The damp and bleak air inside the armored car has caught up to Minoru, making him unable to breathe. He can hear them from not far away, the earth-shaking blast of bombs, the swooshing sound of bullets flying, accompanied by the faint smell of blood and gunpowder.

All around him, his comrades tremble in fear. Some drink to forget, some pray to their Lord, and some stay still and accept their fate. As for Minoru checks his camera for the last time before putting it down onto his lap and pulls out an old, beaten-up picture from his pocket.

The small amount of light from the windows shines onto the picture, revealing the image of a young girl wearing a kimono, standing inside a sea of flame with tears in her eyes.

"Minoru, it's time," one of his comrades says.

He quickly puts the picture back into his pocket and picks up his camera as the car's backdoors open.

"Go, go, go!" the Commander outside the car shouts.

Minoru sprints right out of the car as fast as he can and jumps into a nearby wall of sandbags. He opens his camera and peaks his head out of the wall.

The camera's viewfinder captured the scenery of war in all of its nightmarish glory. Bodies laying on the ground with their eyes wide open, the red color of blood dyed the entire battlefield, all the while bullets and bombs continued to rain. Yet, no matter how many times he sees these scenes through the eyes of a war photographer, he can't truly get used to them.

"H..help me!".

A faint voice strikes his ears. He turns to see a haunting image to his right. A soldier lying on the ground with their left hand blown off and his eyes fixed into the blue sky while gasping for air. But no one seems to notice him. The sound of bullets and light from the muzzle flashes has made them all blind and deaf to their own brother's fate.

But Minoru isn't blind nor deaf. He throws his camera into the ground and runs toward the dying soldier, dodging through a sea of leads. He runs and runs until the man is in front of him, close enough for him to crouch down to hold him into his arms.

"Can you still walk?" Minoru asks.

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The man nods. With that, Minoru swung the man's right hand over his shoulder and dragged both of them toward a nearby trench. With each step gone by, Minoru feels like he is walking away from life itself, but he still holds in his fear to get this man to safety. As he reaches the trench, he lends the man shivering body into the hand of his comrades and rolls into the ditch.

Woosh

Minoru doesn't know what just happened, but everything seems to fade away, the world slowly turning darker and darker until he collapses into the trench, dead with a bullet in his head.

He can no longer feel his body anymore. He knows it's there but isn't. He can't even see or smell anything; he is like an astronaut floating in the empty void of space. It feels so still, so peaceful that he thinks he can stay here forever. Yet somehow, he doesn't feel like he wants to rest. That's because he is enjoying his favorite song playing from within the void.

"Ground control to Major Tom…".

"Ground control to Major Tom."

Minoru doesn't know where the sounds are coming from, and he doesn't care. He wants to listen to them, and he wants them to guide him somewhere else.

"Did you live a full life with no regret?" the voice sings in the tune of "Space Oddity" by David Bowie.

"This is Major Tom to ground control, and I'm still standing at the door…." Minoru jokingly sings along.

"And I still want to continue my goal."

"This is ground control to major tom... where do you want to go?" the voice asks off tune.

"Someplace safe, someplace I can be free," he replies.

"And what do you want to be?".

"Anything…" he whispers.

"Then put your helmet on," the voice replies as it starts a countdown.

Five

Four

Three

Two

One

"May God's love be with you." the voice says.

At that moment, the black void surrounding Minoru explodes into a white horizon, sucking him into it.

Minoru wakes up from what feels like a long slumber. Will he turn into a bear if he sleeps for too long? He always wondered. His body doesn't feel like a bear or human; it just doesn't feel like anything. All he can perceive is the coldness of the ground with something small and slightly sharp touching his body.

Is it the grass or a hedgehog? Minoru doesn't know because everything around him is taking on the color of Vantablack. Why is it so dark, he wondered. Was he captured by the enemy and got thrown into a prison, or did something blindfold him?

He wants to see; he wants to know where he is right now. He wants it; he wants it; he desperately wants it. He begs his body and his eyes to let him see. And at that moment, he can feel something moving inside of him as if something like a pair of eyes is forming inside him.

The light slowly comes through his vision as Minoru opens his eyes. In front of him is a wall of rocks, with the ground infested by green grass and small puddles of water. Minoru shambles his body toward one to catch the reflection of his body in the water. He is a blue and soft jelly thing, smoothly rounded with human eyes awkwardly sticking out of its body.

"What am I?".