Yuuya’s mouth dropped open, leaking inaudible sounds. All his excitement and rising adrenaline had vanished in a flash, replaced by utter shock.

He was alone in the classroom, benches and seats strewn about, and the sun shined in as usual.

“What… the … actual...,” Yuuya cursed, rubbing his eyes as he regarded the scene before him. His rationality back to him, all that was left was an empty classroom, and an experience no one would believe. He couldn’t just tell people that lightning circles had arrived and zapped his friends out of existence. The cuckoo house would be where he’d get summoned to.

And so, Yuuya resorted to absolute denial.

Because it was simply impossible, logically, that it could possibly have happened. Leaving out the matter of his rejection, it was impossible for something like this to happen, ever.  There was no burnt smell, no residue that indicated that there were previously seven healthy teenagers here, chatting and wasting time.

But his memories told him otherwise.

He precisely remembered the scene of Shizuka turning to him, her hand stretching to him. He remembered Hideki trying to break out of the force field, he remembered Satoshi trying to protect himself. The lightning, the bright light, it was still in his vision, having happened merely seconds ago. How could it be possible that it was all merely an illusion?

Their bags were strewn about, books spilling out, further confirming Yuuya’s memories.

Yuuya raised his head slowly, where the lightning circle had begun appearing.

And he gasped.

Up there, on the roof, was a circle. Not the circle of lightning, but the opposite. A black circle, the same as that of the one that had appeared moments ago. Ash fell from the black circle, the black circle that had been burnt on to the roof.

It really had happened.

This was not a dream… It was… It was too real. He pinched himself, only to wince. He did not understand what to do, and stood there, gaping all the while.

The sound of concrete breaking entered Yuuya’s ears. Shocked, he turned to look at the windows. His eyes widened as he looked at the walls breaking. The broken rocks flew into the sky, completely ignoring the laws of gravity. Yuuya felt too surprised to even muster a few words.

And then it hit him.

It was like a hammer had smashed into his side, knocking the air out of his lungs. It pushed him out, directly through the hole that had opened up. His vision turned into a blur of colors as he felt the urge to throw up. He was flying, flying from the force that struck him. His limbs were like branches flapping in the wind, the wind itself like blades as it whipped past him. Within moments, he was outside the hole that opened up in the wall, floating dozens of meters above the ground.  He… was about to fall.

But then he felt himself being pulled.

Being pulled upwards. Like the broken concrete, Yuuya flew towards the sky. He tried to grip onto something, but what met his hands was only air. Within seconds, he was well above the building, flying towards the sky.

Turning to look at the sky, he could see a golden spot high above in the sky. And Yuuya flew towards it. The spot flickered, changing into the image of a dense forest. A forest with an unearthly golden mist floating around it. He could see birds of unknown species cawing as they fled away, out of the range of this vision. And then it flickered again, returning to the churning golden mass.

But this was merely the beginning. Within seconds, the entire eastern sky turned a stark red, like the beginning of an apocalypse. The skies rent apart, and an inhumanely strong pressure descended upon the world. A pressure that made Yuuya feel as if his innards were being crushed to paste, like he was just a balloon, squeezed by powerful arms.

The wind whipped against his blazer, shredding it. He gasped for breath as the air got thinner. Thinner, as he approached the golden spot that seemed to welcome him.

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The spot got closer and closer, with Yuuya being only about three meters from it. His blood was rushing to his head. He could hear his heart pounding loudly, and his entire body weakening. He needed… He needed air.

Drawing in a deep breath, Yuuya plunged into the golden spot.

***

What met his eyes was a field of white. Till the ends of the seemingly infinite space he was in, it was all white, white like fresh snow. Yuuya hurtled through the space, unable to control anything, even his body. Even though his eyes told him that he was in an endless space, he had the distinct feeling that he was inside some sort of tunnel. And the tunnel led somewhere.

He struggled to open his eyes, the bright light stinging his eyes like acid. And now, the terror set in. Yuuya was scared, terrified. A lot of weird things were happening, and he landed smack right in the middle of it. Shizuka was gone, the others were gone, and now even he was gone. Worse, he was not zapped by lightning, which strangely seemed more preferable now. He struggled to make sense of what was happening, but was unable to. All that existed was an expanse of whiteness.

However, he could now see some more things amidst the spotless space. Chunks of rocks, like boulders floated around. There were also chunks of concrete. Yuuya had the feeling that this wasn’t from his school. Rather, it was much larger, much more precious than those of his school. He spotted the side of a building floating around, and the occasional lamp post. Once, Yuuya thought he saw a person. Floating behind a rock, a body, or what seemed like it. He rubbed his eyes, unwilling to believe it.

The strange thing was that even though he was hurtling at breakneck speeds, there was no wind whipping past him. There was no air here, nothing of any kind. Yet, he could breathe.

Then, at the end of the tunnel he hurtled through, something moved. Shocked, he realized that it was a tree. Stretched and wrecked, the humongous tree flew towards him, spinning as it did so. Panic flared in his head as the trunk swung at him. Yuuya did the first thing that came to his mind. He buckled his knees and curved into a ball, covering his head.

The collision was brutal. The bark of the tree tore through his shirt, scratching his back. Blood sprayed out, making Yuuya want to scream. He bit the inside of his cheek, holding it in. The trunk passed by, then came a branch. Almost as thick as a grown man’s thigh, it smashed against his side. Without doubt, all of the wind in his lungs had been knocked out. He gasped, spittle flying out as he did so. The sound of his arm cracking, followed shortly from the side of his chest travelled to his ears. Wincing, Yuuya held on as the tree passed by. And then a bunch of mud smashed into him. It splattered the white front of his shirt, a bit of it going in his mouth. Spitting it out, something charged up his throat, hot and scalding, from inside him. He doubled up, and coughed out a mouthful of blood. The blood floated there, like a globule of liquid.

However, there wasn’t any time for him to marvel at the lack of gravity. His eyes caught onto something familiar. Amidst the huge expanse of white, a spot of gold was visible. And it was what was pulling him through the tunnel.

By now, Yuuya could figure out what was happening. However, before he could test out his theory, he plunged into the small golden spot once more. Everything around him turned golden, but only for a moment. The next thing he saw was a wonderful world.

A huge forest expanded before him, covering every spot till the horizon. There was a variety of shades amidst the tree canopy, like a God had bent down and painted it, whimsical. And  far away, rose five grand peaks, like the fingers of some ancient slumbering beast. Covered with greenery, they thrummed with life, obscuring the curved ends of the world from him.There were clearings amidst the velvet forest floor, showing patches of tall grass that swayed in the wind, relaxed. Huge boulders, of the kind that he had seen in the space, dotted places occasionally. But that was not what made it wondrous.

Trees floated upwards, their roots flying in bits and pieces next to them. Clumps of mud discharged from the roots, like planets orbiting the sun. They flew towards him and rushed past him. For some reason, the spot didn’t pull him back, but let him free fall towards the ground. Free fall hundreds of meters toward the ground.

The wind finally picked up and whipped past him. He flailed his arms about, yelling as he rushed towards the ground. He would definitely go SPLAT if he were to hit the ground. However, there was nothing he could do. From time to time however, he would try and grasp the trees that accompanied him, so that he could slow down. It would slightly slow his momentum, but it never worked perfectly. His left arm ached as he tried to move it, and every time he did so, he would spasm in pain. Unable to do anything, Yuuya hurtled towards the ground.

However, he suddenly found himself slowing down. The wind became slower, and he was no longer on a suicide run towards the ground. The ground came towards him slowly, and he fell like a feather, the occasional gust pushing him wildly off course. He gently hit the ground, but even that made him reel in pain. Gasping for air, he struggled to suppress the pain, but to no avail.

Reason came to the front of his mind as he stopped moving. Yuuya tried to resist moving his arm as much as possible, so that the pain would stop. His muscles were being torn to shreds when he moved his arm, like a loaf being torn from bread. The injuries were without doubt, severe. He rolled onto his right arm, supporting his body with the other side. Breathing deeply to calm himself down, Yuuya struggled to get up.