Alex trudged beside Arte across the cold dunes, kicking up gray sand with every heavy step. His legs throbbed from the earlier fight. His throat felt like dried leather. The night sky above them was a dull, suffocating gray—less of a sky and more of a giant lid sealing the world shut.
For a long time, neither of them spoke.
Only the crunch of sand under their feet broke the silence.
Finally, Alex exhaled loudly and decided someone had to say something before he went insane.
"So… your master," he said, brushing a handful of sand off his shirt for the tenth time. "What's she like?"
Arte didn't look at him. He just walked forward, tail flicking once—slow, deliberate, annoyingly elegant.
"A watcher," Arte said. "A collector of the unseen. A traveler between doors. A hand that guides, a voice that never speaks plainly."
Alex stopped walking.
He stared at the cat.
"…What the hell is that even supposed to mean?"
Arte blinked once. Calm. Blank. Completely unbothered.
"It means what it means."
Alex threw his hands up. "No, it doesn't! That is literally the opposite of meaning something!"
Arte continued walking. "It is perfectly clear."
"To who?!" Alex demanded, stumbling after him. "The poet who wrote it?!"
Arte's tail flicked again—a tiny, smug signal.
"Perhaps."
"That's not an answer!" Alex snapped. "I'm asking what your master is, not getting a riddle from some old poetry book!"
Arte yawned, completely unbothered. "Answers come when the questioner is ready."
Alex nearly pulled his hair out. "You speak like a broken fortune cookie."
Arte smirked — an actual smirk — which made Alex even more irritated.
"Fine," Alex grumbled. "Then explain this. Why can a cat like you… talk?"
Arte's whiskers twitched, amused.
"Simple," he said. "I am not originally a cat."
Alex blinked.
"…Excuse me?"
Arte kept walking, tail swaying behind him.
"You heard me."
Alex jogged ahead to block the path. "Hold on, hold on—if you're not a cat, then what are you?"
Arte paused.
A long moment passed.
Then he stepped around Alex without answering.
"Hey!" Alex yelled. "Don't just walk away—what are you?! A demon? A shapeshifter? Some kind of spirit—?"
Arte didn't look back. "Keep walking, Alex. We're almost there."
Alex sighed loudly and followed, muttering curses under his breath.
They crested a dune, and the landscape changed.
Before them stretched a massive structure—
what used to be a stadium.
Its circular walls were half-collapsed, its roof completely torn open. Gray dunes had swallowed most of it, leaving only the jagged top and twisted metal seats exposed. It looked like a buried skeleton of a forgotten world.
Alex felt a cold shiver crawl down his spine.
The air inside the stadium was heavier… darker… wrong.
As they stepped through a broken entrance tunnel, a new sound reached his ears.
Whispers.
Soft. Weak.
Barely human.
"…please… end it…"
"…no more… no more…"
"…let me sleep… please…"
Alex froze.
Bodies lay across the sunken field like fallen leaves—dozens of them, maybe hundreds. Thin, gray-skinned, twisted into shapes that barely resembled living people. They were fused with the sand, half-covered by dunes, some so still they looked like part of the ground.
But they moved.
Barely.
Arms twitched weakly.
Fingers curled.
Lips cracked open to whisper the same desperate plea:
"Please… end it…"
Alex didn't speak.
He simply walked—slowly, carefully—past the half-buried bodies, their whispers fading behind him like dying wind. None of them reached for him. None tried to move. They just… lay there, fused with the sand, voices barely more than dry breaths begging for an end.
Alex kept his eyes forward.
If he looked too long, he knew he'd break.
Arte walked ahead of him in silence, tail low, ears twitching to every distant crack of the shifting dunes. They crossed the center of the ruined stadium, then stepped over a collapsed section of seats that dipped into a lower area.
A giant crack split the ground ahead—like the earth itself had been torn open. The fracture descended into a dim cavern, its mouth yawning wide, breathing cold air from below.
Arte leapt down first, landing lightly on a ledge inside the crack.
Alex followed more clumsily, sliding down on loose gravel until his shoes hit solid rock.
The deeper they went, the quieter the whispers became.
And the darker the world felt.
After a few minutes, the narrow chasm opened into a tall underground cave. Stalactites hung from the ceiling like jagged fangs. Gray sand coated the floor, carried by winds from the desert above.
Arte stopped.
Alex nearly bumped into him.
"What? Why are we—?"
He cut himself off.
A massive wall stood before them—smooth, stone-like, almost polished. It stretched from floor to ceiling, wide enough to block any path forward.
Alex blinked.
"Uh… Arte? Do you know where we're going? Because all I see is a giant cave wall. No exit. No door. No—"
Arte raised a paw.
"Quiet."
Alex shut his mouth, irritated but curious.
Arte stepped closer to the wall. His golden eyes narrowed, pupils thinning like a predator focusing. Then he lifted one paw and pressed it against the smooth surface.
For a moment—
nothing happened.
Alex exhaled. "Great. So we're trapped in a big underground—"
WOOOM—
A faint glow pulsed beneath Arte's paw, spreading outward like ripples on water. A circle of light appeared on the wall—perfectly symmetrical—lines branching out like ancient runes.
Alex's jaw dropped. "Okay, never mind."
The circle expanded, glow growing brighter, illuminating the cave around them. Then the symbols twisted, rotated—
—and the stone wall opened.
Not slid.
Not broke.
Not crumbled.
It simply parted, revealing a hidden tunnel behind it—narrow, cold, lined with strange markings that pulsed like a heartbeat.
Alex stared, stunned.
"You… knew this was here?"
Arte flicked his tail. "Of course."
"How? Why? And—wait—why does a random underground cave have a secret door?!"
Arte stepped inside the tunnel, not bothering to answer.
Alex groaned and followed. "This better not be another riddle. I swear—"
But Arte finally spoke, calm and quiet.
"This place existed long before your cities. Long before humanity learned to fear the dark."
Alex raised an eyebrow. "Meaning?"
But Arte didn't respond.
He walked deeper into the glowing passage, his silhouette framed by the dim green-blue light. Alex hurried after him, brushing the stone wall every now and then just to keep his balance. The air grew cooler, fresher—strange for an underground tunnel.
Then the passage widened.
Alex stepped out beside Arte—
—and froze.
"W-What… is this place…?"
It wasn't a cave.
Well, it was a cave, but not one nature would ever make on its own.
A massive chamber stretched before them, big enough to swallow an entire football field. The ground dipped slightly toward a wide, shimmering pool at the center. Above the water rose a tree—tall, graceful, its trunk smooth and silver-blue like polished crystal.
But the leaves—
Alex blinked, wiped his eyes, then blinked again.
The leaves were blue.
Soft, glowing, almost transparent.
Like wisteria blooms turned into starlight.
They hung in long curtains from the branches, swaying in an invisible breeze and lighting up the cavern with soft, dreamlike color.
"Trees… have been dead since the apocalypse…" Alex whispered.
"Most trees," Arte corrected. "Not this one."
Alex slowly walked to the water's edge. The pool was impossibly clear—so clear that he could see all the way down to the bottom. Strange lights moved below the surface, darting between the roots of the glowing tree.
Alex leaned closer.
Inside the water…
swam fish.
Real fish.
Small, silver creatures with glowing fins and bright blue scales. They glided like ribbons of light, leaving soft trails of luminescence behind them.
Alex gasped, excitement bursting through his exhaustion.
"Are those—ARE THOSE FISH?! Real fish?! Can—can we eat them?!"
He turned to Arte with eyes full of desperate hope.
"It's been TWO YEARS since I ate fish! Two years since I even smelled something that isn't dried beans or canned trash!"
Arte flicked his tail, unimpressed.
"No."
Alex's shoulders slumped. "Come on—just one—one little glowing sushi—"
"No," Arte said again, sharper. "Those fish aren't for eating."
Alex pouted. "Why? What do they even do?"
Arte walked to the pool, staring down with an expression Alex couldn't read.
"They help open what the world has closed," he said. "They locate nerves that block the flow of energy—nerves that shut down an ability user's potential. These creatures swim into the blood, into the pathways inside the body… to force those nerves open."
Alex stared at him.
"…What?"
"If a person is stubborn," Arte continued calmly, "or if their ability remains sealed… the fish will drown them in the deep until the body awakens."
Alex felt his stomach twist.
"Hold on—HOLD ON—what happens if the person doesn't awaken?"
Arte shrugged.
"Then the fish get a meal."
Alex took three steps away from the water.
"Nope. Absolutely not. I'm not going near that cursed aquarium—"
Before he could finish—
Arte suddenly moved behind him.
Too fast.
Too smooth.
His paw pressed against Alex's back.
Alex's eyes widened.
"Arte—wait—WAIT—WHAT ARE YOU—?!"
Arte didn't answer.
He pushed.
Alex's foot slipped.
His arms flailed.
His body pitched forward—
"ARTE, YOU STUPIIIIID—!!"
SPLASH!
Cold water swallowed him whole. The glowing fish scattered in a burst of blue light, then turned sharply—
—and began swimming straight toward him.
Alex screamed underwater.
From the shore, Arte sat calmly, tail flicking.
"Try not to die," Arte said with a sigh. "It's inconvenient."
Alex kicked desperately toward the nearest rock wall, lungs burning as the cold water bit into his skin.
"Arte—!! YOU—LITTLE—FURRY—DEMON—!!!"
He couldn't scream properly underwater, but the rage was real.
He stretched his arm toward a jagged stone rising from the pool's edge, fingertips brushing it—
Then something moved beside him.
A flash of blue.
Then another.
And another.
"Oh no. Oh no, oh NO—"
A swarm of glowing fish darted toward him—not swimming around him, but leaping onto him. Their small, cold bodies slapped against his face and arms before they latched on—tiny teeth or suction-cup-like mouths attaching to his skin.
Alex thrashed wildly.
"GET—OFF—ME—!!!"
But the fish pulled in one direction.
Down.
He sank so fast his ears popped.
His vision blurred. The shimmering light from the tree faded above him. The pressure on his chest grew heavier and heavier.
He clawed at the water, trying to swim up, but the glowing fish dragged him deeper—into darker water, into the coldest parts of the pool.
His heartbeat pounded in his ears.
His lungs begged for air.
His limbs turned sluggish.
A tiny, trembling bubble escaped his mouth.
His vision shrank into a tunnel of flickering blue light.
Then—
Everything went black.
*****
Alex Awakened
Alex gasped, stumbling forward as air rushed back into his lungs.
But he wasn't underwater.
He wasn't even in a cave.
He stood on a floating island—a chunk of stone maybe twenty feet wide, suspended in endless nothing. Wisps of white cloud curled around its edges like fog rising from a dream.
The sky above was unlike anything he had ever seen.
A red galaxy, swirling like thick paint across the heavens. Crimson stars, violet clouds, deep space stretching in spirals like a cosmic ocean.
The air shimmered with heat, or maybe with magic.
And around him—
floating in open sky—
were dozens of islands.
Small stone platforms of different shapes and sizes drifted gently, rising and lowering as if breathing. Some were covered in glowing red flowers, some in strange, ancient carvings, and some had dead trees or cracked pillars on them.
And farther away—
suspended in the burning sky—
An old castle floated.
Its towers twisted upward like skeletal fingers. Holes punched through the walls showed blackness inside. Chains hung from the base as if anchoring it to nothing.
Alex stared, heart pounding.
"No… freaking… way…"
Was he dreaming? Dead? Dying? High on cosmic sushi fish?
He wasn't sure.
He took one cautious step on the stone platform. It felt solid—surprisingly solid—despite the fact there was no ground beneath it.
Just endless red sky.
"Okay, Alex," he whispered to himself, "don't panic. Just… stay calm. Floating islands are normal. Red galaxies are normal. You've definitely not gone insane yet—"
RROOOAAAAAAAAAR—!!!!
The roar shook the air like a shockwave.
Alex almost fell off the island.
"WHAT NOW—?!"
He turned.
From behind a massive floating boulder, something slithered into view.
A creature.
Snake-like—but far bigger. Its massive body coiled around a floating pillar, then uncurled, revealing shimmering red scales that glowed like heated metal.
Its head lifted—long, narrow, crowned with bone-like fins.
Two huge eyes burned with molten gold.
Those eyes locked onto Alex.
"...Oh crap."
The creature opened its mouth, revealing fangs longer than Alex's arm, dripping with glowing saliva.
Alex took one step back.
The snake coiled tighter, muscles rippling.
"Oh COME ON, I've been awake for FIVE SECONDS—!!"
The monster lunged.
Alex screamed and jumped.
He landed on the next floating island with a rough roll, scraping his elbows and nearly faceplanting. The stone rocked under him but didn't fall.
He scrambled up—
The snake slammed into his previous island, shattering it into meteors of crumbling stone.
Alex didn't look back.
He leapt to the next island—
Then the next—
Then the next—
Each platform drifted unpredictably. One rose right beneath him, forcing him to grab at a dead branch sticking from its side. Another tilted sharply, nearly sending him tumbling into the endless sky.
He jumped over a gap so wide he felt the empty abyss claw at his boots.
"WHY IS THIS HAPPENING—?! I JUST WANTED TO EAT FISH—!!"
He sprinted on a narrow platform covered in strange red flowers that glowed faintly, their petals curling toward him like they were alive.
The snake roared behind him, smashing through islands as it followed. Each attack destroyed more floating stone, collapsing Alex's escape route.
"Arte better have a VERY good explanation for this!" he yelled into the void.
He jumped again—hands scraping the edge of the next island—
His feet slipped—
He dangled over the void, legs kicking wildly.
The island trembled as the snake's shadow loomed behind him, filling the red sky.
Alex's fingers slipped—
One by one—
Until only his last grip remained.
The monster lunged.
Alex barely had time to suck in a breath before the giant serpent's jaws split wider, fangs gleaming like molten knives. Air ripped past Alex's ears as the massive mouth closed around him in a blur of red scales and burning light.
"NO—NO—NO—!!"
His scream was cut short.
Darkness swallowed him whole.
He felt everything—sudden crushing pressure, the heat of the beast's throat, the slick scales sliding against him. His lungs burned as if set on fire. His bones felt like they were being squeezed, bent, broken. His mind blurred into white static.
His heartbeat slammed against his ribs like a fist.
Ba-thump. Ba-thump. Ba-thump.
Until the sound began to fade—
fade—
fade—
Then—
A burst. A flash. A snap of something inside him—
—and the world shattered like glass.
He awoke with a violent gasp.
Alex lurched upward so fast he nearly toppled off the floating island. He landed on his hands and knees, coughing, gagging, clutching his chest.
"Wh—"
He choked on air.
"Wh-what—?! I—I died—I—"
His heart thundered wildly.
Ba-THUMP— ba-THUMP— ba-THUMP—!!!
He grabbed his throat, convinced he should still feel teeth tearing into it. But there was nothing. No blood. No wounds. No burns.
Just his skin—
ice cold, drenched in sweat.
His body trembled uncontrollably. Not like fear—this was deeper, primal, like every cell in his body remembered the moment it was crushed, eaten, erased.
His vision blurred around the edges, smearing the red sky into streaks of color.
"I—died," he whispered.
He wasn't just afraid.
He was aware.
He had felt the end.
He had felt the moment everything closed, faded, drifted—but he was awake again, breathing, alive.
No. Not alive.
Reset.
Like something had rewinded him.
His fingers dug into the floating stone.
Ba-thump… ba-thump… ba-thump.
His heart slowed, but it beat wrong—like a drum hit too hard. His lungs were too tight. His throat felt swollen. His legs shook violently.
He tried to stand—
SSSSSSSSSSSSKRRR—
The roar echoed again.
"Not again," Alex whispered. "Please—not again—"
But the massive serpent coiled out from behind the floating pillar, crimson scales glowing like hot iron. Its gold eyes snapped to him instantly, locking onto him as if he were the only thing in this impossible world.
No time.
No breath.
The monster lunged again.
Alex turned and ran.
His legs stumbled at first—his body not yet used to standing after dying—but adrenaline surged like fire through his veins. He sprinted, leaping onto the next floating island just as the snake crashed onto his starting platform and shattered it into dust.
Stone fragments flew like meteors.
Alex ducked, sliding on the next island's smooth surface, barely catching himself before sliding off.
He jumped to the next island—
landed—
fell to his knees—
scrambled—
"MOVE—MOVE—MOVE—!!"
The serpent twisted behind him, moving faster than any creature its size should. Its long tail cracked through the air like a whip—
WHIP-BOOOM—!!
The island Alex had just jumped from shattered into pieces, chunks tumbling downward into the endless red sky.
Alex didn't breathe. He didn't think.
He just ran.
His bare hands scraped rock. His skin tore. His foot slipped, sending him crashing onto his side—but he pushed himself up again.
Don't stop. Don't stop. Don't stop.
He leapt to a taller island, grabbing onto a protruding stone root. His arms screamed with effort. Sweating, panting, he pulled himself up—
Another roar shook the air.
The serpent slithered beneath the island, then rose on the other side, its massive head lifting into view like a nightmare god. It opened its jaws—
"Oh come ON—!!"
Alex threw himself sideways just as its fangs snapped shut around the island's edge, cracking the stone.
He ran again, sprinting across a narrow slab floating sideways. The slab spun slowly, tilting—
Alex jumped—
fingers catching the edge of a larger platform.
His arms trembled, almost giving out. His heart hammered like a trapped bird inside his chest.
He pulled himself up—
He heard the monster behind him—
A whistle of air—
A crack—
A force like a truck slamming into his spine—
WHAM—!!
The serpent's tail struck him.
The impact jolted every nerve.
Alex flew.
His vision spun violently—red sky—floating islands—black void—red sky—void—
Then only nothing.
Wind roared past him.
He was falling.
Falling—
Falling—
Endlessly.
He didn't breathe.
Couldn't breathe.
His body tilted sideways, weightless, deathless—
Then darkness swallowed him again.
He awoke screaming.
Alex jerked upright, back arching, chest heaving.
"AAAAA—UGH—!!"
His voice cracked. He choked on air, grabbing his ribs, expecting them to be crushed, shattered, twisted.
But they weren't.
His lungs dragged in oxygen too fast, too sharp, as if they had been starved seconds ago.
He trembled violently, gasping for breath, his heart racing like it had never stopped.
He was on the same floating island.
Exactly the same one.
Same stone.
Same cracks.
Same shape.
Same red sky burning above him like a dying star.
He wiped his face.
His hand came away wet.
Sweat—or tears—he didn't know.
"W-Why… why am I… why am I coming back…?"
He looked around frantically.
The same islands floated in the same positions. The same castle hung in the red sky. The same drifting dust glowed faintly.
His mind raced, panic clawing at the edges.
"Am I trapped? Is this—some kind of loop? A training? A nightmare?—"
The serpent appeared again.
Its roar thundered through the air, shaking the platforms.
It had returned to its starting position.
Just like he had.
Alex's stomach dropped into ice.
"No… no… no!"
He stumbled to his feet, legs shaking so badly he nearly fell again.
The monster's golden eyes pinned him like a target.
It lunged.
Alex ran again, breath ragged, heart pounding in his ears like drums of war.
"STOP—RESETTING—ME!!!"
He leapt—missed the landing—rolled across a drifting stone platform.
The serpent crashed behind him.
Alex scrambled forward—
Another tail swipe hit the stone behind him, sending debris raining into the abyss.
He ran—
He jumped—
He missed—
He fell—
He died—
He awoke again.
Gasping.
Shaking.
Sweating.
Coughing.
Heart racing like thunder.
His hands clawed at the stone as if trying to hold onto life itself.
"No…" he whispered, voice breaking.
"Don't… don't make me do this again…"
But the red sky didn't care.
The floating islands didn't change.
The serpent still hunted.
The loop was unbroken.
And Alex had no idea—
how many times he would have to die before he escaped.
Alex stood again on the same floating island—breathing fast, sweating, trembling, his body remembering every death.
His heart pounded like war drums.
Ba-thump. Ba-thump. Ba-thump.
He stared at his shaking hands.
"This thing will keep killing me," he whispered, voice raw. "Over and over… until I learn. Until I awaken."
A memory flickered behind his eyes—the words Arte had spoken in riddles:
"A Soul Harvester must face himself before he can judge others."
"Energy flows only when fear breaks."
Alex swallowed hard.
His fear wasn't going away.
He had drowned, been crushed, eaten, and thrown into the void.
But each time he woke, he was stronger—not physically, but somewhere deeper, in that strange pulsing place inside him.
"My power… is sealed," he breathed. "Those fish were trying to force it open. This place… is pushing it."
He clenched his shaking fists.
"I'm not dying again."
RRRROOOOOOOAAAARRRR!!!
The serpent appeared again, curling around a floating stone pillar. Red scales shimmered like burning metal, each muscle rolling under its skin like molten iron.
Its gold eyes locked onto him.
Alex didn't run this time.
He planted his feet, digging his heels into the stone.
"Come on," he growled. "Let's try this again."
The serpent lunged—
its fangs splitting the air—
the roar vibrating through the entire floating realm.
Alex took a breath.
A deep one.
Then he closed his eyes.
He reached inward—
past fear
past panic
past the burning ache of his body—
toward something he had felt only in the moment between life and death.
A whisper.
A pulse.
Something cold—yet alive—deep in his chest.
Something waiting.
His heartbeat slowed.
The world around him went strangely silent.
When he opened his eyes—
They glowed.
A pale, ghostly blue.
The serpent's jaws came down—
Alex moved.
Not fast—
not with strength—
but with something else.
A ripple of energy burst from his feet, like a shockwave. The stone beneath him cracked and fractured, sending dust spiraling upward.
He leapt straight up—higher than any normal human.
The serpent's bite snapped shut under him, its fangs crashing into the stone with an explosion of sparks.
Alex spun in the air, twisting toward the next floating island.
And he landed—
lightly
balanced
as if weight didn't hold him the same way anymore.
A faint blue mist clung to his shoulders like smoke.
The serpent roared, coiling its massive body and whipping its tail toward him. The air trembled with the force.
Alex didn't dodge.
He raised his hand.
His fingers curled into a claw-like shape.
A thin, ghostly arm—translucent and skeletal—burst from the air beside him, forming like a warped shadow.
It grabbed the serpent's tail mid-swing.
The tail slammed into the ghostly arm like a boulder—
But Alex grit his teeth, pushing through the pressure. Energy burned through his veins, cold and electric.
The ghost-arm held.
The serpent lurched, confused.
Alex pulled his hand back—
And the ghostly arm swung the serpent's tail like a whip.
BOOOOOM—!!!
The monster crashed into a nearby floating island, shattering stone, spilling red dust into the abyss.
Alex's chest heaved, the energy burning brighter inside him.
"I… I did that…"
The serpent recovered quickly, hissing with fury. Its massive body curled and twisted as it launched itself at him again—this time from the side, mouth wide open.
Alex felt the energy in his chest spiral faster—hot, cold, sharp.
He stepped back once—
Then thrust his hand forward.
Another ghost-arm erupted from the air—
then another
and another
and another.
Four transparent arms surged outward, all connected to the energy blossoming from Alex's core.
They grabbed the serpent's skulls—
one on each snout—
slamming them shut.
The monster screamed angrily, its three heads writhing against the ghostly grip. Acid poured between its fangs, sizzling onto the transparent arms, melting parts of them.
Alex felt it—
a sting
a pressure
a burn inside his veins.
The serpent's acid attacked his power like poison.
His knees buckled.
He strained harder, teeth gritted, eyes burning blue.
"Not… this… time…!"
The arms shifted, melting and reforming in flickers of blue. They pushed, twisted, directing the monster upward.
Alex jumped—
ghost-arms lifting him
boosting him
propelling him high into the red sky.
He rose over the serpent's heads, hovering for a moment as floating islands drifted below him.
The serpent followed, coils spiraling upward—
But Alex wasn't running anymore.
He clenched both hands into fists.
Ghost-arms merged—
forming a single massive spectral shape behind him, stretching like a giant's arm carved from moonlight and bone.
Energy burned through Alex, pushing his body to the edge, threatening to tear him apart.
"GO—!!"
He drove his fists downward.
The giant ghost-arm plunged from the sky—
crashing into the serpent's skulls—
slamming all three heads downward in one explosive strike.
KRRRRAAAAAAAASSSSHHH—!!!
The impact shattered a chain of floating islands beneath them, spraying debris in every direction. The serpent crashed through them, its body twisting, spiraling toward the abyss.
Alex fell with it—
air rushing past his ears
heart hammering
power roaring inside him like a storm.
He landed on a drifting island, knees buckling but holding. Ghost-light sputtered around his shoulders like fading wings.
Across from him, the serpent dragged itself onto another floating platform, shaking violently. One of its heads was crushed, the skull caved in from the strike. Acid spilled harmlessly into the void.
But the monster wasn't dead.
It rose again, wounded but furious, hissing with rage.
Alex wiped blood from his lip, breathing hard.
"Fine," he panted. "Round two."
His hands lit with blue flame-like mist.
The serpent charged.
Alex charged too.
The two forces collided in the burning red sky—
ghost-arm vs. colossal serpent
light vs. scale
power vs. instinct—
The floating realm shook.
The air screamed.
*****
Arte stretched his little black body beside the glowing pool, yawning so wide his tiny fangs showed. He circled twice on the warm stone, tail flicking lazily, then finally curled himself into a fluffy ball.
He had just closed his eyes when a small voice bubbled up from the water.
"You're supposed to be in New Eden, aren't you?"
Arte's ear twitched.
Of course.
The fish were talking again.
He cracked one golden eye open. A tiny glowing fish—no bigger than Alex's thumb—floated near the surface, its scales shimmering softly.
Arte sighed. "Yes, yes. I was supposed to go back two days ago."
The little fish bobbed its head. "Then why are you still here? Shouldn't you be lounging around the holy fountains or something?"
"I would," Arte said with a bored stretch, "but this one—" he flicked his tail in Alex's general direction, "—needs guidance."
The fish wiggled its fins thoughtfully. "You know… it's only been five minutes out here."
Arte blinked tiredly. "Five?"
"Mm-hm. Barely five."
The fish's small mouth formed a surprisingly smug smile. "But inside that realm? He's already been there an entire day."
Arte raised his head, whiskers twitching. "A full day already? Huh. Not bad for someone who's never awakened anything but fear."
"He's making… a little progress." The fish tilted its head left, then right. "Very little. But still progress."
Arte rolled onto his back, paws in the air. "Little or not, it's more effort than I expected. Most humans scream the whole time and never find their power."
The fish gave a playful flick of its tail. "That's because they're boring. No spirit."
Arte let out a tiny snort. "You say that as if you enjoy watching them suffer."
The little fish spun lazily in the water. Its glowing body reflected patterns across the cave walls.
"Oh, but I do enjoy it," it said cheerfully. "Watching humans struggle is fun. They freak out, they crash, they panic, they don't know what's happening… it's very entertaining."
Arte shook his head. "You're cruel."
"You're judging me?" the fish replied, amused. "Coming from a creature who pushed a half-trained boy into a nerve-cleansing death pool?"
Arte's ears flattened.
"…That was different."
"How?" the fish asked, genuinely curious.
"It was necessary," Arte said with a huff. "And dramatic. Dramatic things are always necessary."
The fish giggled, sending tiny ripples across the glowing water. "Well, anyway… once he stabilizes, we can all finally leave."
Arte blinked. "You're leaving too?"
"Of course." The fish nodded vigorously. "Our job is only to awaken him and make sure nothing inside his body blocks the flow. After that? We disappear and return to New Eden."
Arte yawned again and curled tighter into his ball. "Lucky you. You get to leave freely."
The fish lowered itself a little deeper into the water, its glow softening.
"It sucks to have duty, doesn't it?" Arte murmured.
The fish shrugged—well, the fish version of a shrug. "Sometimes. But watching humans struggle and fight for their strength? It's… interesting. They're strange creatures."
Arte smirked, eyes slowly closing.
"Strange, yes. Fragile, yes. But sometimes…"
His voice softened.
"…worth the trouble."
The tiny fish blinked, looking a little surprised.
Then it smiled gently.
"Well, let's hope so. Because this one—" it glanced at Alex thrashing somewhere in the other world, "—he's going to be a handful."
"Tell me something I don't already know," Arte muttered.
The fish let out a tiny laugh. "Very well. We'll wait until he passes the first step… then poof. Back to New Eden."
Arte rolled onto his side, mumbling, "Good. Maybe then I can finally take a proper nap."
The glowing fish turned in the water and slowly sank deeper, its voice echoing faintly:
"Don't fall asleep too long… your little human is about to do something stupid again."
Arte's eyes snapped open.
"…Of course he is."
He sighed, ears lowering.
And somewhere deep in the trial realm—
Alex screamed as the serpent launched at him again.