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The silence was overbearing.
Steadily, Fulgur Ovid’s operating system came back alive. He took some time to adjust his vision, as it was almost pitch black in this closed and abandoned room. The only source of light was the moonlight that seeped through open windows. His body was covered in this strange white blanket. The room smelled like rain. He tried to rack his memory storage, but nothing came to light. This unknown room felt familiar, but he couldn’t remember.
Fulgur tried to move his limbs. His body felt strangely light. He tried touching his foot to the floor. To his surprise, it was filled with water. His foot was soaked in cold water. Slowly, everything around him faded away. Like a ripple of disturbed water, the room he was in turned into pitch-black nothingness.
There could not be any program in his system that could do this. Or was it psychological? Fulgur tried to let out his voice, but his neck seemed caught in a tight grip. It felt like he was underwater.
Because reaching out couldn’t work, he tried his audio input device instead. A particular defense protocol must have blocked it from activating. This was a common feature for time-traveling cyborgs in order to fight certain voice demons. He found the access and successfully activated it. Voices called out his name from the back of his head.
“Fuu-chan.”
Sudden rain poured down to this nowhere place. Every drop of rain brought a vision to the surroundings. His heart felt warm. The vision became clearer and clearer until he found himself in front of a store. A convenience store with a neon bulb flashing shapes like letters. Convenience Store - 24 Hours. Inside, a young man shouted in his direction. A familiar figure.
Finally, something he could remember.
“Fuu-chan, get inside!”
The rain washed his body wet. His eyes felt tired and hurt from the water. The man from the store opened the door and pulled him inside. “Kyoudai, you’re soaked! Hold on, let me get you a towel.” The young boy hurriedly ran to the back of the room. His tall posture contradicts his boy-like demeanor. A thin, black, tail-like cord wiggled as he ran. Fulgur tried to call him, but again the voice failed to sound. A failure in his vocal chord, perhaps? Even with his body soaking wet, he didn’t feel that cold. Why was he suddenly here? His brain mustered up to find any logical explanation to this. He was getting dizzy.
“Sonny and the others are still looking for you.” The young man said as he dried Fulgur’s synthetic hair with a towel. It was unnecessary because the rain doesn’t give any disadvantage to him, unlike humans, but it still felt nice regardless. Fulgur stood still, paying attention to this young man’s cat-like face. Alban... Alban Knox.
Alban told him something he couldn’t decipher. Maybe the audio input system was still at fault. His brain was still trying to place him in reality. Searching for any logical key to this vision he was experiencing. Finally, the young man handed an umbrella to him. “Come back to us when you’re ready.
That word broke his vision, again. The momentary calmness he felt since he entered the convenience store now turned back into another hard pouring rain. Just like before, everything smashed and collapsed, swept by rain. Back to this nothingness once he belonged.
Or was it another place he should have been?
His mind felt a little bit tired. In this state of idleness, he tried to lay down and closed his eyes. Maybe all of these were just silly dreams? Perhaps once he woke up, everything would go back to normal. Return back to the world where this Alban guy exists. And... Who was this Sonny again?
“Fuu-chan.”
Another voice called him. This time the voice was calm and gentle. A soothing voice, like watching a night sky full of stars. With the remaining energy left in his body, Fulgur sought the source of this gentleman’s voice. He opened his eyes.
It was an open field of grass where everything was green as far as you could see. It could be a perfect spot to stargaze, if not because of the pouring down rain. Fulgur let his body soak for a while. There was nowhere to go either. This time, the sound of rain was calm and soothing. For whatever reason, he felt safe.
A gentle arm reached his fist and led him to open the umbrella. It was the umbrella Alban gave him earlier. Was it always there in his palm? Now protected under the umbrella, Fulgur and another young man kept their distance close. “Kyoudai, I’m here again.” Their hands held the umbrella together, unmoved. “I’m here with Yugo, but he was still hitting on this nurse outside the room.”
Fulgur locked his eyes on this person’s appearance. Violet hair and very calm eyes. He knew this man. Uki Violeta. His friend. But why is he here? What is this place?
“I know that you need time… But can you promise not to let go of this?”
Again, Fulgur tried his best to access his memory storage to find an explanation. There must be something he missed. Or anything that resembles fault in his system. A strong urge kicked in for him to wake up.
…… Wake up?
“Fuu Fuu-chan, don’t let go until the end.”