Suta POV

Within the eerie comforts of a fragile mind, Suta stirred awake.

"Hm? Why am I, wait, am I awake?" He asked himself before slowly lifting his heavy eyelids.

"Wait! Where the hell am I now?" Disoriented, he anxiously scanned his newfound surroundings. Finding himself inside of an elegantly furnished room, perhaps a study by the looks of the decor. The smooth tones of jazz carried through the otherwise stiff air. Beige walls covered in tall, oiled paintings surrounded him, creating an uneasy feeling as he observed their strange subjects.

"What's with these weird places having strange-looking paintings all the time…tsk!" He was convinced these fellows had bizarre tastes.

The soft music drew his attention back to the room. He lay against a soft leather lounge chair, his clothes no longer the rags he remembered, but a clean, dark blue kimono adorned with an intricate darker pattern against the sleeves. The sight of his bare brown feet brought a grimace to his observant gaze.

"Where are my shoes…better yet, where the hell am I?"

His first instinct was to check his appearance, hastily inspecting his own body.

"Okay, my hair and face are still the same...phew, then-that's a relief at least! I'm still Suta."

Next, he thought about his skills, quickly holding out his palm to summon his badge. But as he peered intently into his open palm, nothing materialized. "What the! It's not…it's not working?" He strained his gaze, but the expected swirling particles never appeared.

'Sigh, so something is definitely wrong here. Am I in another world again? N-no, I shouldn't be…then it's one of two things. Either I'm asleep, or I'm…gulp D-dead.'

The thought made Suta shudder, his mind vividly picturing falling feathers, the outcry of buzzards, and the large black bird hoisting him into the air.

"Damn it! D-did I actually die?"

This was beginning to look quite troublesome.

"Okay, it's not all doom and gloom. Let's look at the facts. A strange, elegant room, I'm dressed in a kimono, paintings…wait, the paintings! That's it!"

Suta rose to his feet and hastened towards the nearest wall, standing before a tall, exquisite oil mural. He narrowed his gaze questionably, not quite understanding what he was looking at.

"Dr-dragons?"

No, he thought almost instantly in response. It was a single dragon's body with five different colored heads. Beneath the sloped hill, Suta noticed eight figures in different colored robes. likely arcanists, judging by the floating books and strange staffs they held.

'They're up against a dragon with five heads? B-but what's that got to do with me"

Creaking

An eerie squeal of an opening door put Suta on edge. Not expecting that, he cautiously walked towards the slightly opened door. All senses telling him, you should absolutely not walk towards a strange door opening on its own, especially in a strange world.

He nervily peered around the opening. The lightless corridor beyond didn't fill him with confidence.

"Yeah, because that doesn't just scream 'problem,' does it?" He sighed to himself, understanding he had no choice but to enter.

As he passed through this quite clean and well-furnished room, his eyes briefly met a familiar vinyl record, stirring both recognition and horror as to why it was even there. Suta tried not to accept too much of his surroundings, unsure what was real or a fragment of his dreams at this point.

Stepping into the dark corridor, the atmosphere changed, the warm homeliness replaced by a frigid darkness that seemed to suck away every ounce of joy and light. Suta moved with caution, his gaze steady, hoping nothing terrible would jump out. And if it did, it wasn't instantly going to try and kill him.

'Feels like I'm walking on solid ground. I can just about see past my hands.' His feet echoed in the soft darkness as he walked, unsure of his destination.

Was he heading into danger, or moving further from where he needed to be? Somehow, the thick darkness wasn't as daunting as he first thought.

"I kind of get the feeling I've become less scared about these random occurrences. Not sure why, considering I can't even guarantee my own safety right now."

Suta wasn't under the illusion that his power was sufficient to ensure his safety, but he also felt less anxious about these mysteries as of late.

"To be honest, I hadn't killed anything until that ship incident. And I imagine that probably won't be the last…sigh. I wonder what kind of person I'll be by the time I reunite with my family again."

Scratching his head in deep thought, he understood the last thing he wanted was to become someone who would disappoint his parents. But seeing how the world had changed, he also had to face the reality of the situation at hand, it would be naïve to think he could remain the same after all of this.

'Maybe that's been my problem all along, unable to realize change is inevitable. Perhaps that's what's kept me from understanding Ringo.'

Suta still couldn't grasp why he felt like the one always in the wrong. He tried his best to keep people happy but nearly always ended up regretting it.

'Ergh! Why am I thinking about all of this now?' A headache threatened, so he shook his head to quell the noisy thoughts.

'What am I thinking? If everyone cared the way I did, we wouldn't have all these problems.'

Just like that, Suta decided that everyone else was the problem when it came down to it.

'Damn it, where the hell am I even going? If only there was light here, I'd take a small candle if that was an option right now.' As soon as those thoughts surfaced, a small freckle of green fire miraculously coiled into existence just ahead of his approaching footsteps.

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'Heh-heh! Talk about willing things into existence-eh.' He delightfully thought to himself. But before hastening towards the flame, Suta noticed a faint outline against the dense shadow ahead. Peering eagerly into the blanket of darkness, he grew increasingly assured that he was staring at something.

'It looks like some kind of, wait, I think I've seen that somewhere before. Yes, it's all flooding back to me now…I've…I've been here before.'

He pulled a distant memory from the vortex of fragmented thoughts jumbled in his mind. Suta recalled the strange occurrence at the cathedral, where the silver-haired elder touched him…'Then what happened next? Oh yeah! There was a little girl with bright scarlet eyes.' He reminded himself, he could almost guarantee this was the same eerie dark place he had bumped into that strange child before.

'And if that's true, this would make it my second time being here. Damn it! Th-this must be down to my own doing again.' Frustration kicked in the moment Suta realized this was of course, his unconscious doing once again. He was growing tired of this strange ability that reared its head at random times.

'There has to be some kind of science behind it, a formula at least, or at the very least a manual!' While he continued searching for answers he knew he wouldn't find in this dark corridor, he sensed something in the air, slowing his feet to a cautious approach.

'Wait a moment, is that a throne?'

A stone throne sat in the blanket of eerie darkness, half hidden in the sea of shadows. Suta observed the ominous thing in silence. It was grey stone, that was clear, with dark engravings carved into the back rest. He first massaged the bridge between eyes, half hoping this wasn't going to be a weird ritual. He was almost certain something else was here beside him, a thought proven the moment he took another step forward.

The clang of chains rattled in the darkness, drawing his attention to the vacant throne. Only a second look told him that too was a false assumption. From what he could just see, a ghoulish figure sat against the wide throne. Dark golden chains shimmered, casting a soft light beneath the shroud of darkness.

"Who goes there?" A gentle voice, serene as a tranquil lake, flowed into Suta's ears.

He froze on his feet. Searching through the darkness, but he found nothing. The voice called out again, this time seeming to emanate from the throne. Uneasily, he opened his mouth to respond.

"H-hello... c-can you hear me?" His voice croaked.

"Oh! So there is someone else here. Who are you?"

'Who am I? Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?' he thought half annoyed,

"Ahem! I... I'm Suta. Where are we? A-and why are you... j-just sitting there?"

"S-u-t-a... No, no... Tell me your true name."

'Wait, what? What kind of response is that?' He narrowed his brows.

"I just told you my name. What about yours?"

"My name... Well... I... I'm not sure myself. Why don't you give me one, Suta?"

If there had been light, one might have seen Suta's slightly arched eyebrow.

'Sigh... More weirdos to deal with.' He scratched the side of his head.

"Alright then. What are you - some kind of ghost, monster, or both?"

Nearly every interaction with these strange beings produced unfavorable results for him. Perhaps for once, he should take the initiative and call out their craziness.

His stern query drew a surprising, lighthearted chuckle from the girl in the darkness.

"You're funny, Suta. How about this - give me a name, and I'll answer any question you have for me."

Suta remained silent, not trusting anything mysterious, especially not a strange girl bound in golden chains. He gulped, dreading to imagine why she was restrained.

'Based on the theme so far, I better be careful.'

'What's the big deal with a name? Ugh, this is going to be a hassle, but I guess I have no choice but to play along. Names... I can't think of anything, except...'

"Elise?"

"No... Choose another," she said defiantly.

'Huh? You told me to choose, and now you're telling me to pick a different one? This is stupid.'

"Elise is all I've got. What's wrong with it, anyway?" He felt annoyed at how quickly she dismissed it.

"It doesn't feel... right. Choose another." Her downcast voice quieted his growing irritation. The soft rattle of iron links scraped against each other.

Suta was never good with nicknames, let alone proper names. If he remembered correctly, they were usually based on unique characteristics, religious superstitions, or simply appearance. Realizing he might have unintentionally found a way forward, he presented his thoughts.

"If I knew what you looked like, I might be better equipped to find the right name for you," he said casually.

After a few moments of silence, a lighthearted chuckle blossomed forth, followed by a gentle "Okay."

"Why don't you come closer and see for yourself?"

Suta frowned at the idea. "N-no thanks, I'm quite alright from here. Why don't you describe yourself to me?"

"Hmm... O-okay... Where should I start? I'm wearing a pale blue dress. My hair is very dark blue, almost black. Um... Let's see - oh, I have a thin frame but a modest-sized chest. My sizes are-"

"Okay, okay! That's enough!" Suta quickly interjected, feeling his cheeks turning hot.

"Ahem. W-why don't you tell me your eye color, then?" he asked, steering the conversation elsewhere.

"Oh, my eyes... I... I'm not quite sure. Could you tell me? Perhaps that might help us think of a true name."

Suta had to admit her pleasant, airy tone mixed with youthful naivety appealed to him. Of course, he didn't miss her continuous ploy to get him to approach, and no amount of positive feeling would bewitch him into thinking approaching someone chained to a throne was a good idea.

'I need to understand what's going on, so I guess I should entertain this a little.' He decided, and so he put on a false, charming smile and nodded in agreement. He walked forward steadily, counting each step, moving with a hesitancy masked by the smothering darkness.

'I don't need to be too close to her. I can stand at a safe distance and - Hm? What the hell is that...?'

After drawing close enough to carefully inspect the strange figure, he noticed something unmissable looming over her - a large, dark silhouette mounted behind the throne.

'Is that... a head?'

Judging by the outline and soft light gleaming against its side, he was almost certain he was staring at a massive skull, though there wasn't enough definition to be sure. But from a first glance, Suta was almost certain that was the head of a drag-

"H-hey, Suta... Where have you come from?" Her soothing voice freed him from his reverie.