Void. In the void,
A dim light in the miasma of the void resonated in the corners of infinity.
The small speck that was already in the void before was the creation.
Upon awakening, it saw the scene that was already familiar.
Upon realizing it was in the void, a void that consumed its vision and its senses.
It only thought.
-Darkness, darkness is not as silent as I thought. Darkness never was.
Again, I'm floating in the darkness, I don't feel... complete, without a body, without having any form, I only feel... dissolved, only my consciousness suspended in the void-
But not everything was just void. In the distances it could notice, fleeting sparks that ignited in the darkness began to show crystal fragments. Upon noticing these objects, its consciousness approached as if a gust of wind pushed it. Upon concentrating more on these fragments, the light coming from them absorbed its consciousness.
Shortly after the light dissipated, it began to feel, and it realized it had a human body, although its face couldn't be felt. It saw how the fragments began to move erratically around it.
The fragment was forming a scene, replicating its memories, a scene that was fragmented and blurry. It analyzed its surroundings and recognized the place where it was.
-(This place isn't...)-
But before it could say the name of the place, it was interrupted.
-Rain, are you at least listening to me?-
A female voice with a sweet tone. Familiar. Warm but distant, as if speaking from the other side of a fogged glass. The words weren't concise; they blurred before reaching complete clarity.
It tried to respond to that person, but its voice didn't come out; it didn't exist. It could only observe.
The fragments swirled, and for a fleeting instant, it saw blurry shapes. A room. White lights. A hospital. An office. All these places mixed as if they were one.
-Rain, you can't go on like this. You can't stop taking care of yourself-
The sweet voice again, with a worried tone.
-(Isn't she...?)-
It vaguely remembered who she was; it couldn't remember her name, as if it were slipping through its nonexistent tongue.
-I'm fine.-
That was its voice. A voice that sounded tired and empty.
-You're not! You've gone weeks without sleeping or eating well. He wouldn't want to see you like this-
The fragments began to tremble, recomposing the scene and forming another memory. This time it was clearer, but equally ephemeral.
A large room. Flowers everywhere. Oil paintings throughout the room. A fresh smell.
It felt something warm in its chest, but at the same time something that tightened in its chest.
What was it? Nostalgia? Pain? Guilt? Or Anger?
The image of the room shattered like breaking glass, and the fragments replicated another scene: A hallway. Its body began to move hurriedly. The echo resonated from its own heavy breathing.
-Wait! Rain! Don't go in there!-
The female voice called its name, shouting at its back, but its body didn't respond; it had run anyway.
-Why? What had happened? I thought I could...-
It couldn't remember what happened next. The fragments and the void distorted the scene.
And it was then, in the middle of the void and absolute darkness, that a voice pierced through all the fragments.
-Rain...-
It stopped. The void calmed down; the fragments dispersed. Its entire consciousness was paralyzed.
A weak voice, but at the same time soft and warm.
-Rain... Are you here?-
It wasn't the girl's voice. It was that person. It wanted to scream. It wanted to move. It wanted to reach them. Reach the source of the voice. But the void kept it trapped.
The fragments began to swirl faster and more erratically, as if trying to reconstruct something lost. Blurry faces, diffuse smiles. Tears it couldn't remember having shed.
-Rain... You can rest... Don't worry about me... Okay, Rain?-
The voice became more distant and weaker.
-Do you promise me, Rain? That you'll never forget me?-
-Wait!-
It screamed desperately in the void, but its own voice didn't have a shred of sound.
-Rain!-
The fragments began to fade and fuse with the darkness one by one.
-Farewell, Rain...-
The voice was barely a whisper swallowed by the darkness. Absolute silence.
The void was even heavier. Colder. There was only Rain, surrounded by nothingness. The memories had vanished. Only the remnants of the echo of that voice remained, engraved somewhere deep in its being.
-Wait! Don't leave me... Don't leave me alone...-
-"I will save you, and you'll have a normal life, I promise you that"-
The only promise it had made.
-"No matter the cost of what it takes to save you"-
With the pain of remembering these memories it had buried, with desperation at having lost that vivid memory, with helplessness at not fulfilling that promise it never kept, with anger at being able to save them. In all that mixture of feelings, the name of that person resonated in its mind.
-Eduard...-
A name it once wanted to forget. A name that made it remember again what its objective was.
And then from the very depths of the void appeared "that presence." That entity. It had no form. It had no face. It only existed as an oppression of the absolute void that enveloped everything.
-Wake up.-
The voice rumbled in the corners of the void, merciless and ancient.
-Wake up.-
It was then that it felt its consciousness being pulled, dragging its consciousness toward a place.
-Wake up.-
The darkness began to stir.
-Wake up, Rain.-
-You haven't finished the work you have to do yet.-