"Hey, hey, hey—don't start crying on me, boy."
Seeing tears well up in Maxwell's eyes, the mysterious voice was at a loss for what to do. Never in its wildest dreams had it imagined that just a few words would be enough to make someone cry.
"I-I'm not crying. How could I be crying? A petal just entered my eye, that's all."
Obviously, Maxwell was lying, but what choice did he have? He couldn't just admit that he was terrified—terrified at the thought of not making it out of this place alive.
"Oh… I see," the mysterious voice chuckled. Normally, it wouldn't have believed Maxwell, but since he clearly wasn't willing to admit it, there was no point pressing him.
"As I was saying before that unfortunate distraction, even though the majority of souls who wander here end up dying, some still manage to leave alive. Well, just two to be precise—but still, maybe you could be the next. Look on the bright side."
Seeing tears threaten to swell up again in Maxwell's eyes, the mysterious voice quickly blurted out, "Alright, alright! I'll give you something to help you, so don't cry." It let out a resigned sigh.
"Like I said, I wasn't crying. I just had petals in my eye," Maxwell replied, wiping his face with his shirt.
"Yeah, yeah. Alright, we don't have much time before you're teleported out of here, so I'll be quick," the mysterious voice said.
"Name: Maxwell ???????… That's not right. Why can't I see your surname? Are you an orphan? Wait, even that doesn't justify the lack of a surname. This is really weird," the voice mused in confusion.
"Hey, voice, is something wrong?" Maxwell asked, hearing the strange murmuring.
"It's nothing. Kid, quick question—do you have a surname?" the mysterious voice asked, patiently waiting for his reply.
"Of course I have a surname. It's ???????. Why would you even ask that?" Maxwell retorted.
"Repeat that again."
"Sure. It's ???????."
'Wow… it's finally here. It seems I'll finally be free of this cursed job. Could this even be counted as a job?'
The mysterious voice chuckled internally.
"Apparently… you."
"What did you say?" Maxwell asked sharply.
"Nothing. Okay, where were we?"
"Right… we were viewing your profile."
"Who was viewing what? You were just saying things about me without me even knowing how," Maxwell snapped.
"You didn't see it just now? My bad. Let's review it together then."
With that, a purple display panel popped up in front of Maxwell, leaving him completely bewildered.
"What is this?" Maxwell asked, stunned.
"That's a display panel!" Maxwell yelped excitedly.
A display panel was something he had only ever seen in movies. Getting to see one in real life made him feel like he could finally check something off his bucket list—unfortunately, he didn't actually have a bucket list. That would have to wait until he got home.
That was, of course, if he managed to return home in the first place.
"I know it's a display panel. Even a third grader would know that," Maxwell waved dismissively.
"Then why are you asking?"
"Obviously because it's a display panel," Maxwell shrugged.
"What? You're not making any sense."
"Forget it, if you know you know" Maxwell teased.
"Let's just go back to reviewing my profile."
'What is with this kid? One minute he's crying, the next he's excited. It seems I'm getting too old to understand the minds of the young,' the mysterious voice thought as it observed Maxwell.
"Age seventeen… Wow, you even have two siblings. No wonder you cried at the mere mention of not surviving," the mysterious voice said mockingly as it reviewed Maxwell's information.
"Hey, you've got it all wrong!" Maxwell tried to defend himself.
"Yeah, yeah, I totally understand you," the voice replied, its tone dripping with sarcasm.
Seeing no point in arguing, Maxwell ignored the voice and glanced over his profile. Finding it boring, he decided to look around instead. The cool air of the fields fluttered his hair backward, gently caressing his skin.
That was when he noticed something.
'Hmm… this place isn't quite what I thought,' he mused. 'Though it still looks the same, with flower fields stretching as far as the eye can see…'
In the distance, a storm had formed.
And it was rapidly drawing closer.
He hadn't noticed it earlier, distracted by his conversation with the mysterious voice, but now the danger was impossible to ignore. The storm was approaching at a terrifying speed.
'Even the sky seems to be drawing closer,' Maxwell thought.
"Holy hell… the sky really is drawing closer."
"Yeah, it's just a normal occurrence," the mysterious voice replied casually. "It happens once in a while to cleanse every non-border being from the border space—which is where we are now."
"Just a normal occurrence?! Since when is the sky closing in on you a normal occurrence?!" Maxwell was petrified.
'It seems I'll need to update my worldview and add falling sky to the list of normal events.'
The thought would've been amusing under different circumstances—but right now, Maxwell didn't have it in him to laugh.
"If you think this is spectacular, just wait until you see what comes next."
Maxwell felt like the entire world was crashing toward him—because quite literally, it was.
And just to make things worse, the mysterious voice decided to drop yet another bombshell.