POV: Akir

'That ruin... I failed, right? How did I get out? What even was the goal? Why did the symbol disa—'

My thoughts were interrupted when a large-framed man with blood stains all over him walked into the preparation room. How long had it been since I had seen another person from earth?

Then the man said my name, "Akir?"

My eyes went wide as I remembered the man's name. "You're Calvin, right?"

The man's knees buckled, and he fell to the ground, holding his face in his hands. "I thought there was no one left except for me."

I stayed silent and answered in a relaxed manner, seeing that he wasn't hostile, "Me too."

Calvin raised his head and sighed before saying, "You look a little pale."

"Yeah, well, I haven't been able to get much sun in this place."

"No, I mean, you look like a corpse. I think you should drink and eat something."

"I'm fine. I'm not really hungry. I just need a little sleep," I said and stood up in order to walk to the sofas on the other side of the room.

However, quickly after I stood up, my head started to spin, and I quickly lost my balance.

"Akir!" Calvin yelled and rushed to me.

Though I probably could have retained my consciousness for a while longer if I tried, I didn't really see the need to and closed my eyes voluntarily.

I really needed some sleep.

***

My eyes sprung open, and I jolted awake before looking around in a panic. Then I saw Calvin, who had cleaned himself and changed clothes, eating at the dinner table, turn hurriedly and remember where I was.

All the pain in my body was gone, leading me to wonder if I had just healed or if it was really even there in the first place. Had all of it been a hallucination back there? That would have explained how I got out so suddenly. Maybe the ruin was just meant to keep me there for a while, and the time finally ran out at that point. Well, there was no point in wondering about it since the thing was just going to be an addition to the list of questions I would never get an answer to.

I felt a bit uncomfortable and removed the clothes that were on top of me. "Why don't I have clothes on?" I asked with furrowed brows as I looked down.

"I thought you might have been poisoned in the ruin you were in because you collapsed like that, so I just searched you for a wound," Calvin explained calmly.

"You really had to take my clothes off to make sure?"

"Uh, there was an incident like that in the fifth ruin... and somebody died."

"Oh, okay." I was taken aback at first, but then a pleasant sensation spread throughout my body, making me shiver. "I did say I just needed some sleep before passing out, didn't I?"

"Look, I just did what I did to ensure your survival," Calvin said sharply. "And what if you really had been poisoned and it just wasn't visible?"

"Good question? What would you have done if I really were poisoned? Are you some kind of doctor?"

"Eh, I'd have just cut the limb off, I guess." Calvin shrugged with a nonchalant expression.

"But wouldn't the poison have spread throughout my body already if it made me pass out?" I peered further into Calvin's thought process.

Calvin spread his arms out, seemingly having had enough of the conversation. "I don't know, dude! Surely cutting the limb off would still be better than doing nothing. Why are you that obsessed over this thing, anyway? You think I was admiring your family jewels while you were asleep or something? I'm not gay, if that's what you're thinking. And even if I were, I wouldn't go after you. You look all fucked up in like seven different ways. Have you even seen your own eyes?"

I was mostly just amused by Calvin's little freak out, but his last sentence caught my attention. "What do you mean? What about my eyes?"

"That red thing, you know. In the middle of your pupils," Calvin explained in an unorderly manner.

"Huh?"

I stood up with the intention of going straight into the bathroom to see what he was talking about, but then remembered I was naked and put some pants on hurriedly.

Then I jumped over the couch and rushed into the bathroom. Calvin followed me like some kind of cameraman who wanted to record my reaction.

Then I saw my reflection in the mirror and realized exactly what Calvin had talked about. Like he said, there were red things in the middle of my pupils. Red dots that glowed and swirled like they were alive.

I tried rubbing my eyes, but it changed nothing. "What is this?" I muttered.

'Has it been like this ever since the second evolution, when my dagger's golden parts turned red?' I hypothesized.

"So you were poisoned?" Calvin asked, returning to the earlier subject.

"No, it's not that," I said, turning back and walking to the dinner table.

"Yeah, whatever," Calvin said, sick of the topic, and followed me. "You must have some godly defense," Calvin noted out loud as we sat down.

I was confused for a moment, but then realized what he was talking about. "Oh, right," I said looking down at my shirtless body. "I don't have any scars."

Calvin furrowed his brows. "So you do have some godly defense?"

"No, just regeneration."

"Oh, you got a special ability too?"

"You have one as well?" I asked, seeing how regular his reaction was.

"Yeah. I can control my axes to some extent. I mean, I can change their direction by telekinetically pushing and pulling them, but they can only go at certain speeds, and there's a finite amount of force I can put behind them."

"How did you discover something like that?"

"Pretty easily, actually. After my second boost, I just felt a controllable gravity between me and my weapon and experimented a little. What abo... Oh, never mind. Anyway, you must've been the leader of your group if you got your second boost already. After all, I was the only one in my group who had gotten it."

"Well, I haven't really had a group since the couple first ruins. They all died pretty early," I answered awkwardly, hoping he wouldn't pry deeper into the matter, since I didn't want to think about how I would answer any further questions.

"Oh, that's rough. Well, you've got me now," Calvin said, making things a little more tense and awkward than they already were.

I leaned back in my chair and peered at the white roof, saying only a single word. "Yeah..."

***

"Do you miss earth?"

Such a question came out of Calvin's mouth as we walked down the tunnel and broke the silence.

"Huh?"

"I never got to ask you about your family. You just asked about mine, so you basically owe me the answer."

"Ah, right," I said, remembering our first chat. "I don't. I never really liked earth to begin with."

"Why's that?"

I pursed my lips for a bit, but then answered anyway, "My mother abandoned me, and my father never cared to be there and just took his anger out on me."

"Oh... It was pretty similar for me," Calvin said which caught me by surprise.

I had expected some kind of awkward apology, but it seemed we really weren't that different after all.

Then he continued, "I mean, my parents were both there, but it always just felt like I was a burden for them, and they blamed me for their unsuccessful careers and lives. I've always wondered why they even had me in the first place. I wonder if they even knew that abortion costs much less than raising an actual human being for 18 years."

"Do you have any siblings?"

"Hell nah. You think that they'd have another when they hate the first one?"

"You think they really hate you?"

"I know they surely don't love me," Calvin said, raising his gaze to the roof. "Hell, I had to wait 18 years to hear someone tell me they loved me, and then... Man, fuck this place. When I meet this place's creator, I'll rip his limbs off."

"I don't think you want to try that. From what I've gathered, the one who built this place is like a god or something."

Calvin looked at me for a while and then sighed. "Come on... For real?"

"Yeah," I answered with a depressed tone. "But hey, if we see him and he looks beatable, I'll gladly lend you a hand."

"Haha, I'll hold you to that," Calvin said with an amused expression, which then darkened quickly as we made it to the door.

Well, it couldn't really be called a door.

It was a mirror-like wall that seemed like liquid being held back by an invisible barrier.

"Why do these things have to be so weird? Just be a normal door," Calvin complained while I continued forward.

I then reached out to the door and touched it. My hands were shaking, but I didn't pay any attention to that. Instead, I only focused on the substance's reaction, which was sending a shockwave to its surroundings, creating multiple circles that flowed forward and expanded until they became so small they disappeared. The reaction was exactly like that of water, and the substance felt like it was exactly the same temperature as my body.

"Let's just go," I said, and my voice shook a little.

Was I afraid?

"Yeah, whatever. If we get separated straight off the bat, don't die until I find you, okay?"

"It's okay to die after you find me?"

Calvin sighed. "You ruined the moment, dumbass. Just go already," he said, pushing me in.