What's that?
Aiden frowned as he looked at the reflection in front of him.
The reflection was smiling, but he wasn't.
He waved his hands, and the reflection did the same.
Aiden frowned some more, as he didn't know what to do.
Should he run? Where? Should he hide? Where?
"There's only one option." Aiden said as he stretched his body.
Now that he was in the presence of light, he could see and feel his body.
Whoosh
Right after finishing his stretching, Aiden dashed towards the mirror as he swung his fist towards it.
The face of the reflection of Aiden became dark as he looked at the fist.
Bang
Crack crack crack
The mirror cracked into hundreds of pieces as it shattered.
"Shit."
Aiden cursed as he felt the pain in his fist. The shattered mirror pieces dropped to the ground around them, but the reflection on the mirror was still intact.
Grab
Hmm?
Right after the mirror broke, Aiden felt a grab at his leg as he looked down.
"Boo"
A figure similar to Aiden emerged from the pieces as he grabbed Aiden's leg.
"Yeah, not scary at all... Eden."
Aiden said as he looked at his copy.
"Tsk"
Aiden's copy, Eden, clicked his tongue as his whole body finally emerged from the pieces of mirror.
"How did you figure it out?" Eden asked as he cracked his neck.
"…Connection?" Aiden answered as he tilted his head.
"What does th-… no no that actually makes sense." Eden said as he suddenly moved forward and hugged Aiden.
"I'm so glad to see you safe." Eden said as Aiden also hugged him.
"It's my duty to protect you, but I couldn't when needed." Eden said.
"No no rather, I'm sorry for dragging you into it." Aiden said as he let go of Eden.
But Eden suddenly frowned as he swung his fist.
Smack
He smacked Aiden's head as he said, "Idiot. You were the host of that body, so don't think too much of it."
Eden said as Aiden rubbed his head in pain.
Eden was the friend that only Aiden could hear and see. The voice that alerted him to run when they encountered the panther and also the voice that made Aiden run for safety after Leo sacrificed himself for him.
"Anyway, where are we?" Aiden asked as he looked at Eden.
"Oh, right, you didn't know about this place." Snap
Eden said as he raised his palm and snapped his fingers.
A black door suddenly appeared in front of them.
"Wh-what? How did you do that?"
Aiden asked in surprise as he circled around the black door in curiosity.
"This is inside your consciousness. You can do anything." Eden said as he opened the door.
Clack
"My consciousness… It sure is dark here." Aiden said as he looked around.
"Don't worry, it's just a part." Eden said as he walked inside the door.
Aiden followed him as he thought about some things. It was the thought that bothered him when he was walking the thousands of steps.
"Then, are we alive or dead?" He asked as the scenery changed to an empty room that had a chair in it.
"I don't know much, but it looks like we are alive." Eden said as he sat in the chair.
"But, I remember the gunshot…" Aiden said as he went silent right after.
Why did they shoot him?
"Agh"
"Agh"
Both Aiden and Eden were suddenly struck by a slight pain in their heads.
"Just thinking about that is painful." Aiden said as he rubbed his head.
"Don't think about that." Eden said as he also rubbed his head.
"So, do you know why we are here?" Aiden asked.
"I don't know. I just woke up recently, and as soon as I saw you, I made the light and mirror to draw your attention." Eden said.
"Then? What is happening?"
Aiden crossed his hands in confusion.
"…I do think I know some things." Eden said after a few seconds.
"What?"
"I think you, or rather, we, survived the gunshot and are currently in a coma." Eden said as Aiden hesitated a bit.
"Uh… the bullet went through my head." Aiden said.
"Agh"
"Agh"
Both of them again felt the pain as he grabbed their heads.
"…Maybe that's why our head hurts when thinking about that." Eden said.
"So, do you still think we survived?" Aiden said as he looked at the chair and remembered what Eden did to summon the black door.
…Snap
A chair suddenly appeared as Aiden smiled in satisfaction and sat on it.
"I don't know, but one thing I know is that our or your body is currently asleep rather than dead." Eden said as Aiden raised his brows.
"How can yo- No wait, that makes sense." Aiden said as he grabbed his chin.
If this place was their consciousness, then it should have disappeared after death?
"…Or is this what happens after one dies?" Aiden said, But,
Slap
Eden suddenly slapped him.
"Let's not panic, buddy. Think positive." Eden said as he smiled. So did Aiden after calming down.
"You are right, but, that hurts." He said this as he grabbed his cheek, which had turned red.
"…Sorry." Eden said feeling guilty.
"Quickly, try waking up. I'm curious, what happened?" Eden said as he urged Aiden to wake up.
"OK." Aiden replied, as he was also curious about what happened.
"But how do I do that?" Aiden again tilted his head.
"Uhhhh, we usually counted sheep when you had difficulty sleeping, so I think we should do the opposite?" Eden said as Aiden looked at him funny.
"…"
"From where?" He asked as he closed his eyes.
"…Uh, how about thirty?" Eden said as Aiden imagined sheeps walking and jumping backward.
"Thirty."
"Twenty nine."
"Twenty eight."
"Twenty seven."
…
Back in the cave, the glowing thing stood still, as it didn't react to anything happening around it.
The glowing thing wasn't bound by the brown tree vines any more; instead, there were only gray dusts.
Srrr
Suddenly, the glowing thing started to shake.
'Three.'
'Two.'
'ONE.'
Aiden thought as he opened his eyes.
'Woah woah, that actually worked.' He said this as he could see his surroundings.
'Huh? Why is this so dark around here?' He said this as he tried to walk.
Srrrr
'Huh?'
Instead of taking steps, he felt his body slide forward like a snake.
'Huh? Huh?' Aided said as he felt confused.
He tried to feel his legs, but he couldn't; he tried to feel his arms, his stomach, and everything else, but, he couldn't.
'W-what is going on?' Aiden asked as he started to panic.
'Don't panic. Does it hurt?' Eden chimmed in as he tried to calm Aiden down.
'…No, it doesn't hurt at all.' He said this as he tried to look at the place where his hands and legs were supposed to be.
'Huh? WHAT ARE THESE?'
Instead of his hands or legs, he saw glowing things.
'EDEN? Do you know anything?' Aiden said
'…'
But even Eden had no idea.
Ding
"Ahhh."
He suddenly heard a noise as he took some steps back in surprise.
[Error: The detected human DNA is impure.]
[Please obtain more human DNA to complete the transformation.]
'Huh? What are these?' Aiden said, as he read the two windows that suddenly appeared out of thin air.
'What does it mean? Am I not a human?' He said this as he read the text on the windows.
'Calm down for now. There's no point in panicking.' Eden said as Aiden nodded his head.
'First, it looks like we are in some kind of cave. Let's look for an exit. Eden said.
Aiden looked around as he saw something shiny over some distance.
He felt strangely attracted to the shiny thing as he moved towards it.
Upon closer inspection, he found out that it was a round thing that was in pieces.
'What are you doing?' Eden asked, as he felt that Aiden was acting weird.
'…Doesn't this thing look fancy to you?' Aiden said as he stretched his 'hand'.
'…Do you even know what you are talking about?' Eden said, but Aiden didn't stop as he touched the shield.
Shwoop
In an instant, all the shinyness of the shield faded as it was sucked through Aiden's hand.
'Huh? What happened?' Aiden said as it returned to being dark around him.
Ding
[Remnant of a skill absorbed.]
[Do you want to extract the skill?]
[Yes] [No]
'…What is this?' Aiden said as he read the texts written on the window.
'Uhh, yes?'
Ding
[Retrieving the skill: Reflection]
[Please brace yourself.]
'Huh? What do you me-'
Pang
Aiden suddenly felt a big pain in his head as he staggered, feeling dizzy.
'Eden? Are you there?'
'Yes. What's happening?' Eden replied, as he wasn't sure of what was happening to Aiden.
'Ugh'
Aiden felt his head spinning as he felt like vomiting.
Ding
[Skill obtained. It has been added to your skill status.]
The pain in his head suddenly stopped, as if it weren't even there to begin with.