"So, the portal has opened, I see," Kai muttered, a strange smile playing on his lips.
Kai was amused by the dark, void sky. His eyes were glowing, full of desire. But there was someone between him and the dark sky's view—Aaryan.
On the vast, void-like dark sky, Aaryan was standing motionless, looking at his hands raised in the air, trying to catch the sun devoured by the dark sky.
Just like Aaryan was between Kai and the void sky, the sky was between Aaryan and the sun.
The air around Aaryan was very chill, very cold, yet it felt quite warm.
"It's very cold, right?" Aaryan muttered to himself. His eyes were as dark as the sun-devouring sky, devoid of everything except only the reflection of his own hand.
On the shattered district of Rajya, the one on the ground was admiring the sky and despising the being between him and his vision of the sky. At the top, the one despised was cold without the sun's warmth and was despising the sky which devoured it.
On the other side of Rajya, beneath the ground at the lab, the air was thick with tension. Many of the faces were tense and in disbelief.
"What is Aaryan doing right now?!" Aureya shouted, slamming her hands on the table. Her eyes were burning, and her body trembling.
"What does that gesture of his mean? Why is he doing it in front of the unknown portal?" she muttered in a low voice. Countless questions like these arose in her mind uncontrollably.
"Quickly analyze the portal thoroughly!" Aureya ordered, trying to replicate her cold elegance.
"Yes, ma'am!" the robot replied and quickly started the work.
In the corner of the room, Michael was leaning against the wall, silently looking at the big screen before him displaying the dark unknown portal.
"Why? Why did this happen?" Michael thought. He opened his mouth as if to scream at the large screen but chose to remain silent, biting his lips.
Suddenly, Michael started walking, his steps heavy, carrying a silent burden only he could bear. The look on his face was unreadable, complex.
He walked toward the center where Aureya and the others were.
Nobody paid attention to his unusual expression, everyone lost in their own problems. Except Krul, who noticed this sudden change in Michael's mood and directly asked him.
"Hey!" she shouted, gathering his attention toward herself. "What are you making that face for?"
"Nothing," Michael answered, back to his former attitude. "Just felt sleepy."
Seeing the sudden shift, Krul suspected something but decided to play along. "Oh! Is that so? I thought you were going to the district where Aaryan is, to fix the portal," she said. Her face held a smile, but her eyes didn't—and it was deliberate.
Thud!
Michael fell to the ground, on his knees.
"What happened?" Krul asked, panic in her voice.
"Ha ha!"
Michael began to laugh.
"Why are you laughing?" Krul asked, clueless.
"It's because of the thing you said," Michael replied, clenching his stomach, barely containing his laughter.
"Because of what I said? What do you mean?" she asked.
"What I mean is, did you really think I would take the risk of ending my life by going into that district?" he answered, wiping a tear from his eyes.
Krul didn't ask any further. In her eyes, Michael's laugh was the most forced, superficial, and fake she had ever seen.
"'Hiding things behind a smile'—the oldest trick in the book," she muttered, barely audible.
After that, she walked away, and Michael stood up, walking toward Aureya at the center.
"What's going on? What's with this enormous portal?" Michael shouted from afar at Aureya.
Aureya remained nonchalant, not answering his question.
"I am leaving the lab and going to my place for safety," Michael informed Aureya.
Aureya still didn't answer and just gave a slight approving nod.
After that, Michael left.
"I somehow feel like something bad is going to happen," Krul thought.
As soon as the elevator reached the ground floor, the doors opened—but no one was inside it.
Michael was not on the elevator.
Michael was somewhere far, not where the others were, but where he himself was. "I will do what I can," he muttered, grinding his teeth.
On the other side, at the rumbled district, Aaryan was looking at his hands in the air. Suddenly, he put them down and closed his eyes.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, but no one was there to answer. "I asked you a question, right?"
"Yes, you did."
Indeed, someone was there to answer.
"It does not suit you…" Aaryan turned backward and opened his eyes. "Am I right, Kai?"