Why was he crying?
He smeared the oily tears on his face as if that were going to stop them, but they persisted.
And it horrified him.
He had no control over anything anymore. Not his surroundings, not his actions, and not even his tears.
Elyas looked around frantically searching for something, anything, that would give him reassurance.
Something familiar, perhaps.
But nothing.
Until suddenly, he felt a strange sensation in his chest and stomach. It was indiscernible at first, but then it slowly wriggled into a sad, blue raging ocean.
His tears continued to patter on the now undulating black ground until that strange feeling within gushed and smothered everything else.
His panic receded.
His dread died.
And nothing mattered anymore as something else descended upon the boundless dark world; it was the sound of soft soothing music. Piano and violin harmonised together into a classy, elegant, and melancholic piece that was everywhere. It had a soul that reminisced and sobbed at something... tragic.
Then, a shimmering light breathed from the darkness. It then flared and coalesced into two figures of pure light.
One was a tall gentleman with long hair tied in a lazy ponytail and adorned in a fine suit.
The other was of a shorter woman with cascading hair and a beautiful, regal dress.
He couldn't see their facial features as they were a pure, bright existence. It was as if he wasn't allowed to see their true selves.
The man had one of his arms gently placed around her waist, and the other softly grasping hers. She had one hand on his shoulder and the other grasping his. They stared at each other intently without a hint of distraction, as if each other's eyes were all there was to see in the world.
The couple began dancing flawlessly around him with measured, yet strange steps. Their eyes never parted from each other, not to consider their surroundings, or even Elyas's transfixed, sorry self.
But Elyas didn't care about how he seemed, who or where he was anymore; instead, something subliminal about the couple entranced his whole being: body, mind and soul.
Because, although they were merely dancing to the music, he perceived much more:
Deep within him, like an invasive, hot flood, he was forcefully introduced to something he never knew existed, let alone felt: the love those two had for each other.
He felt it in the intensity of their gaze, in the dance and what it intended, and in the music that begged for words.
It was beyond comprehension. There was a harmony in their existence that was perfectly reflected in their dance.
Another amber tear crawled down his cheek, this one more expressive. But mixed into it was his own.
How could he not? He didn't know anything, but he felt things.
The dancing couple flowed around him with delicacy and ease until they closed in on him.
They rhythmically passed through him as if he didn't exist, their hair cascading around his undeserving face, until they disappeared as they appeared, back into the never-ending darkness.
That was all.
Left alone, Elyas buckled to his knees.
And replacing the heat inside, a cold emptiness encroached upon his soul, as if their warmth had abandoned him.
As if they were the only sun in this darkness.
The only solace.
And it made him angry, resentful, and indignant.
It was the most unfair thing in the world that had befallen him, and he was left helplessly alone on his knees.
He wiped his tears once more and felt his hand tremble.
'Why'd they leave me?'
"Let me in," he whimpered to the darkness.
"Let me in, please!"
He continued begging silently to an unresponsive void, but there was no response but for his pathetic, echoing voice.
Who took them away from him?
Who could have committed such a grave sin?
Then, as if to tend to his complicated, intense feelings, the familiar Crimson System scribed itself mournfully before him, much, much bigger than usual.
The female voice read sorrowfully to the whole darkness:
< ... Heed your Verse O Mutant... >
Elyas watched it blankly, not even startled by the announcement.
< ... "and sinners roam the realms in pride until they fall in ruin at your feet. Bleed for Judgement, O mournful Prosecutor!" ... >
Everything shuddered and trembled at her voice.
The darkness surged around him like a stormy ocean, and the Crimson System shook with reverence.
Then, the darkness slowly paled and assumed an ashen grey colour, morbid and dull.
Elyas, meanwhile, rose to his feet, inner feelings scrambling inside, but only a serious and regretful frown finding its way onto his face.
He didn't feel pathetic anymore.
He only felt the sensation of an incomprehensible duty residing on his shoulders, and he accepted it gladly.
The system continued.
< ... Awaiting Assessment. Please Stand By ... >
Elyas's eyes dulled and fell to the ground, as if he weren't impatiently waiting for this moment for the longest time.
< ...Your blood compels you to Judgement ... >
< ... Coherency: Judgement ... >
< ...Coherency Level: 1 ... >
< ... Unlocking Coherency Abilities. Please Stand By ... >
He remained as he was. Unmoved, and blank.
< ... Coherency Ability [Prosecution] Unlocked ... >
< ... Coherency Ability [Plead] Unlocked ... >
< ... Evolving Mutant's Physicallity. Please Stand By ... >
< ... Evolution Failed. Blood Potency Insufficient ... >
< ... Assessment disrupted. Please Stand By ... >
Elyas sighed, still feeling that same grey dullness draining him.
Empty and lifeless.
As if his self was taken away from him, leaving him as an empty vessel.
THUD!
The grey void trembled again and started fracturing at random places in the air.
Through the cracks, the artificial white light of the dojo seeped in and touched him, and only then did Elyas regain himself, and he dropped to the floor again, crying in agony.
"AGHH! NO!"
He clawed at his face, only to feel the cold and wet brass surface of the mask.
The void was crumbling apart.
"No! No! No! Take me back! Take me back!" He cried, smacking his mask with his trembling palm repeatedly, begging for it to work again.
But nothing happened.
Until a big, rough hand clasped the mask and yanked it off his face.
Elyas was in the dojo again, but he was on his hands and knees, hyperventilating, face and hair drenched in sweat and blood, and he was coughing alarming amounts of blood on the black mats.
His face, too, was a gnarly nightmare.
His cracked skull wound reopened and dribbled slimy blood down his veiny, sweat-drenched face, while his bloodshot, grey eyes strained to look Leon in the face, weak voice barely croaking:
"What... What is happening to me?! What-"
Another bout of bloody coughing splashed on the mats.
"-Help... me!"
Leon himself was in utter shock and panic. He looked like a clueless kid. He tossed the horrid mask away and knelt down concernedly at Elyas's side, hand tending to his back.
"Breathe, Boy! Breathe!"
Elyas couldn't hear him, though; all he heard was a deafening wheeze pulsating in his head, and the sound of him retching a never-ending stream of blood.
He wished it all to end.
Death was a very desired mercy right now.
His innards were being torn apart and he was helpless to it.
"Help- me..." He croaked again.
"Don't let go, boy! Keep it in!"
His hands tightened on the floor until his fingers dug into the mats. He couldn't even see them now; they were blood-soaked.
Eventually, his hands gave, and just before plunging face-first into a pool of his own blood, Leon held him and propped him up.
The blood stopped spewing out, but he was still breathless.
He flailed at the air in suffocation as if that were to help him, but it did nothing.
His chest tightened.
His arms weakened.
And he could slowly feel himself give in to the mercy of an endless sleep.
"No!" Leon cried, wrinkled face awash with horror.
But that was all.
Everything went blurry, then dim, and finally, an absolute darkness.
Elyas slumped lifelessly to the ground.