"Brother, Brother, wake up... wake up!"
"Ahh!!" Lucas gasped for air as his eyes snapped open—but...
"Ahh!!" He clutched his throat. There was no air. No matter how hard he tried to breathe, it felt like there wasn't a single particle of oxygen around him. Then he noticed—
Everything.
A black, limitless expanse in all directions. Stars, constellations, cosmic latte, and floating debris—the unmistakable void of space.
He was no longer on the planet. He was in space, alone, unsupported, and suffocating albeit slowly.
But instead of panicking, a weak, ironic smile curved on his lips.
Finally, After everything, I get to die... not even on Earth, but drifting in space. Not even my body was left behind, nothing.
Lucas closed his eyes, embracing what he thought would be a slow, painful death, unaware his body was drifting in a specific direction.
"Brother... It doesn't matter if you awaken or not. I will always love you. So please… just stay with me."
Maya's soft voice echoed in his mind. He remembered the feel of her tiny hand wrapped around his.
Maya! Lucas tried to shout, but he choked on his words immediately.
"No! It can't end like this. Maya still needs me." He clenched his teeth, his mind conjuring the image of his little sister—alone, vulnerable, and at the mercy of Uncle Mark and his cruel family.
No, it can't end... like this...
Before he could complete that thought, his body began spinning violently—as if something was pulling him in.
Wait... what's happening... to me? he thought as his vision blurred.
In the distance, he caught sight of a stunning, colossal golden marble. As he hurtled toward it at full speed, he noticed that part of it was oddly dented. But before he could process it, everything went blank.
Unconsciously, his body plunged into the planet's atmosphere.
He fell face-down, rapidly accelerating.
His clothes ignited into flames.
In seconds, they were gone, and the fire spread across his exposed skin.
"Brother, Brother, wake up!"
"Ahh!!" Lucas screamed, gasping for air. The moment he breathed, he was assaulted by intense burning pain and an overwhelming sensation and feeling that something terrifying was watching him.
He couldn't move. The flames engulfing him roared louder.
"AHHH! Why me!!" he screamed, tears streaming from his eyes as the intense pain from burning overwhelmed him.
Maya… I'm sorry... I don't think I can stay by your side anymore. I'm dying... in a place I don't even know.
He laughed bitterly through the agony. "I'm such useless trash… I couldn't even say goodbye to my little sister. I left her with the lions of Uncle Mark and his family."
"Pathetic, right?" He sobbed. "Now I get it. The world was never unfair to me. I was just a waste of its resources."
"But Maya... she's a good girl. She doesn't deserve any of this…"
"She doesn't deserve a useless brother. She doesn't deserve to be left behind. Not in that hellhole."
"Mum, Dad... why? Why did you leave her like this?"
Then, a soft laughter escaped his lips, "No... I can't blame them. I'm the trash here and none of this is their fault , it's all the trash fault."
BOOM!!!
Suddenly, a massive, terrifying aura swept across the sky, extinguishing the flames on his body.
"Charred and broken, Lucas's body plummeted like a meteor, his eyes snapping open in sheer dread."
BADUM! BADUM! BADUM!
His weak heart pounded in his chest like a war drum.
What… is that?
Below him, nestled within a crater, was a vast swirling ocean of triple-colored liquid, the Liquid is thick, with drifting scales and huge teeth. Reality distorts with tiny black holes moving within it.
Golden, steaming prismatic mist.
Crimson, with floating obsidian shards.
Inky black, with glowing blue veins like deep-sea trenches.
Though the liquids swirled, they never mixed. Each gave off a distinct, oppressive aura—terrifying in their own right.
Lucas gulped as his body dropped rapidly toward it. Every cell in his body screamed that something ancient and dangerous was watching him.
Even a person who's not in his right senses would tag this place extremely dangerous and unapproachable, yet he was stuck falling towards it.
I'm really sorry if I'm intruding... he thought with a trembling heart, bracing himself for impact.
With a deafening splash, the liquid still didn't mix as he plunged into the center of it, his body went down a few meters down and it stopped still.
For a moment, nothing.
Then—
"AHHH!!"
Lucas clutched his neck as the liquid invaded his mouth. It wasn't just hot—it burned like acid, searing his throat, his skin, even his brain, he was going through unbearable pain.
The liquid thrashed violently. Alien, guttural sounds echoed inside his skull, unintelligible and maddening.
His body began to dissolve—flesh disintegrating, reforming, his very structure breaking down and reshaping.
His bloodshot eyes bulged in agony, his thoughts unraveling.
Maya… I'm sorry… I can't… I can't protect you anymore…
That single thought echoed over and over as his consciousness flickered... and went blank.
His body slowly sank to the bottom of the chaotic liquid. The churning began to slow.
Then—suddenly—runes. Blue and red, glowing symbols formed around Lucas's mangled form.
The liquid fought back, violently resisting the pulling force from the runes on Lucas's body as if it had a life of its own.
But no matter how fiercely it swirled and fought, it was pulled toward him—absorbed by the runes.
All of it.
Until the last drop.