It was interesting, to say the least.

Engulfed in a never-ending darkness, a seemingly empty void upon which no light existed, Tenmei didn't feel anything. Floating through the vacuum of black space, normally the very first emotion that would have shot through him was intense confusion as he tried to piece together where he was and what had happened to him. But the youth felt almost nothing, save for a light curiosity.

(("So. I died?")) Tenmei touched a hand to his chin.

Or at least, that was the presumed notion. The flash of light, the searing heat, the screams. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the white-haired youth had been struck by lightning. The storm clouds hanging over the school happened to strike at that moment and he met with an unfortunate demise, killed by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. As much as he wanted it to not be true, it was very hard to argue with the facts, especially sunce he was currently swimming through an infinite abyss with nothing but his own thoughts to keep him company. Luckily, or unluckily, Tenmei still had the ability to think freely.

(("But what now? Do I just exist here for the rest of eternity?"))

Time was impossible to keep track of within the given space, so Tenmei wasn't entirely certain as to how long he had been there. It could've minutes, hours, days, weeks, or even months, and he wouldn't be able to tell. Counting in his head didn't really help much either since after a few hours of doing it nonstop, he nearly drove himself insane.

Heck, he nearly went crazy anyway.

It was only when a light at the end of the tunnel appeared that he managed to keep his sanity, a literal pinprick of light entering the pitch black void.

This small dot was about the size of a needles tip, but it was bright enough for Tenmei to notice the moment it spawned into the space, like someone had poked a whole in his dark bubble. Its dim glow washed over the black-haired teen, red hues locking onto it. Without missing a beat, Tenmei attempted to make his way over to it, to try and get a better look, eager to see what the source of said light was. However, even with his best efforts and the 'distance' he traveled, he was unable to reach it, or even get a tad closer to it, remaining far out of his reach. It was as if it was a star, a gorgeous ball of light and heat untouchable by the mere humans who resided on Earth.

(("Wait. IS that a star?"))

Right on cue, another speck of light blazed into existence, one just a tad brighter than the previous. Then another one appeared shortly after. Then another. Then another.

The small amount of Itty specks rapidly became a wave of dots as they wrapped themselves around the empty void, taking the shapes of various constellations that Tenmei had seen countless times with Markus and Emilona. Before he could properly process all of it, turning his head and whole body in all directions to watch the newly birthed stars, the whole area was covered in shimmering lights.

(("They ARE stars!! The Ursa Major. Cassiopeia. Orion. Canis Major. Centaurus. Crux. Carina. They're out of place and scattered, but they're here!!"))

Gazing at the seemingly thousands, maybe tens of thousands of stars now lining the sky, Tenmei could only gawk at them, his mind wandering as much as his eyes. A scene flashed through his head, back to a time when he was six, when Markus and his parents had gotten him an expensive telescope for his birthday. Unwrapping it and seeing it in all its glory, the youth had wanted to go outside immediately and try it out, despite it having still been the middle of the day. Tenmei's dad had to, at the time, lock it up somewhere so the child in question didn't get any funny ideas about using it. Ever since then, astronomy had ensnared Tenmei, reeled him in, hook, line, and sinker.

Not astrology, though. Just the mention of it was triggering.

(("Wish I had my telescope with me,")) Tenmei mused. (("Mom would have loved this."))

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The reminder that he was dead hit him like a truck, the reminder that he would never again see his mother's smile, to watch his two friends get into fights over who would eat the last applesauce, to listen to Imagine Dragons while lounging about at home or on the schools rooftop. Just like before, he didn't experience any intense negative emotions like he was supposed to, the frustration and sadness that should have followed the realization never bothering to show up. The only feelings that remained within him were soft happiness and warmth at his past memories. The famed 'life flashing before the eyes' bit making its debut.

It was around that time that gravity kicked in. Literally.

At first, Tenmei felt nothing, just flowing through the starry space, lost in thought. Then came the sensation of falling, an odd feeling where the teenagers gut felt as if it had repositioned to his chest, only without any sort of wind blasting in his face. The stars rushed past him, turning from pricks of light into streams as Tenmei was hurled downwards at an unbelievable speed.

Unsure of how to react, the youth squeezed his eyes shut, blocking everything out as the feeling of free fall continued.

Somewhere along the way, voices began talking from the void, some that sounded like him and others that came from people he had never heard in his entire life.

"Tenmei Hugo, you're the one who will save this world from destruction."

"You're nothing but a child stumbling in the dark. What do you expect to accomplish?"

"Do you really think you can lead these people?"

"How am I supposed to fight against destiny when everything feels set in stone? What's the point in fighting something that's already meant to happen?"

Voices. Images. Words. So many things Tenmei had never even seen before flashed briefly through his mind before fading entirely, as if they had never existed in the first place. Opening his eyes, the young man was just in time to see some sort of ground rushing towards him like a bullet train. Closing his red hues once again, Tenmei braced for impact, his mind and senses going blank just as it had when he had been struck by lightning.

A minute passed. Two. An eternity seemed to elapse.

When he eventually opened his eyes, the environment had changed completely.

First thing Tenmei noticed were the stars. They were still present, but only a portion of them existed within his view, the space from before having shifted to an actual night sky complete with a moon and tiny puffs of white clouds. Unknown entities that appeared similar to birds flew on by, their strange calls being the very first thing the black haired individual heard, though it was far from the weirdest thing Tenmei had heard within the last 24 hours. His attention back on the stars, the thing that really threw him for a loop was the lack of any recognizable constellations, save for some major ones like the Sagittarius and Scorpius. Back home, taking into account the time of year, factoring in the day and month, all of the stars should've aligned within a set pattern in his head. It didn't, meaning he wasn't in New York.

He also wasn't dead since he could now feel everything.

Every ache in his body, the sound of his own heartbeat thundering in his ears, the sensation of rather lengthy grass tickling his neck and ears. Reasonably, if he was truly dead, he wouldn't need a heartbeat and most likely wouldn't feel pain.

Letting out a breath, Tenmei tensed his muscles slightly, not in any hurry to move about. Dealing with an unknown situation, it was best to approach it with caution.

Moving his head, Tenmei looked around as quickly as he could without making any drastic movements. Every detail was noted, nothing escaping his red eyed gaze. From what he could see, he would draw a conclusion and then use that before forming an action.

He was in a forest, or at the very least in a dense area where trees were prominent. On all sides, a dense collection of woodland rose up from waves of intricate foliage, grass, bushes, and even some hints of fruit Tenmei had, again, never seen before. The young man himself was situated in the very center of these trees, within a small clearing that didn't possess anything except lengthy strands of grass. As far as he could see, there wasn't any signs of immediate danger, but the lack of any buildings only further affirmed that he was no longer within his home state of New York.

For that matter, if he was to judge his location by star placement, he wasn't anywhere within regular Earth.

(("Not complaining, I guess,")) Tenmei said as he maneuvered himself into a sitting position. (("At least I'm still alive."))

It was a bit dark but the moon provided enough light for Tenmei to see. After checking his own body, patting himself to make sure nothing was missing or broken, the youth finally acknowledged the thing next to him he had ignored up until that moment.

Namely a large, very light orange egg with solid orange polka dots scattered over its surface. It was about 43cm tall standing up and was currently propped against Tenmei's extended leg.

"An ostrich egg?" Tenmei spoke aloud for the first time since his 'death', his voice box working just fine despite having been struck by lightning. "No, this thing is the size of a dinosaur egg. If it's even an egg at all."

Knocking on its surface, the black-haired teen carefully observed the egg-shaped object, both confused and curious as to what could lay inside of it. Obviously, he wasn't going to do anything drastic just In case there was actually something living on the inside, but he definitely thought about it for a few seconds. Attempting to lift it up, the egg was actually much lighter than he initially expected, only weighing about 2 or 3 kg, about the average weight of a newborn baby. Shifting it to one arm, Tenmei made sure it was snug.

"I guess you're coming along with me for the time being little guy," Tenmei muttered. "We're both alone so let's make the most of it. At the very least you'll make a good breakfast if you're just a regular egg."

There was only one direction that Tenmei could take. Well, one that made sense anyway.

During his initial scan of the area, and even now, the young man had spotted a series of lights that didn't belong to the stars, moon, or really anything that belonged in the standard forest. Whether it was a campfire, city, or something else entirely, there would at least be some kind of entity there. If he was lucky, Tenmei could find out where he was and confirm some theories that were now circling through his head. It wasn't as if he had anything to lose by doing so after all.

"You know what they say about dying right?" Tenmei asked the egg as he made his way forward. "Something about you can only do it twice?"