“Phew,” letting out a sigh of relief at his successful escape, Nathan found Roger in the cafeteria’s premises and the two made their way to Ms. Lexie’s psychology lecture. “By the way, Nathan, did you submit your major application form? The deadline is on Wednesday if I recall correctly.” Roger asked out of the blue.

Pausing in his tracks, a drop of sweat rolled down Nathan’s forehead, “I forgot it at home…” Needless to say, he hadn’t really left it at home, he’d just never filled it in the first place. ‘After Ms. Lexie went through the trouble of calling me… How could I forget it?!’ Nathan criticized himself on the inside.

Letting out a small chuckle, Roger replied, “Man, you need to get your shit together. Where is your mind? Butterflies in your stomach or something?” The last part was said as a joke in passing, but what followed surprised even Roger. “As if!” With a flush across his face, Nathan quickened his steps, leaving a petrified Roger behind.

‘No way, of all the people, that Nathan is in love?! I need to tread carefully…’ With a plan forming in his mind, Roger didn’t pursue the matter. Instead, he changed the subject while hastening his pace to catch up to Nathan. “Want me to get you a new major application form? You can still submit it today.”

“Nah, I’ll just bring it over tomorrow,” Nathan answered and the two made their way to class. Later that day, Nathan apologized to Ms. Lexie and promised he would bring the form first thing tomorrow morning, procuring a sense of Deja Vu for unknown reasons.

 

~~~

 

Three days ago, a few minutes after Nathan defeated the nightmare,

In a castle where even the grayness of Erion couldn’t invade, the massive iron gate leading to the throne room was pushed open by the raw strength of a single person. “Father!” A woman’s voice resounded inside the throne room.

From where she stood, three pairs of massive pillars could be observed, each supporting part of the ceiling. Runes and hieroglyphs of all sorts were carved not only on the pillars but even on the ceiling and floor, procuring light dizziness to anyone who stared at them for any longer than they should.

A majestic yet simple throne made of pitch-black stone stood in the middle of the spacious room. The strange symbols flowing down from the ceiling and pillars made a circle around the throne but didn’t get any closer, as if they were afraid or unwilling to disturb it

With a luscious figure, the woman looked to be human for the most part, but the pitch-black horns curving backward on top of her head told a different tale. A mix of reverence and pain was evident in her purple pupils when she gazed at the figure lying on the massive throne.

“Father!” she uttered loudly again, this time earning a reaction from the man slumbering on top of the throne.

Supporting his chin with one hand, he lay quietly, shrouded in a hazy mist of darkness. The mist made it almost impossible to discern any of his features and, had it not been for the woman calling him "father", it would have been debatable whether he was a man or woman.

“What brings you here, Variel?” Unmoving, the man slowly answered, his voice hoarse and tired. Gritting her teeth, Variel replied in astonishment. “Don’t you know, father?! You must have felt it too!” The man’s eyes slowly opened, but all Variel could see was the abyss staring back at her. Afraid she was not but, as they say, if you stare into the abyss for too long, it will end up consuming you.

With her gaze turned to the floor, Variel’s eyes were filled with tears as she mumbled through gritted teeth. “Please let me seek revenge!” She knew her words were absurd but there were too few of their kind, and the little one hadn’t even formed a consciousness yet, making it even harder for her to accept.

Just like that, she waited with her head lowered. Waiting for her father’s words. “I will not permit it,” the figure shrouded in darkness replied. “...” Searching for the right words to say, Variel locked eyes with the man on the throne and screamed in defiance, “Why, father? Is it so wrong to seek revenge for our kind?! For family!”, clearly unwilling to yield.

Staring past his daughter’s gaze, the man on the throne let a clear sigh escape his lips and answered quietly. “Family, you say? Listen carefully, Variel…” His solemn gaze pierced hers and, without even knowing how, Variel’s left arm was ripped off from the root and sent flying backward.

A loud scream escaped the woman’s mouth as a torrent of purple blood flowed out of her body. Biting her tongue to remain focused, Variel refused to yield as she glared right back at her father. Disregarding her resolve, the man continued unhurriedly. “Your sibling was weak, and the weak die. That’s just how it is. Now, unlike you…” He said, and another arm was sent flying. Unable to hold the pain back, Variel’s screams resounded throughout the castle as she fell on her knees. Tears mixed in with blood, as she could no longer remain focused.

“Your sibling didn’t turn out to be a disappointment… Leave, and don’t disturb my sleep again.” He said and the doors to the throne room closed, leaving Variel’s crying and bleeding figure right outside.

‘How could you be so heartless, father…’ Variel’s resolve hardened as her purple gaze pierced through the throne room’s massive iron gate.

 

~~~

 

Monday evening,

“Ugh… What a day,” Nathan uttered before his voice was muffled by the bed’s pillow. After they were done with lectures, Roger had forced him into tagging along for a couple of drinks. They had to celebrate his newfound ‘freedom’, he said jokingly, and Nathan found it hard to disagree with the rowdy fellow.

“That damn Roger… What was he thinking?” Nathan had no clue how much alcohol the two had downed during their small outing. Thankfully, Roger wasn’t a heavy drinker, or it would have lasted well into the night. Feeling his surroundings start to spin, Nathan got out of his bed and walked to the toilet.

No longer than an hour later, Nathan’s figure emerged from the bathroom. Refreshed and red like a lobster should be, he tucked into bed, calling it a day.

 

~~~

 

Slowly opening his drowsy eyes, Nathan found himself standing inside the white space. ‘Back to this place again,’ he didn’t think it was a bad thing, for he somehow felt safe in here. Freed from Erion’s madness, the real world’s troubles, and pretty much everything else.

Nathan didn’t need to look down to know he wasn’t naked, but he did anyway, as he felt a book’s leathery cover firmly held in his embrace. ‘I somehow brought Chayum from Ayla’s house to the white space…’ Opening the book, he flipped to the first page and inspected the contents. ‘It’s the same alright…’ With a side glance at the wooden door sitting quietly in the distance, Nathan decided to remain in the white space for a little while.

He wasn’t in a hurry after all and, since he’d decided to translate Chayum’s contents anyway, he might as well memorize a few more parts before heading out.

About an hour later, Nathan somehow felt confident he had the second page memorized down to the letter. ‘Is it just me, or did this feel way too easy?’ Feeling a little strange about his newfound ability, he pondered inwardly. ‘Maybe the white space is somehow helping me? Then again, I had memorized an entire page of unknown symbols last time too… Have my mental abilities been somehow amplified?’ With a troubled expression on his face, Nathan looked at the endless white ceiling before deciding to drop the matter for now. 

‘This place sure is peaceful though,’ closing the book, he placed it by his side and laid down on his back, resting on the spotless white floor with his eyes closed. Memorizing a page filled to the brim with unknown symbols, Nathan’s brain was already overtaxing itself. Subconsciously emptying his mind to relax, Nathan focused on the rhythmic sound of his heartbeat. ‘Hmm?’ That’s when he saw it, no… Felt it. With every beat, a flash of black or silver would rush through the confines of his heart.

‘Are those…’ Having entered a trance, Nathan recalled how the blob felt when the soul thread moved around its formless body. Copying part of that motion, he could feel hundreds of soul threads floating aimlessly inside his heart.

*Ba-dump!*

A silver soul thread randomly flashed from one side of Nathan’s heart to the other.

*Ba-dump!*

Silver and black threads moved from one side to the other, unable to escape the confines of Nathan’s heart. ‘Looks like soul threads indeed need a container…’ And that container turned out to be a heart. ‘No wonder the blob couldn’t keep it in its body, but then again…’ Guessing it had somehow managed to make a ‘container’ for soul threads, Nathan couldn’t help feeling the blob was amazing in some aspects.

‘Should I try controlling them?’ He pondered for a little while, before picking out a solitary silver soul thread. Willing it to move slightly to the right, he felt a small amount of resistance coming from the thread. ‘It doesn’t want to go there?’ Pulling back his forceful will, Nathan tried another direction. Alas, the thread refused to budge. ‘You little…’ Nathan’s attempts didn’t stop there. He tried to move it in several different ways, but it always ended the same way. The thread refused to go anywhere. Nathan didn’t want to resort to force, for, having witnessed the blob’s memories, he knew the soul thread could easily break.

‘Sigh… Just go wherever.’ He thought, ready to give up. Just then, the silver thread flashed happily across to the other side of his heart. ‘Why did it move now?!’ Confused, Nathan focused on the thread once more, willing it to move around without a set direction. The thread in question happily flashed from one side to the other along with his heartbeat.

‘How weird,’ looking at the thread monopolizing his heartbeat, Nathan couldn’t help feeling a little surprised. ‘Maybe…’ Since forcing it got him nowhere, Nathan tried to coax it instead. ‘It actually worked?!’ Unlike his first attempt, where Nathan pretty much told it ‘go there,’ this time he chose to treat it like a different entity altogether, asking the soul thread if it could ‘please go there.’ And so, the thread did.

‘Suggestions work?’ Slowly grasping the rules behind soul threads, Nathan was really glad to have seen the blob’s failure. Not only did it point out the wrong direction for him, it even inspired him to try other things too.

But he didn’t stop there, for there were too many things he wished to try. ‘Can you do a backflip?’, ‘Move in a circle?’, ‘Spin?’, all sorts of commands were given to the soul thread and, since Nathan didn’t try to force it, it was willing to comply.

‘Hmm… Stretch?’ He asked and the thread remained motionless. ‘No? Then how about shrink?’ Still nothing. ‘Oh well, guess you can’t change your size?’ True to his question, the thread just floated aimlessly.

Feeling satisfied for the time being, Nathan retrieved his consciousness and slowly opened his eyes. ‘This white space is really convenient... ‘ Having failed miserably to feel the soul threads last time, the least Nathan expected was to succeed with so little effort.

Slowly standing up from the floor, Nathan massaged his sore buttocks and stretched his body. He had no clue as to how long he had been meditating for, but felt it was about time he left this place.

Looking at the book by his side, he decided not to take it with him.

Since he was bound to come back to this place later, he might as well store Chayum here for now. ‘I’ll make a rush for Ayla’s house… She should be there, right?’ He mused while expecting to appear under the usual bulb’s light in the middle of the street. Opening the wooden door as quietly as possible, Nathan checked the surrounding area.

Alas, he was bound to be disappointed. “Eh?” Looking at the familiar surroundings, Nathan wasn’t sure whether he should head back to the white space or not. Different from his expectations, he was stranded inside Ayla’s living room. The very room he had fallen asleep in last time.

Having already gone through his fair share of weirdness, Nathan felt immune to the shock as of late. ‘How strange... There has to be a logical explanation behind this change…’ Closing his eyes, he let out a small sigh and contemplated. ‘Alright, taking into account all the events that have happened so far…’ Nathan’s mind spun as he reached what seemed to be a logical conclusion. 

‘Is it just me? Or does this feel like a game?’ Clues to the ‘spawn point’, as he came to call it, were quite obvious actually. So far, this was the third time Nathan journeyed through Erion. The first time, he’d appeared by the lamp poll, same with the second time... Then why did his door lead to Ayla’s living room the third time?

‘Is my death the cause for this change?’ he pondered inwardly. The first time, he died at Ayla's hands so his save point didn’t change. Therefore, his second entrance was once more by that bench’s side. The second time though, he never actually died, he just fell asleep.

‘So, as long as I don’t die, not only do I continue from where I left off, I can also bring back stuff to the white space? Well that sounds too convenient to be true...’ With more questions than answers, Nathan decided to drop the matter for now and go meet Ayla. After all, this was only one of the possible ways his so-called ‘spawn point’ worked, and he wasn’t really fond of finding out.

After all, he would have to die just to check his theory. And, as far as Nathan was concerned, dying wasn’t really a pleasant experience.

Saluting Mr. Juggling Dude, Nathan made his way upstairs. The usual sound of someone scribbling pervaded Nathan’s ears, procuring a small smile from him. ‘No, no, no. Don’t you dare have any strange thoughts! Ya hear me?!’ Mental notes taken, he edged closer to Ayla’s room, where he knocked twice and waited for her permission to enter. He was somewhat of a gentleman, after all.

“Come in.” Pausing in his tracks, Nathan felt something different about the tone of her voice. It was cold like usual, but unlike the previous times, it didn’t entice him. ‘Something is strange.’ Hesitating would get him nowhere, so Nathan excused himself and moved into Ayla's study.

There she was, piling note after note as she casually lay in her comfy chair. And yet, beautiful as she always was, to Nathan’s eyes, it felt like she had lost a certain charm. ‘Is something weighing her mind?’ He couldn’t help wondering. However, unable to ask, he just stared at her while waiting. Waiting for her to start the conversation.

Time seemed to have stopped for Nathan as he patiently waited for her to stop writing, and soon she did. Letting the pen rest in its case, Ayla’s piercing white gaze was turned to Nathan’s.

“Nathan,” she started, her tone sending chills down Nathan’s spine as he recalled their first meeting.

“Ye- Yes?” stuttering, he answered, baffled by Ayla’s complicated expression.

“I need you to do me a favor.”