Weightless....
That was the first sensation Kai felt, like floating in a void where gravity no longer mattered. Then, suddenly, he felt something solid beneath him. Cold. Smooth. Unfamiliar.
His eyes cracked open slowly, vision swimming with disorientation. Darkness. Not the kind of darkness that came with night or shadows.....but a suffocating, pitch-black abyss that stretched infinitely in every direction. Above. Below. Around.
He blinked hard, trying to focus. The only thing breaking the vast emptiness was the massive platform beneath him: a thin, translucent structure that pulsed faintly with dark blue light, like glass laced with starlight. It floated alone in the void, unanchored, suspended in nothingness. A ghostly mist curled along its edges, vanishing into the black.
Kai sat up sharply, his heart thundering. His breath came fast, ragged, but made no sound. Panic prickled across his skin as he whipped his head from side to side. There was nothing—no sky, no ground, no horizon. Just him, and the platform.
He tried to stand, but his limbs felt leaden, numb. A dull throb pulsed at the base of his skull, spreading with each second. He forced himself up anyway, teeth clenched, his legs trembling as they obeyed. But as soon as he took a step, a wave of dizziness slammed into him like a wall. His vision twisted. His knees buckled.
He collapsed to all fours, gasping. His throat tightened. He tried to speak, to cry out, but no sound came. Only a rasp of air that barely left his lips. He clawed at the platform, as though it could somehow anchor him to reality, to something tangible. Then he saw it, at the far end of the platform, standing just at the edge of his perception....was a figure.
It hadn't been there before. Or maybe it had... and he hadn't noticed. Maybe it didn't want to be noticed...
Humanoid in shape, but utterly still. Its form blended so perfectly with the black abyss behind it that it looked like a hole in space. A figure of shadow within shadow, barely distinguishable except for one thing: its eyes. Glowing violet. Ember-like. Watching.
Kai's chest tightened. He tried to call out, but only a whisper passed his cracked lips. Still, the figure heard. It turned. The motion was slow, almost theatrical. Its form rippled unnaturally as it pivoted, as though its very being were made of smoke trying to remember how to be human. The darkness around its limbs shifted like liquid silk. But those eyes....those brilliant, unblinking violet eyes, they never wavered.
Kai staggered to his feet, breath trembling, the feverish burn behind his brow intensifying. His body screamed to rest, but he couldn't take his eyes off the figure. There was something about it: dense, heavy, ancient. And eerily familiar. Then it moved. Not walked. Not stepped. It shifted.
One instant, it was yards away. The next...it was there, standing right in front of him, less than a foot away. The air turned thick, suffocating. Kai recoiled instinctively, stumbling backward until his heel caught the edge of the platform. He froze. There was nowhere else to go. He stared into those violet eyes, wide with alarm.
The figure stared back, unmoving. Then, without warning, it raised a hand. The shadowed appendage shimmered like smoke, the edges constantly dissolving into mist and reforming. It extended a single finger and pressed it gently, almost delicately, against Kai's forehead. Kai's breath hitched. The contact sent a bolt of heat searing through his skull. Then, the figure leaned forward, bringing its face beside his ear. Despite the chaos inside Kai's body, the whisper was calm, clear, and chilling. "Trust no one."
The words etched themselves into Kai's mind like a brand. Pain erupted across his entire body. Burning, searing him alive from the inside out. He tried to scream, to flail, to shove the figure away, but he couldn't move. Couldn't even twitch. His body was no longer his to command.
His mouth opened in a silent scream as agony overtook him, the heat in his forehead intensifying like a molten brand. His vision began to white out, nerves ablaze. Then, without ceremony, the figure withdrew. Still touching his forehead, it pressed forward with one simple motion. And Kai fell, off the edge and into the abyss.
The air screamed past him, though there was no wind. Darkness devoured him, closing in from every direction. His limbs went limp, the pain dulling into numbness. His mind fragmented. The platform, the figure, the light, all of it began to grow further and further. A sharp gasp tore through Kai's throat as his eyes snapped open.
Blinding blue. The vast sky above him stretched endlessly, painted in brilliant sapphire and brushed with streaks of white clouds drifting lazily overhead. The sun hung high, warm but gentle, casting golden rays over the familiar valley. Birds chirped faintly in the distance, their songs weaving through the rustling breeze that swept across the grass like a soothing whisper.
He blinked rapidly, lungs filling with fresh, crisp air. The sensation of solid ground beneath him returned, no longer the cold glass of a void-bound platform, but soft earth cushioned with thick, dew-kissed grass. He felt it beneath his fingertips as he pushed himself up slightly. Then he noticed it.
His head was resting on something warm. Something soft. Not grass. He tilted his head slightly, and before his mind could even catch up, a face appeared above him, serene, radiant and framed by shoulder-length golden hair that shimmered like sunlight dancing on water. Saphielle!
Her sapphire-blue eyes, calm yet keen, looked down at him with mild amusement. "Oh good, you're awake," she said, her voice carrying the same smooth elegance as always, like silk drawn across glass.
Kai jerked upright, startled. Or rather, he tried to. His reaction sent him tumbling sideways off what he quickly realized his head had been on her lap. He tried to stand but instead he tripped, landing on his rear with an undignified thud and a flurry of limbs. "Wh-what the hell?!" he blurted out, scrambling to prop himself up, his eyes wide and confused. "Why was I-how did-uh...?"
Saphielle merely raised an eyebrow, her composure as effortless as ever. She sat with her legs neatly tucked underneath her, wings folded gracefully behind her back, her combat suit still glinting with sapphire-blue threadwork. The white edges of her coattail fluttered lightly in the breeze.
"I had to heal you," she replied matter-of-factly, brushing a strand of golden hair behind her ear. "You passed out after our sparring match. Temporal overload. You needed rest, and frankly, I didn't feel like dragging you back to the Solarium."
Her gaze sharpened just a touch. "And I certainly wasn't going to kill you for the inconvenience." Her lips quirked into a small, almost undetectable smile. "So I let you stay where you collapsed. I just moved your head onto my lap so you wouldn't drool all over the grass."
Kai's face flushed red, color creeping across his cheeks and ears like wildfire. "Y-you didn't have to-!" he started, flustered. She leaned slightly toward him, her expression was neutral, but it didn't make it easier for Kai. "What's wrong? Are you telling me that as a mortal, you were that deprived of physical contact with females?" Her smile widened, a glint of mischief in her eyes. "Just my lap, and you're already overheating?"
Kai opened his mouth to protest, stammering half-formed syllables, then stopped. He stared at her for a moment, then groaned, turning his face away as he rubbed the back of his neck. "You're messing with me."
"Of course I am," she said sweetly, reclining back on her hands, wings fanning slightly behind her. "Though to be fair....you caught me off guard too."
"Huh?"
"I didn't expect you to hold up as long as you did. You've earned a little reward, Kai." She tilted her head, examining him with a lopsided grin. "But if you'd slept any longer, I was going to roll you off. Can't have you getting used to special treatment." Kai chuckled under his breath, the tension beginning to drain from his shoulders. "You really know how to keep a guy humble." Saphielle's laugh was soft, melodic. "You've got a big head for someone so stupid."
Kai let out a long, tired exhale as he leaned back, letting the grass cradle his weight. The sun above warmed his face, and the scent of wildflowers carried on the wind. The valley, quiet and expansive, seemed so far removed from the shadowy horror he had just awoken from.
And yet, the memory of it lingered. The platform. The abyss. The violet-eyed figure. The words whispered in his ear, Trust no one. A warning, or a curse? He turned his head slightly to glance at Saphielle, who was idly plucking a blade of grass and twirling it between her fingers. He debated for a moment, wondering whether to tell her what he'd seen... what he'd felt. But then, something in him paused.
No....not yet.
Kai sat up slowly, brushing a few loose blades of grass from his arms. "Hey... is it alright if I ask you a few questions?" Saphielle raised an elegant brow, looking at him sideways. "Normally, I'd say no. Too busy, too tired, too disinterested," she said airily. Then she shrugged. "But I suppose....you've been through quite a lot in the little time you have spent here. Ask away."
Kai smiled faintly, the last traces of his tension fading. The wind rustled through the valley once more, the grass swaying around them like a green sea under the bright sky. Whatever came next, he wasn't facing it alone. Not yet, anyway.