Mican felt as if he was free-falling through the air after entering the portal, the only difference was that he did not feel any resistance in the form of air or gravity. He could only tightly shut his eyes in an attempt to regain his bearing, being completely unable to tell which direction was which as he continued falling.

After a hesitant few seconds, the young man cautiously opened his eyes and took stock of the scenery around him.

Mican felt as if he had exited the earth’s atmosphere and had entered space. An endless inky darkness covered Mican’s field of vision, as far as the eye could see.

Anxiety washed over Mican, nearly overwhelming him, he who had experienced such a drastic change in his perception of reality in such a short span of time. Though simultaneously, he felt wonder.

This sight was one he had never imagined he would have seen in his entire life, and it filled him with a sense of mystery and adventure. As Mican chose this path himself, he was swift to adapt to his circumstances.

Surveying his surroundings, Mican noticed a shining light directly above his head. The source of the light was a bright, golden orb. The orb seemed to be made entirely of light, being transparent in nature, shining like a bright star in the abyss.

Looking inside of the orb, Mican noticed a familiar glass cup, surrounded by partially melted ice cubes and a bit of water. Everything inside the orb seemed to be as if it was suspended in the air.

The glass cup was the one that Mican had thrown into the portal a few seconds ago, for the purpose of testing for any potential danger.

The sphere emitted a trail of golden light, the end of the trail just barely a few meters away from the young man’s head. Keeping his eye on the sphere and its contents, it became apparent to him that he was not free-falling or changing directions, but that he seemed to be moving in a certain direction as if the sphere was leading him somewhere.

He still could not tell what direction he was moving in, or if there even was a direction without gravity, but he was indeed moving, following closely behind the orb of light.

Mican could see nothing but darkness in the space, outside of the light, and he couldn’t feel the resistance of air or gravity weighing down on his body.

Perking his ears up, he listened for any sounds, but he was met only with complete and utter silence. There was not a single sound in the darkness, silence to the point it was unnatural, and the young man would have felt as if he had gone deaf if not for the sound of his own breathing which echoed in his ears.

Mican’s shoulders instinctively shrank, and his fingers curled into a fist as he felt a chill run down his spine. The situation was unnerving to the young man.

After a minute or so of inspecting his surroundings, Mican decided to reconfirm his bodily functions.

Calming his lungs, the young man deeply inhaled through his nose, and then slowly exhaled through his mouth. Repeating the constant motion, Mican discovered that he had no troubles breathing, and he felt his heart pumping steadily in his chest with each breath.

After thoroughly inspecting his entire body, the young man shifted his left arm to feel his face.

Wshoom!

A shock blew through Mican’s mind as he blasted through the space at a rapid pace, spiraling through the endless void in an unknown direction.

“Argh!” a scream instinctively erupted from the young man’s mouth as he spun rapidly.

With there seeming to be no resistance, the spinning did not seem to stop. The world spun in Mican’s eyes, the golden light circling his vision again and again.

Seeing his body moving yet not feeling resistance, a bile rose up and spewed forth from his mouth like a geyser. The sudden scream and sound of vomiting echoed out throughout the endless void, filling the dead silence with noise.

Seeing the golden sphere flying further and further out of vision, Mican instinctively realized that he had to do something, before he lost his only sense of direction in the void. The sense of urgency overcoming his shaken thoughts, the young man shut his eyes tight. He began inhaling through his nose and exhaling through his mouth.

After a few long seconds, Mican’s thoughts calmed enough to think properly. He understood that there was no gravity or air to feel nauseated over, as with his eyes shut, he felt as if he was standing completely still, not feeling his own body moving.

Forcing himself to think rationally, Mican quickly looked for any differences with now as compared to when he was steadily trailing behind the shining sphere of light. He could only think of one, and it was movement. When he was following behind the sphere of light, his body was completely relaxed, and the blast only occurred after he made a swift and sudden movement.

Giving his full attention to his breathing, the young man methodically continued his breathing technique, attempting to soothe his pounding heart.

With his eyes closed, Mican could see nothing, and his other senses seemed to strengthen exponentially. He could vividly hear constant rhythm of his panting and feel the fabric of the clothes on his body.

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Focusing on his senses, the young man became aware of another urgent problem creeping up on him. It was getting more and more difficult for him to breathe.

Mican’s hands instinctively shot up to his throat, and his eyes flew open once again.

Mican once again blasted through the void at an incredible speed, his body rapidly spinning clockwise. In his spinning, the young man caught view of the orb of light yet again. It was far above him, moving in the same direction he was, but he seemed to be falling. At his speed it would not take long for the light completely disappear out of his view, into the endless murky darkness.

Mican instantly shut his eyes and slowed his breathing. While it was getting difficult to breathe, it was not to the point he could not breathe yet. Calming himself with that thought, the young man relaxed every muscle in his body, and began a countdown of ten seconds in his mind.

Ten… nine… eight… seven… six… five… four… three… two… one…

Panic arose several times but was forced down by Mican who knew full well that if any further mistakes were to be made, there would be no next time.

After finishing the countdown he slowly opened his eyes, surveying his surroundings. Darkness took up the vast majority of his vision, but a small light shone in front of him, reminiscent of a star in the night sky.

Focusing his gaze on the light, Mican stared at it unblinkingly as he floated in the void, his body completely lax. The picture would almost have come off as comedic if not for the ever-encompassing darkness that loomed over the young man, threatening to swallow him whole.

The light seemed to expand in the void, and the outline of the light grew larger and larger as Mican realized the distance between the two was rapidly closing. He sped towards the light, until he was able to make out the shape of the orb and its trail.

He slowed down as he got closer to the sphere, and its light washed over him. The difficulty he had with breathing faded away as if it was an illusion.

The man sucked in deep mouthfuls of air, following as closely as he could behind the sphere. With his newfound discovery, several conjectures arose in his mind relating to the nature of the light.

The orb was the only source of light in the endless darkness, it seemed to have a clear destination, and it provided Mican with the air required to breathe. It was essential to his survival in the void.

Only, why did it encase the glass cup and its contents? The only correlation that Mican could make on this topic was that the cup had entered the portal first, and him thereafter.

Thinking further on this note, the portal immediately began closing at an intense rate after the entry of the glass cup, as if the portal was only allowing a single object or entity to enter. Whatever the case, the only thing Mican could do was follow behind the sphere of light, until he was to reach its destination.

. . .

Time passed by slowly while travelling through the void. Mican had counted around fifteen minutes, but to him, it felt much longer than that.

Shifting his body to-and-fro, Mican sped through the void alongside the golden light. He tilted his body left, and moved over the orb, then right, to repeat the action again. He had become much more proficient in the skill, having been given time to adjust.

The man continued to practice his flying skills, while inspecting the orb. He had felt the urge to touch his, but if didn’t know what would happen, and if it were to be destroyed then he would have his life thrown away. As he flew, his eyes unwillingly flickered back and forth from the darkness.

Mican occupied his mind with the ball of light and his flying skills, as if he didn’t, he would feel a dread creeping up on him from the endless, silent void. This precaution was being steadily eroded with time. Fifteen minutes of complete and utter silence were giving rise to all sorts of horrible imagery, intruding into his head.

After five more minutes, after Mican had run out of thoughts and his mind was beginning to turn to paranoia, there was finally a change in the void.

A light appeared on the young man’s far left. It was a golden light similar to the one Mican had in front of him, and it appeared like a star. The light was far but approaching at a startling speed. It quickly grew close enough for Mican to make out a trail just like the one in front of him.

Noticing the light, Mican’s breathing quickened. His head rapidly swung about, and his eyes narrowed in the darkness. Surveying his surroundings, he noticed four other lights identical to the one on his left.

One was far above him, one was far below, and two were fairly close together on his right. There were five lights in total, not including Mican’s.

The young man immediately took note of the several similarities between them. They all emitted a golden light, a trail, and took the shape of an orb. He vividly noticed that all of the orbs appeared to be of the same size and were multiple times larger than the one in front of himself.

The most prominent similarity the orbs shared, including his own, was that they were all headed in the same direction. After a little while more of inspecting the orbs, he noticed that they were all approaching him, as if akin to birds in formation in a migrating flock.

Mican warily watched the orbs as they grew close enough for him to inspect their contents. The young man could make out vague human outlines inside of the orbs. After a little while, the orbs stopped approaching Mican and kept a fair distance of around five meters from each other.

Viewing the orbs from an outward perspective, Mican noticed that they were flying in the shape of a hexagon, slowly spinning counter-clockwise.

As the orbs stayed in constant motion, Mican released some of his caution and flew over to inspect them closer.

There was one person for each orb, five in total. He counted three men, and two women. Curiously, all five of them were hunched over inside the spheres of light, hugging their knees. As they were like this, he could not properly see their faces. Mican could not hear the sound of breathing, or any sound inside of the orbs for that matter, but the slow rising and falling of their chests proved that they were alive.

A grey, cable-knit woolen sweater on one of the woman. A pair of winter fleece track pants on one of the men. A silver ring on the index finger of another.

Examining the articles of clothing on each person’s body, Mican found that he recognized them. He wasn’t good with brands and couldn’t identify most of the clothing, but the ones he did recognize all seemed to prove that these humans were ones from his own world.

This lessened Mican’s caution by a large amount, and he floated back to his own orb to ponder. All of these people being from his own world proved a clue. Gerald was also from his world, and had Mican not noticed the appearance of the portal before Gerald had arrived, it would likely have been him falling through the portal, which would have grown dim by then. He would likely have been in the same position as these men and woman, hugging their knees inside of an orb.

Many thoughts arose in the young man’s mind, and he needed time to digest them. Following his routine in moments of crisis, he examined the orbs for any immediate problems, and did indeed notice one.

Why were all five of the individuals in a seemingly deep slumber?