In the darkness, where not even the slightest trace of light could be seen.
A consciousness slowly awakened, and from it came a voice filled with questions.
"Who am I? where am I?"
That consciousness was Kayen.
Using his mind, Kayen tried to search for answers to his own questions.
However, there were no memories within his mind—none at all. It was as if Kayen had only just come into existence.
Yet Kayen knew that he was supposed to have memories. For some reason, there were none to be found—as if someone had erased them.
Staring into the absolute darkness surrounding him, Kayen decided to explore it, feeling that perhaps at the end of the darkness, there would be answers to what was happening to him.
Kayen tried to move his body, wanting to venture into the darkness.
But there was no sensation at all.
He could feel no hands, no legs, no chest, no back.
Feeling this, Kayen began to panic. Without memories, and without a body, Kayen was nothing more than a mind staring into the void.
"Calm down… calm down…"
Kayen tried to steady himself. He attempted to take a deep breath, yet there was no air to inhale.
Realizing this, Kayen was left speechless. He had no idea what had happened for him to end up in such a state.
"What exactly am I?"
Just as Kayen questioned his own existence, from a distance—one he could not even measure—
A blue light appeared.
The light illuminated the darkness, yet it was clear that it was not strong enough to reach Kayen's position.
The blue light pulsed gently, sometimes growing larger, sometimes shrinking.
Kayen focused his attention on that light.
"Is that the answer?"
Kayen felt that it was. If he could reach that light, he believed he would know the answers to all his questions. But Kayen realized that he was merely a mind staring into emptiness.
As despair began to grow within him,
The blue light in the distance grew brighter than before. It continued to intensify, as if it were drawing closer.
In only a few moments, the blue light rapidly reached Kayen.
Kayen did not feel blinded by the light. He could see his surroundings clearly.
Within the blue light, Kayen felt all of his negative thoughts fade away, replaced by a sense of calm.
That calm also stirred drowsiness within Kayen.
Kayen felt sleepy.
"All this madness has made me tired. I want to sleep for a while."
Kayen slowly closed his eyes, preparing for this sudden rest.
As his eyes were almost completely shut, Kayen could feel that his height had increased slightly.
But it did not matter to him now. Kayen fell asleep.
In his sleep, Kayen could hear voices that felt familiar, yet also strange.
"Never give up."
"Apologize to your sister, Kayen!"
"Brother… don't leave me!"
Kayen immediately woke up. He felt sweat on his body and wiped it away with his hand.
"The two female voices and the one male voice in my dream seem to belong to my family. And it seems my name is Kayen."
Kayen felt that this was a good sign. His memories were beginning to return, even if they were still only in the form of voices.
Kayen counted on his fingers, trying to list the problems he still had.
"Who am I. Done. Next is figuring out where I am…
But how can I find out when I don't even have a bo—"
Before Kayen could finish his thought, he realized something new, aside from the memories that had surfaced in his sleep.
Kayen wiped away sweat and counted with his hand again.
He tried to move his neck, and he felt a sensation there.
Feeling this, Kayen tried to move his hands. He felt sensation in them as well.
Kayen then looked downward. He saw a body, complete with arms and legs.
Seeing this, Kayen felt joy.
Another problem had been resolved, and it was the most crucial one.
Kayen did not care how he had regained his body. What mattered was that it was there now.
Now, he needed to find out where he was and how to escape from this place.
But before Kayen could even try to move his newly regained body, the light that had been blue suddenly turned blood-red.
"What's happening?!"
The blue light was rapidly replaced by red light.
In just a single second, the blue light was completely overtaken by the red. But it did not end there.
In the distance, darkness had remained because the blue light was not strong enough to reach it. Yet the red light quickly illuminated that darkness—darkness the blue light could never reach.
The feeling of calm brought by the blue light was instantly replaced by something else.
As Kayen felt this change in sensation, he immediately screamed in pain.
"Aaagghhhh!"
Kayen immediately fell to his knees.
The feeling that replaced the calm was extremely complex.
It was like witnessing a majestic god—yet because the one witnessing it was only an ordinary human, they could not withstand the majesty radiating from that god, and could only scream in agony.