Tou found himself slowly waking up. His cheeks and ears were being tickled by long blades of grass. Above him was a sunless sky, that he stared at. His arms and legs were outstretched.
The first thing he noticed was the prevalent smell of dew. The grass was just slightly wet.
Had it rained?
Tou sat up. Standing before him was Cerat. That grey-haired man, leaning against a very large tree with a thick trunk. It appeared almost endlessly tall.
"Where am I?" Tou asked, very coldly.
"Right now, you're in your head. Jeez, Tou, you must've really messed up for you to end up here. I was watching. In a town like this, are there any medical professionals that will be able to fix something like that up? I don't think you'll ever be able to see again."
Cerat appeared a lot more sensible this time. Instead of nudity, he wore a white shirt with the top buttons left unbuttoned, and black trousers. Of course, he had no shoes. His long hair blew wildly in the wind.
The shorter Tou marched toward Cerat.
"Alright, Cerat. Spit it out. You're behind all this, right? It's you whose been making my life so horrendous! Who else could it be? You suddenly get in here, claiming that I've died, or whatever bullshit you were spewing, then I start getting attacked and a plethora of things start going wrong," Tou got all up in Cerat's face, raising his voice.
"Have you ever even stopped to consider that I just might be telling the truth, Tou?" Cerat calmly answered. He gazed at Tou with an unwavering expression.
"… Why would I consider that? If a crazy man who I've never seen before in my life suddenly tells me that the world is a cube, do you think I will take their word as truth?"
"I guess you have a point…
"Tou, it seems you truly have no intention of understanding who you truly are."
"I know exactly who I am."
"Tou is dead! No longer existing! Me and you, Julian, we are all that remains!"
"Shut up."
"Get it into your head. Goodness, you're so difficult. Your body is tainted, impure, evil. The memories of all your disgusting acts sickens me. I have to differentiate between me and that demon named Tou. Can't you do the same? Is it because you have has body, it's so hard for you to break free? Come on, Julian. We need to find our body. Cure this dragon essence. Why can't you listen?!"
"…
"I don't have time for this. I can't be in here for too long!
"Unless… no, I get it now. It's you keeping me in here, right? You know something!"
"I know nothing," Cerat quickly refuted.
"Yes… yes you do!"
Pillars of dirt erected from the ground, shooting toward Cerat, immobilizing him.
"You're so eager to escape. Do you really care about your friends, 'Tou'? I doubt it. That body of yours cares about nothing."
An apathetic look stained Tou's face. He walked toward Cerat, placing his hand on his forehead.
"I'll get the information out one way or another. And I'll get out of here, whether you like it or not. Then, I'll find that body I'm so attached to, and I'll kill it. Force you to see it. You won't be able to stop me."
The world surrounding him drastically shifted, tremors in the ground could be felt.
. . .
. .
.
Tou laid unconscious in the hospital. His eyes were tightly bandaged with gauze that was often replaced. Three days had passed since he was attacked. There had been several attempts to heal his eyes, with mana, but they seemed to be completely gone.
Their were flowers in a vase on the wooden desk besides Tou's bed. The window was slightly ajar. The curtains danced wildly.
"It's time. To finally rid of the evil that plagues the world."
.
Marcus found himself face to face with Marco, in the middle of a forest. He had received a letter from an anonymous sender, urging him to meet him there. He came there, of course, not without a sword to protect himself. Standing their in front of him was the delinquent and enemy of his good friend, Marco.
"I am just informing you right now, if you make any sudden movements that would indicate you trying to harm me, I will cut you down in seconds," Marcus informed him.
"Relax. I have no such intentions."
Marco sat on a tree stump.
"So what's your purpose of bringing me here?"
"… Have you ever doubted Tou in your life?"
"I trust him."
"Right now, tides are changing. Tou has been hospitalized. As someone who has fought him many times, I didn't think it was possible for him to be put into such a condition. So this has to be some kind of divine intervention."
"…"
"Tou has never been what he seems. On the outside, he's an amazing, charismatic person."
"He's like that on the inside as well!"
"You seriously haven't took the time to consider things? Tou, is he really an orphan? How does he live with no job? Perhaps you've thought about it, maybe on a lazy day where nothing happens, the sky is grey, the winds are calm. But you brushed it off. That's because you trusted him, right? Well, I trusted Tou as well. And Tou killed my father."
"… No he didn't."
"He didn't?"