*The lady said she was my sister? I have a sister? I have a sister!*

I was unimaginably happy at that moment. I had found my first family and although those words were only a vague promise they meant the world to me.

In the span of a couple minutes, she had made my world. She gave me my first laughs and my first meal since I had woken. I felt this feeling in my chest. It was warm and I couldn't describe it with words. I think that was some congestion cause of the food.

The orange stuff she gave me was apparently food. I couldn't really describe it at that time but since it was the first thing that I ate I naturally liked it. I really don't know why she didn't want me to eat it at that time.

After watching me eat she had an expression of helplessness on her face. I didn't understand why she had that expression but I kept eating and finished. I looked back at her. She was looking at the sky. It was such a beautiful and horrifying sight. As if the sky was bleeding and the cloud, motionless and contaminated. It had an eerie beauty that gave you chills. A sky forever still.

But I was soon taken over by a feeling of sleepiness. The feeling of being filled inducing my sleep.

I tried to resist but it was futile. I slowly laid myself on the ground and closed my eyes.

...

I was back in the dark expanse.

Half light and half darkness.

Suddenly I see a girl in her teens with burning orange hair and a dainty figure. Her eyes were a deep red-orange and skin a healthy white. She wore a simple white dress that went all the way to her feet. It was as if she was made rather than born.

"Uuuuhhhh... Don't mind me. I'll be leaving now."

Then she vanishes along with the light that took up have of the expanse in my mind.

The entirety of the expanse that I wandered in was now dark. I saw no point in continuing motion either. The entire thing was pointless.

*I should just stay here and contemplate everything*

And so I did. I floated in the darkness in a fetal position. Just thinking.

But nothing came to mind and eventually it was silence. Everything was silence. Then I faded.

----------

*Where am I?*

*Oh yeah. Today is the conference, isn't it?*

*Ugh*

I jumped out of my bed and onto the floor. I stretch and then take a look around.

I look to the mirror on the wall of my room. And I see my figure. That of a healthy eighteen-year-old man.

I point to myself in the mirror.

"Oh yeah. Looking good me."

I walk into the bathroom to do my daily routine.

Brush my teeth. Shave my nonexistent facial hair. Take a shower. Admire myself in the mirror and my nonexistent facial hair. Flex in the mirror to reaffirm my confidence after realizing once again that I'll never have the facial hair of a man.

The usual. But today I had a conference. I had to wear something nice. So I walked out of the bathroom with my hygiene at its highest level and go to my closet. I proceeded to grab my nicest t-shirt and a pair of pants.

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"Ready."

I walked out of my room and into the living room to sit on a couch and be lazy.

*Today is supposed to be my lazy day. I don't wanna go to the conference. I already spend half my time researching and now they say it's for 'public morale'. Public morale my a--*

My sister entered the room and walked next to me. She sat down.

"Hey man. I know it's supposed to be your day off but you know that you gotta go. Don't look so down. You don't even have to say who you are. You literally find the new recruits and then you walk out of there with them. And I'll be with you through all of that."

Everything she said was right. I was complaining too much. I just walk in, wave, grab whoever I need to, and leave. No talking at the conference with a bunch of hotheads who want to claim our glory. Just the bare minimum.

I turn myself so I'm hanging off the couch. I can see the screen across from me and a table in front of my view.

"Yeah. You're right. I just don't wanna talk to all those pompous a--es. WE ended that damned war so they don't have a right to speak as they do."

"..."

She stared at me with pitiful eyes. I knew what she was thinking. I don't know how but I just knew. I looked at her from my upside down position.

Her black eyes and midnight blue hair. Her beautiful brown skin just like mine. We could've made a living off our looks but instead, here we were. In this small town, we accidentally turned into the most powerful place on earth.

I had to change the subject. I could see that she was about to comment again so I picked a random topic.

"So what are the new recruits going to be like. Are there any interesting ones or is it another batch of 'meh'?"

Her face changed visibly to one of interest. She seemed excited to talk about this.

"Actually that's why I came here. There was this one girl in the batch which stands out. It says that her gift is manipulation. At least that's what they called it on the report. When I looked into it she seems to be able to manipulate the world with the same energy that you use."

My expression changed to surprise and curiosity.

*Someone who can use and feel the same energy as me? That's a first.*

"Tell me her name. I'll pick her up personally."

"Oh. Her name is ..."

----------

Then everything turned to black.

I was back in the empty space.

*What was that? Who am I? I have to do something! I have to tell her!*

Then in front of me, I saw myself. But it wasn't really me. It was the me that I saw in that vision. That dream.

"You aren't supposed to know this yet."

His voice was almost ethereal. As if omnipotent.

"Wait. What am I! Who am I?!"

He looked at me and smiled. A gaze of pity.

"Wow. You're so childish. Like the purest version of me imaginable. I wish that you could stay like this forever.

He sighed.

"But you can't.

His face turned scary. Threatening.

"I locked away those memories for a reason. You can't know any of this yet. It's too soon. You have to have a fresh start. Autumn will be your biggest help.

"Knowing her she's probably talking to -your- sister. Right about now."

I look at him confused.

"Huh?"

He sighed once again.

"I thought I'd get that reaction."

He looked at me once again with a gaze of pity. This time the immense sadness in his heart could be felt.

"I'm so sorry that I have to do this."

He stared at me straight in the eyes and raised one hand.

A glow came from his hands. As if it contained the energy of the entire world in it. It seemed to break reality itself.

The expanse which I had to comfort me all this time was shaking, as if on the verge of collapse. I felt an impending feeling of dread.

The expanse started to shift. The black started to consume me. I didn't want this.

"N-No. NO! NNNNOOOO!"

He continued to look straight at me with his pitying eyes. Unfeeling.

I reached my arm out but the darkness took hold and ate it whole.

"Stop! I don't wanna forget! Please!"

At this point, tears were flowing. I was desperately struggling with the darkness that once comforted me. I didn't want to forget. I couldn't forget. This was my only clue to who I was.

"Please."

I was sobbing. My face was a mess and all I could see was his unchanging, unfeeling gaze. That cold gaze. The look of someone who had been seen countless deaths and created more than he had seen. The gaze of The Grim Reaper.

"I'm so sorry. This has to happen."

Everything was consumed except my head. The tears wouldn't stop. I couldn't move. There was no escape.

"I'll be seeing you soon enough though. I'll explain what I can then.

"Good-bye"

The white glow that surrounded his extended hand grew brighter. Until it was nearly solid.

Then he closed it. His hand turned to a fist.

It ate me whole. I was completely surrounded in darkness. Unable to move.

Then the pain started. The unending pain. It was worse than learning languages. As if my entire being was being thrown into a star forcefully bending and contorting to trap the most heat. As though wires in my brain were being forcefully pulled around and destroyed then rebuilt again. Over and over and over and over. Till I couldn't feel any longer.

Everything was as it was before. I drifted through the void. Ignorant of what had just occurred. The incident wiped from my mind.

My existence still unclear.