Thunk-! Thunk thunk-!
âWhatâs that?â
A sound woke me up. My ears felt strangely muffled.
Thunk-!
The sound reverberated again. I instinctively covered my throbbing forehead and looked around.
âHuh?â
I was taken aback.
As I regained clarity, the scene before me was disorienting.
âWhat is this?â
Everything was white.
The entire world seemed to be painted over in stark white. At first, I thought it might be snow.
âBut itâs not snow.â
It wasnât snow. It was simply⦠a white world.
I touched the ground. The texture beneath my fingers felt peculiar.
âWhat is this?â
It was too soft to be stone, yet too odd to be soil.
It was something indescribable, an unknown substance. That seemed like the most fitting judgment.
I furrowed my brow, scanning my surroundings.
âWhere am I?â
Why was I suddenly in a place like this?
What was I doing before waking up here?
I tried to recall what happened just prior to this.
âUghâ¦!â
A sharp pain in my head interrupted me, forcing me to clutch it tightly.
Whenever I tried to remember, the pain would hit first.
Damn it. What kind of hell is this now?
âShitâ¦â
I shook my head against the pain and stood up.
From a standing position, the world looked even whiter.
It was more unsettling, inexplicably eerie.
It felt like I was standing in a place that shouldnât exist.
As I kept surveying the surroundingsâ
âHuh?â
I spotted something far away.
At the center of this white world, someone stood.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Was it a person?
The shape was humanoid, but I couldnât be sure.
Becauseâ
ââ¦Flames?â
It was human only in form.
The figure was entirely engulfed in flames.
And not just any flamesâfamiliar blue flames.
âThatâsâ¦â
Yes, I knew it instinctively.
I recognized it. Those flames were mine.
âWhat is this?â
I muttered without meaning to.
Thenâ