Han stared at the sky, even though the sky was completely white. It was not the sky, but the sky. The sky of a world completely drowning in white.
The only thing that exists in this world is the color white, nothing else. He could not even decipher the thing called distance because of that.
Since it didn't matter if he was looking at a distance of three meters or three kilometres. All he could see was the color white.
He started walking in white void, but he couldn't even tell if he was walking or not.
He could only see this white void, but there was another thing he could see which was not from his eyes. He could still see things that Selica was seeing.
He lays down looking at the same white sky with nothing else there.
'It's boring.'
Everything here as well as Selica's routine, everything was just boring.
The only reason this place was boring was because there was nothing to be excited about. On the other hand, Selica's routine was boring because it's just simply that boring.
"Selene… you have been trying to recreate my face in a sketch for over three hours already."
[Yes, I am. How am I supposed to draw your face exactly like how it actually looks?!]
"You can. Good luck succeeding after another four to five hours before I take over."
[Yeah, yeah, I will definitely finish it before you take over.]
Han stares at the sky for a while before snapping his finger as the entire neighborhood he was living in for the past three years appears before him.
He has been living there for quite a long time already and has memorized a lot of places here.
Only the places he knows personally have been recreated. As he walks around and reaches his apartment building, he walks straight to his apartment.
He finds himself dead on the floor. Han takes out the phone from the pocket of dead him and sees a message on it, it was from his parents.
He was looking forward to seeing what they sent him before his excruciating death. Han has forgotten what death felt like, which was the only reason he is sane right now.
If he had still remembered that pain, he doesn't think he would have been so sane right. Even the pain that started on the leg, the only pain he remembers. Even that still sends shivers down his entire body.
Han tries to open the app multiple times to see the message his parents sent, but he couldn't. He knew he had to accept it, it was simply because he didn't see their reply before death.
Meaning, he doesn't even know their reply, so how could he see something he has never seen?
He grabs the mobile so tightly that it gets crushed under the force. Frustration, an emotion he has felt after two whole years.
He started to punch the wall. Even if he is multiple times stronger than a normal human, but that doesn't mean he can break concrete walls with just his fists.
Nonetheless, he keeps on punching the wall. Even if this was a space where he had complete control over, the body he was using is still limited by boundaries he has set.
As he keeps on punching the wall, blood starts spilling out as his fists start to crack. He still doesn't stop until his fists are completely broken and there still isn't a single crack on the wall.
Han sits down with his back leaning against the wall– completely drenched in his blood. He grabs onto his own hair with his broken hands and starts pulling on them.
[Han… What happened?! Are you okay?]
Hearing Selica, he calms down a bit as he answers in a broken voice.
"N-nothing happened… I just felt a little frustrated just now."
[A little? The frustration and anger I just felt was definitely not a small amount!]
"It is nothing. You should focus on your drawing right now...
You have only managed to draw the basic structure. Remember that you have less than three hours left."
[Who cares, not like I'm in a rush to make it. I can just learn to draw beside it, it's just a win-win situation.]
Hearing her, Han gets up as his fists suddenly heal in an instant. He replies in a mocking tone.
"Yeah, yeah. You can, these are the only things you are talented at."
[What did you say?! you…]
Unbeknownst to her, Han was completely ignoring her.
He did mockingly say that she only has talent for learning anything other than fighting or anything related to that. His compliment was genuine.
Selica really had a knack for learning things as long as it didn't include combat.
"You know what? Doesn't matter if you have thirty seven years worth of memory… you are still just a kid."
Selica didn't answer his words and Han also couldn't see what she was seeing. Meaning she closed her eyes.
'Is she embarrassed or what? Isn't a kid still a kid? What else am I supposed to call her?'
Han snaps his finger again as the entire neighborhood disappears. With another snap of his fingers, a long road appears with seemingly no end.
As he suddenly starts to run to test the limits of his body again.
—***—
As Selica finally finishes the drawing, she leans back on her chair– straightening her back.
"Well, that was a whole lot of trouble I had to go through."
The sketch of Han she was making is finally complete. Even for someone who doesn't draw faces, she still managed to do a good job… in her point of view at least.
"Han. What are you doing right now?" She asks, but there's no reply from Han.
She asks again and again, to no avail.
Wondering what he is doing to not give a reply, she looks at the clock hanging on the wall, ticking as time passes.
It's already 14:39 AM, meaning she only has twenty one minutes left.
Bored, with nothing to do right now, she goes towards the window as gentle breezes of wind enter the room.
Looking out of the window– she thinks of jumping out. She was only on the third floor, with proper landing, she won't get any injuries.
[You aren't thinking of jumping out of the window, are you?]
Suddenly hearing Han's voice caught her off guard, but she regains her composure and replies.
"What were you doing until now? Do you know how many times I called you?"
Without paying any heed to her question, he continues what he was saying.
[By the way. I just thought of a name for this place.]
"... What is it?" She replies in an annoyed tone, as she didn't get an answer for the question she asked before.
[The white ravine. It's really a cool name, no?] He asks in a curious tone, waiting for her answer.
"Well… It's okay I guess." She replies in a deadpan voice, still looking out the window.
"By the way, Han…" She continues. "What do you really think about this world? Do you think all this is really just a coincidence?"
[... Maybe, or maybe not. My guess is exactly like yours.]
[1: It is none other than the scrapped concepts section from the KON website, which somehow turned into reality.]
"Which makes the least sense. Even if it did, there's no way that things even they haven't finished are here." She says with an unreadable expression.
"It also doesn't explain why you are here."
[That's why the second theory comes in. Everything is just purely coincidence.]
"Which also doesn't make sense. How can there be such a great coincidence?"
Selica ties up her hair in a ponytail before going back to her desk and sitting on the chair with her legs crossed.
[The last and third theory being that there's some batshit insane thing going on that we don't know.]
Selica looks at the clock again and finds out that it's already 14:42 AM. As she replies to Han while walking out of her room.
"Which is the thing that makes the most sense without doing exactly that."
As she comes out of the room, the guards greet her.
Walking on the hallway with polished white marble floor. The wall is painted in dark bright red, the ceiling being bright white. Stands on the wall that look like they are made for candles, instead have a slightly yellowish round polished ball.
As she walks down the hallway, both maids and guards greet her with a confused expression– clearly meaning to ask something, but not daring to.
[Selene.]
'Hm?'
[What do you think about the fact that you were a scrapped character of a game in my world?]
'...' To his question, there was no reply.
[Selene–]
'I would say it feels absolutely shit knowing that.'
As she finally comes in front of a large door, at least three meters tall. Two people stop her from entering. They look like they are here as guards, but they also look different from other guards.
Their entire body is covered in cladded armor. A steel helmet with a visor in vertical line pattern. Fully cladded armor from head to toe. An insignia of a giant snake swirling around a tree– climbing it on the breastplate. A long dark purple cape on their back with the same insignia.
They are knights of the family. The stellar knight order. The Virelis aren't really known for creating any fighter in the family, but they are still known for their knight order. Who are not only famous for their swift sword techniques, but also supposed to be the only knights in the whole continent to use poison in a deadly battle if needed. Although, it's just a baseless rumor made by people.
As one of the knights speaks.
"My lady, sorry to interrupt, but the madame is really busy right now–"
Before he could even finish his sentence, someone interrupted him.
"Let her in."
It was something only the knight heard, which stopped him in his tracks as he looked at the other one and nodded.
"You may enter." They said in sync as they opened the door.
As the door opens, there is a woman seated on the desk with multiple huge piles of documents.
Mephis von Tatian. Selica's mother as well as the wife of Marquis Virelis and the sister of Marquise Tatian. The one with the highest position after Selica's father, the head of this household.
"Selica, what are you doing here right now? It is already 14:58 AM." She said in a bit of a serious tone, different from her usual aloof tone.
She continued. "You know your condition and you only have two minutes left till it is midday."
Selica walks in confidently as she puts the sketch of Han she drew on the desk as she says.
"I have been drawing this the whole day after breakfast, but I have made it. The face for the homunculus."
Mephis looks at it for a while before giving it back.
"We can't." She replies in a voice hinting that Selica's request can't be granted.
"B-but why? We are close to completing it, all we need is its face which haven't been completed yet, blood and the stigma–"
"Selica." One word was all that was needed to interrupt her as she continued.
"You do know that it's just impossible. Even if we did indeed complete it, how are we going to find the stigma?!
You do know that it's supposed to be in the north, with the way that place is like as well as the monsters there.
Do you think it is possible to find it even after searching for a hundred years?!"
"But–" Before she could say anything else, her mother stopped her from saying anything else.
"There's no but. You are dismissed." She says before looking at the wall clock. It is 15 PM already.
Seeing it, she quickly turns to Selica who is now on the floor with her eyes closed.
As Mephis quickly tries to go towards Selica, she slowly sits up scratching her head while grumbling.
"Ugh… I shouldn't have run like that for so long."
Seeing Selica up, Mephis becomes shocked as she couldn't discern what was happening.
Noticing her, Selica stands up shaking off the non-existent dust in her leather leggings as she looks at her mother and says.
"I think we have a lot to talk about… mother." Clearly hesitating when saying mother.