That same night, Darian had another weird dream. He woke up inside that white room, under his feet, there was some ice, but he couldn't walk outside of this space. He could only remain there. It felt as if, after the creation of this small spot, Darian couldn't float around anymore.
"And here I am again…" Darian glanced around, searching for something, but there wasn't anything; everything around him was empty.
"The last time I was here… it was when Snowy made his two tails appear in the same spot where he fused with me…" Darian tried to touch the ice under his feet; he felt that it was actually cold.
It was like the ice created a sort of path to follow, but Darian was scared to take a step forward. He had already tried, and the moment he positioned his feet outside the platform, there was nothing, just the empty void of this room.
"I remember that I had a dream about this room, too." Darian recalled the first time he dreamed about this, in that dream, the white room became black. It was like it was being destroyed, but now nothing was changing. Some minutes had already passed, but it was still the same.
"Maybe I should just try to wait…" Darian sat down on the ice and waited for so long. It felt as if multiple hours had already passed, but nothing was changing; everything was still the same as the moment he entered.
Darian almost fell asleep during this time. In fact, at the moment he was about to completely close his eyes, and his body would have fallen off the platform, he heard a voice: "You should not fall asleep like this." Darian recognized that voice, he immediately opened his eyes and turned around.
Snowy was there, floating in the void. "Snowy… where am I? What is this?" Darian got back on his two feet and looked directly at Snowy, both scared and confused.
"This is your mind."
"My mind?" Darian glanced around, trying to find an explanation, but it didn't make any sense. "Like… I thought that my mind was different, you know? Not just an empty white void…"
"I know… in fact, your mind is different from the others." After hearing these words, Darian immediately gasped, scared.
"Different? What does it mean, Snowy?" Darian tried to touch the creature with his hand, but the moment his hand closed, it passed right through the creature's body.
"Can't you see? Before, it was empty the first time you got here, it was all white. And now, look below you." Darian glanced down and saw the ice under him. He realized that it wasn't there before, but what did it mean?
"I remember one of the first times I got here… it was a dream, and this whole void was being destroyed… What does it mean, Snowy? What is happening to my mind?" Darian asked, confused, almost shouting.
"It doesn't matter what is happening… remember what I told you? You and I have a mission to complete… answer me this: are you willing to do everything it takes to finish our missions?" Darian looked confusedly at Snowy.
"What do you mean, our missions? Isn't it the same?"
"Just answer… are you ready to do everything?" Snowy walked closer toward Darian. The moment he entered the same spot where Darian was standing, it felt like his body had started to change.
"Yes… as long as this mission will make me discover the truth of what happened to the Earth, I'm going to do everything." With that, Snowy's head touched Darian's head. Now, it was different from the time Darian had tried to touch Snowy.
Now the fox had a real physical body. Suddenly, everything around Darian was slowly turning into ash, it felt like everything around him wasn't real anymore.
"Snowy?" Darian looked confusedly at his arm, which was slowly disappearing like the rest of his body.
"Don't worry, you're waking up now." Snowy, with his usual expression, slowly moved his body away and started to float off.
"What? Tell me more, Snowy… I need to know more!!" Darian launched himself toward Snowy. It didn't matter that there wasn't anything under his feet; he tried to grab the fox's body, but his hand passed through him again, and he fell into the void.
"AHHHH!!" Darian shouted. The moment he opened his eyes again, he found himself lying on the ground. Liro, next to him, watched him with confused eyes.
Darian didn't say a word and watched his hands. "It's real…" Liro looked at him, even more confused.
"I was trying to sleep and I heard you shouting… is everything alright?" In the same room, there was Vane, too, the moment he heard Liro and Darian speaking, he woke up, too.
"What is it… is it already morning?" said Vane, rubbing his eyes. Around them, there were multiple other people sleeping, but none of them had woken up yet.
"Can we go for a walk?" Darian asked his two friends. With that, they came out of the building and started to walk around the ruins of Yalemba. Before going out of the building, Darian saw Snowy's body on the ground, scared of what he had been told, he decided to leave him there.
"By the way… for how long was I asleep?" asked Darian as the group came out of the building. This night was full of beautiful stars in the sky, the night before, they could not be seen because of the clouds created by Archilochus, but now the sky was clear.
"It has been exactly one day… and during this time…" Liro and Vane started to explain to Darian exactly what had happened while he was asleep: Garoo's death, the arrival of Kael and the Shakurn, and the fact that soon all the people would go directly toward Therya.
"Woah… and when are we going to walk toward Therya?"
"We decided that tomorrow morning, once everyone is awake, we will go. Now that you've awakened, it's even better… at least we won't need to carry you around," said Vane playfully. Darian made a sort of sad smile.
"Darian, did something happen that made you ask to go out for a walk?" asked Liro, noticing the weird smile on Darian's face.
"I don't know where to start… I feel like something big happened." Darian kicked a small rock while looking up at the sky.
"Why? Did you have a nightmare?" asked Liro. Everyone kept walking around, the city was empty, as all the people were currently sleeping. They knew that tomorrow they would need to travel for many days, and most of them weren't used to walking this much. It would take many days.
Darian looked at Liro. "Yeah… I don't think it could ever be defined as a nightmare, to be honest."
"Explain better, Darian, we can try to help you." Vane positioned his arm around Darian's shoulder while they were walking.
"I'm trying to figure out a way to explain it… Snowy appeared in my dream and he talked to me." With that, both Vane and Liro gasped in surprise.
"Snowy? So he can actually speak?" Liro, surprised, couldn't believe his ears. Darian sat down on a rock before explaining the whole dream.
"You see… I found myself in this weird-looking white room, and Snowy was there…" With that, Darian began to tell Liro and Vane about the weird dream.
"And in the end, he asked me if I was really ready to do everything it takes to complete our mission…"
"Is he referring to winning against the Krukins?" asked Liro, confused.
"When I returned to Earth, I wanted to discover the truth about what really happened… maybe he might be referring to that," pointed out Darian.
"But I think that defeating the Krukins is one of the goals… don't you think?" asked Vane.
"Yeah… but it feels like he was talking about two different goals… remember when I told you that he said 'You and I'? I don't know why… but because of this… I feel like he might have something else in mind."
"It's impossible, Darian… c'mon, you've seen him. What goal do you think he might actually have?"
"Exactly… maybe you're just overthinking this, Darian. I think he wants to help you and that you have the same goal," said Liro.
"Probably… but still." With that, Darian got up from the rock. It was already late at night, and although none of them could tell when the sun would rise again, he shook his head right before he was about to speak.
"It's thanks to him that I'm still here, I can't push him away now…" With that, both Liro and Vane got up, too.
"Guys, thank you so much for listening to me… it has been really helpful," said Darian, smiling warmly. Both Liro and Vane positioned a hand on Darian's shoulder.
"Don't worry, Darian, we're here to help you whenever you need it," said Liro, while Vane yawned a bit. "Exactly… but next time, don't do it in the middle of the night," joked Vane. Both Liro and Darian laughed softly at the sight of Vane barely able to keep his eyes open.
Vane, extremely tired, walked faster, he wanted to lie on the ground and immediately fall asleep. A few hours ago, he was sleeping very uncomfortably there, but now he wanted to sleep there, no matter what.
"Darian, by the way…" Liro stopped for a moment. Darian did the same, while Vane didn't notice and immediately walked toward the building.
"Yes, Liro?"
"You said that it was the first time entering that white room, right?" asked Liro. Darian looked down.
'I couldn't tell them… I need to keep some things to myself, at least…' he thought as his eyes met Liro's gaze again.
"Exactly, Liro, but why?" asked Darian. He was sure to cut off any reference to the fact that he had already entered this white room.
Liro didn't answer and walked toward the front. "Don't worry, it's nothing," he said. With that, the group entered the building again. Vane had returned to his spot and already drifted to sleep without any problem.
Darian lay next to Snowy, who was still unconscious. "I swear I will find out what you really want, Snowy… and I'll help you, just like you're doing for me," whispered Darian as he slowly patted the creature next to him. With that, he fell asleep, his hand still petting him.
The following day, around 8 a.m., everyone was already awake. All the people had gathered their things and were ready to leave Yalemba.
Some people were crying, thinking they had to leave their city, while others were happy that they were able to see something new.
"Ohh, Darian!! You're finally awake!" Lily ran toward Darian, followed by Naluri.
"Yeah, I woke up yesterday night, Lily," said Darian with Snowy curled up on his shoulder. "He hasn't woken up yet?" asked Lily, worried.
"He usually needs more time to recover than me… I hope it won't take long," said Darian, looking at the small creature on his shoulder.
Tauren arrived next to them. "Hey, Lady Naluri, Kael needs your help, not everyone is listening to him…" said Tauren. Naluri nodded her head and reached Kael together with him. At the front of the line were Kael, Tauren, Enea, and now Naluri, too, while behind everyone were Darian, Liro, Vane, and Lily.
"They asked us to remain behind and help the people who need it," said Lily, breathing heavily and sounding a bit annoyed.
Darian grabbed his backpack, ready to travel. "It won't be a problem, right, everyone?" asked Darian to those next to him. Vane was ready, while Liro and Lily, the weakest physically, looked a bit worried, but still agreed.
With that, Naluri started to lead the way. Everyone followed her, and all the people left Yalemba. "Since the travel will last a long time, Darian…" said Lily, walking closer to him with a smirk on her face.
Darian looked at her, both scared and confused. "How about you tell us how you used to spend your days while you were away on Earth?" Hearing that, Liro immediately walked closer.
"Yeah, now that I think about it, you never really told us how you lived there or how you reacted to the news that you would be leaving Earth for this long."
"Oh, right… well, we're going to have a long journey ahead… so let me tell you the story of how I traveled to XERBAB-7 and how I reacted to that…"