Darkness.
No ground. No sky.
No sense of direction.
Shiro floated.
Or maybe… he was falling.
He couldn't tell.
His body felt distant. Heavy.
Unreal.
Then a voice.
"Shiro…"
It echoed.
Not through the air but through him.
His eyes opened.
Or at least… it felt like they did.
There was no world.
Only a vast, endless void.
And within it something moved.
A shape.
Massive.
Indistinct.
It wasn't fully there.
Its form shifted constantly light bending around it, space distorting with its presence.
A dragon.
No something beyond that.
Shiro stared.
Not with fear.
But with recognition.
"…What are you?"
The presence responded.
Calm.
Ancient.
Unreachable.
"A fragment… of what you once understood."
A pause.
"I am the Astral Dragon."
The space trembled.
"Nexus."
The name itself felt heavy.
Like it carried weight beyond sound.
Shiro's gaze sharpened.
"Why… am I here?"
Silence.
Then light.
A single point formed in the void.
Small.
Brilliant.
"Because you forgot."
The light expanded.
Slowly.
"And because you must remember."
It moved toward him.
Shiro didn't step back.
Didn't resist.
The moment it touched him Everything broke.
Light exploded through his mind.
Fragments.
Sky.
Wings.
Endless flight.
Energy
flowing through him.
Controlled.
Understood.
A tree.
Massive.
Ancient.
Its roots spreading through reality itself.
Voices.
Countless.
Fading.
Calling.
A title.
Not spoken but known.
Protector.
Pain followed.
Not physical.
Something deeper.
His identity tearing open.
Reforming.
He saw himself.
Not human.
Never human.
A dragon.
Something more.
The fragments clashed.
Merged.
Collapsed into one.
Then silence.
Shiro dropped to his knees.
Or at least it felt like he did.
His breathing was unstable.
"I… remember…"
The presence of Nexus remained.
Watching.
"Not everything," Nexus said.
"But enough."
Shiro looked up.
"Why me?"
The void shifted.
"Because it is your duty."
A pause.
"The balance is breaking."
Images flickered again faster now.
More chaotic.
Distorted space.
Cracks in reality.
Something… watching.
Something waiting.
Shiro's eyes narrowed.
"The world…"
"Must be protected."
Nexus did not confirm.
Did not deny.
"Your role… has not changed."
The light around it began to fade.
"Only your understanding."
Shiro clenched his hand.
"Then I will become stronger."
A brief silence.
Then
for the first time Nexus responded differently.
"You must."
Its form began to disappear.
Breaking apart into fragments of light.
"My role here is fulfilled."
The void started collapsing.
"We will meet again, Shiro."
The last thing that remained was its voice.
"When you are ready."
Darkness consumed everything.
Shiro's eyes opened.
The real world returned violently.
Cold ground beneath him.
Air filling his lungs.
His body felt… different.
Not stronger.
Not weaker.
Clearer.
He sat up slowly.
"I understand…"
His gaze sharpened.
A seriousness unlike before settled within him.
Time had passed.
One year since he left Layla.
Everything had changed.
But now
he had direction.
"I need to train."
His hand clenched slightly.
"Everything."
A pause.
Then quietly
"I have a duty."
The wind moved around him.
Shiro stood up.
His path was no longer uncertain.
"To protect this world."
Far away unseen
something stirred.