Awakening

𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲…𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺…

𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻'𝘁 𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺…𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗲…

𝗣𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲…

𝗣𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲...

Whispers from an unknown place, muffled as though there was a wall between the listener and the talker.

A voice that sounded familiar, and yet unfamiliar entered a white-haired boy's ears.

The boy frowned, and his eyes wrinkled as he tried to open his eyes.

He didn't know when he began hearing the voices and whispers, but whatever it was, it wasn't welcomed in his dream.

He thought this was a dream because the sleep paralysis demon didn't want him to move, and so he couldn't move.

Not a finger of his twitch, nor could his eyes open the slightest bit.

Therefore, the boy can only lay there in silence, at the mercy of the begging voice.

…wait, was he lying down, or was he floating?

His body felt cool, and what should be the ground beneath him wasn't there at all.

𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲...𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲...𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗺𝗲…

'Why are you asking for help now?' he managed to think. 'If you can't save yourself, how can you expect to save others?'

Oh well. No matter how much the boy pondered and thought, the voice still sounded wholly unfamiliar. As though a wall existed between them, muffling the voice and the voice's owner.

Anyways, as long as it isn't his little sister who's in trouble, it should be fine to sleep a little more-

"..."

His eyes twitched, his eyelash quivered, and air was caught in his throat-

'Who…who was muttering?'

The boy felt his eyes spasm in a much more intense manner. His back, hands, and feet felt cold, matted with sweat. A chill ran up his spine, and he gulped.

It got to the point of being so uncomfortable he forced his eyes to open in an abrupt manner-

-and Jonah was greeted by the sunlight. It immediately made itself known with its piercing, blinding power as it burned his weary eyes.

As the sun's light touched his eyes, its warmth slowly made its way inside him, and all the cold went away.

Yawning, he stretched with one arm while covering his eyes with the other.

It was just as warm as always, and he would've taken in such warmth it wasn't for-

'...the sun?' he thought.

He removed the arm covering his eyes, and he looked up.

Jonah didn't know what he was expecting, but he saw a sun shining in the sky. For the first time in a long time, he was finally able to see the sun.

No…it was 'a' sun.

Before he could even enjoy the feeling of warmth, he noticed something incredibly off about the 'sun.' It radiated a dull yellow-orange glow, and-

"Wait you-!"

𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘮!

At the sudden flash of light, came a sound of an explosion, along with immediate darkness afterwards.

…

"…ugh-!"

Jonah's eyes became wide opened.

He found himself on his back once more laying against the solid ground. Huffing and gasping, he slowly sat up and placed his hand over his chest.

His rapidly beating heart kept pumping, and he breathed as slowly and deeply as possible with each repetition..

'What…what was that?' he thought.

As he was trying to get his bearings together, he heard 'something.' That was when he noticed that the light around him brightened a 'tad bit' brighter.

He slowly looked up, and he was 'warmly' greeted by the 'sun.'

"Oh shi-!"

𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘮!

…

Just as life goes on, so too do explosions from 'pure light' commonly happen in 'dreams.'

At least that's what a certain poor boy attributed to. Only such things could happen in dreams, right?

Right?

He swears he ain't rolling for the I-frame skills. He has no healing flasks, and even if they were on him, where is the inventory?

'I rate this dream 5/10 just for the actual quality of everything that's seemingly so realistic. Take out the other 5 because I'm in danger,' he thought.

As Jonah was rolling around on the ground, dust and dirt flying everywhere around him, he couldn't help but think he had cursed too many times.

Internally and externally.

At least he held in a few curses here and there, and that's what matters.

As these bad words came out of him as though a swearing sailor possessed him, Jonah felt more and more afraid.

Perhaps the swear jar has broken, and now the curses freely rampaged inside him.

That's really bad.

Really, really bad.

He can't get used to it since Chaya is at his side.

This almost reminds him of the good old days of getting those I-frames in some video games.

Ah, good times.

…

Jonah didn't know how many times he 'woke up,' along with the immediate follow of rolling to the side as 'light' blasted where he was previously, and his eventual 'death.'

At this point, the boy felt it was a mercy for instant 'death' each 'reset.'

He felt his shoulders, arms, and sides become sore as he continued rolling across the ground. After each 'reset,' he no longer felt sore, but the phantom pain was there.

It was safe to assume he would feel agony the moment it touched him.

So he tried to.

He tried to make sure, if he ever made a mistake, he'll simply take the hit straight on.

It was scary the first few times-no, he was joking.

It was not just a few times, it was 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦.

Even if knowing death was coming, even if knowing it was inevitable, even if knowing he would still come back to life, to come back to this dream…

Jonah shuddered, only for him to get hit by the 'light' instantaneously.

Before these 'reruns', all the way back to the eighth, Jonah finally mustered up the courage to resist, but he still got 'illuminated' by the dull 'light.'

During the ninth rerun, Jonah instantly rolled to the side in a hurry.

𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘮!

In its place, a perfectly formed crater formed by a beam of light.

He gulped as tiny rocks and dust clouds washed over him. As he scrambled up to get up, his fingernails caked with dirt, he looked up at the sky.

High up in the sky was the source of the strange 'dull' orange light.

Putting his hand flat above his eyes, Jonah peered into the light.

Shrouded by its luminous light, was a throne. A black onyx throne engraved in patterns and decorations of some rich origin.

And on the throne…sat a girl.

A very familiar girl.

A girl whom he-

Just the thought almost made him want to gargle, vomit, and to whack himself on the head really, really hard.

Everything that had happened was just a blur to him, thankfully.

Alas, the memory was still there. Why would he do that with someone like her of all people?

"Agash'usha" looked down on him imperiously atop her floating black throne, her regal sunset-colored eyes that matched the dull yellow glow that exuded behind her head.

He licked his dry lips as he opened his mouth.

No words came out of it.

She did not look like she would compromise anytime soon, not that he could do anything except dancing and rolling like a puppet.

Is this perhaps revenge for dancing with her?

Then, the black-haired girl pointed her open right hand towards him, and a very familiar 'light' began forming on her palm.

"Holy macaroni and cheese-!"

Jonah immediately rolled to the side. Subsequently after, a beam dull yellow light scorched the earth,

𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘮!

A small explosion, later coming along with a cloud of dust and dirt washed over him.

As the boy scrambled up in the hurry, he looked back and saw a small crater a few feet away from him.

His nose wrinkled for he could smell whiffs of smoke that whaffed from where he once was.

He licked his lips and gulped again. Why was his throat and lips always so dry?

It was then Jonah felt something above his head became 'warmer.'

"Oh lord have mercy have mercy have mercy have mercy have mercy-aaaaAAAAHHHHHH-!"

And he got incinerated.

Again, and again, a poor boy wakes up to this nightmare.

A nightmare that never ends.

…

'I don't want to be here,' Jonah finally thought after who knows how many reruns.

"I don't want to be here!" he roared at the girl sitting on the throne.

"Why are you even keeping me here!? Go fu-duck yourselffffff!!!"

Phew, that was a close one.

Of course he muted his curses into half curses. He doesn't want to get used to it when he returns to Chaya and accidentally curses.

Just like before, whenever he had cursed at the girl sitting on the throne, she had never changed one bit. Not the slightest expression, nor the slightest movement.

And just like before he rolled to the side again and narrowly managed to dodge a beam of 'light' that nearly burned him.

As he continued dodging each beam by a hair's width, he began concentrating on searching for something.

Something inside of him.

Mana.

Avalow taught him the basics a while back during their rather short journey. Before that, he was enlightened by Anna.

Blue sky, blue ocean, yes yes yes.

Blue is very important.

An embarrassing few days later, Jonah finally 'felt' it. In his body was a small 'flow,' a 'flow' in which he can control, albeit only very slightly.

It was a very interesting experience, he can promise many things. Almost like a tiny worm that exists inside of people, and they themselves can feel and control it.

Then another day flew by, and he finally managed to move it throughout his whole body in a single rotation once.

A little time later, he finally became used to it, albeit he was forced to multitask. He wasn't comfortable enough nor able to instinctively circulate it by muscle memory.

Even then, although he had a sliver of mana, he kept it inside himself, circulating the mana at a constant pace.

The thought of even 'taking' it out of his body was absurd.

The imagination of taking some integral, something that can keep him warm in the cold, stronger, and faster, and risk losing all his hard-earned effort to some mistake he might make?

No chance.

So as Jonah began 'speeding' up the mana inside him like a running engine, he can feel something inside him changing.

His muscles become taut, his attention focused, his heartbeat pounding rapidly-

It began strengthening him, making him move a tad bit faster while striking harder. If he can even strike anything that floats high in the sky.

It also warmed him a tad bit, if that even helps in this situation.

Overload is the basic technique that is common in all people, Avalow had said to him.

The blonde girl didn't bother to elaborate nor explained further.

Very helpful indeed.

The thought of her almost made him feel even more tired than before.

Well as long as he doesn't exhaust himself, he can constantly keep this state until his concentration breaks, or he's exhausted mentally or physically.

That also strangely made him remember something she said.

'Did she not say that if I use it too much, or use it past the limit in which my body can take, there would be side effects?'

As Jonah was lost in thought at the wrong time, he tripped, falling face first. Pushing himself up, he looked above and saw 'salvation' descending onto him.

"How lovely," he said as brightly as he could.

It wasn't bright.

Gotta love sarcasm.

𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘮!

...

If one were to describe the situation Jonah was in, it would be a never ending hopeless cycle of torture and desperation.

He kept dying, getting hurt, being absolutely disintegrated by her strange magic.

Never once had he closed the distance between him and her.

But if Jonah was forced to admit something…then he would admit that he's growing.

He can 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 in real time that he really is growing.

Not just in strength, but in intuition, instinct, and reaction time.

Just being forced to think, forcing his brain to move, to think of better ways to dodge-

Instead of rolling around on the ground, desperate to run away, Jonah sidestepped, twirling his staff.

Putting one foot over the other, ducking, twirling, and one time flipping successfully in the air for no real reason-

Jonah felt he truly was dancing to his heart's content.

A mystical duel, a beautiful spar, or perhaps…"courting death?"

It is quite the shame to see his partner was not close to him, let alone being even at arm's length.

Truly, this was an unique experience that would stick with him for life.

Even the part where he would be constantly blasted into oblivion and blacking out.

Truly, this was a journey worth remembering.

"..."

Maybe he had also grown to be increasingly sarcastic along with the cursing.

And also increasingly lonely because he's been talking to himself for a while.

The thought of Chaya not being there next to him brought back the…'symptoms.'

The goosebumps, the nausea, the aches and pains…they're slowly coming back. No matter how much he focused on dodging, no matter his desire to live outweighs his rationality…it's coming back.

Jonah wants to see his little sister right now.

No, he 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 to.

And he shows this need of his in the form of living.

He shall not succumb to the inevitable fate of death. Or at least he tried to. Every moment he lived, he grew tired, and he had many, many thoughts.

About giving up. About simply laying on the ground.

About dying.

Yet each time he thought of that, the little white-haireed girl would appear in his mind, and so his resolve was strengthened.

And with his resolve strengthened, he learned.

From learning, he learned mistakes are meant to be learned from, and being forced to learn to live for even a moment...Jonah did indeed learn.

And he strangely felt alive.

As though he has a firm goal to grasp in his feeble, weak metaphorical hands.

A reachable goal that laid ahead of him.

Along this path of his, Jonah hoped his mother and father would guide him in every step, watching over them from somewhere from some place.

So he' trained,' then 'died,' 'trained,' then 'died,' trained, and then 'died.'

'Did I forget to mention I trained and then died?'

…Jonah felt like he really was going crazy.

…

Just constantly physically exercising after a long while made his own mind incredibly focused.

Now, he no longer thinks of such things, but instead attempts to see how to 'move' better.

Waste less stamina, time, and more practical means of movement.

Although Jonah's brain may tire, each 'death' was a 'reset,' meaning his physical body is as good as new each time he opens his eyes.

And he took full advantage of it.

Each reset became longer and longer. Eacn increased increment of a second was an improvement, not of repetition.

Jonah mixed things here and there to keep things…different.

Repetition is rather tiresome after a while.

From seconds to minutes, from minutes to even more minutes, and from even more minutes…to an hour.

After a long, long time, an uncountable number of reruns and hours had passed-maybe even days?-Jonah was finally able to dance and weave to dodge the floating chair girl's magic without stopping for at least an hour.

He was also able to circulate his mana with just a thought now. No longer did he force himself to concentrate, It is now purely muscle memory.

Now, he can finally take it a little easy.

Jonah smiled to himself...and he relaxed.

Then it happened.

Agash'usha abruptly changed. Instead of listlessly sitting there like some lazy person, to the boy's horror, he saw her lifting her hand.

And from that hand was not a single beam of light, but a very, very large ball of light.

And from that light, several beams of various sizes and magnitudes separated and descended towards the ground.

The poor boy watched in frozen horror as many beams of 'dull sunlight' descended onto him with reverie and deliverance.

"Are you fuc-"

𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘮!

𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘮! 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘮!

𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘮! 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘮! 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘮!

Jona's eyes could only see pitch blackness as the sounds of explosions rumbled, shaking the earth.

His soundless scream was unheard by even himself.

Then, it all stopped.

…

Jonah didn't know when the whispers came back.

But they were simply mere murmurs-something that can't be easily noticed unless focused on.

𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲…𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺…

𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻'𝘁 𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺…𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗲…

𝗣𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲…

'Did I not say to save yourself before you try to save them?' Jonah thought.

…𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲...𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲...𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗺𝗲…

And there it is.

As Jonah was listening to the whispers, he suddenly felt a sense of deja vu.

Didn't he have this sort of conversation before?

Just as the thought of a repeated conversation being repeated, he had also begun to think the voice sounded strangely familiar.

And then again did he feel another sense of deja vu.

Did he not ask this question earlier?

"..."

Wait, where was he?

That was when Jonah realized…he was not supposed to be here. His body felt 'cool,' as though surrounded by water.

'Wait…water? Wait…am I…drowning?'

That was when he began to feel something pressing down on his chest.

A heavy weight that wouldn't disappear no matter what he did.

No matter how many times he 'waved' his arms around, he can't feel anything. No matter how many times he 'opened' his mouth, he couldn't talk.

Even the sense of breathing eludes his senses.

And he, he-

'I can't breathe. I can't breathe. 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦. 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻'𝘁 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲-'

Jonah struggled as much as he could, but he just couldn't do anything.

The thought made him struggle harder, even as he felt a feeling of a cloud of confusion plaguing his head, and his thoughts became hazy.

Someone…help…help-

Then a blue light appeared and blinded the white-haired boy's eyes.

…

Jonah made a sound of a choking person desperate for air as he rolled onto his side. Amidst his gasps and dying cries for air, he groaned.

For a while, he just…laid like that. Laying sideways and just laying there, as though waiting for something to happen.

A moment later, he tiredly rolled back onto his back. With each breath, his chest rose and fell as he faced upwards at the canopy of a forest around him, dazed, and yet relieved.

A short-lived relief, for he found himself in a very dark and unfamiliar forest.

A silent one.

Nice.

"Very nice," he rasped, for his throat felt dry, as though he hadn't talked for a long while.

The only few times he talked was during that nightmare. Speaking of a nightmare, to think he would wake up from a nightmare to an even more terrible nightmare.

Jonah laughed.

"Ha…hahahaha…"

The boy laughed harder.

"Hahahahaha…Hahahahahahaha-!"

He laughed uproariously.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA…AAAAAHAHAHAHAHA-!

He just couldn't help but laugh.

At the hilarity of what's happening to him. At the hilarity of what 𝘩𝘢𝘴 happened to him.

At the hilarity of what is to come.

Shortly after, his laughter slowly died out, and he looked up listlessly at the treetops far above him.

'Why can't I be with my little sister again?' he thought. 'Is the world trying to put a wall between us?'

Jonah opened his mouth, and he looked imperiously at the treetops overhead.

"Fu-fudge this world," he said, and he laughed bitterly again.

'Control yourself,' Jonah thought as the laughter died down. 'Don't curse when you need to. Actually, don't curse at all.'

He exhaled a very long sigh, and with a groan he forced himself to sit up.

While scratching his back, and with a yawn here and there, Jonah looked to his surroundings once again.

Shrubs and bushes, trees stretching tall into the sky above, even more darkness, and shadows.

Yes, shadows.

Beneath the roots, within the shrubs, under the one hill a couple yards over yonder, and maybe up within the treetops too?

There's even a shadow that's moving along the ground, creeping closer to him.

...wait-

Jonah's eyes flew wide open and he executed an I-frame roll to the side as something heavily crashed at where he once was.

𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘮!

The boy hopped onto his feet, only for him to forcibly hold his below-average low quality makeshift 'spear' horizontally as a sword pressed itself against it.

As the 'shadow' slowly moved forward, making his feet slowly begin sliding across the earth.

Jonah gritted his teeth and dug his heels further into the dirt.

Then, he soundlessly roared and pushed the 'shadow' away.

As it skidded across the dirt, Jonah took a step forward and thrusted his spear forward.

Of course it was the most basic move someone with a spear could do, and it was also easily evadable.

So the shadow evaded it by ducking beneath it, and Jonah simply smacked the spear's flat end right onto its very peculiar flat circular plate-thing on its head.

𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨!

The sound of metal hitting metal echoed around them as it crumpled to the ground in a heap, like a marionette's strings being cut.

'Nice,' Jonah tiredly thought, and he sighed.

Now that everything came to a halt, Jonah had a good view of what the shadow is.

'It really was like a marionette,' he thought.

It has the standard humanoid body, but everything else is 'wrapped' in darkness.

As though he could only see the outline of it, like that other shadow in particular…

Jonah shuddered for a chill ran up his spine, and immediately looked around. All he saw was nothing else but more darkness, flora, and shadows.

And they seemingly began spreading closer towards him.

He gulped, licking his lips.

After making sure nothing was around-in which he extensively stared everywhere he could look, he looked back at the figure.

This 'puppet' was quite tall, much taller than Jonah. Its hips were sunken in, seemingly making where its chest and ribcage looked larger than it should be. Its legs, long and about as thin as its waist, gradually became thinner and thinner until it became the size of a large pencil.

Where its head should be…well, it was only a rectangle of sorts. Jonah couldn't see what its face was. On its head was a semi-flat conical that looked as though it was cut almost in half.

'Now shadowy puppets are trying to kill me,' Jonah thought after a while. 'Nice.'

No, it wasn't nice. He didn't feel any satisfaction from doing a feint at all., let alone taking it down.

There was no pride in it whatsoever.

No pride for pretending to put strength into the thrust. No pride for letting the tip of the spear fly a little bit upwards for a little more strength to swing downwards.

Why? Because he just wanted to go home.

"So can I at least just get a break for once!!??" Jonah screamed to the sky above, covered by branches and leaves.

He huffed and gasped, kneeling down on one leg and keeping most of his body upwards with his spear embedded into the dirt.

As he did so, he glanced at the shadow.

Only for it to be gone.

"Ah shi-"

Jonah rolled away for the I-frames again as just like last time, something crashed onto the ground where he once was.

𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘮!

As he jumped onto his feet 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯, the shadow suddenly spoke.

"Again? How are you dodging these ambushes?" it said, and to Jonah's surprise, it was in the tone of a young boy similar to Jonah's own age.

It did not sound like a voice that would belong to that tall-malnourished looking…thing.

"It's the I-frames man, it works," Jonah responded.

"There are no such things as invincibility frames," the 'shadow' sighed, shaking 'its' head.

"That's because you have no skills," he quickly said, and he quickly bit his tongue.

He knew his growing sense of sarcasm was going to be trouble after all.

But Jonah managed to find out one thing.

That this 'shadow' was from his world for he apparently knows what I-frames are after all.

"You play soul games?" he asked.

The 'shadow' looked as though 'it' tilted its head sideways.

"Who doesn't?"

"Nice."

And they immediately became friends for they were fellow cultured gamers.

…

That was what Jonah thought would happen, but like all great things that happens and always ends, sometimes they never happen at all.

So instead, like 'normies,' they just started meaninglessly fighting again.

As they were fighting, Jonah kept looking at the 'shadow,' and he frowned.

The area around this figure seemed to be hazy, and everytime Jonah tried squinting his eyes, it was as if the person was actually a shadow that hides at a person's peripheral view.

Jonah clearly believed that was utter bullcrap.

They clashed once more, and he didn't give ground this time.

Instead he pushed and swung his spear, only for the 'shadow' to duck and lunge forward and grabbed him.

Then they both rolled across the ground, punching and kicking each other with no skill whatsoever.

Inevitably, dust and clouds of dirt rose from the ground as they continued rolling all over the place.

A few times here and there, either a sword or Jonah's own spear dug into his body or so uncomfortably and painfully.

He simply gritted his teeth, cursed the 'shadow' mentally, and kept punching and kicking.

As the grappling continued, Jonah swore the 'shadow' was aiming for his groin.

Then, as though fate had blessed him, an opening appeared, in which he thankfully responded with a fist against the 'shadow's' chin.

The 'shadow's' head knocked back, and Jonah pushed 'it' off him and rose to his feet. The shadow quickly followed behind, getting up on 'its' own feet like an undying cockroach.

As Jonah got onto his feet, he huffed and gasped while he embedded the makeshift spear into the ground as a sort of pillar to keep him up.

Even after all that 'training,' he still was weak.

'This clever bastard,' he couldn't help but think.

After that one time Jonah caught 'it' off guard, he rarely ever showed an opening, and every opening that showed made him consider whether or not it was a feint or an actual opening.

Huffing and gasping, he rubbed his forehead that was dripping with sweat, and eyes that stung from the sweat that flowed down from it.

The 'shadow' was doing the same too, for 'it' looked as though 'it' was trying to get 'its' bearings together while watching him many yards away with what seems to be wariness.

Jonah also eyed the 'shadow' to.

From their fight, he could tell the shadow was more skilled in terms of wielding a weapon. It was Jonah that was much faster at dodging and being more cautious than need be.

All thanks to the nightmare before this nightmare.

Perhaps it was fate that he 'survived' such a difficult nightmare before this unneeded fight.

So he sighed, stumbled, shrugged his shoulders, and rushed at the 'shadow.'

The 'shadow' lunged towards him at the same time.

And they both fell down onto the ground at the same time.

…

Minutes passed as he stared up at the still dark gray canopy above, Jonah couldn't help but be disappointed.

Was there a point to this?

More training, perhaps?

No matter how much the boy thought it was meaningful, he couldn't help but think the exact opposite.

Not because the 'shadow' was weak, don't get him wrong. There was enough pressure on him to keep Jonah on his toes.

Speaking of said 'shadow,' 'it' was also just laying on the dirt ground as well. The white-haired boy felt there was a mutual agreement between them on simply just resting for a while, putting off what happens next.

That sharp longsword, how the 'shadow' almost blends into the darkness around them, making it harder for Jonah to see, and the danger it poses to him as he can clearly feel its intent to fight him-

It's just that...something was…missing.

'That's right,' he thought. 'But…what was missing?'

No feelings that were prevalent during the previous 'dream/nightmare' stirred in his chest.

So as he was blankly staring upwards, exhausted, he had a thought. That's when Jonah realized…what the missing feeling was.

'It was so simple,' he thought.

Why didn't he think of it earlier?

Oh right, he was too busy fighting this meaningless fight.

"Hey, dude."

The 'shadow' 'looked' at Jonah in response.

Yeah, the 'shadow' was most definitely a guy.

"I don't know if you can really understand what I'm saying, but I have to say this. Our battle right now...it isn't the fight I really need."

The 'shadow-' no, the boy titled his head to the side.

"Don't get me wrong. Fighting against you helps me polish my skills, helping me get stronger every second…and yet…"

The spear-wielding boy shook his head.

"I need to grow faster. In order to quickly grow stronger, I need that girl, who looked down on me with her beautiful eyes while absolutely destroying my limits. I need her-or at least someone like her-to help me go to heights where I have never reached before. So far, she is the only one whom I've met that fulfilled those conditions."

The 'shadow' raised his head up and looked at him.

"What the-"

"You're strong, don't get me wrong," Jonah interrupted the 'shadow.' "It's just that there was something...missing when we were fighting."

If it wasn't apparent before, it was now apparent that the 'shadow' was bewildered as heck.

"Before this fight, I felt as if I had a fever dream-a nightmare where I was fighting against this girl who I've met just a few hours before that particular fever dream…" Jonah trailed off, and his hand reached for the covered sky above.

He then grasped it, as though grabbing something unattainable.

"For some reason, when I was fighting against her, I thought to myself, 'I really wished she would splatter my blood against the floor,' and she did-no wait I said that wrong."

"..."

"Sorry, I just can't really explain it, Jonah bitterly said. "What I really mean is that I want her to absolutely destroy me so that I can grow stronger."

"...what do you mean you didn't say that right?" the shadow asked. "I think I understand what you mean after all-"

"No, I think you got the wrong idea-"

"You just want a stronger opponent, particularly a girl I'm assuming-"

Jonah groaned, almost facepalming himself-

"-to pummel you into the ground, breaking your limits and therefore growing at an exponential rate, yes?"

It seemed the 'shadow' didn't understand after all.

Sighing, Jonah tried to explain.

"Look, it's not just that. I want that girl to make me cower in fear. I want her to scare me so bad to the point where I would piss my pants, to the point where I'm forced to make quick decisions. I want that girl to not just destroy me, but to 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 me."

'To change me to a person that is stronger than my previous self,' Jonah thought.

It's all to protect his little sister. Nothing more, nothing less.

"It has to be a type of carnage that's on an entirely different level. A level where I couldn't help but break down and tremble in fear."

The boy finally nodded his head, and the 'weight' that was on his chest seemingly disappeared. His back relaxed against the ground, in a way sinking deeper into it.

He had never felt more relieved than now for a long time.

It felt great to get it off his chest.

"I realized that I can't become strong fast without being obliterated into dust, to be in a situation where I am forced to fight for my life. So far, that feeling of 'excitement' only comes when I see her."

Jonah then turned his head to look at his talking partner. The 'shadow' was no longer laying against the ground. Instead, he was sitting up, and he 'looked' to be staring at him like a zoo animal.

Like a clown.

The boy didn't know what to feel about that.

"So...do you understand what I'm trying to say?" he asked tentatively.

The 'shadow' seemed to be thinking, pondering, based on his body language. A tilt of the head, rubbing the chin, and looking up to the sky-all the signs of someone thinking.

After a few seconds, the 'shadow' shook his head.

"...I really wish I didn't."

Jonah shook his head once more sadly. He supposed he was the only one in the world who could truly understand himself.

"Anyways, thank you for listening to me, whoever you are."

As he sighed, he heard someone move.

"Wait."

It was from the 'shadow.'

"Hmm?"

"Why are you saying all this to me? I'm just a stranger who just ambushed you, right? So…why?"

"Well," Jonah stopped and thought. The more he thought, the more he felt his cheeks flush, and the more he felt self-conscious. "Well…because...huh. I don't know actually."

"..."

"Well, it's not that I don't know, it's that I don't really know how to explain it well. You get what I mean?"

"...yeah. Yeah, I get what you mean," the 'shadow' said, looking at the canopy-covered sky.

'I guess everyone likes to look at the branches and leaves way up high,' Jonah thought, and he tiredly smiled.

"Yeah, I mean these feelings inside me…they're bottled up, and I wanted to release it. Even if I don't truly understand these feelings, I think that talking about it with another person would help me understand more. Also, if this is a dream, and you might be some random figment of imagination who I've never met before…I guess this is fine…"

And the two fell into contemplative silence. It wasn't as awkward for Jonah at all. All his worries seemed to drift away along the river's flow…and he let it flow away from him…

Well there was Chaya, and the whole nightmare trauma thing is still there, but…one thing at a time, right?

"...wow," someone then said-no it was obviously the 'shadow.' Who else would it be?

Jonah blinked, his sweet, comfortable silent state of pondering bursting open like a popped bubble.

"What-?"

"Dude...you're much different than I thought you would be."

'And you're much different than I thought you would be,' the boy quietly thought.

"...what do you mean?" he asked, and he looked back at the 'shadow.'

Jonah immediately climbed onto his feet.

For some reason, in the dim light, something 'emerged' from the 'shadow.' Raising his hand up, he took off his strange plate-hat helmet thing, pulled off the mask covering his face, and pulled down his hood, it revealed...a boy with black-brown combed, yet shaggy hair seemingly close to Jonah's age.

His pale skin contrasts against the dim forest and the darkness that was everywhere at a glance.

Wearing a very dark black jacket or clothes of some sort that blended in with the darkness-no, it was much darker than the darkness-he wore a scabbard tied to his waist. And In that scabbard was of course the sword that tried to flay him.

'So that's where the sword came from,' Jonah thought, side-eyeing it.

Jonah looked farther down, and he was greeted with a view of some kind of stick beneath the bottom of the newly 'emerged' boy's shoes.

"Is that…"

"Stilts," the boy said. "Stilts. It helps me move around and look menacingly taller."

"Then the shadows-"

"I just wear custom-made clothes dyed with a shade of black that blends in with most dark places with a little bit of light."

"What about your waist that was absurdly thin-"

"I actually don't know. It just became that way because I look taller and larger than I should be…"

"..."

Jonah licked his lips and his mouth opened, then eventually closed.

"If that's all the questions," the boy said, slowly taking out his stilts and placing them…somewhere. Wait, where did the dark plate-hat thing go?

No, where did the stilts go to?

As Jonah kept watching him, the boy got onto his feet.

"Then I guess it's time we introduce ourselves."

He began patting himself down, from the knees to the stomach, the chest, and then the shoulders.

As the boy shrugged his shoulders, slowly massaging them as well, time slowed to a crawl in Jonah's eyes.

Examining the now similar sized bot, although he saw that there was nothing really outstanding about his appearance now, there was something tingling at the back of his head.

Slowly silently observing the boy, Jonah felt enlightened.

'Oh, that's what it was.'

It wasn't that he was normal, he was just 𝘵𝘰𝘰 normal now. He reeked of shadiness, and his eyes were...kept shut?

Also, just looking at his smile...he really seemed like the shady sort of person.

As he was observing him, the boy on the other side did the same.

After looking at each other for a while, the boy's smile suddenly grew.

Was he always smiling?

"You know what, you're interesting. Let's be friends, yeah?"

"...no" Jonah managed to say.

Friends? Nah, that was too fast.

If it was some fight or something that betted on their lives, creating a camaraderie or sorts, then maybe they could be trustworthy friends within a week or so. Just like with Avalow and…maybe Anna?

The sword-wielding boy scratched the back of his head, with a look of what looks like guilt forming on his face.

"...oh, right, sorry about jumping you. I was just sleeping, and when I woke up, I appeared in this weird place out of nowhere. After looking around for a bit, I saw you and thought you were the enemy that brought me here…or something."

"...what?"

"Anyways, back to my point. You're a weird fellow, you know? Judging by your face, I thought you were some goody-two-shoes masochistic siscon beta male hero, but to think it was something else entirely..."

Saying that, the boy's face distorted somewhat.

Jonah felt a twinge of irritation flickering inside his chest.

"...by that logic, I would think that you're a backstabbing, shady guy who always schemes something terrible judging by your face."

The boy chuckled, his smile still unchanging.

"Hahaha, touche, touche…I guess I did deserve that."

The boy then walked close to Jonah, and held his hand out.

"Even if you might be some figure of my imagination in this weird dream, I really do want to be friends with you. So let's forget that fight happened and make peace with each other, yeah? At least until we get outta here."

"...sure."

Jonah hesitantly, yet slowly, reached out his hand, and after a few more extra moments of hesitation, firmly grabbed and shook the boy's leather gloved hand.

As he was shaking his hand, Jonah spat out a question he had been wanting to ask ever since the boy took off his mask.

"Why are your eyes closed?"

"Because I like them closed," the boy simply responded.

Understandable.

...

'Who am I, joking? Hell if that's understandable.'