Chapter 11: Consciousness

"Argh... Where... Am I..?" John asked as he opened his eyes.

It was pitch white, as far as John could see, everything was a pure white colour, he couldn't understand what he was looking at. The room was big, endless even. He couldn't see the end, but he could still see light.

Then a part of the room, which John hadn't noticed earlier, came into his view. There was darkness there, it didn't move despite all the lights and just stayed there silently as if it were waiting for something.

"Darkness..?" I muttered.

'There's still darkness, even where there's all this light?' John wondered.

"Speaking of which... Wasn't I inside of something called a 'Dark Domain'? I remember being trapped in darkness..." He spoke.

"This isn't the dark domain." Replied a voice in the distance.

Surprised, John looked around to find the voice, and noticed the figure of a woman standing a few feet away from him. Her entire figure was white, just like the room, and John only noticed her now after looking at the darkness.

"Where is it then..?" John asked as he looked towards her direction.

Her back, which was originally turned towards John, faced the other way as she faced him. John could only see the outline of her face, he could see her mouth moving, but that was all.

"We're inside of you," She said as she approached John.

'Inside of me..? My consciousness?' John wondered.

"This voice... This is the same voice I heard telling me to wake up when I first came to this world..." John realised.

"I didn't expect you to remember..." She replied.

"So... Are you the person that brought me to this world..?" John asked.

"Hm... I'm afraid, I don't have the power to do that," She replied.

"Then tell me, Who are you..? And what are you doing inside of me?" John questioned further.

"You'll know... Once you're stronger, that is. Nonetheless, I'm disappointed. Getting caught in an enemy's trap, if I hadn't helped you again... Your friends, they would've been killed." The woman spoke.

'Again..? She's helped me before? And my friends…' John pondered.

"What happened to them!? Are they safe?! Where's the shad-"

John was then interrupted by the women who said. "They're waiting for you."

After she said that, John could feel something pulling him out of this Area.

"Remember John, you must strengthen your body, otherwise you won't be able to control 'It'."

'Control what..? More importantly.' John thought.

"Wait! Before I go, please tell me your name!" John requested.

The woman who heard that made a surprised expression which changed into a smile and said, "My name... It's..."

--------------------------------------------

"Mn..." John muttered as he opened his eyes.

Once opened, the first thing he saw was the face of two surprised, beautiful girls crying.

"Uhm... I'm back?" John muttered.

"John..." They both said as they hugged him.

"O-Ow... my body hurts all over... Can you guys make the hug a little less tight? I'm struggling to breathe..." John protested.

"No..." Muttered Ariel as she continued to hug him.

"Idiot..." Said, Serena as she hugged him even tighter.

"O-Okay..." John replied, giving in.

***

"Are you two feeling better now..?"John asked as he patted both of them on their heads.

"Don't pat me..." Said Serena as she moved his hand.

'But you can hug me..? Ah, nevermind, she hates being treated like a kid.' John thought as he gave up.

Nonetheless, they wouldn't let go of John no matter what he did. It was almost as if they thought he had died or something. After an unknown amount of time later, they finally let go of him.

"Wait... did I die? Is that it? Serena..? Ariel..? Come on, you two say something, What happened to me?" John questioned.

Once he asked that Serena and Ariel looked at each and chuckled.

"Looks like he's back..." Said, Serena.

"This is the john that we all know." Said, Ariel.

"Eh? What's that supposed to mean?" John wondered.

Serena and Ariel both explained to him what happened, how after John was trapped inside of the sphere, the man managed to get them by surprise and made them lose consciousness, and about what had happened after that.

"So after you woke up... You saw me fighting the man, and I was chanting..?" John asked, feeling stumped.

"Yeah, it was like you were a completely different person..." Said, Ariel.

'So that's what she meant by she helped me again…' John realised.

"More importantly, the chants you did... They were different from normal..." Said, Serena.

"Different? How?" John asked.

"Chanting is like praying to a spirit and requesting power in exchange for magic power. A spirit is wise also, it probably understands the concept of its element. Depending on what you chant, you can use stronger spells, but the thing about chanting is that they have to be accurate." Serena explained.

'Hmm…'

"And what happened with mine?" John questioned again.

"Yours... It didn't feel like you were making a prayer, It sort of felt like when that guy we met in the dungeon was chanting. You also used the same spell as him, you cancelled the dark mage's spells. And your chants were getting shorter and shorter the more you would use them." Serena answered.

'So that woman is this powerful... I wonder why she's so invested in me being stronger, Could it be, she wants me to fight something even stronger than her?' John thought.

"But if I was so strong? How could I let him get away? Wasn't I able to stop his movements in the last second? So why did I let him go at the end?" John asked in confusion.

Serena and Ariel nervously looked at each other, and Serena spoke.

"I-I don't know, maybe you felt like he could be spared," Said Serena.

"Serena... What did I do to him, you're not a very good liar..." John said.

Serena let out a sigh and said, "Fine..."

"We couldn't hear what spell you used at the end, but whatever it was, a hole appeared out of nowhere, and sucked him inside. No traces of him remained..." Said, Serena.

"A hole..? What colour was it?" John asked.

"It was dark..." Said, Ariel.

"A black hole..." John understood.

'I created a black hole..? And I killed him..? Maybe it was for the better, from what they said, if he had gotten away, he would've got more people to target us, and that would've been more dangerous…' John thought.

How strange it was, John thought he'd feel a little more guilty and regretful after killing someone, but surprisingly he didn't feel the slightest bit guilty or regretful. 

'Was it because I wasn't the one in control, at the time I killed him, or…' John wondered.