it followed the commands of the twenty-five arms of the… "things" floating in front of the globe.
://: Lies.://:
Hands of masculine and feminine had slowly slid against sheets and clenched onto each other, closing into their palms with an approach of adoration flickered with the thoughts.
Legs both soft and hardened had locked onto one another.
Bristles of hair of unrecognizable hues slid between the flashing pairs of intertwined bodies.
://LIES://
The last thing that had ceased and stopped this storm of chaotic thoughts and memories was a symbol.
A curvy symbol in the shape of an S.
A white void accompanied the letter. But then, another symbol of that same shape came along with it.
As they spun and swirled around, the two symbols danced in harmony with loud, irritating jingles blaring about with wild annoying screeches of violins.
"Dancing in circles in circles in circles!"
One after another, the two letters danced in circles in the void, until they had folded onto themselves.
As Asahi's mind started to flicker and flash to the past, as the visions of the dancing "S'" zoomed, eventually both of the symbols melded into the harmonic, balanced, prosperous shape of the number eight.
8.
* * * * * * *