Arc 0: Prelude 5 - Bright Colored Words

imagination /ɪˌmadʒɪˈneɪʃ(ə)n/

a creation of the mind, especially: an idealized or poetic creation.

----------------------------------------

In the four years he had spent in this school, Zachary was never tasked with something outside of his own schoolwork by someone else. Yet fate would have him be the subject of several “favors” that day, to people he never or rarely spoke with before, as if it was mocking him and spitting in his face.

Due to the recent absence of Mrs. Grace, there was no one left assigned to his class for the literature subject, leading to an incompetent substitute teacher coming in her place. That teacher had him as her “assistant” that day, with help from a “unanimous” vote of the rest of his class.

And so, he was thrown into situations he had never experienced before.

One minute he would be collecting papers from the students while they all left, and in the other, he would be rushing to deliver some late documents to the teacher’s “supervisor.” It was a cruel thing, almost ludicrous, having him carry the weight and the faults of a blundering tutor, and a temporary one at that.

If he weren’t so inept during school time (and was set on just passing the year without raising any trouble even if it cost him inconvenience sometimes), he would be out and about in the school halls, howling criticism over her.

But of course, a student’s worth amounted to nothing but dirt.

To Zachary, this was worse than a filler chapter in a shoddy teen drama book — not that he had particularly read anything of the sort.

“Crap! I’m so late!” He came to a realization.

Making it in time for the meeting place with Lauren was just not in his forte that day. After he was done, he rushed out of the school as fast as possible.

“Please be there!” He said as he made a run for it.

Perhaps working his legs like this was going to be his claim to fame in his chase for that ultimate dream. It was a simple jest in his thoughts, but it was enough to put a smile on his face and make him push through.

Sprinting like this reminded him of the moment he ran out in the rain to get back to Lauren and tell her how he felt and what he truly wanted. He was even repeating the same words.

The difference this time, however, is that he had faith that the girl he almost left out in the rain yesterday was going to wait for him. But then again, his undesired, yet logical thoughts came back to him: there can only be so much time a person can wait for someone.

Missing the meeting won’t mean the end but it wasn’t without consequences.

“You have to… you have to…,” he was losing his breath, “You have to be there… please…!”

He had to make it no matter the cost.

He did not want that setback.

He had to run.

With vim and vigor, Zachary Ashworth ran.

△▼△▼△▼△▼△

Lauren Cherith did not particularly have anything of interest that day.

Being the optimal type of student, she was relieved of her duties in anticipation of this day. It may seem like her hangout invitation to Zachary the other day was out of the blue and something that came on the spot.

That wasn’t the case though.

Everything that had gone down the day before; she planned for, not to the extent of every action taken or sentence that was said, so it was more like she anticipated it.

But it was all plausible.

After all, she couldn’t let go of possibly the only person who understood her.

Despite her popularity among students, she never felt truly at a place she was comfortable with till she spotted Zachary a year ago, writing his little short story in the school’s library. She was mesmerized by his determination as she would see him every day doing the same process — think, write, erase, repeat — and never looked bothered by it. It took all her power to finally approach someone as inept as he was.

Thankfully, it was all worth it. Hearing that he desired the same dream as she, was like music to her ears. She was finally going to find a place she was comfortable, even if it was with one person.

“But where is he…?”

Her disappointment slowly built up as she let out a melancholic groan.

Lauren ended up waiting at the station as intended, but a little earlier than usual. She thought leaving early would guarantee her a meeting with Zachary, as he would always be one of the first students to leave — excluding the other day where he was the last one to leave. Yet he was still nowhere to be seen.

「Should I have waited in front of the school instead?」

As much of an organizer she was at most times, she also had her reckless and impulse-thinking moments.

With a few hours on end and nothing to do, she browsed her phone for anything of interest, to distract herself, till she waited a few more. He wasn’t picking up her calls and he wasn’t about to suddenly appear over the horizon. If he did not appear in the next ten minutes, which would be the third time the tram stopped by, then she would have to do nothing but take the ride and head to the location by herself — it was a place she would often visit, after all.

「Please show up…」

Scrolling through eye-opening headlines and media posts that would usually take up all her time on her phone, she was still thinking about Zachary, this day, and nothing else. Her distraction was not working.

*DING* *DING* *DING* *DING*

The bell echoed deep within her ears, frightening her for a second.

Riding the tram a million times was still not going to stop the sudden fright she would get upon hearing the bell. They were a quarter through the twenty-first century, yet the tram was still stuck with the bell of a train from two centuries ago.

Shaking off the awkwardness of that moment from her head, she thought about Zachary again. There were a few people around so it was easy to distinguish him if he were here somehow, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Doubt filled her mind and she felt the bottom of her heart ache.

「Was I… wrong about him?」

△▼△▼△▼△▼△

If this run was not hailed as the one for the century, then Zachary was… actually he wasn’t going to do anything, but he was going to be quite mad about it. He could drop dead on the ground and he would think of it as his crowning achievement.

Up until now, he wasn’t much of an athlete, he still thought of himself as someone with an average build as he would keep up with daily exercise to make sure that health did not deteriorate. But he never imagined he would be speeding through a quarter of the town in less than ten minutes on foot.

His heart was on the verge of stopping. He felt a shortness of breath in his lungs. His legs felt numb yet still kept going.

But he did not care.

It was all worth the—

Just as the thought came to his mind, he saw the rest of the street before him emerge. At the end of the horizon, was the girl he desperately broke himself for. She stood solemnly among a small crowd at the station. Seeing Lauren still in the place she mentioned brought him a huge sigh of relief. Not only because he got the station right, but because her words were truthful.

That sense of relief, however, was soon to dissipate.

Not a second later and he saw Lauren climb onto the tram before the car started driving off.

Of course, it was somewhat slower than most vehicles, and certainly a train, but it could still rival a human’s speed, especially against someone who wanted to stop running as much as the next person.

Nevertheless, Zachary still ran, putting in more speed in his legs. He used his motivation to reach Lauren as a boost and it worked perfectly.

Even as he got closer, there was still the lingering feeling that he would not make it. This was the body of a human. There will come a time eventually before it deteriorates and completely collapses from exhaustion.

He had to do something about it, he thought. He had to call out to Lauren.

If he weren’t going to make it then he should at least make her know well that he still made it to the meeting spot.

He must shout, say something, anything, to not keep it all in.

The times of hiding most of his thoughts were a thing of the past. To advance toward his dream and the betterment of himself, he needed to be forthright and honest with himself.

This was something that he absolutely needed.

And so, taking what little air remained in his lungs, he shouted, “Lauren!!!”

On the other side of the street, inside the tram, Lauren heard his voice.

She immediately looked away from her phone and leaned out of the open window. There was only one thought on her mind that made her smile: ‘I knew it.’

She quickly took a step down the stairs, held onto the pole, and brought out her hand for Zachary to reach. No one inside tried the minimum to warn her or pull her back, which worked to her benefit. No matter how dangerous doing something like this was, she could not worry about her own safety now.

“Hurry up!” She finally shouted back at him with a look of confliction and resolve.

‘I’m not gonna let you go,’ those were the words her eyes were telling him.

Zachary used his last resort and put all his barely remaining stamina into one final leap that would push him to reach Lauren’s hand.

He stopped for a second, took a deep step, before jumping forward near the car.

She immediately caught onto his hand.

Taking a bit more of her strength to pull him in with one hand while holding onto the pole, she leapt backward. The two of them dashed inside and trampled on their feet in the process.

With a laugh starting to rise up in her throat, Lauren brought herself up on her feet and approached Zachary, who had crawled into the corner and sat there to take a breathing room for himself.

This was indeed the run of the century.

“And here I thought you dipped out on me,” she put on a wry grin, “I missed out on two stops, because of you, before I sorta gave up.”

“I know…,” he was still breathing heavily, “I’m… I’m very sorry for… keeping you… waiting… like… oh god, my legs,” he coughed and tried to adjust his breathing patterns, “I was caught up with—”

“It’s fine. All that matters now is that you’re here.”

She seemed glad to just have him with her, and truth be told, he felt the same.

A mistake, an excuse… those meaningless things went away the moment they locked eyes with one another. It felt like they could forgive and forget all about their mistakes just to be like this. There was them, and only them in their little world of theirs. They needed to look out and trust each other.

Not one for savoring moments until the time was right, Lauren stepped away and looked at the window. And after enough time had passed for him to recover, Zachary stood up and joined her.

“So where are we going?” He still wondered.

She had determined that she was to keep it all a secret till they reached their destination. However, it was too hard not to say anything. She could not avert his question. It was bizarre, but strangely comforting in her view.

“...,” She let out a sigh of defeat, “I guess I’ll tell you. We’re heading off to the Old Pier.”

“Th-The Old Pier?!” He gasped in shock but tried to hide it.

「That place hasn’t been touched in years. It’s practically abandoned.」

“I’ve been there a couple of times,” she held a genuine tone in her amiable voice, “You know there’s an amusement park there? And it’s still functional! Well, at least, most of it is… I think. There’s a Ferris wheel, a carousel, a Tilt-A-Whirl, uh… what else… Oh! And a rotor, can you believe it? It still looks old but it’s pretty impressive that it’s still hanging. Best of all, no one’s there, but I think you knew that already. It’s a perfect place for a moment of peace. It has all sorts of colorful and eye-opening stuff, that’s something we need as authors, don’t ya think?”

He laughed nervously, “I guess so…”

But in his mind, Zachary wondered if he could make a run for it and escape.

The Old Pier was infamous for being a subject of bad rumors and terrifying myths. There was not much that he knew about the place. All the little bits and pieces he heard about made him figure that the place was rundown. He could not also ignore the fact that the town hall had deemed that place off-limits to everyone in the town — he was shunned out in his own world but he wasn’t completely ignorant to what happened around him.

As much as he liked being with Lauren, he was not willing to give up on his life right then and there. He had had the impression that she was odd, and a little off the rails when it came to talking with him, but this was heading into “crazy” territory and he didn’t want to be there for it.

Matter of fact was… this was not going to be an easy trip.

△▼△▼△▼△▼△

Enter the light of sundown.

The Old Pier stood before the two youths in a surprisingly normal manner.

The place looked awfully fine, a bit rusty, but it still looked habitable — anything far from abandoned. It was mostly made of white, old concrete, as the actual pier of the place itself wasn’t till the very end, barely taking up a quarter of the area. There were several Cycladic buildings, painted with a shade of blue and white, settled at vertiginous heights, and flowed down inclined streets that were still built with concrete flooring. They were not associated with the amusement park, as they were placed on one side of the place, rather than blending with the rides, which served in their favor.

This town was known for a few of its beaches, but this place made it look more coastal than ever as if they were in another country altogether.

Zachary was shocked by the scene before him.

It was nothing like he had imagined. For a moment, he felt like a fool believing all those rumors and myths that ran about in town, when he usually hated rumors in the first place.

Yet deep inside, he felt… happy?

Perhaps it was because he stopped being logical about his thoughts for a moment that it made him feel different… or he was simply captivated by the place. But it was more than likely the former, as he still saw nothing out of the place. He was shocked by the magnitude of the place, not its beauty.

In his eyes, it was as black and white as everything around him was.

“Do you know why this pier is not being used anymore?” Lauren decided to break the silence.

They were standing in front of the place for more than five minutes, around the time they had gotten off the tram. Not a word was shared between them until now.

“Honestly… no,” Zachary denied her question.

“Then why did you seem scared of it when I mentioned it back there?”

She laughed, touching on the fact that she noticed his odd and fearful behavior throughout the whole ride. Her eyes were keen when it came to observation.

“I just thought… I don’t know…,” He admitted his own fault.

“That’s the power of the word of the mouth for ya. Can’t exactly do anything about it now, can we. Unless… we go back in time!” Her eyes sparkled, “But that’s impossible so we kinda have to live with this.” She giggled, sounding almost child-like.

It still piqued his curiosity how such a place was left alone in this fair state. There were not even signs of it being demolished. It was just left like that, never to be touched or approached. Like a place trapped in a time capsule.

“Then why was it abandoned?” He asked.

Lauren, who was standing a little ahead of him, slightly turned her back and smirked, “Ghosts…”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“...”

「Huh?!!!」

Not a single thing to do was going to hide the pale sight of shock on his face. It was as if all his blood was immediately drained out the moment he heard what Lauren had said: Ghosts.

A sign of ghosts meant hauntings, hauntings meant danger, danger meant death, and death meant ghosts. It was all a loop—

Had his mind been in the right place (as it usually should), he probably would have not been in such a dilemma as he was at the time.

“H-Hold on now…!” He backed away with the look of shock still plastered on his face.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” she held his arms to calm him and pulled him a little toward her, “I was just making a joke. Ease up.”

Zachary was a little vexed by her antics, “The next time you make one, I’m legging it.”

“Okay okay, I’m sorry! I’ll zip my mouth shut next time, alright?” She tried to hold in her laughter.

Lauren was amazed by his abundant fear of the paranormal. She never figured this apathetic boy that she had watched for over a year would quickly crumble away at the thought of hearing a myth being true. It almost brought a smile on her face, for a reason different than a simple reaction of laughter, that she saw a side of him no one else might have seen.

“It became a private property after someone bought the location,” she turned her head back to the entrance of the pier as she explained, “Which helped the town back then build the new pier on the other side that we all know now. But then a few years after it was sold off, the owner just up and disappeared. No one thought of coming here anymore as it was still private property. So it kinda just became abandoned… and eventually the subject for silly rumors and myths.”

「She certainly knows a lot about the town…」

Curiosity, it was embedded within her. That alone earned her the knowledge not even most of the locals who have lived decades here knew about. This was a sign of great potential within her that Zachary could not simply comprehend. He strangely admired that about her.

“That’s enough stories. Come on!” She laughed heartily.

After that jovial conversation with him, she swiftly reached for his hand and grabbed it before dragging him into the pier.

Even though it was Zachary’s first visit, it was Lauren’s eyes that were filled with ecstasy and color when they walked in. She would never get tired of this place, each visit felt like a new experience to her.

That was mainly because she learned how to take in all a moment’s worth.

“Oh look at this one!”

She would occasionally gasp or drop a comment or two as they roamed the pier’s alleyways and took a look at every tiny detail that shined bright in her eyes. She was like a child who had just stumbled upon the world’s largest amusement park, which was no particular lie. Everyone had their odd interests.

Hers was just… abandoned theme parks? That was Zachary’s best guess.

Because they were all just decorations to him. Nothing noteworthy. This pier was less than fifty years old according to what he had heard. There was nothing amazing about it other than the fact that it was still “functioning” in some aspects.

He could not understand what she found so great with this place.

Yes, there was a certain amazing magnitude to it. But to him, it was as grim as everything in his world. Just what did she find so amusing?

Huge alleyways. Decrepit rides. Plant-decorated and mold-infested buildings (most likely due to its growing age). Steep streets. That was all there was to it. All grand and hollow but nothing of real value, nothing to spark up a feeling.

Watching the girl before him gape in awe brought him a bit of ease, with a somber reminder that he could not understand any of what she saw.

“Soooo, what’s your favorite books?” Lauren asked all of a sudden.

Before he realized it, he was standing in front of a powered-down carousel.

She, on the other hand, was preoccupied on the side with what looked like a fuse box. It seemed that she was trying to bring this rundown old thing back to life.

“Um… Are you sure you know how to work that thing?” He ignored her question as he was more concerned with her own well-being.

She chuckled, “It’s fine. My dad’s an electrical engineer, I’ve seen him working before and even helped on certain occasions,” she seemed proud with her statement, “Besides, I’ve done this a couple o' times. I turn it off each time I leave so it wouldn’t burn out. There’s only so much life a fifty-year-old machine can have.”

“I see…,” He sighed.

Noticing the tonal shift in his eyes to when he had entered the place, Lauren was starting to catch onto his thoughts. She wasn’t a psychic. He just did a poor job of hiding his dismay.

“Am I boring you?” She nonchalantly asked.

“Huh?! No, no,” he waved both his hands frantically in denial, “It’s just… I don’t get your enjoyment so much out of this stuff.”

“Well, of course, you wouldn’t. What normal person would enjoy working a few cables and the like?”

“No, it’s not about that. You just… looked amazed by everything around here. But I… I didn’t feel a thing.” He tried to get his point across. “I thought you were striving for that ‘world’ because you lacked it, but you seem to be doing just fine right now in my opinion.”

“...” Lauren’s eyes widened upon hearing his words.

「Shit! Did I say too much?」

Even with that thought, he was as much shocked as her at how he was surprised by his bluntness. Normally, he wouldn’t give a damn about what he said.

“You don’t see the fun in the small things, do you?” She blatantly asked.

“What?!”

Her voice wasn’t that of anger. The sound of her response didn’t seem like she was berating or mocking him as a payback for his words.

In fact, it was quite the opposite.

She felt sorrow. Her eyes told a similar story. It was as if she was a kid who looked at another and felt sorry for them for not experiencing the joy they felt.

“You know what? I think I’ve had enough of these rides for today.” Her voice still maintained that warm tone.

Zachary felt like he had stepped on a landmine and it was only a matter of time before it was completely set off. Everything he had tried to work for in the past day seemed to crumble all of a sudden in front of him.

“Wait, hold on, I—”

However, Lauren immediately cut him off by placing her finger on his lips.

The trip wasn’t over yet.

“Follow me, it’s time for the main event!”

Once again, she held onto his hand and dragged him around somewhere else while he looked as confused as ever.

There is more to this place than meets the eye.

△▼△▼△▼△▼△

“Are you… you sure about this?” Zachary could hear the fear in his voice.

“It’s completely safe,” said Lauren, “I’ve only broken like two ribs.”

“What?!!!”

“I’m joking, I’m joking. Come on, hurry it up!”

He mumbled to himself. “(I thought I told you to stop making jokes that’d make my heart stop…)”

From the outside, it was a simple lighthouse that matched the palette of all the other buildings. It stood at the top of a sandy hill; a hill which outlooked both the beach and the sea ahead. There was this unique aura of repose and odd nostalgia surrounding it.

However, on the inside, which Zachary found himself at the moment, it was an entirely different story.

In terms of the interior walls, it looked as much as one would expect it to be according to its exterior.

But it was there that the feeling of tranquility disappeared.

It felt like they had stepped into an ancient tower rather than a lighthouse. There were a set of wooden stairs spiraling around the entire place up till the top. Not a single room lied in the middle. It was a straight shot through to the roof. The problem lied in the fact that the stairs were made of concrete, but most of them were broken off and replaced with wooden ones instead; that seemed to be much on the collapse as well.

「I’d like to give the guy who reconstructed this a very big “Thank you” up the ass.」

Although, the man who would have the brilliant idea of putting wooden stairs in an attempt to “fix” what was lost was probably some homeless man who lived here before. Zachary was sure they weren’t the only ones who stumbled on their own to this place. Who knew how many people had ventured here in the past half a century?

Despite seeing Lauren run to the top in a carefree manner without facing any inconvenience, he was still hesitant on climbing the stairs. He could not guarantee his safety.

「But am I really going to stop now?」

Before any second thoughts came to him, he mustered up his courage and…

“Wait, I’m coming!”

…he ran up the stairs.

△▼△▼△▼△▼△

When he reached the top, Zachary felt like he stumbled onto a giant attic.

There was a faint touch of light seeping in through the round window in the center, and then some on the far right that seemed to be mostly blocked by a curtain of leaves hanging from the ceiling. Like the stairs that preceded it, the flooring of the place was made of mostly concrete, with a few wooden blocks recklessly placed here and there to fill any gap.

It felt like they were doing more harm than good as anyone could simply step on the wood and fall down. Perhaps it was his overthinking nature getting the best of him, but he could not afford to be not too careful now.

Contrary to the place’s dilapidated nature, there were a few dozen items and decorations placed around that seemed fairly new. They somehow brought a warm and cozy ambience to this rundown building — this room could very well pass as a treehouse.

There was still one thing that bothered Zachary.

“Um… Lauren?!” He called out.

That playful girl was nowhere in sight. He was sure that she had climbed into this place as there was nowhere else to go on the way up but here.

He took a step forward before the floor beneath him loudly creaked and he backed away quickly.

「I should probably watch where I’m stepping.」

Just as he was walking backward…

“Boo!”

A loud voice echoed in his ears.

“Woah!”

He quivered in his place for a second before frantically jumping away like a scaredy-cat. The whole process seemed almost comical and was definitely hilarious to watch… in Lauren’s eyes.

She was standing next to him, barely holding onto her legs as she was endlessly laughing at his over-the-top reaction. That boy gave off the best and most waggish reactions whenever he was frightened that she could not help but keep teasing him.

“Do you get off from making people suffer?!!!” He said in his distraught state.

The question made it seem as if he finally crossed the line and decided to be as blunt as possible like he usually was before.

And Lauren’s reaction was definitely an appropriate response.

There was a sudden look of shock in her eyes… before she returned back to laughing hysterically.

Instead of a look of disgust or a slap in the face, he was just met with laughter. Normally, it would bother him to see someone seeing joy at his own misery. After realizing how ridiculous his reaction must have looked, he could not help but smile from Lauren’s infectious hysterics.

“Do you get off from making people suffer…,” she leisurely shook her head as she recited his words while trying to ease her laughter, “Well um… a famous philosopher did once say, suffering leads to progress. So maybe that’s a good thing? For you?”

Zachary was surprised for a moment by her knowledge of philosophy, she almost sounded like an old man spouting nonsense in an attempt to give advice. He drove the thought away as he tried to focus back on the subject at hand.

“That’s not exactly what he said,” he voiced his disagreement as he saw her walk by him, “And he was a… nihilist, you know.”

She turned her head back at him with a smile, “I mean, that’s on him. Why should you care? Besides, if you really wanna delve into it, I’d say he was an existentialist.”

He was slightly appalled by her behavior but he ultimately took it as a simple joke like everything she had done so far.

“Here,” she walked over to the corner in the room with the wall covered by leaves, “Come over here and take a look!”

Treading the floor carefully, he made sure not to step on any wooden palette that was in or out of his sight. He noticed some of the furniture and things that were placed in that corner.

A few starfish necklaces nestled on top of a wooden nightstand. Beside the nightstand was a reasonably-sized worktable filled with tools, some old blueprints, what looked like a map placed at the front, and a couple of coins bundled together at the far edge of the table.

“Are you sure your dad’s the only one into engineering or…?”

Remembering when she mentioned helping her father with his work, Zachary randomly held a tool up to emphasize his point. He thought that perhaps the father’s work had passed down to the daughter. Although, if that were the case, it would strangely contradict her desire to be an author.

“Oh no, those were up here when I first came to this place.” She elaborated, “Same as the furniture. I cleaned them all up and they made for some pretty comfy atmosphere for the place. The lighthouse keeper or whoever was in here before must have had a pretty acquired taste.”

If there was any era to describe the type of furniture present in that room, it would definitely be the Roaring Twenties. That brown color that painted every aspect of them was just too comforting for the eyes.

“But we’re not here for these…,” she raised her finger like she had one more thing to show off, and judging from her words and the look of exhilaration in her eyes, it seemed to be most certainly true.

Lauren leaned and reached out her hand to grab a pole that was a little out of her grasp at first. She brushed off the leaves that were blocking the light and used all her might to completely push them out of sight with the pole. Behind where the leaves originally were, was a torn-up wall that perfectly overlooked the sea and the islands in the distance.

It was a wondrous view — at least to Lauren.

“Look at this, it’s beautiful!” She gaped at the scenery with awe, “We came at the perfect time, don’t ya think?”

However, Zachary did not think much of it. To him, it was just a view like any other. There was nothing of interest or special in it.

Lauren noticed that look of monotone in his eyes and could not help but sigh.

Without any warning, she grabbed onto his shoulders and pushed him directly in front of the scenery she was bewildered by.

“Tell me,” she giggled from anticipation, “What do you see?”

“Uh…,” he didn’t understand the question, “It looks like a bunch of islands to me? I think?”

“Noooo, look at the scenery. Open your eyes!”

He wrinkled his eyebrows, “W-What do you mean “open my eyes”? They’re wide open!”

“That’s not looking.”

“Are you listening to yourself?” He turned his head in her direction.

These nonsensical words of hers painted her as one trying to indoctrinate him into a cult. As if the secret to happiness was within that cult. They’d tell you to just solve this one riddle and then make you doze off from their insanity till you force others to join through the same process.

It did not make an ounce of sense.

“You wanna get ahead in life?” She started speaking like a life coach.

“Um… I don’t know?”

“Tsk,” she shook her head, “You wanna be an author?”

“Uh… yeah?”

“Do you want to see a bright-colored world?”

“Yes!” His answers were affirmative.

“Then listen to me, close your eyes, clear your mind, open 'em, and then look at the scenery!”

There was no choice but to follow along with her mystical scheme or whatever she had in mind.

And so, Zachary closed his eyes.

“That’s it…,” she uttered, “Now think about what you saw before. What was in the scenery?”

“I… I don’t exactly remember. I didn’t focus that much.”

“It’s alright. Even if it’s all vague, just try to picture something in your mind. A word, at least.”

All he thought of was the one word that described it. It was: nightfall.

“You got it?”

“I think…”

“Okay, now open ‘em.”

Zachary opened his eyes. The scenery was still the same as ever, grim and completely devoid of color. Nothing had changed.

“This is stupid,” He sighed and turned his head down in disappointment.

“Hey hey, we’re not finished yet.” She put her hand under his chin and raised his head back up to face the view again, “Last step was looking at the scenery itself. Look at what’s in it. The details, everything that you can grasp. And then describe it to yourself.”

“What are you—”

“Just listen to me, pretty please.”

A bit of that begging from her quickly refuted his urge to refuse.

Without any further delay, he turned his attention back to the view before him, staring only at the scenery, and solely that scenery. He tried to picture the right words to describe it whilst keeping his eyes open.

“You’re allowed to blink, you know.” Lauren chuckled.

Ignoring the feeling of embarrassment, he blinked and looked at the scenery once again.

It was a still scene of great islands in the ocean.

No matter how he went around through it, there was nothing more of note to it. If this was a matter of simply sightseeing to her, then he believed it was not the right one to fix his problem. Then again, he never did take the time to understand the purpose of sightseeing. His opinion on them was half-baked at best.

「Alright, shut up and let me look. It’s just describing what I’m looking at. How hard can it be? I’m a writer. I’ve written several stories. I can do this.」

He tried to scrutinize it with care.

There was the amber luminescence of the sunset seeping through a plethora of gigantic clouds, which almost covered up the whole sky from above. The sunset sky was basking with twilight, radiating its light directly in the eyes of the onlooker. Looking at it at that moment, Zachary shut his eyes to shield himself from the light.

「Ugh… This is too hard.」

To be fair, staring directly in the face of the sun with one’s eyes open was incredibly obnoxious. That’d be the case had it been the scorching sun of the morning. But this was simply the warm light of nightfall, and, as he realized behind his closed eyes, it barely brought any heat. He slowly opened his eyes back up and looked at the scene again. There was nothing wrong, he was still fine.

「Stop worrying and start looking.」

Other than the tree-filled islands in the distance, there was something that came to light the moment the ray of the sunset was recognized. There were mountains, several of them, way into the background. With the last hour of twilight on the horizon, the sun leisurely descended, shielding half of its appearance behind the farthest mountain, and illuminating it with an aura of romance. And with that same light, it shimmered down onto the ocean, posing a reflection that turned back onto the clouds.

And there it was.

“...?” Zachary tilted his head in confusion.

On the far left to the clouds, right above the giant burnt tree that almost blocked the view in the corner of his eye, was a strange illuminating shape of what looked like a bird.

It was the course of the moving clouds. They painted the illusion of a dove with great wings flying off in the distance, up to the free and boundless sky.

「But what’s the point?」

This was nothing more than the beauty of nature and the wilderness during nightfall.

This was when he was hit with the answer.

“Twilight in the wilderness…” He uttered these words under his breath as he gaped in astonishment over the revelation he came to.

Before he knew it, he had described nearly half of what the scenery before him had to offer. Most importantly of all, however, was that he cracked the secret to what it was all about.

A scene “unhuman.”

A simple scene of sublime nature.

「Serenity…」

But this— this wasn’t the only thing that had changed in his perspective.

The scenery — the ocean, the mountain, and the light of sunset — were starting to shine brightly in his eyes. There was color in them.

It was as if a black and white image had transformed to one with selective color at a specific object of interest. A world deprived of color finally had a colored piece. It wasn’t the whole world, that much was true, but it was still something.

In its own twisted way, it was beautiful, offering quite the mesmerizing scene.

“Earth to Mr. Ashworth!” A voice suddenly ringed in his ears. “Earth to Mr. Ashworth, are you there?”

It was Lauren. She was calling out to him this entire time yet he couldn’t hear a single thing. Entering this world of more color seemed to have taken quite the time off reality.

Zachary looked at her with the shock still in his eyes and then looked back at the painting. Its light and color were still there.

When he woke up from that trance, he was still in this… new world.

This wasn’t something temporary, it was the next step to his dream, taken right at that moment. He couldn’t help but laugh after all this. All of this time he was searching for a part of an answer, and it was as simple as coming to appreciate a moment stopped in time.

That was the secret to the first path of an author: grasping the smaller picture.

With that knowledge, he figured out why Myung was the key to the full answer. Her stories were all about the bigger picture, with hidden meanings within. She understood it, but most of all (to do that), she understood the smaller picture first.

“This is amazing!”

“It’s breathtaking!” Lauren replied genuinely with similar joy, “Imagine what it would be like if we saw the whole world like that. If we came to appreciate all of it.”

Zachary came to understand her a little better with that discovery. She was astounded by this place because of all these varying objects of color within. It truly was a museum of art to her.

To test this newfound “ability” of his, he looked around for any visible color within the room. Sure enough, there were certain objects individually painted in vibrant colors. These were colors that were previously believed to be unimaginable in his eyes.

“So this is why…,” Zachary chuckled, “This is why you run around like a child.”

“Who are you calling a child?” Lauren pouted.

She crossed her arms and looked the other way in displeasure.

It didn’t take another second before she spoke again, “By the way, being a child is not so bad. Children have the widest imagination, as they say. And we need plenty of it right now.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

“Wow… okay,” she felt a sense of defeat knowing that he had gained the upper hand on her for once, “Anyway, come on, it’s time to move onto the next step.”

She walked farther into the room.

“There’s more?”

“You bet there is—” She held her tongue for a second before she counted a set amount of numbers on her fingers, “Well, it’s only this last part.”

Her smile widened, turning into something mischievous.

This was the moment she was waiting for the most.