I am floating in a dark space… I can't see or feel anything. A dense darkness surrounds me. I've been floating beneath this dark space for what might be a long time. I feel nothing, my muscles don't move. As if I no longer had my senses.
I don't know how much time passes, but it feels like an eternity. This is taking my sanity, and helplessness completely takes over me.
The emptiness within me causes anxiety, and fear takes hold of me. My hands tremble and my feet grow cold with sweat. Frequently my heart suffers from invisible stabs.
The lack of something steadily grows inside me… As if something is missing. My head hurts. Loss and frustration corrode me for no reason.
I feel like some important piece of me was forcibly torn away.
I don't know who I am… Or what I am.
What mattered is gone.
The conclusion I reached is that time may not exist here. Hours, days, weeks, or years? How much time has passed then?
An anomaly suddenly appears, breaking the icy void, throwing my loneliness away.
A blinding white light shone over me and over the white silhouette of a woman. She floated slowly, approaching.
The entirely white female being slowly moved her hand, and the dark void disappeared, filling the environment with the same white light around us.
Her silhouette did not disappear. As if she had no body or physical appearance, she looks like a mannequin.
A seductive, eloquent voice, a female voice with a mature tone.
— WELL, WELL. YOU COULDN'T SURVIVE THE PREVIOUS CHALLENGE AND NOW YOU'RE IN A DEPLORABLE STATE. LUCKILY, OF COURSE—YOUR LUCK—YOU HAVE ME, DEAR.
The angelic voice appeared before me with a charming smile on her slender, seductive lips. And even as a silhouette, her feminine features are very apparent, with a slim waist and a body structure like a guitar.
— W-who are you? Did you come to get me out of here? — I asked.
Questions numb my thoughts. I felt a surge in my emotions.
The female being kept floating through the melancholic, rainy white space, staring at me for a while. The white silhouette perhaps to censor her appearance.
When she fully approached me, she embraced me. I could feel her warm and soft body.
Her white silhouette shines intensely.
Everything I had to ask her vanished with a snap of fingers.
— YOU WERE UNLUCKY. YOUR STATE IS TRULY PITIFUL, YOU DON'T EVEN RECOGNIZE ME ANYMORE, HUH!
She declared fervently, letting her disappointment and anger show through crossed arms and turning her face aside to pout, making her displeasure very clear.
— DEAR, IF YOU DON'T REMEMBER ANYTHING, THEN I WON'T TELL YOU ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT YOU SHOULD DO. WELL, I WISH YOU THE BEST OF LUCK, YOU'LL NEED IT IN THE NEW WORLD YOU ARE ABOUT TO BE BORN INTO — her tone indifferent, clearly with every word that left her mouth. — I'LL BE WAITING FOR YOU TO RETURN; AND WHEN YOU DO, I HOPE YOU REMEMBER EVERYTHING AND COME FIND ME TO FULFILL YOUR PART OF THE DEAL.
Her voice subtly emphasized her discontent with my current state in her tone and faint facial expressions.
'New world?'
'Be born?'
'Deal?'
I didn't understand anything she told me. When my consciousness returned from its unexpected pause, the answers also returned.
— YOUR MEMORIES HAVE BEEN AFFECTED, AND WILL CONTINUE TO BE AFFECTED. HOWEVER, IF YOU RECOVER YOUR POWERS, YOU WILL RECOVER EVERYTHING BACK. BUT, IN YOUR CURRENT STATE, ONLY YOU CAN HELP YOURSELF.
In quick words, she ended the conversation.
Then she held my cheeks with her hands and brought her lips to meet mine.
— RIGHT. AMID YOUR DOUBTS I'LL GIVE YOU TWO HINTS THAT WILL FILL YOU WITH MOTIVATION.
I looked at her in disbelief at her actions so far. She raised her index finger.
— FIRST HINT: TO SURVIVE IN YOUR NEW WORLD, YOU MUST BECOME AS STRONG AS ANYONE ELSE.
Be strong? Is this some kind of joke? How ridiculous! It feels like I'm being forced into these situations. I'm extremely furious.
She raised her middle finger along with the index, making a V and a 2 with her fingers.
— SECOND HINT: IT'S BETTER TO BE CAREFUL AND HURRY TO GET STRONGER; FOR YOU, IT'S A RACE AGAINST TIME — she closed her hand. — AS FOR ME, I'LL GET WHAT I WANT ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.
She smiled at me threateningly.
'Those aren't hints. They're warnings!'
She placed her palm on her lips and blew me a kiss. She said goodbye and slowly began to disappear.
— …SEE YOU LATER, DEAR.
She said, now disappearing completely, leaving me once again in the empty darkness.
* * *
Recently something began to change. A familial love, and a warm touch started to warm and illuminate me. I thought maybe I was finally going insane.
A comfortable warmth began to fill my emptiness.
I could feel the things that troubled me going away. Actually, what was troubling me anyway?
Something shone into my weak eyes, blinding me for a short time, and it wasn't the previous white light.
I felt myself slowly being pulled toward this hazy light.
The closer I got, the anticipation made my heart race for what lies beyond the blinding light. Maybe I'm getting closer to something or that thing is coming toward me.
Maybe that being was right, and I should take her seriously. I can't take risks. However, I don't know what awaits me in the future.
The darkness was a merciless executioner.
Even if she knows something about me, I won't let that be a disadvantage.
I felt my consciousness fading.
Suddenly the light disappears.
My vision was replaced by blurred images of people and things. Strange and loud noises fill my eardrums.
I feel wet.
— It's a boy, Mrs. Zy. — a heavy and apathetic voice spoke slowly. — And he looks very healthy. For cruel times like nowadays, this is a generous act of God.
The blur in my vision began to slowly adjust, giving me an increasingly clear and vivid view of things.
I could observe everything more clearly. The intense brightness makes me blink repeatedly until I can keep my eyes open without problems.
Even at my birth, my thoughts about my moment in the beyond still torment me…
And…
What moment…?
Did I interact with someone?
What… happened?
An elderly woman, dressed in a long white robe, is the first person I see.
The first thing I see with my eyes is an elderly lady. Her robe is white, and a somewhat reddish apron is what draws my attention the most.
Her face is full of marks of age, and her long ears stand out, along with her dark brown eyes.
Her yawn shows her physical exhaustion.
'Who is this old woman!?'
I opened my mouth in a failed attempt to speak. A crying wail came out instead.
— He's quite lively, huh. — the old woman spoke again. — Mrs. Zyu, would you like to hold him?
'Hold me? Who? Why?'
— Y-yes, please. — the old woman walked a few steps across the creaking wooden floor. And a new face appears in my limited peripheral vision. — His name will be Ryoumi. Ryoumi Zyu.
I am in her arms. She pokes my face with her index finger.
— Hello, mommy's little son. — she whispered with a calm and loving smile. As if I were special to her. Well, maybe I am.
— Mrs. Neses, could you call my husband for me, please?
The old Neses remained silent, nodding. After a few more steps, she reached a wooden door and turned the handle, opening it.
A tall man accompanied by a short boy came through the door. They walked at different paces due to the difference in their sizes.
By the way, I am in the arms of a woman with black eyes and hair. She doesn't seem very old. And she is my mother. So those are my father and brother?
Old Neses extended her hand.
— Excuse me, but could you hand him to me again for a moment? — the old woman said as she approached. — I'll clean him and check his health before more interaction. Just to see if he has any kind of disease or defect in his body that could make his life difficult.
'Is she going to give me a bath?' I thought.
— Curatio.
She said calmly. Then she touched a wooden wand, which had just mysteriously appeared in her hand, to me.
— Verificationis!
My family looks at me in pure ecstasy. As if they were watching a beautiful spectacle.
A green light shines intensely and comes out of the wand.
'What is—'
From the wand, the light goes to my belly, then spreads through my body, which glows a light green. Passing through every cell of my body. I could feel a slight itch in my belly at the end.
She places her finger on her chin and looks at me.
— After the verification, he seems completely healthy to me. Nothing abnormal.
— That's good. That's great to hear.
Said my mother.
The old woman snorted and raised her wand again, pointing it at me.
— Clean! — she shouted. My family's eyes shone again with the anticipation of the glow. — Now he's all clean.
She brought me back into my mother's comforting arms.
— Your son is lovely, Mrs. Zyu. Take very good care of him, as you have taken care of Damian. — old Neses waved at my brother.
My father approaches and warmly embraces my mother, and with a joyful smile he takes me carefully into his arms. Then he began to cry, snot running from his sniffling nose. He kissed her on the forehead and then their lips met.
He crouches to show me to my brother. He is a boy with black hair like my mother, his eyes have a brown tone that doesn't seem to come from either our mother or father.
But nothing takes away the feeling of that light within me. What I felt was strong and intense, it captivated me. I want to discover what it is, and how to do it on my own. As soon as I have the chance.
Old Neses walked toward the door, grabbed the handle, and turned it. She pulled the door and opened it. The door creaked loudly, the hinges rusted and the wood ready to be replaced.
— Wait, Mrs. Neses. Stay here. There's a snowstorm outside. — said my father, trying to persuade her to stay.
— There's no need to worry about me. I can leave without any problems. After all, I wasn't a high-level mage for nothing, right?
Old Neses put on new clothes, a cloak. She changed in the blink of an eye. Perhaps using her magic to clean and change her clothes.
The cloak swayed as she turned. At that moment, thunder struck the sky. My father had failed to persuade her.
The old woman passed through the bedroom door and likely headed for the exit, leaving. My brother went to accompany her to the door, and then to bed, following my father's orders.
My mother and father turned their attention to me.
— He's a very cute and adorable baby, isn't he? I mean, look at him, with those cheeks that make you want to squeeze and stretch them.
Sweet, loving, gentle, and pleasant—that's my mother.
Despite the clear signs of fatigue from childbirth, her stunning beauty still shines.
My mother kisses my forehead.
My vision begins to blur. And I start to yawn.
My vision darkens and I fall asleep comfortably in my mother's arms. And then I drift into sleep in the darkness that reaches me once again.
Nightmares torment me in my sleep, but I never remember them.