"What... on earth are these things..."
Eous floated amidst the swirling colors, struggling to maintain balance as the unstable gravity pulled in every direction.
Countless crystal-like fish of all shapes and hues swam past, each one glimmering with vivid brilliance. They looked utterly surreal—and yet, not one of them seemed to notice Eous. It was as if he didn't exist.
A fiery red glassfish swam straight toward Eous. Just as Wise tried to dodge, it passed right through his body without the slightest reaction.
As he stared in stunned silence, a massive vortex suddenly appeared ahead. From its depths, a deep blue dolphin leapt forth, its translucent body shimmering with an ethereal glow.
It glided swiftly around Eous, moving gracefully as if performing a dance upon the colorful ocean surrounding them.
Moments later, the dolphin passed by and vanished from Wise's sight.
"Truly... a beautiful existence."
"This place... it's like a dream."
Inside the video store, Wise couldn't help voicing his awe.
Beside him, Belle immediately perked up, curiosity wiping away her earlier frustration. "Really? What's it like? What do you see?" she asked, bombarding him with questions.
Knowing his sister all too well, Wise sighed lightly and had Fairy project Eous's visual feed onto the computer screen.
But even then, the footage couldn't compare to experiencing it firsthand.
Suddenly, the crystal fish surrounding Eous scattered all at once, darting off in every direction like frightened birds. Their movements were so fast they vanished in seconds.
Wise frowned in surprise and was just about to investigate when a deafening hum exploded in his ears.
It was the first sound he'd heard since entering the hollow—loud, resonant, and powerful enough to shake him to the core.
Then, the colorful Ether around him—like mist, like a thick ocean—was abruptly blown apart, scattering outward in all directions.
A fierce wind surged against Eous, tossing his small body helplessly through the turbulent etheric sea.
And then, as the Ether currents thinned, a smooth crystalline wall came into view. As the light spread, the full form of what lay before him gradually revealed itself.
It was a creature—magnificent and otherworldly.
Its enormous body radiated an overwhelming presence. Its semi-transparent shell gleamed with mystery, and within it, the Ether energy gathered in terrifying density, compressed into brilliance.
Like a leviathan rising from the depths, the massive being swayed its tail, sending waves the height of mountains crashing through the etheric ocean. The roar of the current echoed as it swam freely through the radiant sea.
"A body that massive...? Just how huge is this hollow on the inside?"
Since entering the hollow, Wise had witnessed one strange sight after another, until words failed him.
Judging from the creature's size alone, even if the hollow were ten times larger than it appeared from the outside, there was no way it could contain something this colossal!
Then, dread crept into him.
He started to worry about Eous's safety. He told himself that a being this enormous wouldn't notice something as tiny as a Bangboo—and even if it did, it would probably be like the earlier creatures, unable to make contact at all.
But he was wrong.
The giant creature's tail clipped Bangboo, sending Eous tumbling through the Ether current, scraping past the beast's massive body before spinning away uncontrollably.
The shockwave that followed tossed Bangboo even further, dragging him helplessly in the same direction as the leviathan's movement.
A crushing sense of pressure and dizziness washed over Wise. He wanted to break the sensory link, but he couldn't—and truthfully, he didn't want to.
Enduring the discomfort, he watched countless bursts of light streak past his vision, flashing and vanishing one after another.
The roar of wind softened. The howling currents faded. Even the rumble of the beast grew distant.
Then, silence.
It was as though the world had gone still.
Wise felt like he was drifting through a dream.
Moments later, a voice pierced the silence, faint at first but rapidly growing clearer.
"Brother?! Brother!!!"
"What's wrong, Brother? Wake up!"
"If you don't wake up soon, I'm going to—"
Wise slowly opened his eyes. What he saw wasn't the hollow's interior, but the familiar sight of the video store.
In front of him, Belle stood frozen, her hand raised midair—clearly about to slap him.
"Phew... Brother, you finally woke up."
Wise groaned softly. His head throbbed as he lifted a hand to his forehead, giving it a small shake before sitting up straight in the chair.
"What... happened to me?"
He had the strange feeling that he'd been unconscious for a while.
On the computer screen, Eous's viewpoint jolted violently, as though being carried while someone ran.
It looked like the three members of Section 6 were retreating.
But from the looks of it... the situation wasn't good.