In the middle of a construction site, onto a wide dune of sand, was laying a young man. His short pristine hair partially covered a part of his forehead, sometimes lifted by slight gusts of wind passing by.
If not for the strange scenario everyone was stuck inside, one would have mistaken him for a sleeping worker, trying to rest a bit after some work.
But, two elements completely destroyed the theory:
First, near the young man's body was standing what remained of a strange creature. Flesh, bone shards and a tremendous amount of feathers were covering the largest part of the dune, as an horrific smell was still emanating from its decomposing flesh.
And secondly... The man wasn't dressed with any construction clothes, his body covered instead by a white, and stained t-shirt with a black short, also muddied in blood.
Asaki, even if covered by an unusual amount of blood, was alive, and woundless. His legs, arms, torso... Not a single wound was now present on his body, as if everything healed without any explanation.
His insides, were also unfazed. Not a single crack could be seen on his bones, and all of his organs were working perfectly well, maybe even too well.
Above him, was also now standing an humanoid silhouette, hiding the sun behind its long and red hair.
Another gust of wind violently reached the two entities, lifting a large cloud of sand around them, strangely avoiding the red silhouette which hair also lifted because of the wind.
The sun, above everything on earth, joyfully shinned, as if a terrible massacre didn't happen in this city a few hours ago. Its position also showed that it was now slightly past noon, and so that Asaki slept since a long time already.
The red form, after multiple minutes, finally moved. Sliding down the dune with agility and talent as its two orange eyes seemed to be looking for something, looking through the entire site in no time.
By its hands then fell multiple metal pipes, bags, rocks, and stuff which could maybe cover this thing the form was looking for.
A mundane human wouldn't normally be able to move so easily that much stuff with such a thin body, hiding behind a stained and scattered black school uniform.
But the form was far from being a mundane entity.
Soon, after less than a dozen of second, the silhouette seemed to have finally found what it was looking for. The site was now in a much worse state than it was before, even a bit destroyed now.
But it was worth the sacrifice for the entity's POV.
Letting down the dune the object it needed, its two powerful legs quickly propelled the entity at the top of the dune again, grabbing with not that many efforts the unconscious body of Asaki.
Just after it sled for the last time through the muddied sand mountain, the entity gently released the young man inside of the large metallic form it was looking for, minutes ago.
The only remnants left after their departure from the site now, only being the destruction the entity had left behind.
Soon, not even their shadows could be visible from the site.
°°°
Once again, Asaki was surrounded by darkness and coldness. His whole body kept floating across this vast ocean, this time way more different than before.
Firstly, there really was water now, a large amount of invisible water, quietly moving beneath his body. Above his head, were falling thousands of snowflakes, awkwardly disappearing as soon as some touched his body.
Asaki's eyes were partially opened, looking at the starless and moonless sky with glassy eyes. The ocean was really peculiar…
The young man's hand could easily plunge into its infinite depths, but not his back, as if it was hanged to a wooden plank serving him as a boat.
But not a single plank could be seen, nor felt, here...
'This feels... So familiar...'
Asaki already lived this moment before, his dying body crossing a vast ocean beneath an empty sky. Soon, he knew that he'll reach a giant isle where his body will die, and getting absorbed by the infertile ground.
This snow, will also finally retrieve its coldness once he'll die. And then...
...
"Are you... Waking up ?"
Not a single drop of water was standing beneath his body, nor a single piece of darkness above his body. The coldness also disappeared, accompanied by the total absence of snow filling the air.
"You hear me ?"
Behind a blinding light seemed to stand an angel, its voice warmer than any fire, any star, filled with worry and infinite kindness...
The voice particularly sounded really familiar to Asaki, but he also knew that he never met this person before. It was impossible to forgot such a voice, truly impossible...
The movement beneath his body instantly stopped, as the voice elevated again, this time much closer than before.
"Oh gods... You're alive..."
If this was the voice Death had, Asaki could easily understand why no one ever dared to try coming back from it...
And what his eyes were about to show him only reinforced this idea.
The blurry light, indeed, slowly started to disappear, giving to Asaki the sight of a magnificent red figure standing above his head.
In the middle of this crimson paint shined two Sun, deeply staring into his soul. The form became less blurry, and even less, and less...
Soon, a girl around his age was finally noticeable, her face seemingly directly coming from a book.
This was really simple, and no one could ever dare say the opposite.
Everything about this woman was beautiful. Her long red wavy hair, slightly, covering her blushing cheeks, matched perfectly the two comets of lava standing into her gaze. Her lips had an hypnotizing red taint, free from the slightest default.
This impossible figure was also filled with the purest of all emotion, an infinite kindness and warmth continuously emanating from this gift of the gods. And yet... Not a single part of her single presence wasn't crushing, with power and strength, the whole environment. As if gods themselves stood by her side.
"Don't panic, there's nobody other than us here !"
'She's really the owner of that voice, huh... ?'
"Who… Are you...?"
A warm smile instantly filled the angel's face, seemingly happy to hear Asaki finally talk. Then, as her hand elegantly slid behind her ear one of her hair strand, she replied.
"Celia. You can call me Celia."