A faint golden glow shimmered in the air before Sol—wounded, covered in his own blood. The light moved strangely, like it was forming something. And indeed, it did. Fragments appeared, like shards of broken glass. Though the light shaped the edges of these shards, their insides were pitch black.
Many shards materialized and came together, forming a vertical rectangle—black with golden edges. Then strange shapes and ripples of faint color appeared within the black. It was like a window looking out into space, into celestial bodies.
Weird symbols emerged on this black window, clustering together as if forming words and sentences in some forgotten, alien language—dark gold in color. The symbols moved within that black space, arranging themselves, as if writing words for Sol to read. Unfortunately, he couldn't understand them. His full attention was fixed on that black cosmic window.
Then suddenly, the symbols stopped. Below them, an empty line.
"That's it?.. Was it all just for thi.."
He didn't even finish the sentence before a terrible feeling hit him—something he'd never felt before. A violent scream tore from Sol. He pressed his hands to the sides of his head and collapsed to the ground, thrashing wildly, gritting his teeth in a desperate attempt to ease the pain.
His skull felt like it weighed tons—forcing him down—before unbearable pain crept in treacherously, spreading through his entire head. It was like his brain was being crushed with immense force. Then came the drilling—thousands of worms tunneling through his mind without stopping, through every part of his brain.
While Sol thrashed and writhed in agony on the ground, something was happening inside that black window with golden edges. The empty line was slowly filling.
Sol rubbed his head violently against the damp, dark, slightly cold soil—then against the lifeless corpse nearby. The intensity didn't lessen. His head started bleeding heavily, nonstop. That was strange. The wounds didn't close. The tissue didn't regenerate. It was as if he'd lost his regeneration. Lost his immortality.
Sol didn't know this. He was too busy suffering, thrashing, trembling like a worm under the scorching summer sun. His mind was completely scrambled. But as the line on the black window progressed, Sol heard familiar voices—unclear, though—along with flashes of his memories.
The line passed the halfway point, filling slowly, while Sol—drenched in sweat and saliva, covered in damp dark soil—thrashed on the ground in pain.
Near the writhing Sol, the bushes and thickets rustled loudly—though not louder than his screams. From between them emerged the blue-skinned girl, still clutching her arm, still covered in her blue blood, her clothes dirty and torn.
Her face showed intense worry. She walked with heavy steps toward Sol, curled up on himself on the ground, and fell beside him. She cried out to him. Even knowing he wouldn't understand, she kept doing it.
After a few minutes of moaning, thrashing, and suffering, the loading line reached its end. All the strange symbols and the golden loading line disappeared, leaving the cosmic window containing only celestial bodies.
Sol rose to his knees, bewildered. The pain had stopped. No—it was gone, like it had never existed. His wounds had healed. Even the girl beside him was shocked, completely forgetting her own injury.
[Essence absorbed]
"Hah!.."
Just as confusion and wonder peaked, a soft voice spoke in his ear. Soft, yes—but cold and dry, without any emotion.
Then golden words appeared on the black screen that had once contained symbols he could now understand.
[Are you ready?]
[Yes / --]
The golden words simply shimmered in the middle of the black screen with golden edges... Sol studied them carefully.
"Ready... for what? And why is there no 'no' option? Only 'yes'?.."
The moment Sol thought the word "yes," it was selected on the black window before him. Different words appeared:
[Initializing...]
"So it's just a rhetorical question?" Sol sighed and added, "If you're going to choose for me, then why are you asking me in the first place?"
[Commencing]
Then—suddenly—
A massive surge of electricity tore through his body.
His entire frame convulsed. His pupils dilated to their limits. Then all sound vanished. Everything around Sol stopped—even the blue girl. It was as if time itself had frozen.
Sol looked around calmly, without any reaction. Not surprised or amazed that everything around him had frozen except him. Even the blue girl was frozen in place.
He looked around in wonder. He started feeling something pulling him forcefully—then he was actually pulled, flying through the air, piercing the planet's atmosphere at increasing speed. Away from the planet. Away from the solar system.
The space around him transformed into a long tunnel of strange lights and colors that radiated suspicion: purple, crimson, azure, emerald, and other colors mixing to create new ones.
Though Sol was in space, his screaming was audible.
His speed increased more and more, until a burning golden aura surrounded him, emanating from him like a spaceship's ignition. From sheer velocity, the colors and lights around him nearly merged with his body. Then suddenly—all those colors exploded outward from his body, and he stopped instantly before a massive dark spiral shape, like a small galaxy.
He froze before its center for seconds, before the center ignited with mixed colors that spread throughout all its parts. It was as if this dark spiral form had awakened from deep slumber—just for Sol.
The light at the center intensified, then the center of that spiral form—like solid stone—expanded to swallow Sol inside.
Sol entered another tunnel. But this time it was dark, colorless. Only light at the end. That golden aura spread around him again—but now there was also a pitch-black aura around him, harmonizing with the gold.
Sol was screaming as he approached the tunnel's end at tremendous speed—piercing through the bright light violently, continuing at breakneck speed through a strange space. Distorted space. Colors that induced disgust. One glance made Sol severely nauseous.
His speed increased more and more, until the golden and black auras blazed bright—tearing the space before him, creating a path containing only two colors: gold and black. A gloomy path. He continued through to another space. Then a space like shattered mirrors. Even more distorted than the previous one—but not disgusting. His speed slowed slightly, letting him glimpse something that amazed him even more.
There were other copies of him floating around, going in different directions. They made the same movements—all looking around. It was like a vast world of Sol-clones.
"What the hell?.."
Before he could finish, his speed increased again—and the copies too. He shot forward with power and speed, but glimpsed a girl as well—not enough to see clearly. He just pierced through this distorted mirror-wall, causing massive chaos that expelled him from this strange mirror-world.
He tried to turn back, searching for that girl-copy—and saw many figures. Thousands, maybe. Different in shape and color, but similar in being like Huge, ugly, distorted glass forms, filled with chaotic colors.
As Sol's speed increased, he didn't enter another space tunnel—but intense colors appeared around him again. Something was different this time. Those colored lights seemed alive, trying to devour him forcefully—but they collided with the golden and black auras and bounced away. Sol entered through another rift.
His speed slowed again as he entered this space—stranger and more distorted than the last.
There were strange shapes and forms in many mixed colors, constantly moving, endlessly changing shape. Some were liquid-like, drops swirling around him. Others solid, grinding against each other, creating fragments and dust. Others gaseous, moving everywhere like cosmic rivers. Bright light shone from above like an eye watching everything.
Suddenly, a massive purple form appeared—its shape unstable—approaching Sol slowly. Its color darkened, and a huge abyss opened in that massive body before Sol, who was like a tiny ant compared to it.
Sol stared with wide eyes, trying to understand what this thing about to devour him was. But the golden aura blazed and moved toward the massive purple—followed by the black aura—striking it. The purple exploded violently, its color scattering everywhere in space. Sol closed his eyes.
He opened them slowly to find himself in a quiet place, slightly cold. Around him, beautiful celestial bodies—different colors, different shapes. But before him stood those two enormous spherical forms. One gold. One black. They had a heavy, majestic presence.
The quiet didn't last. Auras emerged from those spheres. A pitch-black aura emanated from the golden sphere, while a pure gold aura emanated from the dark one. They flowed like waterfalls—one of light, one of darkness—forming two massive entities, each the size of towering mountains.
Sol stared at these two strange beings, astonished—and a little terrified. Actually, a lot terrified.
Then he heard a loud noise. A terrifying noise that made his skin crawl. Although he did not understand that language, it affected him; a deep feeling of terror crept into him with every word— indeed every letter— that pierced him with indescribable pain.
The female voice whispered again in his ear
[The entity Apheth speaks]
Then the black screen with gold edges appeared in front of him.
[Translated]
[It is another imitation]