BACK TO REALITY.
***In Navi's dream-memory..
..
The colours of the world blended into one another, sounds becomes pale and distant as Navi's senses gets disconnected from that of Ikita's.
Navi finds his senses spiralling a bit and then the overlapping echoes returns with vengeance. The rushes of unfamiliar emotions returns and so does the pain and the pressure.
He consciousness is back on the high and broad Mountain top, while being assaulted with pains of all forms with his body trembling once more.
¡
"ARE YOU HAPPY!!!?..
¡
"You have to save her, YOU HAVE TO!!..
¡
"Look at the Chaos down there, look at it all and appreciate it! Because it's your doing..
¡
"HA!HA!HA!HA!."
¡
The cruel overlapping voices batters into Navi's mind ruthlessly while making him convulse in torturous pain as he trembles in agony both in his dream and in reality then suddenly, like thunder.. Navi's nerves tenses up.
The cruel voices immediately quiets down in an instant yet somehow, the cold silence suddenly becomes much more painful and dreadful.
Tension builds up in Navi with each pained breath and then it hits him like a storm. A voice beyond power, a tone filled with indescribable madness, curiosity beyond bounds as it says..
!
"###########..
!
"SUFFERING IS ONLY A MEANS TO SALVATION AND WITH IT COMES A REWARD OF EXPERIENCE..
!
"CŔEATIØN IS ONLY A MEANS TO DESTRUCTION..#..№$+†
!
"&€£₩₩₩₩¥£€€€$# ARE..××..
!
"SO THEREFORE.. WHAT TRÜĘLY IS BAŁAŇCĔ?!!.
Navi shakes in pain as his mentals becomes seared by the terrifying voice and even more terrifying question. He does not even register that he has finally gotten another clear piece of the very long riddle as all he can do or rather, all he can feel is.. pain.
The pain does not even seem physical or mental, it's just.. pain. His consciousness gives one last shudder as he is suddenly pulled out of the torturous dream and back to reality.
The dream colaspes and Navi finally gets a feel of his body.
The pain vanishes for a second but Navi's body is still in clear memory of what he has gone through. Slowly, he struggles to lift his eyelids as his chest heaves up and down in slow but strained motions.
His muscles are on fire and his brain is bustling so much that he is seeing everything form his barely opened eyelids in a deep blur.
A ringing sound echoes from everywhere and although Navi knows that he is lying down, he lacks a true sense of position as his senses are in a complete jumble.
It takes ten long minutes before Navi finally regains enough will to push his sweat covered back off his bed as his sweaty hair hangs off his face and head like wet threads.
His vision is still a lot blurry and the world seems to be spinning but slowly, Navi crawls out of his sheet and off his bed before immediately slumping down hard. He picks himself up with groans of pain as he almost lifelessly lays his back against the bed's frame. Stretching his hand, Navi slowly picks up a very high quality Nutrient pack he has already prepared before hand.
Luckily for his pained and slightly bleeding gums(from clenching), the pack is already opened so Navi only has to go through the pains of drinking then swallowing.
The dose of new energy rolls through his stomach then diffuses while slowly invading his very weary cells with a short moan escaping his sick-pale lips.
The pains of going through his memory-dream seems to have hit another level up. It has become enough to drain him so much that his mind gets too exhausted to truly register all the stimuli he's getting from.. everything.
Navi does not even know that he is capable of feeling such amounts of pain and numb by this time, he has being thoroughly re-educated in the dream session. The impact the tough lesson goes on for hours with Navi drifting back to sleep just minutes in.
Navi's eyelids drops as his head hangs slightly forward. Sitting with his back against his bad frame, he falls asleep in this terrible posture without even noticing.
One hour passes by then two.
Soon, nine full hours has slipped by and there is a slight hitch in Navi's smooth breathing with tremble from his finger. His slightly bowed head stirs a little as his eyelids slowly raises to reveal his orange pair of irises and his whites extremely strained by red.
Still slightly in confusion about.. everything, Navi boots more awake with his palm rubbing over his eyes as he pushes himself up to his feet.
It hurts.
Everything aches but judging by the fact that he is able to stand properly then it is atleast ten times better than when he had first woken up. With slow and slightly shaky steps, Navi drunkly moves away from his currently untidy bed and straight at the windows.
The room is a bit dark as the lanterns are set to sleep mode with the curtains pulled down. The room would have been even darker if some light did not find their way through the fabrics of the curtains.
Leaning his shoulder against the wall, Navi opens up the curtains a bit while staring out.
It seems it's already evening.
The sky flourished in shades of orange and the visuals of the sun is already sinking into the great mountainous walls around the Outskirts.
Navi closes his eyes for a second and thinks about what to do next. First, he would have to gather his mind and he knows that a cold shower helps best with that.
Next, he would need to cater for his body with a warm meal and a dose of medicine he has already prepared and then finally, he would need to think about and write down every detail of this memory-dream session.
With weak hands and a numb mind, Navi slowly slips out of his clothes and heads to the bathroom.
...
...
*Drip¡*..*Drip!*..
Dripping off his weary frame, chilly water droplets hangs off Navies pale skin and for some reason, this bath feels much colder than he is used to. Atleast it does a good job of bringing his mind some much needed clarity.
With a blue towel wrapped around his waist Navi steps out of the bathroom. Everything is much clearer now and finally, his buzzing headache has stepped down enough to give him room to form actual thoughts.
Sinking himself into the couch, Navi's unfocused orange eyes remains blurry for a moment as he remembers bits and pieces of everything that he had learnt or rather not learnt from this session.
†Ikita Shi has a mother and a sister!.
†Ikita Shi seems secure and comfortable even though he lives with a subtle tone of unfamiliarity to security and comfort.
†Ikita is currently out if the control of his cold captor and finally,..
†Navi has gotten new parts of the awfully long and torturous riddle with the question, "What truly is balance?".
Digesting through these information, Navi's brows furrows into a small frown as the 'Why's' and 'How's' began to surface.
How does Ikita Shi have a mother?!..
Why isn't that cruel woman on his neck?!..
Why is Ikita Shi being called 'Haru'?!..
How did he get free from that woman?!..
If Ikita Shi is free from that woman then how did they get back in terms with each other in the future?!..
Where has Ikita Shi's mother been when they were training her son in his younger days?!..
They were much more question marks now than they are before and there are not much leads to an answer. Navi subconsciously rubs his thumb against his fingertips as he ponders in silence while thinking of things from a whole new perspective.
That cold and evil woman could not be dead because she has obviously played a role in Ikita Shi's very bleak future and as for how Ikita Shi got free from the woman,.. maybe he isn't truly free.
For Ikita's supposed family, not all families are blood related or even related at all.
'Maybe Ikita Shi got adopted?..', Navi whispers in a low tone before smacking his lips open for a soft sigh.
None of his guesses and probabilities are set to stone and to learn more, he would need to dream more.
He hands are still too shaky to write properly right now so he cannot record his dreams and thoughts tonight. Closing his eyes, Navi recalls the new words he heard from the riddle with his head buzzing a little.
'Sufferings is only a means to salvation and with it comes a reward of experience..
'Creation is only a means to destruction.'
These new words and sentences he've learnt this time does not exactly make the riddle any more illustrious but over time, Navi believes he would be able to get enough pieces to make head and tail of it all.
Moving his thoughts more about reality, Navi knows he would have to return to the Academy by tomorrow but its a good thing he is already packed up.
Pushing himself off the couch, Navi slowly walks towards the kitchen to warm his soup and fix a quick meal before hitting up on his medicines.