RUMBLE—! RUMBLE —!
I was laying under a fractured red sky where thunder rumbled and fissures broke the heavens in devouring cracks.
'What...'
The rubbled ground I was laying on felt hot, and my bones were crushed and shattered. I felt bruised all over. My skin was burnt and I couldn't find it in me to muster enough strength to raise a single finger.
The familiar sensation of blood clugging my lungs filled me, the salty iron taste was dominant inside my mouth. My head was throbbing, sending pangs of pain through my brain.
I watched the world literally collapse and fall around me. The broken red sky shattered and rained down like boulders.
Thunder rumbled like the bellow of a hungry beast, and dark silver streaks of lightning arched through the sky.
I felt the slight touch of a warm, and unsettling liquid spread out from underneath me.
'Is that my blood...' I thought, but I couldn't muster the strength to speak or move my lips.
It felt like the body didn't belong to me. Like I was viewing all of this through a glass mirror.
'Then why does it hurt?'
I did know the answer to that.
No, not quite.
'Immersion?' as soon as I had that thought, I heard a faint voice from my side.
"Did...did it have to end this way?" It was a faint voice. It was hoarse, but gentle. A voice filled with pain and anguish as it spoke to me.
When I heard the voice, my previously numb and indifferent heart pulsed mildly. I was filled with an indescribable emotion. It was subtle and suppressed, but it was definitely there at the depest corners of my heart.
Of this body's heart.
It felt like... longing.
Desire.
Nostalgia.
Pain and anguish.
But not from my broken body...but it was something from the depths of my existence.
While I drifted amongst the strange and powerful emotion I felt, the soft voice filled with misery and sadness continued to painfully utter with regret.
"We could have gone back... Is this what you wanted? All of it this?"
The voice was pained, but it's simple sound filled me with a sweet sadness. Somehow, I felt like I'd always longer to hear the voice.
No.
I've always longed for the owner behind it.
But what was the voice talking about?
'Go back? To where?'
Who even was speaking to me?
The voice...it sounded feminine? I wasn't sure, but it was deeply familiar.
Maybe it was just another aspect of this strange body and illusion. 'I' didn't recognise the voice, but 'this' body seemed to be beyond familiar with it.
-Rumble! Rumble!
The World shook once more as another portion of the red sky fell to the ground above me. Just then, 'I' finally managed to muster the strength...the motivation to move my head only slightly.
I turned to sluggishly face the direction of the voice, and right next to me, my gaze stopped at the presence of two steel armour boots.
It seemed like whoever I was speaking to was standing over.
I want to see.... I want to see their face... One more time, let me see it...
Longing.
That desire burned in this body's suppressed heart.
'Why?'
As I thought that, the edge of its bloodly lips slow curled up self-deprecatingly as I managed to look up.
I traced my gaze over the boots, slowly raising it past the shin, and over the knees. The person was a figure in lusterless and ruined armour. They were covered in blood and wounds, and their left hand was missing.
I want to see their face... With that emotion burning feverishly inside of me, I raised my gaze straight for the figures head.
But immediately I winced.
'It's bright...'
It was too bright. It was like there was a burning silver halo surrounding their face. All I could see were faint wisps of long white hair dancing erratically in the stale wind. I could barely make the outline of fair skin tainted with dry blood.
I couldn't clearly see their face, but I could feel the gaze the person sent to me. It was one of sorrow.
Of pain.
Of regret.
Hoarsely, 'i' laughed.
The actions hurt, as it felt like my lungs were burning. But this body still did it anyway.
Then softly he spoke. He outstretched his left hand slowly and weakly as if to reach and behold the person.
"... You've always been so bright...like the sun... Like the flames you burn. Hehe...you were always so blinding too look at, ah, and at some point....that radiance... used to be mine. Cough..."
I coughed out a puddle of blood, but continued with my smile.
But...
"And at some point..."
That radiance..
"...I lost it."
I lost it.
My outstretched arm weakly fell back to the ground. A deep and gnawing sense of lost consumed me.
No.
The loss has always been there. Just among the many other senses and emotions 'i' forcefully sealed away for my goal.
'My goal?'
What was my goal again?
Was it worth it?
'Ah, I can't remember. No. I don't know. This is just an illusion... right?'
Then why?
That feeling of lost
'Why does it hurt?'
As I painfully pondered my unclear emotions, the vast 'illusionary' world began to crumble before my vision. The scene was dissipating like ash in the wind.
'No...'
I gazed one last time at the blinding halo of the figure and attempted to reach out
'No.'
I didn't want to leave.
'No! Don't go...'
Those words...
'Don't leave me again... Please!'.
I couldn't say them despite wanting to.
With the last vestiges of the vision, I watched the armoured figure reach out a hand to me.
'Ah.'
I wanted to reach out for it.
But in the end..
'...This is how it should be.'
...I smiled.
The next moment, the vision fell and my world turned black.
.
.
.
.
[Skill
A synthetic voice blared inside my head, and an illusinary window flashed through for a quick second.
I couldn't see what it said as it vanished as soon as it flickered.
I felt my consciousness coalesce and solidify as my eyes slowly fluttered open
Sunlight.
That was sthe first thing I saw.
It was bright.
'Ah. It's just like...'
Huh?
Just like what again?
Wait. What was I just doing?
Strangely I couldn't recall.
Just then,
[GET UP!]
Meta's sudden loud voice boomed inside my head and forced me to jolt up. I rolled on my side and easily fell off my bed to the wooden floorboards with a mild thump.
"Oof." A strained groan only managed to leak from my lips as I felt the blunt impact roll through my body lika a mild stimulation.
But it only succeeded to drive away my drowsiness for only a little, but that was enough to get me mostly awake now.
"Ugh... What the hell, Meta..." I groaned as I rubbed my glabella and rolled to my side, then reseted on my back.
"Ahh..."
The floorboards felt so cold, and the world felt so fake.
[Rise and shine, young master. Your prince charming has arrived.] Meta snorted mockingly inwardly, but I didn't pay attention to that.
I noticed that my hazy vision was because my eyes were wet and moist. I could feel a trickle of liquid trail down the corners of my eyes and over my ears.
I raised my hand to wipe my eyes, and discovered they were tears.
'What? Am I crying?'
Why?
Eh, if kind of feels like I'm forgetting something...
I wasn't sure.
But, just then,
[What? Did you fall and get a booboo? Does it hurt?]
Meta said and the edge of my lips twitched in annoyance.
Wasn't this system getting more bold with its insults?
'Who's fault do you think that is?' with a small snort, I rubbed my eyes one last time and forced my body to sit up. Right next time me was my bed with the white sheets ruffled from what just happened.
I was sitting up against the floor half naked, and a portion of the sterling sunlight filled my room from a nearby closed window. With a languid glance I swept my gaze through my otherwise empty room.
It was a bit different from my usual one.
-DING!
A high pitched chime resounded in my head, and Meta said systematically like a system prompt.
[You have one new notification.]
She was obviously still mocking me by doing this, but regardless, I still let Meta continued. The next moment, she said something that nearly forced me to choke on my saliva.
[The Academy Evaluation is today. You have less than forty minutes to get ready, and get your white ass moving.]
Then there was a slight vibration from a black bracelet wrapped around my left wrist.
-Vmmm! -Vmmm!
Then I remembered...
[[ Daily reminder. Dear, Junior Cadet, Victor Bright, you have less than forty minutes until the start of the evaluation. Please arrive in time at the requested location to complete the final process of your admission into the prestigious institution.
— The Management.]]
That's right.
I was at the Academy.
.
.
[A/N: Second half of the first Volume begins, starting....now]