In a place beyond the reach of anything in existence, a man lay beneath the branches of a crystalline tree. The ground was smooth and black, the same colour as the skies above. A few inches of water covered the ground, reflecting the eternally dark expanse of the void beyond filled with the glittering starlight and glowing clouds of galaxies.
Yet none of those could ever compare to the reflection of the crystalline tree glowing in colours difficult to describe, radiating divinity and tranquility. The man had stared at the tree and at the void beyond it for a very long time. There was peace in simply witnessing the beauty of this isolated space. There was serenity. But all things must eventually come to an end.
The man felt the eternally still waters above the ground ripple. And for the first time in eons, the man stood up.
Before him was a glass door with a glass knob. However, despite its transparency, he could not see anything from the other side. Still the man was attracted to it. The door was both like a magnet pulling him in and a flower whose nectar urged him to taste.
He could not fight against the urge. He did not want to. For some inexplicable reason, he seemed to know that everything he had been missing was waiting just beyond that door. His pounding heart told him so.
He turned around, looking at the majesty of the landscape that he had been a part of just moments ago. He wanted to burn its image into his mind to preserve its grandeur, but he did not. His mind was yet unworthy of sheltering such a divine landscape in its perfection.
He vowed to return here one day. He knew he would return here. The tree calls to him even now, and the stars lighting up the void seemed to be bidding him farewell.
There was a time when he thought this place to be a prison, his own torturous hell. Now, he knew it was his paradise, his personal sanctuary. He belonged here more than any other place in all of existence.
And so, he left through the glass door with the resolve to find his way back here on his own.
He opened his eyes. Bright light assaulted his pupils yet he remained unperturbed. Light from a bulb held no power that could hurt him anymore. He sat up and scanned his surroundings. It was a clean room with white as the primary colour. It was fitting, but in a way, also sickening.
Feeling refreshed, he stood up from the bed and approached the window to his right. It was morning. Sunlight poured down on the garden just outside. Green with patches of red, pink and yellow flowers filled his view.
He sighed in awe at the beauty of the simple garden. It was a simple and far too ordinary sight that he had long since forgotten. He breathed in the air, hoping to feel the purity of nature only to catch a whiff of something unclean.
It was then that he realised he had finally and truly returned. Even the pollution in the air was as bad if not worse than what he could remember. And he remembered very little. For such an inconsequential thing to be among those tiny fragments of memories brought him nothing but exasperation. At that time, the door to the room opened and someone gasped in shock.
"You're awake...? Doctor, he's awake!"
It was a nurse who was just about to check up on him. The moment she opened the door to his room, she was dumbfounded at the sight of him standing by the window so normally that she was unable to react right away. Along with her shout, several footsteps came rushing from outside the room. They all stopped when they saw him. The man then turned around to face them.
"Good morning."
His first words came with a refreshing smile. It instantly dispelled the weird atmosphere that hung over the group who entered his room. Among them was a girl who had lighter brown hair than him.
She was a foot shorter, but her bearing was that of someone with authority. Her teary light blue eyes reminded him of a time long past. The memory was hazy, but he remembered clearly who she was, or at least, who she was supposed to be to him.
"Brother… Do you recognize me?"
"How could I not?"
He spread his arms and the girl rushed into his embrace with a tearful face. It was the first in a very long time that he felt the warmth of another human being. He let his sister cry for a while before separating from her. Then he inspected her appearance more thoroughly before smiling bitterly.
"You've grown a lot, Ceres. It's a truly happy thing.… It's just sad that I was never there to see it happen."
His sister, Ceres, closed her eyes and nodded silently, still trying to calm down. Seeing this childish side of her, he thought that perhaps he would still be able to see her continued growth from now on. Then he turned his attention to the doctor who seemed eager to speak but was holding back. Realising his intention, the doctor came forward.
"Lord Caelum, it's good to see you awake. Before anything else, may I ask how you're feeling right now?"
"I feel just fine, Doctor."
"Are you sure, my lord? Are you not feeling weakness in your muscles? Or perhaps tiredness?"
"No, Doctor. But I need to know..., how long was I gone?"
"You were… unconscious for 3 years. Do you remember what happened?"
"3 years, I see… too short. No, I don't remember much about the past. Just some basic things like my name, my family, and Earth."
Upon hearing his words, Ceres stared at him blankly and seemed ready to cry again. She did not seem to hear his earlier words, but the doctor picked up on it.
He did not understand what Caelum meant by 'too short', but he decided not to dwell on it as it might have been a product of a hazy mind still waking from a long slumber. However, it did not change the grim expression shared by him and the nurses.
Caelum was not surprised that he was in a coma for three years since he had spent an eternity in that place, but their reactions told him that something important had happened during the time that he had lost.
"I understand, my lord. For now, why don't we perform some examinations to see if there are any complications."
"No. Tell me what happened first."
"I apologise, but we don't know if you can handle the shock so soon after waking up."
"Don't worry, Doctor. I won't suddenly keel over and die. Just tell me."
The doctor seemed unsure of what to do and turned to Ceres. She seemed to be of the same opinion as the doctor, but Caelum nodded to tell her that he would be alright. Relenting, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before speaking.
"Dear brother, Mom and Dad died three years ago."
Her voice was shaking and tears traced lines down her cheeks. He had been expecting it from the moment he realised that only his sister was present, but it was still painful.
His emotions were beginning to run wild within him, but a wave of chilling coldness washed over him allowing him to hold them back. Even if it hurt, he had to hear the rest.
"How did it happen?"
"The four of us were heading to a restaurant near your university when people suddenly started screaming and running. Before I knew it, we were already running too. Then monsters appeared and..."
She choked on her words. Tears kept spilling from her eyes. He wanted to comfort her, but nothing he could say would lighten the heart. In the end, he just hugged her again.
"I'm sorry. You don't have to remember it now. I'm sorry."
He tried to calm her down again, but he himself had to detach from his emotions for a moment to prevent himself from falling into despair.
He could barely remember their faces anymore, but he suddenly remembered the chaos from that day. It was a difficult memory to recall, more so because of the pain it brought.
He stopped himself from going too deep. There would be a time for that later.
In the meantime, Caelum proceeded with the examinations. They were not too extensive as he had undergone regular check ups in his time in the hospital. In the end, the doctor could not find any complications or irregularities besides his abnormally good health.
"The cause is, as we suspected, a stigmata. It is rather smaller than the average, yet still contains incredible power."
The doctor explained as he showed Caelum pictures of his back. On his skin was something like a tattoo made from crystals rather than ink. The stigmata itself looked unusual like two pea pods curving upward in symmetry just below his shoulder blades.
The photograph couldn't capture it, but the stigmata also had a mysterious glow that attracted attention. Caelum found their reactions to the stigmata interesting as the doctor expressed curiosity and Ceres grew more worried. Her voice echoed out with a stern authority as she glared at the doctor.
"Doctor, you understand that this information cannot leave this room, don't you? I don't want people suddenly looking for my brother."
"Yes, of course, my lady. But please understand, we can't stop people from gossiping. Once someone finds out that a man woke up from a 3-year coma as healthy as a stallion, before long the entire hospital will find out. And then..."
"I know, but that's out of our hands. Just try to stop any rumours from spreading too quickly."
"What is going on, Ceres? Doctor?"
The two looked at Caelum with unease. Ceres seemed unwilling to tell him, but the doctor decided it would be better for him to know. After clearing his throat, the doctor spoke carefully as though this was an incredibly delicate matter that cannot be rushed.
"I'm sure you know that three years ago was when the World Tree appeared. And with its appearance came monsters. It took a while, but after the initial wave of monsters arrived, humans wielding supernatural abilities and powers appeared and fought against them. They all had stigmata just like you, my lord. People call them the 'Chosen'."
"Brother, those Chosen hold a lot of power in the world right now. But they cannot escape the responsibility that fell on their shoulders. Since they have power, everyone thinks that it's their duty to protect the rest of humanity. The Chosen are sent to the front lines of the war against monsters, most of the time, against their will."
Hearing all this, Caelum could only close his eyes and sigh. These 'stigmata' as they call it were something he had already known about for a long time. After all, he had been together with their source all this time.
They called it the World Tree, but he knew a different name, its true name—the Imaginary Tree. And the dimension where it exists, the space he found himself trapped in for an eternity, was a minor dimensional pocket within a larger plane called the Imaginary Space.
They were not completely wrong when they called those bearing stigmata as 'Chosen'. However, it seems no one has yet to understand the truth behind the existence of these Chosen.
Only he knew.
Only he bore the weight of it all.
"It's alright, Ceres. It doesn't matter if people learn of my stigmata. In the end, my purpose lies beyond the war."
"What do you mean, Brother?"
Caelum just smiled at his sister's confusion. When the time came, regardless of how everyone else would act, he himself would play his role to perfection.
The Imaginary Tree had given him so much, but it also took so much from him. His feelings toward it had not changed. It was both something he felt eternal gratitude for, and something he must conquer in retribution.
And to do that, the war was key. It was a means to an end. Having resolved himself once again, he stood up with a bright smile.
"Now, let's go home."