Chapter 1: Beyond the Sea of Trees

Souls are pure and pristine at the beginning like a blank canvas or a clear glass.

And the world glorifies the cracks and taints in these souls, convincing us that it's a wonderful tale. That it's a fascinating piece of artwork.

But for others, these rifts and fissures are just that and at some point, it becomes ugly and unbearable.

And to a certain young man, he never believed the parables. He thought that his soul was just some food eaten away.

On the outskirts of a slumbering city, Haru enters an eerie forest with a cutting knife on his right hand.

He lifts the knife up, glancing at the glimmers of its sharpness against the lonely, whispering moonlight.

The young man was about to slit his wrist when a mystical black crack from the space before him suddenly sucked in the cold air around.

He dropped the knife and stared at the black circular elongated portal standing in front of him, as if it's a gateway to a mysterious place.

Mindlessly and fearlessly, Haru reached out to the blackness and was immediately warped inside.

His consciousness blended into the darkness and when he came to, the sky was vast, yet near.

He reached out his hand and it felt like he could touch the clouds with just a good hop.

Haru felt like he was floating somewhere.

"You awake, young one?" A cheerful voice and a dark-skinned middle aged woman greeted him, hovering over his sight against the skies.

Haru slowly sat up and saw other people around him in a strange place.

"Where are we--?" Haru stopped, completely astounded at the spectacle before him.

There were barrages of tall buildings, forging a grand castle.

It was something out of a fairytale book with its colorful and vibrant walls, towering pillars, intricate clockworks, and fascinating architecture. Haru couldn't help but get charmed by it.

"We were waiting for you to wake up before doing anything," The woman said with a hopeful smile. "My name's Alicia!"

"I'm… Haru," He stammered, hesitant.

Sitting over a cloudy stone, there was a young boy, an old man, and a beautiful woman.

Haru approached them and they began telling their names.

"It's Camille," The beautiful woman introduced. She seemed to be around mid-20s, he thought.

The old man also reluctantly nodded and told him that his name's Wang Chen.

The little boy traced unfamiliar letters on the soft ground with a tree branch. Strangely for him, he understood how it read – Ali, his name.

Haru noticed this before, but it seemed like their tongues were bound to comprehend some kind of universal language.

"How can we understand each other?" He asked, bewildered. "Clearly, we didn't come from one place."

"That's strange for us as well," Alicia knotted her eyebrows. "Camille here claimed to only know French and Mr. Wang only speaks Chinese. I'm not sure about the kid," She pointed towards Ali. "…but I sure can't speak French nor Chinese. I'm from the Philippines."

"I'm Japanese," Haru said, sitting down in their circle, facing them. "How could this happen? I just went through a black portal and got here."

Unsurprisingly, that was the same for the five of them.

Their circumstances were similarly encountering a black portal and waking up in the mysterious world.