In the midst of a black abyss, Michael stood adjacent to a girl dressed in blue.
A blue girl.
Her skin porcelain white, and her face softly captivating...
She spoke in a language Michael did not know, an enchanting yet deeply mysterious voice on the cusp of her thin lips.
"Yool la kiera reiku fare, sjool jaiya parè," she said.
Michael opened his mouth to speak, but words didn't come out. He failed to talk back.
"Shuwata, tsuno kovalai? Kirizhi aleyèlagai."
She felt disturbingly unknown yet oddly tranquil.
Like an early morning still veiled in a mysterious fog from the night prior.
"Kyala arì wo shima kuwai furalai."
Although he didn't understand, her words were entrancing and felt inexplicably important.
So Michael would listen to the girl speak for an immeasurable amount of time...
And experience his first dream that wasn't of the never-changing blizzard.
...
April 8th, 2030
2 days after the alliance.
Rays of morning light filled his vision through a glassless window as the pitch black scenery dispersed.
He was awakened by a soft yet stern voice calling out to him.
"Wake up, Michael," the slender figure of Iris, with her draping platinum hair and rain-like facial features, knelt beside him, laying on the floor.
She wore a flowy sundress garnished with various colors of flowers.
A dimly lit concrete shed surrounded them, with mechanical tools neatly organized around the place and a tarp placed in the middle, where Michael had slept.
"Good morning... Come on, let's go train," she said, leading him out of the shed.
With the outside greeting them, the two walked into a grassy field filled with countless pearly white flowers.
It smelled of morning dew.
"I can't believe you can sleep in there; it's like a prison cell," she turned to face him, her hair blowing in the breeze.
"I think it's kind of cozy; I sleep better alone anyway."
"You should've slept with me instead," she said teasingly, causing Michael to become lightheaded.
As they walked, Iris kneeled on the ground and picked a flower from the countless sprouts.
"Do you know what these are called?"
"No, what are they?"
"Moonflowers, during the day they're tiny and insignificant but when the moon shines, they bloom into something truly glorious."
She stretched out her hand, and Michael did the same.
Dropping it, the petals which slowly fell, fluttered in the air before landing in his palm.
"Matt's grandma built a garden filled with these years ago, but as time passed, it slowly faded away. Still, even after it disappeared, the people who saw that garden will always remember it and will be reminded of her whenever they see those flowers. I think it's a beautiful thing."
"You're right, she made a seemingly random flower beyond special to the people who have seen the garden."
"I hope that by walking in her footsteps, I can someday gain something of such value," she said.
"Do you look up to Matt's grandma?"
"I do... She's kind of like... my idol," Iris' face turned melancholic as the words left her mouth.
Michael decided not to press further.
They continued their path, approaching a grassless patch of dirt.
Stopping at the small plot of land empty of moonflowers or any greenery in general, Iris' normal expression returned, and she smirked before asking Michael, "You ready?"
"Yeah."
"Eternal Garden: Flower."
"Noble Chroma: Blue"
Rushing to one another, a clash of blue waves and pink cherry blossoms met, the two colors dancing in the air.
...
When night fell once again, the dream of the blue girl would reoccur in Michael's sleeping mind, permeating throughout his subconscious.
Within the black abyss, she spoke to him, but slightly differently this time.
"Fyaré bou kali tandu bravé, slané imunda loróm," she made gestures for every word she spoke, trying to communicate the meaning of the language.
I... give... you... face..? Now... save... you and me? Michael interpreted her gestures in his head while aligning the words with their meanings.
"Solfla fyarè ona kanéri fissa sétto flanéshu."
He would continue to amateurly translate the meaning of her words over the course of the night, slowly learning the language.
...
April 10th, 2030
4 days after alliance.
"Akashic powers usually only last around 10 seconds after it leaves contact with your body... You have to use that to your advantage," Iris said while lightly sparring with Michael.
A line of golden sunflowers sprouted from Iris leading to him and they exploded into a dazzling light.
Striking with a streaking blue wave, Michael cleared the golden light.
The deep navy attack crashed and flowed, nearing Iris with its torrential violence.
She smiled and called out, "This is a good example of that... Your attack won't get to me, it'll dissipate before it hits."
It grew closer and closer to her.
"3... 2... 1." The rushing tide a few feet away from her face, she counted to one...
And it faded into the air just as she said.
...
It happened again.
The black abyss.
The blue girl.
Like clockwork, she would appear in Michael's dreams every few days.
Perhaps he had sacrificed the nightmare that was the raging blizzard for a new dream in which this girl resided.
After listening to her talk for an instant and an eternity simultaneously, Michael would gradually pick up on the nuances of her language, slowly developing an understanding of words and phrases.
...
April 15th, 2030
9 days after alliance.
During their usual sparring, Michael shot a navy arrow from his bow that struck Iris' blossoming shield, breaking past her defense.
As he readied his next attack, the blue bow in his palm transmuted into a new blade-like form.
Iris quickly dodged before he swung the curved scimitar in a wide arc, splitting the ground in half.
Small pieces of debris from the earth flew into the air, and as they dropped back down...
A beam of ultraviolet rays poured from Iris' palm, racing forward like a flash.
Michael quickly readied his sword and parried the light.
He was knocked onto the dirt by the impact, but successfully redirected the attack away from him.
"You've learned a new skill already, I'm impressed. That sword is equal to some of my stronger attacks."
...
The same dream.
"Jiun mada ibelischpvuli neft woma sofepi yanei."
"Fate... is... rival... Do not... fear... death...
Although Michael understood more of the language, the blue girl spoke in vague terms and used a cadence that was almost poetic.
It was hard to interpret her prophetic themes, but nonetheless, every word she said seemed to hold copious amounts of weight.
...
April 18th, 2030
12 days after alliance.
Desperately concentrating, Michael poured as much blue from his soul as he could, flooding the surrounding field.
"Keep it like that for as long as you can. Since you can only control the blue that you summon, it's important to use it to its greatest potential," Iris encouragingly said to him.
Straining against the tension, the overwhelming force of his power felt as if it were ripping Michael's body in half.
He panted heavily, sweat beading on his now red face, while he willed the blue torrent to rush around him.
"Training the amount of blue you can output will help you overwhelm your enemies in a battle."
...
The "void language" was what it was called.
This night, the blue girl kept her words brief, describing numerous seemingly random things, one of them being the name of the language she spoke.
As if she were in a hurry, her gesturing and words began losing coherence as time went on.
Muddled and hazy, the concept of "the blue girl" herself started fading, as if she were merely a figment of Michael's imagination.
...
April 23rd, 2030
18 days after alliance.
An onslaught of blue arrows rained upon Iris' flora shield before Michael quickly swapped to his sword.
He feigned a strike to her leg before suddenly bringing it overhead.
The blade crashed down like a waterfall as it made contact with Iris, resulting in a devastating impact.
She formed a large green bud that jutted out from the ground, protecting her from the strike but still catching her in the aftertide of the waves.
Michael coated his legs in blue.
Kicking dirt behind him, he sprinted forward, the Akashic power enhancing his speed and strengthening his body.
And before Iris could defend herself, an onslaught of ultramarine attacks riddled her...
Due to the rapid kicks and slashes, she was forced to retreat.
"You're getting really strong..."
...
April 28th, 2030
23 days after alliance.
Iris and Michael would spend almost every waking moment of the past three weeks training together.
And somehow Michael would still avoid the touch of the woman.
Though on this day... things would change.
A rundown van pulled up near the grassless patch of dirt where they trained.
"It's Matt; let's see what he wants," Iris called out.
Michael and her stopped their sparring, the flurry of petals and blue dispersing.
"You two were really going at it," the smug voice of Matt entered the scene, his window rolled down.
He was accompanied by Violet in the front passenger seat.
"How's his progress?" Matt asked Iris.
"Outstanding, he's developed the skills of someone with months of training in just a few weeks. He's even catching up to me."
"That's nothing less than him; Michael's always been unnaturally strong..."
"I guess so... but why are you here?" Michael asked him.
"Get in the car; you'll see."
As Iris and Michael got in, the suspension of the ancient vehicle seemed to give out.
The interior was covered in rust, and the A.C. blew hot air that smelled of ammonia instead of cold.
Sputtering and threatening to break down on every bump of the rural roads far from the uniform streets of Beaumont, they rode with the beaming sun overhead shining through the sunroof of the van.
"Where are we going?" Michael asked from the backseat.
"L.A., I want you to meet a man named Julian... To get stronger, you need to train with stronger people," Matt replied.
"Oh, so I'm not enough for him?" Iris asked sassily.
"It's the terms of me and Michael's alliance.
I help him become strong enough to claim the Akashic Records for himself, and he helps me in the awakening of ARCHAIA. If you truly believe you can fulfill those terms, be my guest."
"You're too much of a realist, Matt...
Why do you want to claim the Akashic Records anyway?" Iris sat next to Michael, turned, and asked him.
He answered, "It might sound strange... but I don't want to stagnate, that's really all. When most of the decisions in my life have been out of my own control, I feel like this is a fate I get to choose for myself."
"You'd risk your life for that?"
"Yes, I'd rather take a risk to shape my own future than safely watch it be decided by someone else."
Violet kicked her feet on the dusty dashboard and sneered, "The two of you are the same. You both would stake your lives on ideals that you've made up to serve yourself."
"I just want to repay my debts to those I owe, and Michael just wants control over his own path. What we desire is our decision, and how we pursue those ideals is what makes them meaningful," Matt said.
"If you aren't living by what you believe... then what are you really living for?" Michael asked.
Violet's cold eyes stared into the distance, like a red abyss unto itself. She spoke, "The point of living is to survive... nothing less, nothing more.
I live by that belief."
...
Day turned to dusk as the hours dragged on.
The four rode on the never-ending roads that snaked through California, the scenery changing from rolling hills and expansive farms to city skylines littered with countless tiny lights akin to stars.
The buildings that reached for the skies grew in number as they entered an elevated freeway leading to the big city.
Dozens of cars sparsely filled the highway, which stood on pillars above the countless buildings densely packed down below.
Inside the van, Iris' head nodded downward and rebounded, her eyes drifting in and out of being open.
Slumping onto the headrest of the car, she eventually fell asleep, her breath lightly grazing Michael's neck.
His heart began beating out of his chest, and something within his pants began rising, for a woman had never been in such close proximity to him...
"Hey... what is that?" Matt asked Violet, his eyes set ahead.
She raised her head.
Michael looked up to see what was intriguing them, but before he could see anything...
A loud thump shook the vehicle, and it skidded near the edge of the road, nearly losing traction.
Matt braked hard, sending everyone inside jolting forward and awakening Iris.
"...What was that?" Violet asked panickedly.
Looking over to the site of the accident, everyone stared in shock at the image that was in front of them...
A man stood in the middle of the road, lights beaming onto his pale complexion and hollow, dilated eyes.
His contorted torso showed that he had clearly been hit, but it didn't seem like it at all.
He was unfazed.
And as Michael examined him more closely...
He realized.
"Floor it, Matt!"
The man was all too familiar.
Without questioning it, Matt did as told and accelerated, sending all four in the car reeling back into their chairs.
"Do you know him, Michael!?" Violet yelled out.
"I do... his name is Godfried, the man who tried to murder me three years ago."
"...God-fried..?" Violet began shivering violently as the name permeated her consciousness.
"Hey, are you okay? Do you know him?" Michael asked worriedly.
"Y-Yeah... I'm fine, I met him... a long time ago."
Keeping his foot firmly on the gas, Matt peeked at the sideview mirror and, after what he saw, muttered, "There's no way..."
Godfried sprinted towards them, his speed surpassing that of even the cars around him.
It was truly unbelievable, and not in the sense of superhuman strength or Akashic powers.
What made him terrifying was that his form remained consistent, like he was truly just a normal human being running faster than the maximum speed of a car.
He leapt onto the roof of a vehicle in the adjacent lane and stood motionless, looking down on the four of them.
Godfried smiled.
Flipping his knife and holding it on its sharp end, he launched it onto the roof of the van.
In an instant, Matt slammed down the window while pulling the pistol from its holster and sprayed shots towards him, making sure not to hit the bystander driving the vehicle.
Though before the bullets could travel the distance, Godfried disappeared from the car's roof, blinking out of existence...
And something shook the van from above...
Gazing upwards, the four looked upon Godfried, who stood on the skyroof above them.
His knife, previously embedded in the van's upholstery, was now in his hands.
"How rude, to shoot at someone who's just trying to reunite old friends," Godfried muttered to himself.
Matt turned his rear view mirror upwards to catch the predicament happening above while still driving.
Godfried's shadow contorted and morphed into a completely different shape than his own body.
It gained form and began materializing, separating from the roof of the van and entering the open air.
A man veiled in darkness emerged from the umbra, and shadows emanated from his body like murky fog.
His hazy face couldn't be clearly made out but was distinctly rugged.
"...Matt..." He parted his lips to generate a heavily distorted croaking voice that could barely even be called human... but there was a clear accent that could only be described as... German.
"...Who are you?" Matt called out to the outside.