[DING-DONG!]
"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Pilot speaking. We've reached our cruising altitude of 35,000 Feet. The weather looks smooth, so sit back, relax and enjoy the flight ahead."
A soft ding followed next, and the seatbelt sign dimmed off.
The low, steady hum of the engine blanketed the economy cabin in white noise. The fidgeting in seats, occasional coughs and clicking of the overhead bins punctuated the silence.
In 18B, the middle seat was a young man. He was in his early twenties, sharp-featured, wiry, with expressive eyes and a jaw clenched just enough to betray tension.
He was dressed in a hoodie, a worn denim jacket, and boots made for long walks. A black canvas backpack was tucked neatly under his seat. Its zipper was half open, revealing a sketchbook, a comic and a tangled pair of earbuds.
On his lap was a paperback novel. Its spine was cracked and its pages slightly yellowed. Kairos was halfway through it. His gaze scanned line after line, quickly eating the words on the pages, but his expression soon betrayed him. It was obvious he had long stopped absorbing any of it.
"Snap!"
Kairos slammed shut the book shut with a sharp exhale through his nose. The sound sliced through the soft murmur of the cabin.
To his right, aisle seat 18C, a man; well-built with a close-cropped salt and pepper hair and the air of a frequent flyer; barely glanced over. He had a smart blazer on, an open collar and was watching a muted crime drama on the setback screen. His earbuds were in, but his eyes flickered towards Kairos for a split second, Assessing, before quickly returning to his screen.
To Kairos' left, window seat 18A, was a young woman who seemed to be of Kairos' age. She had oversized sweats on, with lavender Crocs sketching on her notebook. Her wavy hair was loosely tucked in a beanie.
She looked up from her notebook, still chewing thoughtfully at the end of her pen, "That bad?"
"They killed him with a rock."
"What?"
Confusion spread through Aria's face before Kairos spoke again.
"An antagonist, four hundred chapters of tension, manipulation and then a rock to the head. One sentence. Over"
Aria chuckled, "Maybe that was the point. Ugly, Random like Real life."
Kairos, though, was not taking this lightly. "It wasn't random. It was cowardly like the initial nuance was too heavy to carry it to the end."
Aria glanced at him for a second, "Maybe nuance doesn't survive impact. You ever think of that?"
Kairo, half-smiling, asked, "You sound like you liked that."
Aria yawned, "I didn't but I respect it."
"Heh!" A low, dry chuckle comes from Kairo's other side.
"You two ever considered that violence is the only honest conclusion?"
Kairos turned to the man beside him, his eyes narrowing. The man leaned back with an effortless sense of confidence. His legs crossed, and his hands folded over his stomach. His eyes, sharp and stell-grey, did not look at either of them just straight ahead.
Kairos was confused as the drama on his screen was still playing even though he noted the man had removed his earbuds.
"That book did not disappoint you," Thorne continued, "It told you the truth. People tend to think stories should mean something, but real power does not concern itself with meaning, it ends stuff. That's what it does."
Kairos frowned 'How are those even related?'
It was clear the man's view was anything but... special.
Aria on the other hand had a sceptical look on her face as she leaned closer, nearly brushing Kairos' shoulder causing a soothing scent of lavender to waft up Kairo's nose as she asked.
"So you are saying that Morality is just window dressing?"
"It's a leash. Power wears it when it wants to look civilised," the older man said as he gulped down the drink he had in his hands.
"Well, that was one way to look at it," Kairos, tired of the over-complexity, said as he turned the closed book on his lap around, "Maybe it is as you said. Books should mean anything."
Philosophy and all that stuff was not his cup of tea.
"What was it about?" Aria asked as she snatched the book from Kairos.
"I Reincarnated into a Cursed World as an Extra," Aria read the title of the book, "Isn't this trope, like… super overused?"
"I know but it is comforting," Kairos said as Aria handed the book over to him.
It was his guilty pleasure. Something about being whisked away into another world deeply resonated with his being, like his soul deeply longed for it.
"So does the MC save the world and have a final fight with the original MC?"
"It's not yet completed," Kairo said before turning to the man beside him, "Uhm-"
"Thorne"
"Yes Thorne, what do you do?"
Kairos tried his best to feign some intrigue even though all he wanted to was steer the conversation away from the book. It was a guilty pleasure for a reason.
'I don't even know why I told them about the book in the first place.' He quietly thought to himself.
"I am a scientist." Thorn plainly said.
Kairos' mind drifted towards a certain meme about being a scientist as Thorne continued, "I just cured cancer actually,"
Aria snorted, "Sure you did."
"Targeted therapy. CRISPR-based vector delivery. We are announcing it next quarter after I become a Nobel Laureate."
Aria stared in silence as Kairos chuckled.
"What?" Thorne asked.
"No, it's something that crossed my mind," Kairos said, trying to stifle a laugh. The look Thorne gave him prompted him to speak further.
"I was just thinking. If I was big pharma, wouldn't you be a huge threat to me?"
"No, I am more of their golden goose, they wouldn't-"
"Bang!"
A deafening sound rang as a slight turbulence spread across the whole cabin.
"What was that?" Aria said, sitting bolt upright. Both Kairos and Thorne stiffened.
"Look! It's on fire!" someone shouted, a woman, a few rows ahead, pointing out the window.
Kairos' gaze immediately followed. Outside, the right engine blazed, flames licking the wing. The billows of smoke it produced were too noticeable even at night.
[DING-DONG!]
"Ladies and gentlemen," the captain's voice strained, "we've just experienced a loss of power in one of our engines. Please remain seated with your seatbelts securely fastened. We are in contact with ground control and will keep you updated."
He didn't even finish before the plane dropped. Not a gentle descent, but a violent lurch that sent Kairos' stomach to his throat. The Overhead bins popped open above him. A laptop flew across the aisle.
"No this cannot be happening," Thorne's voice was almost a whisper. The confidence he had exuded just moments ago was washed away and replaced by raw, pale fear.
Aria gripped the armrests nervously praying while Kairos was just staring. His lips were parted in disbelief.
'The one time I get on a plane…' he thought bitterly.
The Lights flickered and Oxygen masks dropped with mechanical pops, dangling like yellow fruits.
"Brace! Heads Down! Stay Down!" A flight attendant screamed from one end of the aisle. But at this point, few could focus on her voice as the threat of imminent death loomed over their heads.
Another shudder. The roar of the wind grew louder, too loud. It was like they weren't sealed in anymore. Something was wrong with the fuselage.
"Guys, it was nice meeting you, Maybe in Another Life-"
"No! I won't die! I can't die! Why are you so calm?! Why are you fine with this?!"
Kairos, who had begun to accept his fate, looked at the man beside him who had interrupted him. He was about to say something, but his attention was attracted somewhere else.
Outside the window, he could see a multitude of colours rippling across the sky like liquid sky. The green deepened into smoky violet, then flared into streaks of rose pink and fiery red, before turning ghostly ice-blue.
It was like watching the northern lights only this time more graceful, alive and hypnotic.
'Why am I seeing my favourite colours?!'
That was the last thought Kairos had before the scene changed to treetops Then—
Impact.
Metal screaming. Bodies thrown. Light and darkness in one white-hot burst.
Then…
Nothing.