~ White Mist, Red Strings and Shallow Water - II ~

The mist was choking my lungs, I could feel the pain as I breathed in rapid rounds of air due to anxious panicking.

My mind supplied that I had to calm myself down, but my soul was trembling under the heaviness of the unknown danger.

I tried standing up, thinking that I could run away, but my legs had given up on me as they shook under imaginary fright.

I gasped, as the mist went in my nose and mouth, my body inhaling the stuff like oxygen. And the thought that I couldn't see anything, couldn't feel anything, made me absolutely terrified.

On some absent thought, I tried searching for my bag, but to my utter horror, I had nothing on me, no clothes, no bags, nothing at all.

The stress must have been too much because I found my eyes closing and I fell asleep.

~~

When I woke up again, the mist was still there, and the time was unmoving.

I felt like crying when flashes of memory bombarded me, the feeling of hopelessness and fear ingraining negative feelings in me.

I tried to sit up, but even my arms buckled under my weight.

Taking in a long breath I tried controlling my body, feeling helpless yet resolved to find a solution, still, my psychological strength wasn't strong enough to overpower the negativity in me.

Seeing misty figures was still less terrifying than finding oneself in some strange mist field with no sound, no sight and no other imagery.

Since my senses were hyper aware, I quickly felt the intruding force that wasn't far. The flapping of small wings resounding in the silent mist.

At first I almost got a heart attack, but having resolved to finding a solution, I moved to see what it was that was coming my way.

To my surprise it was the same black butterfly that I had seen before, which was now smaller in size and a lot prettier.

I watched as it fluttered in front of my eyes for a while but then suddenly took a u turn and started to leave.

"W-Wait!" I shouted at it, my voice strangely muffled, dragging and half crawling behind the messiah butterfly in hopes of finding myself a path out of here. I was quick to follow since the vision after a certain distance became clouded by white mist.

It took a while as I kept walking on some solid surface which wasn't land, since it felt smooth yet coarse as well. But then I reached a point where stood a huge willow tree surrounded by a misty wall, similar to that one in the park, only slightly paler and more withering.

"Huh?"

I followed the butterfly to the tree and gaped when I saw several red strings woven around the tree's girth. All of them bright and flashy, red like blood. All of them were shooting out into the mist and going where... I didn't know.

The butterfly which I had been following suddenly stopped to sit at one of these strings, calm and silent like the surrounding place.

I gulped, looking up to see the tree, the silence baffling me with another stroke of fear.

Then the butterfly which had stopped to sit on the string, again fluttered around me and sat back where it had been sitting before.

"Do you want me to touch it?"

I asked even if I feared what the outcome would be.

Would I be transported to some imaginary land like in anime and manga?

It was doubtful of whether I should trust an insect with no brains, but in my situation I was thankful to see at least the tree and if the fly wanted me to touch the string, I would.

So as soon as I touched it, I saw a flash of rapid paced images in my head, all of them magnifying a person with long hair and enchanting bearing, but I was slow in grasping all the details of it and at one point almost gave up keeping track of things, when a sudden burst of pain shoot straight through me and I screamed, scrambling down, leaving the string alone.

The pain didn't last long, but I found myself exhausted, my head aching as if several hammers had been digging into it.

A sudden bout of dizziness took over me and I watched with bleary eyes, the same black butterfly I was so familiar with, flying over my head into some unknown direction.

I raised up my head to see where it was going, when my eyes widened upon seeing a long line of red string parting through the mist and going somewhere I couldn't see the end of.

The butterfly kept fluttering, as I decided to follow it, even if my body was reluctant.

Time passed and I kept following the red string, wondering when I would reach the end.

Walking, walking, walking, and I don't know how much time had gone in walking, when I finally saw something at the far edge.

It was a den.

It looked spooky, but when I reached the tip, a magnetic force of sorts pulled me in and I blacked out. Again.

~~

My consciousness was still drifting when I felt someone shaking me, the action fierce and strong.

Groaning, I blinked my eyes open and saw soft rays of light entering from the wooden latticed screen. Making the targeted wooden floor boards quite apparent to the eyes. The polish was actually high quality, I knew because I couldn't see any scratches on it.

"Earth to Raven~" A hand waved itself in front of my face, distracting me from my sleep.

Annoyed, I slapped the hand away and found myself looking at an unknown man with pink short hair.

Okay...? What the-

"W-Who are you?!" I asked in alarm, scrambling away from him.

Looking around I noticed I was in some ancient looking wooden room, sitting upon a hard wooden bed with a think coarse blanket covering me.

It felt as if I was in some Chinese drama where they shot scenes with ancient props and sets, most of them used wood as the main material.

I further noted that the man in front of me wasn't just any random male, but a bishounen look alike with slender androgynous beauty.

The man must have found my question funny, since he started to laugh and shook his head.

"Brother, you better be joking, you don't know your own senior?"

...senior? I had many, but my university certainly didn't have a beauty like him, although I wasn't attracted to him, but it almost felt like a sin to have him facing me, paying me attention.

Whatever, I needed to watch less anime.

"I seem to have forgotten most of the thing? I-I think I... hit my head?" I asked sheepishly, and a sudden inflow of dread filled me.

Where was I and what was happening? I wanted to go back home, damn it!

"I see," the other person nodded with a frown, "I did rescue you from the river, you had almost drowned."

Okay, now when did I become so suicidal...?