Chapter Text
𝗗𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝘆𝗲𝘀, 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗼𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲. 𝗔𝗺𝗶𝗱𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗼𝘀, 𝗮 𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗱, 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿...
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ℙ𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕖 𝔻𝕠𝕟'𝕥 ℂ𝕒𝕝𝕝 ℍ𝕚𝕞 𝕃𝕚𝕥𝕥𝕝𝕖 𝔹𝕣𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣
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"Don't be afraid."
That was the first thing ⱧɆ heard when ⱧɆ blinked, only to see a dark and cold hallway
As the вσу weakly raises hï§, hê could only utter
"What... is this place?"
"No matter what you see, you only need to remember one thing." The voice said
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"𝙔𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙚."
The BӨY felt a massive pang of confusion and loneliness as ΉΣ couldn't seem to 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜: 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙫𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚...𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨?
"Who... are you? And... who am I?" The b̶o̶y̶ asked in a hazy tone, as he turned to look behind ": Is that... where I came from?" He turned back to the path leading ahead "And where does this path lead?"
The b̷o̷y̷ attempted to use ᕼIᔕ legs to walk, trying to get used to...this...?
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As the b̲o̲y̲ walked a little further ahead, h̷e̷ looked surprised to see a white silhouette of a...𝙖 𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙣𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙮 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙢𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙪𝙢 𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙝 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙞𝙧 𝙨𝙩𝙮𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙖 𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙡 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙨. 𝙃𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙮𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬-𝙖𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙙 𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙚𝙛𝙩 𝙚𝙖𝙧. 𝘾𝙡𝙤𝙪𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙨, 𝙖𝙨 𝙬𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙮 𝙖𝙨𝙮𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙧𝙮, 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙤𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙛𝙞𝙩.
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"That... looks so familiar." The b̳o̳y̳ thought to h̲i̲m̲s̲e̲l̲f̲ "Does he want to lead me somewhere...? with a surprised and weary expression the boy followed the familiar white silhouette, the corners boy's eyes were filled with tiny snowflakes, but he didn't seem to prioritize that at the moment
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As the two reach the end of the metal hall, the white silhouette faded away, leaving the ßð¥ even more confused, but he decided to go through the opening and closing doors in front of him
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As he did, he saw two people there, presumably working
As the boy got closer to them, he over heard them saying
The boy got closer to them
"The life support pod is ready. There were only minor issues." A mechanic in a blue uniform said, informing a researcher in a cute, pink uniform
"That's great. Otherwise, that person from the Xianzhou might not be able to hold on much longer." The researcher said, leaving the boy in confused and a uneasy feeling
"You're still trying? There's no precedent for saving someone who was destroyed by a Lord Ravager. Will it even work?" The mechanic shrugged, the conversation seemed to make the boy even more eager, a feeling of worry to talk to them
"I'm not a genius, so I don't understand the logic behind it, but if 𝙨𝙝𝙚 says it's possible, then it must be, even 𝙝𝙚 agreed" the researcher said, the boy found the courage to talk to them
"...Excuse me, could you tell me where I am?" The boy said, but instead was left with silence, not even a glance from the two men "Huh...? Can they not hear me?" The boy muttered to himself
The two men still didn't answer, and that's when the boy decided to venture further, giving them one last glance before leaving to go up some stair, as he got up he saw a report
As the boy seemed intrigued by the report, he looked at it, only to see a.....𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙤𝙮 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙮 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚 𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙬 𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙧
The boy seemed even more surprised "This boy is..." he whispered subconsciously, as he went through the words written there
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Observation Log: Day 6
Though extremely rare, the observed subject has started to provide short answers for some simple questions, even though his cognition is still in a chaotic state.
From what has been observed so far, he is not incapable of composing long and complex sentences. However... An unbearably intense pain would immediately attack him with high frequency, enough to interrupt his thoughts or even render him temporarily unconscious.
The relevant information should be delivered to Madam Ruan Mei and Dr Ratio, for them to decide whether the observed subject's senses should be temporarily numbed before conducting a questioning.
Correction: We have temporarily blocked the subject's various senses and are trying as much as we can to alleviate their pain. No further questioning will be made until the body's repair has made some progress.
Until then, this is a record of the questions that the observed subject has already answered:
No. 1 What is your name?
The subject replied within three seconds: "Yanqing."
No. 2 What did you encounter?
The observed subject spent a substantial period of time in rumination before suffering from intense pain and losing their consciousness.
After being questioned four times, it can be confirmed that the observed subject knows about the related details, but struggles to elucidate that knowledge during the limited periods of coherence.
...
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And it just abruptly ended like that......
" "Yanqing"...What a familiar name. Do I know him?" He asked himself
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"Don't question it. Keep moving forward." that same male voice was heard
The boy perked up slightly at the same, but still sudden voice " It's you again. Who's talking to me?" He asked
As the voice didn't respond, the boy had again decided to go up similar stairs...leading him up, and that's when he saw weird 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠, 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙜𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙨 𝙙𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨
The boy seemed surprised at the weird and dangerous sight and aura of the enemies in front of him "These are..." The boy asked the voice, if it were still there
"These are wounds left by the Destruction. They have taken root within your body and cannot be removed." The voice said in a cold tone
"The Destruction? I don't understand..." He boy said, not understanding it nor it's origin "Please," The boy pleaded "who are you? And why won't you show yourself?
"I can't go to you. All I can do is wait for you to finish walking this path." The voice almost nonchalantly answered
"You want me to go through here? Do I have to... fight it?" The boy asked, the fighting idea coming from the fact he just now felt two weird, magical fans in his hands
"There's no need for that. It's too dangerous, and you can't do it anyway." The voice said casually "Don't fight it, embrace it. Try to coexist with it. Think of it as feeling your o̳w̳n̳ ̳s̳c̳a̳r̳s̳."
The boy looked even more confused, tho feeling a weird feeling in his body "My scars?" The boy's eyes widened as the monsters approached him "...Wait!?"
But as soon as the enemies readied a battle stance, they were suddenly weakened and a weird pink petal were swarmed around them, then floating down
"Is this called... coexisting?" The boy asked the mysterious voice again
"Don't worry. As I said before, you're not alone." The voice reassured
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It looked like the boy had no other choice but to raise his fans, as a frosty mist was spinning around his fans, and with a near swift move, ice spikes came from the floor of the metal like place, freezing the enemies, as other enemies came along, they too were inflicted with the icy spikes
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As the boy barely managed to defeat the enemies, he huffed as the enemies seemed to be broken and frozen, as soon as he got his breath back, he looked up, and an immediate despair was in his eyes as he saw more enemies, the same black one and two white and violet ones floating in mid air
He gasped "How can it be... Why are there still so many of them?" The boy noticed the ones behind him had healed and already were back on their feet "The ones from before weren't defeated either?"
The boy then saw a very tall 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙬𝙖𝙫𝙮 𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙞𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙚𝙛𝙩 𝙚𝙮𝙚. 𝙃𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙥𝙖𝙡𝙚 𝙨𝙠𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙧 𝙗𝙪𝙞𝙡𝙙, 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙝-𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖 𝙮𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙪𝙥𝙞𝙡𝙨. 𝙃𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙤 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙫𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙪𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙣 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙪𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙣 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚, 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙗𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙙𝙙𝙡𝙚, 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙜𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙤𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙤𝙥 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙥𝙪𝙧𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙟𝙚𝙬𝙚𝙡 𝙞𝙣 𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧. 𝙃𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙗𝙡𝙪𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙨, 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙜𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙡𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙧𝙢 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙗𝙡𝙪𝙚 𝙜𝙚𝙢𝙨...
The man had his arms crossed as he said "As I said before, you can't defeat them. No one can." he paused before saying
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"You can fall into the darkness and die alongside these scars of the Destruction." That more like sounded like a threat
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"Or bring them with you when you return to the world here. These are your two choices." He ended
The boy's eyes widened with realization as he understood the situations "Return to the world? What are you saying...?" The boy couldn't stop asking questions, tho he had a good reason
Without answering the boy, the tall man looked up and the boy's gaze followed.....only to see....𝙮𝙚𝙩 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚....And the true realization dawned on the boy....in his previous fight with the weird "Destruction" enemies, he caught glimpses of his hair, and even the long, messy ponytail from his hairstyle
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The boy's mouth was now slightly opened as he truly understood the true meaning behind this situation "....Is that boy...𝙢𝙚" tho the man didn't answer, the the answer was clear as day to the boy
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"Aah... No wonder those two ignored me.....Am I just a wandering spirit now?" The boy touched his shoulder, trying to feel if he's a ghost or not
The tall man hummed "Close, but not quite."
"So, I'm trapped between life and death, existing in a limbo?" The boy asked, in both amazement and shock.....just how did he get here?!
"You can think of it that way." The man said
"...Based on what you said, even if I should wake up, these wounds that caused my death will remain on my body and never heal?" The boy stopped for a second "I don't understand. You appear to be trying to save me, friend, but why are you telling me all this?"
""It's more of a habit of 𝙝𝙚𝙧. But I also believe everyone should have the right to choose whether they wish to return to this world or not." The man said, a subtle sympathetic tone in his voice
"Be that as it may, I don't remember anything. There's nothing to help me make a choice." The boy said, solemnly
"That doesn't matter. 𝙎𝙝𝙚 believe the desire to live was born from nothing to begin with." The man continued "You may also prove yourself to be the exception. I would also be pleased with that result."
The boy had a small pout on his look as he glanced at one of the enemies, then the body in the capsule "...How troublesome, but I suppose that's part of living." with that the man nodded
the boy began to slowly walk towards the capsule, making his choice "Survival or Destruction is no longer a choice for you. They both now grow along the same path." the man said
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The boy suddenly felt tiredness...or more like his eyes were forcefully closing? "And only by walking this path—"
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"Will you break through the darkness and arrive at my side." ....................The boy's eyes fluttered as he woke up, in that capsule he saw that body in
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There was a deafening silence before it was broken by the man's voice "Feeling more awake?" the man said, with a more relaxed face, especially when the boy looked down at him "Congratulations. You attained your very first victory in this tug of war. It's a good start."
"I... This is..." The boy..............𝗬𝗮𝗻𝗾𝗶𝗻𝗴.....or........𝗬𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝗴 looked speechless
"Let me explain." The man - 𝘿𝙧. 𝙍𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤 insisted, as he began saying "You were attacked by a 𝙇𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙍𝙖𝙫𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙧. By all rights, you should not have survived. But someone, whether that be fate didn't agree with that assessment, and it just so happens 𝙬𝙚 were able to fulfill their request."
"Were there other people....or innocent animals there...?" The boy asked, with a hopeful and worried look on his face
The doctor shook his head slowly "Even if there were, 𝙬𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬."
The boy's hope of anything or anyone not getting caught in the mess were washed away in worry "Why me...?"
Ratio looked at the boy "Because you were the most unfortunate. You fell into the hands of that 𝙇𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙍𝙖𝙫𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙧 who destroyed your body and spirit." He thought for a moment before saying "Yet in a twisted way you were also the most fortunate. Her desire to claim everything about you for herself meant she needed time, so you were spared instant annihilation." He assured him
The man's face turned serious in a second "There is only a fine line between resurrection and escaping death, yet they couldn't be more different. If you had truly died, we would be powerless to do anything for you." He stated
The boy quietly hummed, before realizing something about himself, or...the lack of it? " My body... feels strange..."
The doctor was quiet for a moment "I'm sorry. I can't let you regain your ability to feel just yet. You'd be in excruciating pain." He then continued, not sparring the boy to think about his answer "Your body was and probably still is contaminated by the Destruction and suffered severe damage. As I said before, these wounds will stay with you for the rest of your life." He sighed in a near shaky tone "To prevent its resurgence, the woman - 𝙍𝙪𝙖𝙣 𝙈𝙚𝙞 made some minor modifications to your body — or more specifically..... your ear are."
The boy got his answer to why he had been seeing snowflakes and frosty mist in the corners of his eyes "These...wings?" He had ice, or crystal like wings, resembling the Halovian's
The doctor hummed in agreement "They are beautiful, aren't they? But still you'll have to learn to adapt to it. Unfortunately, the inescapable price of survival is often more adversity." He explained
The boy smiled even if it was through a mass amont of pain "...Regardless, I'm grateful to you two for saving my life." He smiled sadly
The doctor sighed heavily as he saw the boy's smile, it even pained the man to see him in such an agonizing state, yet still smiling "There's no need to thank us, we felt it was unfair for a life like yours to slip away like that. Still with this, the debt between the traveling merchant and us is clear." He ended in suspense for the boy
The boy's smile quickly turned into a confused one " Who?" The boy asked.....then he suddenly felt tired again
Dr Ratio smiled awkwardly "Don't worry about it. You should sleep for a little longer. By the time you wake up, you won't remember any of these details. We'll arrange for someone to send you home, if you wish for that... which reminds me, you seem to have some dependable friends with close ties to you. You should go with them. It can only help with your recovery to hear more about your past." He finished
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Before the boy fully fell asleep he heard the man say one last thing, something reassuring
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𝘿𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙮, 𝙔𝙖𝙣𝙦𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙬𝙚'𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙮 𝙞𝙣 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙘𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪.
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At this point, past events revealed by the tuning recede to the darkness once more...