-Caelum-

It is hazy. Misty. Filled with obscurity. That is what I see before me. A quiet realm full of fog and ambiguity. Below me, I feel a cold platform made of a smooth surface. I gently touch the outer outlines of the surface with my hands.

…It is narrow.

A path? It must be. It can not be anything other than a thin path if I’m able to fully grasp its width.

Below it… what’s below this path…?

A soft, ethereal feeling… As if putting your hand into a basket full of dry ice. Yes, that is what it feels like…

What about the smell? What does it smell like?

It’s cold. A cold sensation running through my nostrils as I draw each breath. It has no ‘smell’. It’s like smelling that basket full of dry ice. Yes, that is how it feels.

And me? What about my body?

I’m… intact. I can feel my hands, my feet, my face. I’m able to see, hear, smell, touch, and taste.

My hand slowly gravitates towards the center of my chest, as if it’s being pulled by strings…

…My chest is intact.

I feel it once more. Rubbing it continuously, as though trying to wipe something off it.

With each rub, dozens of memories fly through my mind.

I see myself in a forest, walking through the foliages with a bright smile on my face. To me, it looks as if I am observing myself as an invisible third person. The sight seems as if someone had overlayed a stained dark brown paper over my eyes.

At one point, I see something laying on the ground. As I reach out to grab it, someone walks towards me from behind whilst holding a silver sword in his hand. I turn around, and is suddenly pierced by the blade…

“Gaaagh!”

Within this misty world, I firmly grasped my chest, and gasped for air profusely. I jolted upwards, clumsily bringing myself to my feet. I was wearing my sweat-drenched white blouse that clung onto my skin alongside my black pants. Upon standing upright, as I slowly regained control over my breathing…

…My memories returned. All I could see in my mind was the maniacal smile etched on Lunar’s face as he plunged his sword into my chest deeply. My eyes widened as I planted my right hand onto my face. My body trembled with the realization of my circumstance.

I was… dead. And Lunar had killed me.

That is what happened. That is what I remembered.

My mind was gradually being filled to the brim with thoughts. Lunar had been my friend for over five years. I always had the closest relationship with him. He always seemed like a ‘mentor figure’ to me alongside my bro…

…No… Am I… really dead? No no no no no! Not like this! Please…! Why… N…no!

Not a second passed, and I crumbled onto the ground as soon as Vaelen’s face crossed my mind.

Everything I had worked on, every surrounding wall that once served to be broken by me… vanished. Emory vanished, Vaelen vanished, ‘I’ vanished…

Everything was gone.

Was that it? My life hadn’t even started. I had finally learned about how life can be towards anyone… Emory showed me that truth…

…Just like that?

My thoughts were buried under the sounds of my lament. Tears strolled out of my eyes like an unstoppable waterfall. I repeatedly hit the surface with all my might… venting out the frustration of my lost potential. My lost chances…

It felt useless. No, ‘I’ felt useless. How could I allow myself to die like this? Seriously, how?!

It seemed as though a crimson red swirling energy radiated within by body. Gradually growing larger and larger with each collision I made with the surface. I repeatedly shouted “It’s not fair!” to myself, my voice echoing throughout the infinitely hollow realm.

And eventually, I screamed my soul out. I never thought I was able to create such a visceral, haunting sound. But I did. A scream someone standing within the realm of the dead whilst staring at the living world, lamenting his own loss, his chance, his potential, could only produce. I was lost in my own self. Completely abandoning my awareness.

It was not impossible that I could have been the only person within this place. I could hear a voice sounding right behind me.

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“…Welcome, Caelum.”

That voice sounded very identical to mine, but slightly deeper. With my face covered in tears, I slowly turned around.

…He looked very identical to me. He was dressed in an black suit, with a black ulster coat covering his shoulders. His hair was longer, and he was growing some hair on his chin. His eyes were green, just like mine, but they seemed… more narrow. Nobody would question me twice if I were to tell them that this person was my older brother.

But, eventually, I started to understand. This was most likely ‘me’, but… different. Perhaps a symbolic representation of death, having come to take me to the place I would spend eternity in.

However, behind him… a second ‘me’ appeared. Slowly walking towards the first ‘me’. He looked identical to the ‘me’ of ten years ago. Significantly smaller, a much more youthful face, and his hair was a lot more shorter and less curly than mine. He was dressed in a loose white shirt that blended seamlessly with his billowing white pants. Unlike the first ‘me’ and myself, his skin was olive… just as it had been in the past.

That solidified my belief that they were the angels of death, or servants of the afterlife coming to take me.

“I’m dead, aren’t I? That’s why I’m seeing the two of you.”

My voice sounded a lot more… calm and collected. I still felt as turmoiled as when I was hitting the path, but I had already used up all of my emotional energy, and could not bear exclaiming anymore.

However, the first ‘me’ smiled as he tilted his head to the left.

“You are not dead yet.”

“…Wh…?”

Not dead yet? What kind of nonsense was that?

I ‘knew’ I died. I could remember it vividly. This angel of death telling me that I wasn’t dead seriously confused me. I was most definitely ‘transported’ into the world of the dead, it could not be otherwise. However…

…why did he sound so collected? As if he knew I would question his words, but he had something under his sleeve that would undoubtedly convince me.

As I stared at him with a slightly opened mouth, the younger ‘me’ stepped forwards, and reached his palm out to me.

“Come, take his hand,” the older ‘me’ said, as the younger ‘me’ repeated his words but in a childlike manner. I let out a deep sigh through my mouth, and lowered my head, aimlessly staring at the stone surface.

“Right… They say that everyone relives their memories before they die. Right? Is that what is happening? Is that why you’re both here?”

I then raised my head to meet the older ‘me’’s eyes.

“Are you an angel of death?”

He took a few moments before answering.

“I am you, Caelum. It appears you have gotten quite lost, haven’t you? You’ve been struggling with accepting your reality, your true self, and how the world around you truly operates.”

His words struck a deep chord within me. I did not even address the elephant in the room, his claim of actually being ‘me’. No, he made me relive the moment I stood in my bedroom, right before I had that heartfelt conversation with Vaelen.

I began to cry once more. He gently patted my right shoulder as younger ‘me’ stared at me with curious eyes. And with a soft tone, he said,

“It’s okay. Take as much time as you need. You won’t be disturbed here.”

“Why… did I have to die…”

“There is somewhere we need to go,” he responded calmly.

“Where? Is it Hell?” I asked, wailing. “Is that where I will eventually go? I haven’t lived my life as I should have! I never cared for… for the…”

“Hell is not a place for us to go,” he responded. “We will simply go back to our past. So yes, we will relive some parts of our memories. You seem to be lost right now, and we’re both here to help you.”

“Help me?” I asked, my eyes slowly illuminating with hope. He concurred with closed lips, and added,

“You may wonder why you were killed, no?”

“Why did he do that?” I asked without hesitation. I could not possibly come up with a reasonable explanation of his actions… We never fought with each other, not even once. And on top of that, something like this seemed so out of character for someone like Lunar. I could not wrap my head around this, and it seemed that the older ‘me’ understood this.

“…Remember when you tried to summon your Grimoire and collapsed? Within that dark castle, you met that woman, didn’t you?”

“…Yes… I did.”

He chuckled.

“Standing here as I am asking you this feels as if I am reliving my memories as an active observer. I am ‘you’, but from the future. I am the ‘you’ who accepted ‘Her’ as his Mother, and understood my role in life.”

…So this was truly me. But me from… the future? Is this the person I would have become if I didn’t get killed?

But he also mentioned that he was the ‘me’ who accepted that woman as his Mother. So would that mean that he is the ‘me’ I would become if I accepted her?

Suddenly, I remembered the moment when I was ‘killed’ within that dark castle. She killed me, but she repeatedly mentioned that I was ‘immortal’.

…No, that can not be. Surely not…

“…Why are you here?” I asked, slowly regaining my composure.

“I am here for the same reason he is here,” he said, glancing at the younger ‘me’, who began to smile with closed lips.

“We want you to be free, Caelum!” he said with a joyous tone. “Is that not what you always wanted? To be free like a bird in the sky?”

“…To be free…” I muttered, aimlessly staring into his eyes.

“Yes! To be free! We are here to make you free!”

“How do you feel about the life you have lived, Caelum,” the older ‘me’ chimed in, still grasping my shoulder.

“My life…”

“Come,” he said. “Let us take a look into our memories.”

The younger ‘me’ reached his hand out to me once more, and eventually,

I held his hand.