SAI SHINU
I felt my consciousness crawling back, like a tide returning to shore. First my fingers twitched, then my lips, but everything was still numb — heavy, like stone.
White haze. That was the first thing I saw when I forced my eyes open. A white haze stretching forever, swallowing the edges of everything. No sound, no smell, no touch. Just… weightless emptiness.
Then a voice broke through it, low and familiar:
"Hey… you're there?"
I turned my head sharply, my muscles screaming, and pushed myself upright. The world swam into focus — not the world I knew, but something else entirely.
The floor beneath my feet glowed white like molten glass, but above me the sky was an endless black void. The horizon was gone. It felt like standing inside the deepest part of my own ability.
I knew that voice. I'd know it anywhere. Slowly, I turned, and there he was.
My companion. His golden hair caught the glow of the floor, his dark eyes steady, but there was something off — an aura that wavered between warmth and danger.
"What happened?" I asked, my voice rasping, the sound oddly flat in this space.
"We need to talk," he said.
"Okay… but first, where are we?"
"This is your subconscious," he replied. "That's why it looks like this — your ability has shaped it."
I nodded slowly. "Alright… so talk."
He took a slow, steady breath. "After your ability faded, you fell unconscious. You were still in midair from the momentum of your jump. You crashed next to the platform."
His voice hung in the air.
"Okay… and the kid?" My heart began hammering.
He looked at me. "He came running straight to you. Then a woman arrived — a noble. At the same time, chaos broke out."
"Chaos?" I asked, trying to steady my breathing.
He explained, "When you activated the Astral Gate, time froze for you. But to everyone else, it didn't. From their perspective, your mother just… vanished."
The words hit like a punch to the gut. "I see," I muttered, my stomach twisting.
"And the woman?"
"She's from a noble family. She questioned the kid. He said he knew you, so she took both of you back to her house. There were doctors there. They tried to treat you — you had no serious injuries, but they couldn't explain why you wouldn't wake up."
I clenched my fists. "But you know why."
He nodded once. "I know."
"Then tell me," I said, stepping toward him, my voice low.
He held my gaze. "You unlocked the third stage of your Light Core."
I froze, my breath catching. "I… did that?"
"Yes. You did. Congratulations," he said, but his tone stayed deadly serious.
"You don't sound happy," I said, a half-smile flickering across my lips.
He ignored me. "In a few minutes, you'll wake up. The kid is in the same room. And that woman… she's stayed close. She's watching over you. She seems… interested."
I exhaled, closing my eyes for a moment. Images of a hospital three years ago surfaced — the smell of antiseptic, white sheets, voices murmuring over me.
The same feeling of lying between worlds.
And this time, I knew when I opened my eyes again, I'd be waking up changed.