In front of Jun's eyes, June "shattered" like glasses, fading into the empty space.
The sight of an existential death, one he should have died from, yet the only feeling in his throbbing heart...
"Jealousy, isn't it?"
'What do...Huh?'
It was a young voice, one that almost made him believe that he thought out loud. Even June's voice had a subtle difference to his even though it came from the same body, but this...
"Quite the lively expression you got there, my last guest of the day. Can't say I didn't expect it though."
'Up?'
Jun directed his sight toward the source of the voice, finding a young boy sitting several meters up in the air. It was an unfamiliar face-
"Argh!"
A sharp pain pierced his mind and slightly faltered his stance, only to vanish right after. Lifting his face back up, he stole another glance.
'That face, it can't be.'
As if the boy could hear his thoughts, he asserted in response.
"But it can. This voice. This face. This body. It was once you. Or rather..."
The boy plopped down from his "seat" carefreely, landing on the ground like it was pillow. He closed his distance in an instant, staring at Jun face-to-face.
"You were once it."
"!"
It was the very boy from that flashback in the flesh. The reason why he, who hated trouble, would go out of his way to help kids - those who hadn't properly turned into adults. However, whether what the boy said was true, his memory is far too unreliable and unstable to confirm.
"I was...it? What do you mean?"
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
The boy's face slowly broke apart like broken glasses, showing a smiling expression filled with sinister dark gaps.
"That's good enough. You're on th€ r!gh+ tr#c%. I+'s m¥ r€gr#t th########################-"
His voice slowly distorted as his "shell" cracked away and vanished into thin air, finally turning into gibberish when he was but a semblance of what he looked like just a minute ago - a figure devoid of everything.
'A...dark avatar?'
Nevertheless, what caught Jun's eyes was the grass turning white like ashes, crumbling and spreading rapidly from below where the boy stood. The once vibrant blue sky was also slowly dyed in the same color.
'My world…it's crumbling? Then I'm...'
"Ah, my bad. It seems time is running out."
It wasn't the first time he encountered the irregular, but the...thing in front of him...its voice...had something more distinctive than any other - his certainty about the existence.
"God?"
"Indeed, nicely done. It's your first time meeting me, isn't it? Well, the faster the better."
"My memory-"
"Shush! I get that you have a lot of questions, but not yet."
The figure - supposedly his proclaimed God whipped out an ominous black box from thin air and in the blink of an eye, inserted it into his chest. Information flooded his head instantly, stunning him in place as his vision blurred from the overwhelming sensation.
However, Jun soon stabilized himself as the pain didn't compare to the earlier ones.
*Ting
'Eh?'
[Welcome to Estella system.]
It was a black box with white letters floating in front of his eyes.
'System? That oversaturated thing in web novels?'
[Technically, yet not exactly. According to comparisons made from samples within your recollection, my functions and abilities are much more lacking.]
'How-'
*CLAP!
"Now, now. Let's talk a little bit before time runs out. You can always save 'that' for later."
A clap took Jun back to reality, only managing to catch some gibberish on the black box that broke into thin air. Strangely enough, he was now seated in parallel to the figure in an endlessly "decaying" space.
Even in his 'World' that seemed like it would crumble any time, he could sense only tranquility.
"Tell me, what do you think a 'World' is?"
"Like this one?"
"..."
"I would say...it's a manifestation of Ego when an individual achieves a 'Realization' and is recognized. It usually resembles a mix of different landscapes that
It wasn't a perfect answer, but going into the details would waste too much time.
"Sufficient. Then how does it crumble?"
"By the death of the individual's Ego, which can vary."
"So, why is it happening to your supposed 'World'?"
So it's really crumbling, June thought. Then it should confirm his earlier thoughts.
"Because I'm dead?" He replied expectantly.
In return, the figure only shook its head and spoke coldly.
"...You already know that's not the case."
"I see. Then...right..."
Hit by the truth again, June only felt something lodged in his throat, unable to continue. His heart started throbbing hard as his mind was thrown into disarray by surges of emotions.
'What's...this?'
Why is it so hard to breathe? Why does he feel like dying? Why is it always like this?
"This is not your 'World', nor anyone else's."
"..."
Staring at a spaced-out Jun, the figure seemingly sighed and approached him. It lightly tapped his forehead.
"Focus. Don't let them overwhelm you."
"Huff! Huff! Huff!"
Jun let out heavy breaths as his mind somewhat regained clarity. Something was slipping his mind again, but it didn't seem important, so he let it go.
"Tell me your name."
"?"
"Just do it."
"Jun. Jun Kether."
"Good. Listen, while it's fine to indulge a little bit since you recently regained them, keep it in moderation. Is that clear?"
"..."
Staring at the confused eyes of Jun, the figure figured this was a waste of time and continued.
"This is not your 'World', but a KI that fell a long time ago. It was the starting point of a boy loved by ***, a boy named-"
"Jun Kether."
Jun instinctively muttered the name. Why he knew that answer, he didn't know.
"That's right. Your starting point, or rather, mine."
A large question mark popped up in Jun's mind. His God...and him? They're one?
"You were like past me to be exact. A poor, yet complete replica of a human that is Jun Kether."
'A...replica? Me?'
It was getting harder to understand it all by the second, but the figure's relentlessness left Jun with no choice.
"You're a box filled with clumsily patched-up holes."
"Fragments of your countless reincarnation attempts built you."
"A supposed failed reimagining. A copy that barely functioned as intended, yet alive nonetheless."
"A human that wasn't really 'human', lacking the expected fundamental qualities, but a human nonetheless."
"You, closer to ordinary human than I could've ever wished, yet most detached to [Jun Kether], carried an ambitious hope that defied destiny attached to that 'name'."
"To become normal, as [Jun Kether]."