What Comes Unbidden

"W-What's happening to me?"

Hiroki's legs felt heavy like lead as he stumbled towards an outdoor washbasin next to the P.H.G. The panic gripping his chest wouldn't release. These visions were like an unending nightmare.

Splashing cold water over his face, he hoped to clear his thoughts, but the haunting images he just saw only grew more vivid. As he stared into the rippling water, he saw his own face, exhausted and pale.

"This isn't real… It can't be…" he muttered while his trembling fingers gripping the sink's edge.

With a frustrated groan, he slapped his cheeks hard enough to sting, forcing himself to focus. "Dang it! My friends are waiting for me. I don't have time for this."

He took a deep breath and straightened his posture, pushing through his fear. After a minute of walking, he arrived at the training grounds.

Ayuri was the first to notice him. Her eyes softened with some concern as she hurried over to him.

"Hiroki, are you okay? You're late. I thought… I thought something happened to you," she said, her expression softening with relief as she hurried over.

He showed her a brief smile, trying to brush off his situation. "I'm fine. Just a rough morning. Nothing to worry about."

Ayuri's eyes lingered on him, showing some concern a bit, but then she nodded. "Fine…"

Yoru, who was sitting behind on a stone shelf, with her chin resting on her palm and her elbow on her knee, gave Hiroki a casual glance. "Tch. Took you long enough."

Kenji, leaning against a nearby wall, grinned mischievously. "Yoru's been whining non-stop. She thought we were going to start without you."

"YOU BASTARD, I'll take that head off and then your silly tongue!" Yoru growled at his remark, feeling a bit embarrassed, causing her to quickly turn her head.

Hiroki chuckled weakly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sorry to keep you all waiting."

Yoru sighed and turned her head to the side and muttered, "Heh… Doesn't mean I'm wrong."

"More importantly…" Hiroki said, his voice steadier as his gaze shifted to the object in Ayuri's hands, the golden book. "What's that doing here?"

Yoru, who was still idly relaxing, added. "It's her idea anyways. She believes that with our training today, you might be able to handle it."

Hiroki stared in amazement. "The book? Wait, Ayuri now knows about it too?!"

Ayuri nodded, her expression turning serious. "Yeah. I knew all the details from Miyu's researches, and same from others. At first… I couldn't believe all of this myself."

"But… What does that mean to you?" With a tone of bewilderment, Hiroki enquired.

"This book isn't just some artifact…" Ayuri clarified. "Since you were the one to find it, there's a chance it's connected to you."

"Connected?" Hiroki repeated in confusion. "You mean something like magic?"

Ayuri nodded. "Something like that. If we're right, it could be a source of immense power. But… to understand its full potential, we need to see if it reacts to you."

"It seems like endless questions are piling up, that's not what I was hoping for. But from what I can see, Ayuri doesn't know much about the book itself…" Hiroki pondered for a moment, feeling gloomy and cold but only in his mind, then frowned as he glanced at the book again, "And how we will be doing that?"

"Based on what I've learned from some sources," she said as she handed him the book to hold, "You have to close your eyes while holding it, and think of something like golden mana flowing out of it,"

Though skeptical, Hiroki took the book as he sighed. "Alright then…"

He closed his eyes and tightened his grip. Seconds went by, and the book's weight seemed for him to grow heavier in his grip. He tried to follow as she instructed and imagine the energy Ayuri described, but…

Nothing happened.

Ayuri gave her chin a contemplative scratch. "Hmm… nothing seems to have changed."

"I told you this was a waste of time," Yoru smirked from her seat with her tone dry.

"That's just weird… it should react, but we're not entirely sure how or why," Ayuri replied back to her words.

Kenji shrugged, his voice cheerful. "Perhaps the book isn't in the mood today."

But Hiroki wasn't listening, as his thoughts were drifting in his own imagination, "What is this ridiculous situation I am in now… I wonder… What is the difference between that Ayuri from the vision, and the one in front of me now, do they even look alike?" He was lost in thought with his eyes closed; the silence had grown a bit long, which prompted him to discreetly open his left eye a bit.

But… Everyone was gone.

In panic and confusion, Hiroki opened his eyes.

They all vanished, and a thick quiet filled the area. The air felt thick and suffocating, everything around him seemed unnatural. He started feeling nauseous and dizzy. 

"W~What… Is…" Fearfully, Hiroki whispered to himself.

When he looked down forward, his breath caught.

Ayuri stood before him—but not the Ayuri he'd just been speaking to. It was Ayuri from his dreams, with her golden eyes, but her face was blank and lifeless, devoid of any spirit. Blood pooled beneath her as she knelt on the ground, silent and unmoving.

"Ayuri?" Hiroki called out, his voice trembling, but his voice couldn't come out of his mouth.

Yet she didn't respond.

"Ayuri!" he shouted again, but his sound remained inside his tongue. His legs felt like they were cemented in place. He couldn't move at all, unable to reach her.

But then Ayuri collapsed, and her body struck the ground with a sickening thud. The blood spread further, staining the darkened void around her.

"Stop kidding me… no, no, no!" With tears running down his cheeks, Hiroki let out a silent scream.

But then a sound behind him made him freeze. A sudden footsteps to his left.

He couldn't turn his head, yet he could slowly turn his eyes to the side in tension.

It was himself.

Or rather, an older version of himself. The figure's darkened eyes burned in disdain, and his posture radiated a chilling demeanor.

"It's all because of you," that one said with his eerily voice. "You are the one who should blame himself. You're the cause of the corruption, your negligence will cause the same disasters."

"No… That, can't be true" Hiroki muttered in panic, yet his cracking voice still couldn't come out.

"You can't escape it," the figure continued, leaning in as if about to put his hand over his shoulder. "A straight future that is certain and unchangeable."

Hiroki attempted to shake his head violently yet he was not moving, he was trying to block out these words from his mind. 

"Hiroki?" 

He began to hear muffled voices calling out to him, a girl's voice specifically. 

"Hiroki!"

Hiroki blacked out momentarily, before gradually he opens his eyes back up. He found himself within Ayuri's arms, who had just caught him before his body fell out.

"H-Hiroki?! What happened to you? You just fainted. You were crying, as if… you were suffering," Ayuri asked with a hint of concern and tension in her voice.

The panic was clear in his own wide, terrified eyes. Yoru stood behind, hands over her mouth, worry clear on her face.

In a whirlwind of fear, Hiroki's mind raced.

"What… was that?"

[ To Be Continued ]