The instant darkness eroded Kagero's vision, his soul was immediately exiled from his body, leaving an empty husk behind.
And that very same soul was then taken up into the sky, before beginning a seemingly endless journey.
World after world after world, Kagero felt it all.
He felt his body speed past an endless number of realms, each of unquantifiable magnitude.
These dimensions formed stacks and layers atop each other, with pocket dimensions positioning themselves at the edges, while the father dimensions stood at the top of the pyramid.
They were all embedded in an endless ball of bizarre energy, marbles within the multiverse.
Despite his swift travels, and despite the fact that his eyes were firmly shut. For some unfathomable reason, Kagero could feel everything around him, to the point where his sensory intuitions far exceeded his vision.
And what he saw?
These cosmic marbles coiled end to end like an ethereal ring, each illuminating the never ending darkness they were doused in.
However, Kagero sped past even these. Heading deeper and deeper into the darkness, until all that was left around him was a bottomless murk.
Realising his motion had seized, Kagero slowly pried his eyes open.
"What happened?"
He then proceeded to observe his surroundings.
Darkness.
That was all to it.
He was submerged in what appeared as if it was an eternal sea of black. And it was then that it hit him.
'I've been here before.'
Kagero watched himself levatating within the gloom. It was too familiar— this was where he had visited the moment he died.
Right as Kagero was still observing his surroundings, he saw a faint light momentarily cut through the void.
And out of that light came a being, that transformed his hunch of nostalgia, into a certainty of his earlier visitation.
He couldn't get a good image of the strange woman in the past, so this time he squinted his eyes even more, in a bid to clear up his vision.
Yet, despite his best efforts, she remained blurry before his eyes.
The woman drew herself closer to him, her large garments sweeping the darkness as she inched nearer.
Who was she? What did she want? What was he doing here?
These questions rang within Kagero's mind, causing him to yell them into the gloom.
Or rather, try to.
Kagero's face twisted in horror, his eyes trembling as he touched what was supposed to be his mouth.
But when his hands rested on his face— his mouth was nowhere to be found.
"I know you must have many questions." An angelic voice echoed into the void.
The otherworldly woman was now face to face with Kagero.
"But I don't have much time to speak with you." A hint of disappointment stuck against her tone.
The woman lowered her head in pity.
"Your journey will be tedious. And you will have times where you wished that you were never given such a burden."
The woman then placed her hands on Kagero's shoulders, her lips parting into a supportive smile.
"But I believe that you will conquer them all."
Kagero watched her in stark confusion, his blue eyes reflecting the fright that currently gripped his heart.
But he paid attention, and took in as much of what she said as possible.
"And when you do triumph." The woman placed her palm against her chest.
"Come and rescue me."
She rose her finger, a celestial gleam shimmering atop it. "This is not where your journey ends. You still must grow stronger."
With her words reaching its conclusion, she placed her finger once more on Kagero's forehead.
And the moment it came in contact with him. Like a star had been birthed, an eternal light radiated into the void, burning the darkness till the formerly gloomy expanse was now bathed in brightness.
But right before Kagero felt his soul begin to drift, the woman's hazy words resounded in his hearing.
"Remember— look past the fog, Hero."
WHOOSH!
"Arghh!" Kagero sprung forward, heaving panicked and hitched breaths.
He placed his palm across his face, planting his other arm on the ground for support.
"What just happened?"
His eyes remained closed as his blurry memories strarted to paint itself into a clearer picture.
He had died. So where exactly was he?
The rough feeling that rubbed against his arm suddenly got his attention.
What exactly was it? He had died right? Meaning, there was no telling where he had wound up in.
And based on that knowledge, this 'rough feeling' that grazed his arm could be anything.
'Don't tell me it's some kind of monster.' Kagero swallowed hard, his eyes still closed as he tried to delay the inevitable.
After taking in a breath, he then nervously opened his eyes to the ground.
Grass.
As normal as it could get.
"Haha." Kagero laughed at his paranoia. He tore his gaze away from the ground, shifting his attention forward.
"Don't tell me I was worried about nothing—"
But the moment Kagero's eyes beheld what layed before him. His smile froze on his face, and his face grew pale, leaving beads of sweat to run through it.
His gaze met a scarlet moon that seemed to bleed a crimson shade of light to the bizarre world. And the realm's skies were bathed in a multifarious number of complementary coloures.
As bands of red, green, pink, purple, white, black and others Kagero couldn't count washed over the sky.
All around him stood trees that dwarfed mountains, their leaves dancing like living beings, and their trunks making derisive faces that sneered at him from all angles.
And that wasn't the worst part.
Within the colourful skies, a habitat was entrenched.
Several ghostly creatures flew abroad, spreading their wings in the air and paying the new comer no mind.
Each of them had differing features, some made Kagero watch in wonder, while others almost caused him to throw up.
One took the form of a dragon that had a snake like body, but two wings on each side.
While another paused its motion, staring at Kagero for a brief moment.
The creature's form caused Kagero to almost die where he sat.
What that very creature employed for its flight? Two large tongues that occasionally cut through the wind.
And that wasn't nearly the weirdest part about this particular beast.
Etched into the monster's body were mouths that adorned the entirety of its being, saliva dripping through each mouth as it watched the red haired boy with fetish desires.
'Ohh— ohh damn.' Kagero shakily mused, watching the monster in absolute horror.
'I just died already for goodness sake. Can't I take a break?'
But the monster didn't move any closer to him.
"Bulagula!" Was all it said, flapping its unnaturally huge tongues before flying off.
'Huh?' Kagero's face fell in shock.
Witnessing all this, the young boy just rested back in the grass, leaving the lone tear that drifted through his face, to betray the smile across his lips.
And in that moment, Kagero could only think of one question out of his frozen mind.
"Just where the hell am I?"