An angelic, motherly voice awakens Leor from his slumber.

“Wak- ”

“H-huh?” Leor’s vision begins to slowly refocus.

“-p”

The woman’s voice is barely audible, but it is almost as if the voice is ringing inside Leor’s head.

He grabs his head with one hand as he sits up, rubs his eyes, and looks around.

A sea of nothingness, an empty void surrounds him.

Leor quickly jumps to his feet and reaches for his katana. His eyes widen in shock to an empty hand.

“W-what the!? Where’s my sword!?” His eyes dart around the unknown environment. “Where am I?”, he whispers.

The woman’s voice whispers into Leor’s right ear. “-mber.”

Leor tosses his fist into the direction of the woman’s voice, making contact with the dark. “Who’s there!? Show yourself!”

A faint yellow glow shines at the end of the dark empty space as though a tunnel formed out of the void.

Leor raises his arms, one in front of the other, prepping for whatever is coming. He thinks to himself,

Whatever or whoever clearly wants me to go toward the light.

He attempts to go in the opposite direction but quickly hits an invisible wall with his foot. He tries to go in other directions, but the same result occurs.

Leor looks at the radiating light and an overwhelming aura calls out to him, pulling him towards it.

“Tsk. I guess I have no choice.” He cautiously proceeds to the end of the makeshift tunnel.

As Leor approaches the light, the unsettling feeling gets stronger and stronger. For some reason, his heart is beating unusually fast. His palms are in a cold sweat. His eyes quiver as a shadowy figure lays on the ground ahead of him.

Leor stops in his tracks and observes the body from afar. It lays there lifeless in a cold, dark fetal position. Despite being surrounded by the ambient glow, the darkness of the figure absorbs all of it, leaving no trace of light.

The woman’s voice beckons him again. “-ber…… the-……. -ials”. The woman’s voice is still broken, Leor is unable to decipher her cryptic speech. Still, the voice pulls him towards the body. As he gets closer, the shadow becomes more pronounced into the shape of a woman.

Leor kneels next to the body and slowly reaches out his hand.

I know I shouldn’t touch this thing, but…. I can’t control my body...

Internally, Leor is fighting with all his might to resist the urge to touch the shadow, but he’s being overpowered by an unknown force.

His shaky hand draws closer and closer to the figure. The dark desolate place goes silent as he places his hand on the woman’s shoulder. He tugs on the figure to turn the body over.

Leor falls backward onto the floor. His eyes tremble as a pair of emerald green eyes, void of any life, stare daggers into his soul. He snaps his attention to his hands. The once solid ground is now liquifying, slowly pulling Leor into the depths of the void.

Leor trashes around, attempting to escape, but it is only making him sink faster. Nearly his entire body is engulfed by the surrounding darkness. He watches in horror as the last thing he sees is his hand grasping onto nothing.

Leor slowly stops flailing and comes to terms with his fate. A tear forms and rolls down his cheek as he shuts his eyes. A faint smile lingers on his lips.

Maybe this isn’t too bad of a way to go…

A sudden warmth touches his hand. Leor snaps his eyes open and no longer feels the coldness of the void. He looks around to find that he is now embraced with the same light as before. The shadowy figure with emerald green eyes mouths something, but no sound emits from her mouth.

This warmth…. I’ve felt this before… but where?

The green-eyed shadow lets go of Leor’s hand and slowly dissipates into the light. Only the memory of her beautiful green eyes and angelic smile remains.

Dread washes over Leor, forcing him to chase after her. The need to see her is the only thought occupying his mind.

A hand stabs through his chest from behind, stopping his pursuit. He staggers as he looks down to see the hand isn’t covered in any blood. He doesn’t even feel any pain. Instead, the hand is holding a luminescent blue orb. Leor attempts to reach for the orb, but the hand quickly crushes it in its palm. A shockwave of pain erupts throughout Leor’s body, causing his body to bend backward and his eyes to roll back until he loses consciousness.