A Game
The bright white screen had vanished leaving Ren in silence once more. The lights, beeping, they all vanished as quick as they came, leaving only words in Ren's mind.
Survive and grow strong...
He stood still, his child eyes staring blankly at nowhere in particular. The strange white light that used to visit him isn't there anymore, vanishing with the screen, like they were never there. Was it his imagination? No, it felt too real...the voice the pressure he felt, they were real.
And yet....there was nothing there. Not even a lingering feeling, just a strange mission and a vague threat.
Still, he felt something inside him, something weak, but it was there and he didn't know what it was. He tried connecting both feelings, but it was too weak for him to decide anything.
'Haaa, I don't think I need another hint, I have to grow stronger if I want to survive and find Yue. Even if I don't understand what just happened....' Ren sighed internally.
His train of thought was interrupted by a knock on the door, followed by a gentle voice.
"Tianyu~ Come outside, we have something fun for you to do today."
His mother's soft voice rang, offering a game of sorts, these past few days his parents have been "playing" with him, but these games weren't the usual games, they were..... weird in a way. That didn't stop Ren from doing them, they were fun and are a good way to pass time and be with his parents.
He crawled out from his little cushion and headed to the door, which opened as soon as he came close. A pair of gentle hands scooped him up with a warm smile.
"Today's game is called Catch the falling petals." She said as she started heading outside.
Once outside, he found his father standing besides a tree with a stick in hand smiling at them. "As you can tell from the name, you catch the petals before they reach the ground." He started explaining with gestures as they knew a child wouldn't understand their words yet.
With it, Ren's eyes filled with childish excitement, part of it due to being truly excited and the other part was due to him realizing another use for it, training, he could train his body, albeit slowly and weakly, but perfect for his age, he can also train a bit of his reflexes.
So, he played along, he was going to train and also make his parents happy.
He crawled, fell, tried jumping even flailing his arms around trying to catch them. More than often he succeeded, earning clapping and praise from his other, when he failed he still got encouragement to try again.
After playing for a while, he noticed something, the petals weren't falling at a normal speed, at least not if this world had the same gravity as his previous one. They were falling slower, much slower, as if someone is controlling them.
After a while, he didn't think much of it as he knew that knowing won't change anything as he's still an infant.
And so the day passed....
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In a place far away from where Ren was training and growing under his parents' care, something stirred in the worlds, worlds where life was richer and worlds where time flowed differently.
In of them, in a candlelit room with velvet curtains and shelfs of books, a young girl sat by the window, staring at the sea of stars. Then, something flickered across her eyes, a faint white light, but she noticed, because that was one of the very few things she was waiting for.
Her eyes sparkled and a smile formed on her face before she murmured to herself. "So... he's back~after so long".
Her gaze then drifted to the sea of stars once again, this time with a mark of happiness etched on her face, though no one in her current world would understand why she's smiling, her hands reached out into space, trying to catch something that wasn't there....yet.
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In a bamboo grove, a young gurls laugh filled the place, excitement and joy apparent from her actions of jumping around and laughing happily.
Shouting "I found you.....finally~hehe"
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In a room filled with strange lights and magical machines, a veiled figure was tracing symbols in the air, until an orb besides the figure glowed with symbols.
A small breathless sigh escaped it's lips.
"So he's back. Didn't think you'd make it...you fool."
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And then, silence..... across the worlds others got the same information, but they didn't show a reacted, they kept it for their official meeting.....or reuniting. A mix of hope, greif and joy filled them.
None spoke what they truly felt.
But one thing they all knew was that
He's back.
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Unbeknownst to the changes he made, and people he got attention from, Ren was happily training and playing.