5 figures stood before him.
He was on his stomach, crawling desperately towards them.
Why was he crawling? he didn't know. To who? he didn't know.
His lower body refused to obey him, so all he could do was drag himself across the transparent plane.
The figures loomed ahead, silent and unmoving, as if waiting for him.
All he knew was that they would disappear forever if he didn't reach them in time.
His heart pounded with urgency, pushing him to drag his limp body forward, inch by agonizing inch.
Blood began trickling down from both sides of his head.
But he paid no heed.
The entirety of his focus was to reach the figures he saw ahead, the five of which stood faceless and emotionless.
He agonizingly drew closer, the blood hemorrhaging from his head intensified, flowing like a crimson river, staining the pure emptiness beneath him.
Though he felt no pain, he knew his time was slipping away.
When he finally reached arm's length, one of the faceless figures—a womanly form—broke from her stillness.
She knelt, arms outstretched, offering an embrace.
With his left arm propping him up, he raised his right, desperately reaching for the motherly figure before his strength could fail him.
"BOOM!"
A sound erupted violently, reverberating across the entire plane. It came from nowhere and everywhere all at once, shaking the very air with its force.
The faceless figure's head was gone—struck by something unseen.
What had done it? He didn't know, and truthfully, for some reason, he didn't care.
He hadn't even witnessed the act, his mind too clouded to register the source.
But then, In an instant, the faceless woman vanished, dissolving like mist, as if she had never existed at all.
And it came to him.
"NO NO NO NO NO NO NOOOO!!!" he screamed furiously in denial.
But not a whisper escaped his mouth.
His fists slammed against the ground, but the force of the blows dulled as they met the transparent floor.
Absorbed by the emptiness around him. Each strike felt weaker than the last as if the very world resisted his efforts to express his anguish.
Another faceless figure made its way to the man.
As the figure drew closer, it knelt beside him, extending a hand—silent, almost gentle—as if offering to help him up.
An invitation to rise from his broken state.
Stopping his fit, the man, this time, without hesitation, quickly reached at the outstretched hand as if it would disappear any second.
And it did.
"Wshhhh"
A gentle whistle sounded in the air.
The figure fell apart, cut into millions of pieces, fading away before its remains hit the ground.
The delayed emotions struck him like a bolt of thunder, but he didn't react...
He couldn't.
A pair of faceless figures broke from their frozen state, moved towards him, and just like the previous, each outstretched a comforting arm.
He reached for it again.
"POP"
Sharp and sudden, like the burst of an overinflated balloon.
And they vanished without a trace.
Perhaps his mind was beyond repair.
Nothing came out of him.
The raging storm harbored within his mind was unable to find an outlet.
A womanly figure began to advance towards him, the last of the 5.
Standing just out of reach, she stopped... And stared...And yearned.
Peering at the collapsed man.
This time he didn't reach out.
instead, he returned the faceless figure's longing gaze.
For a while, for hours it seemed, the two simply looked at each other.
Tears flowed relentlessly from the prone man.
Once again, he didn't know why, he could not rationalize it. All he could do was feel, unable to think.
The figure knelt and raised her right hand
But wouldn't dare reach out for it, for he knew what would happen.
Her open hand landed gently on the man's head and ruffled his hair.
And he felt it. The warmth, the care, the compassion—that feeling, so unmistakable, yet impossible to name. It wrapped around him like an embrace, soothing the ache in his chest, and quelling the storm within his mind.
His tears intensified.
He looked up at the figure's faceless face.
"Kiana?" He spoke wearily.
"BANG"
The unmistakable sound of gunfire ran out, and the man collapsed instantly.
.
.
.
"AAAAAGH KIANA!!!!"
Exnil screamed as he jolted awake, gasping for breath.
Both his hands were outstretched, futilely grasping for something.
His hands shot to the top of his head, where the faceless figure had caressed.
And he felt the moisture on his cheeks, streaming off his face, hitting his body.
"h-huh...? I'm… crying?" he spoke aloud.
"Master!! Are you okay? what's going on?" Peppy, the AI assistant anxiously asked
'A dream? A dream within a Dream? Did I Die? Kiana???'
His mind, overloaded, was unable to respond to the worried companion.
He looked back through his "Dreams" and tried to find an answer
'No No No... It was too real, It couldn't have been a dream. A Dream within a Dream within a Dream??? Bullshit. I remember everything... I FELT EVERYTHING...it cannot lie to me.'
"..."
"PEPPY! WHAT TIME IS IT" He spoke abruptly with misplaced anger
"m-master, It's 2:27 Am March 14, " Peppy spoke out in an almost whisper, stuttering and whimpering.
Peppy had never had Exnil's anger or any malice at all directed at her. Not once in 500 years. He treated the AI like a sister, a close friend, like family.
A resonating "Ahhhhh." came out of Exnil's mouth. As if he had perceived a divine oracle.
The tears were still trailing from the ducts of his eyes, yet he felt—Perceived much more. As if every suppressed and experienced feeling was assaulting him all at once.
He had found the answer.
With an eerie calmness, he stepped out of his bed and opened and pulled open the nightstand drawer.
It revealed a vast collection of pills, powders, and needles.
Weaving his hand through the drugs as he searched, he found what he was looking for.
"M-master!!???? What are you doing???" Peppy frantically asked as she saw her irrational creator brandish a pistol
"Click."
He unlocked the magazine, inspecting the ammunition with a glance.
"Shhp."
With a smooth motion, he reloaded the magazine, locking it back into place before pulling the slide on the heavy pistol.
"Click."
A sharp metallic "Snap" echoed as he released the slide, the gun now primed.
Placing his finger on the trigger, he raised the gun to the temple of his head.
"MAST—EXNIL NO! STOP STOP STOP." Peppy screamed, hysterically.
"DON'T LEAVE ME PLEASE". The Ai Sobbed
"I'm sorry, Peppy." He said with remorse as he looked at the almost alive digital clock.
"I'll see you again soon" He resigned softly, as though making a promise.
"WAIT! WAIT!! YOU HAV—"
"BANG"
"—ent told me why... why you called sister's name..." She sobbed painfully as she continued.
Before the plead was heard by her master, he'd ended his own life.
Time of Death? — 2:29 Am March 14.