*Cold... why does it feel like sleeping on a bathroom floor?*
That thought crossed Nova's mind, a 12-year-old child who felt a strange sensation on his back. The hard, cold floor pierced his backbone, making him uncomfortable. Slowly, his heavy eyelids began to open.
"Ah, what is this...?!"
Nova immediately sat up with a slightly surprised expression. The scene before him was truly strange. The walls, floor, even the ceiling were pure white. What was even more astonishing, hundreds—no, maybe thousands of books were floating in the air right above his head.
"This... where am I?" he muttered while standing up. "And why are there so many floating books? And what books are those?"
Nova raised his head, trying to count the number of those books. They all looked like classic novels, dark brown in color, without pictures on their covers, and the titles of those books.
*Could it be that those millions of books are countless!* he thought to himself while gazing in amazement.
Nova reached out his hand, trying to grab one of the books floating low. But just as his fingers were about to touch the book's cover—
"Hello, nice to meet you, this is the first time we've met. I hope we can get to know each other."
That gentle voice came from behind him. Nova quickly turned his body around,
"You... Are you the one who spoke just now?"
What Nova saw now was a pitch-black ball, not too large in size, floating in the air about one meter from him. In the center of that ball, there was one red, round-shaped, glowing eye. No mouth, no nose, just that red eye alone.
"Yeah, of course, who else would it be? There are only the two of us in this room, right?" the creature answered with a voice that sounded like a teenage girl.
"I'm wondering if I'm dreaming right now? I must be dreaming, right?! Yes, this must just be a dream. How can a black ball without a mouth talk?! Come on, wake up, me!"
"You look cute right now. But unfortunately, this isn't a dream—what you're seeing now is reality. I can speak because of this," the creature said while its red eye blinked. "What you see in the center of my body is both my eye and my mouth. All my communication is done through this eye."
*She says this isn't a dream? Then where are we now? Another dimension? And she speaks through her eye? Is she like an AI or something? But her voice sounds like a young girl? The language she uses is also the same as human language...* Nova thought while still gazing in amazement.
Nova gathered courage to ask, "So... what do you want from me? And how did I end up here?"
The creature remained silent for a few moments. Then she said—
"You are the successor of someone very important in this world."
(!)
"Huh?! What did you just say? I think I misheard that?"
"You didn't mishear. As I said, you are the successor of *him*—someone very important in the world where you live. Or more precisely, the world where we all live. Now the task he used to carry out has become your responsibility."
""--""
"Huh? Successor of an important person?" Nova was still confused. "You mean I have to become someone's replacement? But why does it have to be me?"
"What happened to the person you're talking about that I have to become his successor?"
"You're still a child. It's still too early for me to explain all this to you. The answer... maybe someday you'll find out for yourself, or maybe you'll never be able to know anything."
(!)
"Alright, that's enough for our first meeting. Don't worry, Nova. We'll meet again later."
"Huh, wait! Am I someone who's living again? I mean, the person you mentioned is actually me, right?" Suddenly those words came out of his mouth.
""--""
"It seems there's something wrong with your brain? You are only his successor, not someone reincarnated. Do you understand now?"
Nova looked embarrassed for a moment, and somehow Nova felt like the black ball seemed to be smiling in her heart, even though Nova himself didn't know whether she had a heart or not. Then suddenly Nova was startled.
"Eh wait! How do you know my name?—"
Suddenly Nova felt dizzy. His vision spun around and his body lost balance. He fell hard onto the cold white floor, his consciousness slowly fading.
"Sleep well, Nova," the creature whispered gently before everything went dark.