Chapter 004

A Transparent Night

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It was space, how bittersweet.

When my eyes shot open, I didn't know what would catch my attention first. Space was definitely at the top of my list, but I never thought I would be in space.

An endless cosmos, in every direction I looked. An array of shining stars amid a pitch-black abyss with a deep purple tint to it. I was pleased with my life on a planet. Sure you could say I lived in space, just on a planet—but that doesn't really count. This time, I was in space; no rocks; no life; just space.

While it was peaceful and relaxing, an ominous feeling of dread followed wherever I looked. I faced my fears, stood up, and searched for anything other than endless space and loneliness. But as I took a step, a sharp pain was sent jolting up my leg. I was helpless and paralyzed as I tumbled down to a weird bridge of darkness again.

Laying on the bridge, I was feeble. My right leg showed symptoms of being broken. But... how was it broken again? While I laid, lost in my thoughts, I peered down over the darkness. There was a radiating light that replicated the sky. Or space? I didn't know or had any real intention to find out. As I looked back to the end of the bridge - or the beginning, I saw stars shaped in a pattern, a constellation. It was in an order I could understand.

“Continue, your Journey.” I read aloud getting lost in the stars.

But what was my Journey? What is my goal? What is the reason that persevered me forward? As I thought about these questions for what seemed like an eternity, I realized that the answer to all of these was the questions themselves. My journey is to find out what my journey is. My goal is to find the answers to the questions. What perseveres me, My thirst to find the answers to my endless amount of questions.

As I quenched my thirst for knowledge, I stood up, ignoring the sharp pain that convulsed my body. Using only my left leg, I started wandering across the bridge of darkness to continue the journey, which was only a curse for me.

As I walked, my left leg grew considerably tired. I had fallen multiple times and stood up again. Enough that my right leg hurt regularly.

How long have I walked? Days? Weeks? Maybe even months? I didn't know; it was impossible to keep track besides counting seconds, which is out of the question. My balance had grown significantly better. Not only that, but my left leg could carry my entire body for a few hours on end. After a few more days of this living hell, I concluded about what to do. I looked in the mysterious mirror and realized that I was not aging. So I was going to train my power by meditating until my leg healed. No matter how long this took, I was going to wait. Even if I had to sit here for eternity.

It was nice to be on my feet again.

But now what? Walking? Sure, it was good to stay on my feet.

But after that? Running? why was that all I could think of?

But what else was there? Other versions of Running? No, that would be like getting bored of playing with a toy so you play with it upside-down.

It had been a while since I found food, but that was the least of my sorrows. Where was I? How did I get here? What happened to me? More questions arose on the surface and it became near impossible to stop getting pestered by them. I had no freedom here. Nowhere to go except forward. Nothing to keep me entertained. Nothing, nothing but me and darkness. Just like normal. All I could do was stare lifelessly at the stars as I waited for something to catch my eyes. Thus, I kept walking. Walking to find something, maybe to the end that I wasn't sure existed.

The eerie silence had gotten to me. The endless cosmos shining down on me was a trap for me to find if it was real or not. My meditating has gone quite well, the dark circles under my eyes are now almost non-existent.

However, the limit and purity of my power have not improved at all. To my surprise, it was healing my ruptured leg. I rose using only my left leg which was surprisingly effective. I was anxious to try my right leg. When I stabilized it on the ground I jerked up to avoid injury. After that, I balanced my leg on the ground very steadily and the way my right leg worked was quite a revelation.

It was flawless, healthier than ever before. Furthermore, my new leg has muscle that could rival my left leg, which is now extremely buff thanks to hopping over and over again.

Nothing changed, however. The bridge had no signs of stopping, nor did it show signs of disappearing. I was going insane, nothing changed. It came to a point where I could not hear the howling screeches my throat was producing. I knew it was there, the sound had to exist. My throat felt full of knives as I desperately tried to keep my sanity. I could not feel the coarse, bristly touch of the calluses on my hand. Instead, all that remained was the senseless, shadowy grasp that felt like when I was 8 and tried to hold the atmosphere in my hand.

I pinched myself until my left cheek swelled and started bleeding. Still, there was no pain anywhere, it was nonexistent for me. My body already felt ghostly and now my entire existence was just a trick.

After a little while, my body was back to normal. I didn't even have to train

“Now this is a great idea,” I uttered sarcastically. I was standing on the edge of the bridge preparing to descend into the void. It seemed a whole lot better in my head. With my head twirling in confusion I dove off the bridge and plummeted down at a speed that I could never imagine in my dreams.

Within mere moments of my descent, the bridge was already concealed as it was a black speck inside this vast unknown world.

A smile lit up my face. This was the thrill I had been waiting for, I am sure there are many more moments like this to come in the future. Whether they would be heart-warming or diabolical, something like this would begin to fill the empty void inside me. The thrill of excitement was a peaceful start to my journey as my hair flailed in the heavy breeze. The wind crashed against my face as my eyes looked for where my next destination will be.

After falling for a while, a scientific hypothesis dawned upon me. If this was truly space, then I should be floating. So, because I am falling, it means there is gravity and some sort of surface below.

As my dreams became reality, I was determined to see what this new world had in store for me.

I finally came to my senses after what felt like an eternity. My senses rush to me like rapid waves on the ocean. I'm laying in the middle of a crater staring up at the dazzling night sky. My attempt to sit up is rejected by sudden horrific dizziness in my head. The dizziness makes my head plummet to the ground. Looks like a massive head rush. I really need water. Thanks to sudden amnesia, I relay all my recent memories to find out where the hell I am.

I was falling. Plummeting quicker and quicker for hours on end. It was a tedious fall, so I decided to get some shut-eye. Yeah, that's right. I wanted to sleep while falling at speeds faster than the speed of sound.

After a few hours of nice dreamy sleep. I felt a slight repel in my fall, slowing me down. I opened my eyes to a nice rapid breeze of air, which hurt like hell. I managed to push through the immense pain and recognized a small island floating in space. I didn't even have time to think this might be bad before I face planted straight into a meadow on the small island.

And that's why I'm here. I wouldn't be surprised if more than half of the bones in my body are shattered. I sighed at my patheticness.

"What am I doing?" I whispered, face-palming myself.

"Making a crater in my front yard." responded an ominous voice. It came from above me, around the circumference of the crater I had just created.

"Holy shit," I yelled. A... thing with a dark aura appears at the edge of the crater. He stares menacingly at me with his piercing yellow eyes. He has large ram horns which I have never seen before hiding in his long, messy powder-white hair. He has dark gray-bluish skin with a toned body. What's weirder is that he has a hole in his chest and a huge black ring behind his back. Of course, he's not naked. He is wearing a black robe and some normal-looking pants.

"What do you want?" I asked out of curiosity.

Definitely not my friend

Everyone I had met never resembled anything close to this—thing. They all had no horns and peach skin just like me. Plus, he had a hole in his chest, how was he even alive? This thing piqued my interest and I slowly took the tiniest step ever. I raised my arms showing I didn't mean any harm but they weren't going to be scared had I not.

He grunted with a stern look of annoyance. He crossed his arms and strolled casually towards me.

"I should be asking you that, brat," he responded with a deep, omniscient voice. His voice was much darker than mine and it was a bit croaky like he hasn't drunk any water in ages. His voice was weak but boomed at the same time. It was fragile but showed years of experience.

I should never make him my enemy. Yeah, I think that's a good idea.

Seriously, where was I? What's that light? What was that standing before me? It had been quite some time since I had last seen such a flourishing scenery. I had grown up in the mountains. No plants, just rock and sometimes snow.

"How fascinating..." I muttered. But what was this? He resembled me but his blue skin threw me off. He had white hair when I had white-ish, navy hair. We were both muscular and tall. I stood up, jumping high out of the crater I created, faceplanting straight into the "grass." I had never met anyone else, but I reminisced about having "conversations" with others.

"Looks like I miscalculated the strength necessary for a perfect landing," I stated ascending out of the lesser crater I created from that jump. I had never seen anything like this before. All I had ever known were stones in the cave. I remembered going outside with my friend but there was nothing like first-hand experience. "Wind" blew my hair, blocking my vision, to say the least. While my memories were very intricate, they were only past experiences. I would never be able to recognize everything I know.

My hair was still touching the floor but it resembled a "cape" that flew in the wind. By now, my body is mostly healed and I brushed the dirt off of myself. I was still wearing the same black rags I found in the cave a while back.

I continued to scan the area only to find more mysterious objects like a monkey getting released out of its cage. Everything was so interesting, they all had their own unique design. Rocks and trees littered the area, with flowers blossoming on the ground.

But what was that? A towering structure stood tall and sturdy in front of me. Its windows were like shy eyes, warm enough to welcome any ray of light. The rock walls belonged right where it was as if perchance it had grown up right from that hallowed ground. It was as if it had been called into existence to protect those who came to dwell within, to quell the elements and allow heat to build from hearths into the inhaled woodland air.

"So, this is a house. How impressive," I uttered in awe at the beautiful creation. It looked similar to the house I had but it was carved out of rock. It was beautifully decorated with plants surrounding the house in an orderly fashion just like knights protecting their king. The walls were white and the roofs were gold. Not only that, it was more than 10 times my height.

What was that called again? A mansion, I think.

"Hey, where am I?" I asked this... thing? I wanted to go and study every piece of this masterpiece but why do that when I have a resource over here. "Hey, where am I?" I asked

"Before I answer that, what are you?" He asked. He looked at me like I was an "alien" or mystery. I

"I don't know," I responded. Words to flow the conversation appeared in my head. When did I learn this? It didn't matter. All that mattered was actually having the conversation.

"Hmmph, come inside and we can talk." responded this thing. He strolled over into his house, gesturing for me to follow suit. The door creaked open and we stepped through the threshold.

I can't wait to see what's inside