Yoel opened his eyes to a peculiar sound. Laughter was coming from all around him.
The laughter crashed against his ears like the grating of steel, his eardrums felt like they were about to come apart.
No matter how much he looked, he couldn't quite understand where he found himself; the image in his eyes had been blurry, and when he moved his eyes, it was as if the land that had been in the periphery of his vision had slid away.
He felt as if he had been pricked by a million needles, but he couldn't stand up no matter how much he tried to.
It was a dizzying thing; he wished he could stop it, but he couldn't control his body.
"Yoel? Did you fall asleep?"
The grating of steel, which Yoel thought was laughter, ceased as suddenly as it had started.
A single voice permeated in his fuzzy mind. It sounded kind, filled with unconditional, familial love and worry. It soothed his mind and eased the tension in his muscles.
The blur started to fade away, and the bile that was quickly escaping his stomach was halted at once, as he regained clarity of his surroundings.
Yoel felt his limbs tingle, and then the feeling turned to pain. He was tired.
Where even am I?
He scanned the area around himself; now the picture much more clear than before, although details and objects still slid away a bit too fast for his liking.
What met his eyes were slides, trampolines, and swings filling the entire area as far as he could see.
Well, not that he could see that far. Beyond the playground, or what Yoel thought was a playground the blur that was haunting his eyes reappeared. Waiting to strike once more.
He had also learned that the ground which he sat on was sand and that his limbs had grown significantly smaller than before.
It was almost as if… he had been a child.
"Ahh! My cute little boy. Yoel, sweetheart, do you want to go home? Papa will be home soon."
This… is mom. We came out to play today. I had almost forgotten.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to Yoel, not the fact he had a mature mind as a kid, nor the weird seizure he had had mere seconds earlier.
It was as if he had completely forgotten those facts.
He tried to form words, but they came out as unintelligible baby speech.
"You little devil! Let's get home quick!"
She softly squeezed his cheeks as Yoel gave off a small laugh, happy that his mom was pampering him.
Yoel could not see her face; it was too blurry to see for some reason. But it was alright, this is how it's supposed to be, right?
A few moments later, Yoel felt the soft sand disappear under his feet, his mom grabbed him off the ground gently and puh him on her shoulders.
With one hand somewhat tightly holding him, making sure he didn't fall, she looked at him.
"We'll scare him good! Full speed ahead!"
She started a light jog, making sure to balance Yoel properly on her shoulders while doing so, and at the same time making sure her long skirt wouldn't get in the way.
Yoel felt as if he was atop of the world. This was all he needed, all he wanted!
Mama! Mama!
As the playground grew smaller and smaller, the blurry barrier grew larger.
Yoel had felt such immense comfort, he never wanted this moment to end. It was so fun, simply living and nothing more.
But, the world soon sent him crashing back down.
As his mother took a step into the blur, the scene switched in a matter of seconds.
His limbs twisted and grew, and he slowly obtained the ability to properly balance himself, his hair grew… and his eyes–
Mom? Dad?
He saw his mother, but his father was nowhere to be found. She was running through a crowd of people, her face filled with worry.
"#$%^@! Where is he? Where is he?!"
She pushed past the crowds of people and jumped over a fence. Houses beyond the fence were scorched and destroyed, signs of life nowhere to be found.
Mom! What are you doing? Where's father?
He watched her run from an otherworldly perspective, it was as if he was watching a movie play out in a cinema, in a sense.
No matter what he said or did, she would not even look at him. Not that he could tell– her face was still a potent blur, as it was before.
Before?
She screamed words that Yoel did not understand, and ran in a straight line, easily jumping over and sliding under the rubble that occupied the street.
Yoel watched as the scene drifted away from his eyes. He had been so intently focusing on it that he did not realize that it was slowly floating away.
No! Wait!
As the scene became a still image, it regressed in size, growing smaller, until eventually it became but a black dot in a white expanse.
And even that dot disappeared without a trace.
All that was left was whiteness and confusion.
At some point, Yoel's memories gave out as he floated senselessly and mindlessly in the hollow emptiness.
Wake up.
The whiteness was pierced by black. Blacker than black.
Seething hot and as chill as ice at the same time, it furiously tore away at the white.
And so, he slowly woke up.
His mind was hazy, and his hands were cold. His eyes were instantly filled with light, making him squint.
"Did you fall asleep on that bench? I know today's class was bad, but this is a bit of an exaggeration."
In front of Yoel's blurry eyes, stood Lilith in a red tracksuit, her hair was neatly tucked into a ponytail, and beads of sweat ran down her forehead.
She had spoken that last sentence through labored breaths.
"Do you always run this late at night?"
Yoel hadn't even checked his cube, but according to him, there was not a single soul around them except for him and Lilith. The lights around this area had also been turned off.
"I can't sleep soundly if I don't tire out my body completely. And it's good for my health, anyway. What are you doing slumped over a bench?"
Yoel saw Lilith's expression slowly rise in suspicion. He was not sure as to why, but he thought whatever assumptions she had, were extremely bad.
"Don't tell me– you're already getting drunk on your first day here? Have some dignity, Yoel!"
She said the entire sentence in a relatively loud voice, and Yoel flinched, he really had not expected her to practically scream that out.
"Are you TRYING to get me expelled? Listen, I've been training and practicing for a month now, even on the week we were given to rest!"
At his sudden outburst, she suddenly recoiled back. A bitter fear rose into her eyes as she watched Yoel's expression.
"I have barely been able to get stronger, it's frustrating. And I'm so tired, I can't think straight sometimes."
Lilith blinked a few times, announcing her confusion. She thought back to today's enigma basics class. She was able to see Yoel, repeatedly being defeated.
"I thought you'd have it easy with that enigma you awakened before. It made you so strong, after all…"
Yoel held her gaze for a few moments and then looked at the ground as if he had done something to be ashamed of.
"I haven't been able to use my enigma's abilities even once after returning here. I can only access this sight that lets me see avon, and see from a shadow's perspective. No combat capabilities, none."
Yoel thought he had heard Lilith mutter something, but didn't think much of it.
"So, we're in the same boat? This might sound selfish– but I'm happy to know I'm not the only one feeling stuck."
"You… you're stuck? I thought you were the type of person to always have it figured out."
"Do I really look like that? It's easy to act like it, but most of the time almost nobody has anything figured out."
A small moment of silence passed between them, Lilith had long since sat on the bench, somewhat far away from Yoel as they spoke.
Yoel felt at ease, for whatever reason, a refreshing breeze seemed to caress his face, and he closed his eyes to accept the breeze's care.
"I also want to apologize, for y'know.. kind of ignoring you guys today. It's not fair to ignore the people you lived with through life and death, even if they were strangers you've known for a few days."
Yoel wanted to reply, but as he opened his mouth, Lilith cut him off. It seemed as if she was not done speaking.
"Also, I believe a few breaks here and there are necessary. Training is necessary, but if you don't rest, there won't be any results to be proud of. Good luck, Yoel."
As she finished her sentence, she took out her own cube to look at the time. She wore a shocked expression once she saw it, and quickly lifted herself up, gave a small wave to Yoel and began running once again.
Even if this response had come from Lilith's one-sided, selfish happiness that Yoel really wasn't some kind of god, he really didn't care. Empty praise was praise nonetheless.