A few hours had passed and the storm finally died down with the quicksand. The tornado gradually vanished, but the debris was still subtly swirling around, hinting the danger's presence that stayed still.
Soon, he saw a paintbrush and colors beside him – which may have been conceived either by his imaginations or by the world itself.
Maybe it was providing him hope and salvation for his tremendous refusal to the foreign emotions he was having. Maybe not, but he never knew about it.
He started painting the flowerbeds whilst using the ground as his blank canvas.
And all things he painted, grew alive and animated.
Toren tried remembering at his very best which flower belonged to the respective lands parts.
Soon, he recreated the paradise where he used to escape into. It might have been one of his best artworks, but none of the existing elements that are required to create it actually existed.
Not the world itself, not the paintbrush, not the colors, and not the flowers – even if they seemed real.
Maybe not even the tornado or the disaster that tried to destroy the world.
None of them was less confusing as the boy's current state.
Whether he was alive or dead, there was no way to know.
After fixing everything, he decided to return to sleep. And when he woke up, he was still in that world.
From that point, he began all his attempts to escape from it.
The whole bravado felt quite nostalgic and ironic. Where he used to escape to, now becomes a place he wants to escape from.
Toren drifted back to his consciousness over and over again, but he remained trapped there.
He began painting portals, creating doorways, and fabricating pathways and road works, but everything was in vain.
He gave up after a few months of trial and error – where everything ended up unsuccessful.
Few years had passed and to his surprise, Airen suddenly appeared out of thin air.
She entered the world from heaven's landscape and descended like a goddess particularly sent to the boy. She greeted him with a warm smile, which he returned with a longing embrace.
Toren wept, utterly relieved with her presence.
He had never felt so much in need of a mother or of a person until now.
Both of them cupped their palms and lifted upwards to receive the galaxy's fluid. When they were about to sip on it, Toren hesitated.
"Are you afraid that you might not be able to get out of this place if you drink it?" Aired asked him, which he nodded to.
"Do not worry," She softly assured him. "You will be able to get out in due time. For now, your presence is a must here. Sip the celestial fluid with ease, my dear child."
Reluctantly, Toren complied with her mother's words and sipped on the fluid together with her.
Toren had noticed the flowers slowly blooming and growing lushly as soon as Airen had arrived.
He was somehow thankful that her presence actually meant something and not just a false hope or any kind of hoax.
For 3 days, Airen and Toren danced along the wind until the petals were lushly blooming and brightly glowing like how it used to before. They laughed and talked and gazed endlessly at the stars above.
The alternating spectrums had also returned and the place returned to how it was supposed to be.
When everything was back to normal in that world, Airen suddenly asked Toren.
"Where do you want to be now?"
Toren sighed and suddenly remembered how reality felt like. He was almost getting numb from it.
Somehow, a touch of its fingertips would be more than enough. "I want to return to reality," Toren answered. "I want to see my brother again and know what he is currently up to. I wish to know if he is still doing fine. But I also want to be in a world where war does not exist."
"It is possible," Airen said with a pretty smirk. "There was a time when you could see your brother in a world without war. The great century-long war eventually ended and your brother survived it. I shall show it to you if you wish."