Chapter 69: Chapter 69 Awoken.
Inside the dark, eerie place where no time and space took hold, his consciousness blurred, hovering between reality and dreams. Soma's mind, or rather his soul, began to wander in the dark. He could see himself walking on a tightrope alone, couldn't stop in his step and kept moving forward.
Alone in the dark place, Soma kept his steady pace, looking ahead with a restless expression. Despite the eerie place he was residing in, it also brought forth the comfort inside his heart that calmed his racing heart. Those contradictions happen in his mind.
Soma didn't understand why his being kept pushing him to walk ahead. He tried to protest and stop his advance, but the sound was mute, as he couldn't open his stitched mouth and lost control of his body. It was as if his being, was tied by a multiple invisible threads that seeped into his soul controling his being like a puppet.
The sense of time and space was lost in this dark place as Soma kept walking forward step by step. The ropes on his sole feet keep getting smaller and thinner the further he advances. The thinner the rope is, his feet begin to suffer from the lacerations, and now the rope is already as thin as silk.
Soma's stance began to sway as the rope also became more flexible yet strong. Unable to hold his steady in place for the pain and sense of balance that he gradually lost, struggling, he raised both hands, trying to balance his state, for it was what he needed the most at that moment.
However, he couldn't find the right angle, so his body lost its foothold and dropped down toward the abyss, swallowing him toward its endless void.
As Soma descended through the expanse of a void, a profound emptiness engulfed his heart. The world, memories and experiences he had recently faded into insignificance, leaving only the void of space that gnawed his heart.
With each moment, the void rapidly grows, amplifying the feeling of solitude and emptiness in the face of death, but he doesn't know why he feels so comfortable within it, and he eagerly accepts the feeling.
Then the world stopped as the feeling of being pulled down stopped. Soma's vision became clear as he caught the sign of a black figure with wings and stretched his hand forward, trying to extend help to him.
However, the moment when the figure almost reached him, a cracking sound could be heard, and the endless dark world that enveloped his being in comfort shattered.
"Soma?!".
The ethereal feeling he felt jolted back as the dark place was soon replaced by the blinding light that burned his sight. The feeling of weightlessness on his body turned to something soft and comforting, and the warm wind that grazed his skin roused his consciousness, slowly opening his eyes.
Soma, who was woken up, heard the sound of rustling grass near him, carrying the smell of earth mixed within to disperse his sleepiness. A clear sky stretched endlessly, painted with a white brush floating slowly carried by the wind, cast a serene atmosphere and calmed his nerves.
"You awake?".
Martial Saint peeks from above, blocking the light that came from the sun from reaching his face. Soma's body stiffened as he raised his torso to a sitting position.
"Where am I? Ah?!".
The greener scene of the flat meadow stretched endlessly as far as his eyes could see. Clear flowing water swam intensely, carrying life holds.
"What happened? My mind is so hazy, I can't remember a thing?".
"..You are currently inside my space. I forcefully brought you here. That was dangerous, Soma, what you tried earlier, submerging deeper into your consciousness with the intention to disappear. What is happening with you?".
"What does that mean?".
"..Which means you are going to surrender your life".
"Wha?!"
Soma stiffened his body, hearing the stern voice come out from Martial's mouth. He never thought that Martial Saint could show this angry side of him. Soma clutched his head; it began to throb, and a memory of the dark place emerged. Earlier, Soma was in a deep state of surrendering his life, for he felt comfortable being there, and it almost cost him his life.
He felt a crisis in his body as it was trembling.
"Is this what the devil is doing?".
"No, this was your own doing?".
"..?!".
Martial saint words sent shivers down his spine. Soma could not believe Martial Saint's words, as his mouth was stitched, and he couldn't speak a single word. It got stuck in his throat. Soma struggled to find the right words he wanted to ask. Then, His sight began to fickle as his body began to turn transparent.
"It's time, huh. Listen here, Soma".
Soma turned his attention up, looking at the figure of the Martial Saint who stood before him while folding his hands below his chest, looking straight at him with stern expression.
"I don't know what you have in mind. But,, as long as you are my inheritor, you are also considered one of my disciples, and in my mind. A disciple is someone who I regard as a family. Don't you ever forget that".
"Yes".
The reason Martial Saint said all this was because the sense of emptiness and void that engulfed Soma's mind earlier transmitted to him as the one who resides within the boy in front of him, as an elder, and as the one who is guided by fate that they could meet like this. It made Martial Saint feel responsible for protecting him for as long as he could.
".. If I was still not enough. Find another one, find someone you could rely on. Don't try to burden yourself alone. It will tire you out and make you crumble at the crucial point. Remember that in your heart!
If you seek help, try to reach me within you, I will help you the best I can".
"I will. Thank you, Martial saint. No, Master".
As Soma finished his sentence, his figure was turned into a myriad of particles that floated in the atmosphere, scattered around the place like a firefly before disappearing into thin air.
Martial saint, who left alone, turned his back and faced the black gate that stood in the far corner of the meadow.
"..You tried to save him earlier, right?".
He began to speak himself while facing the shut door of the gate, expecting an answer.
"Well, I don't need your answer, but I must say, thank you for what you did. Thanks for trying to save my disciple".
".. Hmph, it's not like I want to save his life or what. I just don't want to witness my precious vessel die before I take over his body, that's all".
The devil's curt voice echoed inside the space as it reached Martial Saint's ears, raising one of his eyebrows.
"..Is that so?".
As his consciousness began to awaken, Soma slowly opened his heavy eyes, still resisting his attempt to wake up for the comfort from the soft mat that engulfed his body, giving his tired body bliss. But, he forces himself to pry open his eyes as the light that seeps through the crack burns his pupils, knitting his eyes, but it manages to awaken his hazy mind.
Slowly adapting to the light, Soma was facing himself with the familiar ceiling he recalled having seen before. Turning his gaze sideways to confirm his theory, and it proved correct, as the room was identical to the room in his memory.
"So, I was in the hospital, huh".
Soma clenched his hands and then raised his torso into a sitting position. The bed creaked as the cascades from the sun that pierced through the window bathed his body with its warmth. The morning air that swept past him got sucked into his lungs, pumping it through his nerves.
From the corner of the room. The door creaked slowly as someone entered the room with a light step.
"Pardon the intru,, si,, on..".
Soma turned his attention toward the sound he heard this past month. His facial muscles loosened as he saw the girl who accompanied him in his adventure to find a scroll. He flashed a smile and opened his mouth.
"Good morning, Hina".
"..So, ma..".
Hina, with staggering feet, walked forward as she couldn't believe the scene in front of her. Without any warning, she rushed ahead and lunged at his embrace.
"Woah".
"I am glad you are awake. I am truly glad".
"Hina?".
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