By Zephyria 
It was a series of lonely, depressing, and infuriating scenes. But there was no time to grieve. I crammed every passing face and landscape into my head and savored them as much as possible.
Then, at some point, the air grew warmer. Just a moment ago, I was an outsider, observing from a distance, but now I felt like I was part of this world’s troubles.
I had felt this briefly when I first entered Aska’s dream with Popo’s help. My ears rang as if I were drowning, and my vision was blurry. As my sight slowly returned, saliva began to pool in my mouth.
“……”
The fragrant smell assaulting my brain further fueled my extreme hunger. My breathing grew rough, and saliva dripped from my mouth. Soft skin was visible between the parted collar of his clothes, like food laid out for me to eat.
If I reached out my hand, it would part like the sea, and the delicious things inside would spill out. I reached out my trembling hand and placed it on the center of his chest, and my mouth filled with saliva again.
“Huk……”
I hesitated, pressing, rubbing, and stroking his skin with my fingertips for a long time before turning my head. I saw my face, sleeping peacefully, unaware of anything.
I tried to frown, but the muscles in my face wouldn’t move as I wanted them to. I wasn’t the one feeling these emotions, but I couldn’t understand why I was so hungry and unable to resist the urge to destroy.
Had I ever been this hungry and thirsty before? I had never been particularly interested in food since I was a child, so it was all unfamiliar.
“Ugh……”
Then, Aska clenched his fist and groaned. I saw his eyes tightly closed and his face contorted. But soon, I saw my sleeping self through his slightly opened eyes again.
Even a slight lapse in concentration made me feel all of Aska’s emotions and states as if they were my own. Confusingly, I would become Aska, then float like a ghost in the air, observing like a third party, and then repeat.
After repeating this several times, Aska’s vision became clearer. I was almost completely undressed, my bare chest fully exposed. With each beat of my heart, I could see a large amount of blood spreading through my veins and throughout my body.
In other words, I wasn’t just feeling like it was happening, but I was actually seeing the scene before my eyes. The hotter my eyeballs became, the clearer the flow of blood became. The unbearable hunger was increasingly clouding my reason.
I had reached the point where I wouldn’t mind dying if I could just eat this. But Aska slammed his forehead against the bedpost and jumped out the window.
Was it because of this sudden action? I regained my senses as if I had been ejected, just before I was about to be completely assimilated. I saw Aska running barefoot through the dark garden, panting, and then plunging his face into the fountain, as if from a bird’s-eye view.
Water droplets splashed everywhere, soaking Aska’s entire body.
“……”
His face, full of confusion and fear, was distorted as if he were about to burst into tears.
And for good reason. The hunger I had felt even for a moment was not something an ordinary person could endure. I now understood why Aska always swallowed when he saw my blood. It was amazing that he had only gone that far.
“Ugh.”
Soaked, Aska shivered as if he were cold, then covered his nose and mouth with his small hands. He held his breath as if he could smell blood even here, then plunged his face back into the water. Bubbles continued to rise to the surface of the rippling water.
“Puhah!”
The moment he roughly lifted his head to breathe, he heard the sound of birds’ wings near his ear. When he turned his head, he saw a pure white owl sitting on a branch in the dark of the night. The problem was that the owl had only one eye in the center of its face.
―……!
The owl began to say something to Aska. It was a language that humans could not understand or transcribe. Words that sounded like the wind blowing through valleys or the sound of snow piling up struck his entire body through the air.
“What?”
Aska, who had been quiet all along, frowned deeply and retorted like a street thug. The owl kept saying something, but Aska threw a stone and became annoyed.
“What are you babbling about? Get lost!”
―……! ……!
“You wanna die? If I catch you, I’ll pluck all your feathers, you one-eyed monster!”
At the fierce shout, the owl flapped its wings and eventually disappeared into the darkness.
The scene changed without warning, just like when it showed Aska living in Calderia. There were many ordinary days, such as splashing around in the water, getting covered in dirt, and stacking stones.
The overly static days made guilt bloom in my heart. When Aska was young, he often asked me to play with him, telling me not to play alone without him. I thought it was just something children said, but Aska’s life without me was just a series of waiting.
He couldn’t go outside properly by himself, couldn’t talk to anyone, and couldn’t show his face. Aska, sitting by the window and looking at the sky, rarely did anything other than sniff like a dog.
“……”
As the regret I couldn’t feel at the time grew, I realized how indifferent I had been to Aska. I stared at Aska, who was sitting on a chair and swinging his legs, feeling almost scolded, when the scene changed again.
“Haa……”
In the dark bedroom with the lights off, Aska sighed deeply. His breath faintly smelled of alcohol. On days when he drank alcohol…… Could it be that day? The night the sky tore apart and we separated?
Surprised, I reflexively looked at the sky outside the window when I heard footsteps. Aska, who was wriggling under the blanket and constantly panting, suddenly got up.
Then, staggering, he ran to the door and threw it open. Aska, throwing his small body, hugged Khalifa tightly around the waist and rubbed his face against his chest like a puppy, mumbled.
“I’m thirsty, want to drink water together……”
Feeling something was wrong as he spoke, Aska slowly raised his head.
“……”
“……”
“……”
I wasn’t the only one surprised. Both Aska and Khalifa, who was hugged by Aska, seemed surprised and widened their eyes. Perhaps he was too embarrassed and stiffened, Aska couldn’t move from that position.
I felt a throbbing in my head and reached out to separate the two, knowing it wouldn’t work.
Aska, belatedly regaining his senses, faltered and stepped back, moving his lips. But Khalifa’s gaze was fixed on one place, not caring what Aska said.
Aska’s chest was clearly exposed, perhaps because his clothes had come undone while tossing and turning on the bed. Aska, who still didn’t realize that his appearance was disheveled, didn’t even think about covering his chest.
“Your…… No, Sun God Rahan, I greet you.”
Aska knelt down, put his forehead on the floor, and said in a trembling voice. Khalifa’s face, looking down at Aska, was filled with intense murderous intent.
Even though I knew Aska wouldn’t die in this place, I felt fear. Even though I knew he could be restored even if he was hurt, I was afraid that Khalifa would hurt Aska.
Was it because I felt emotional turmoil? As my vision lowered, it changed back to Aska’s perspective. At the same time, the scene also changed. Now Khalifa and I were standing in the Training arena.
My ankles were already deeply cut, and terrible pain covered my entire body. At the same time, the encroaching desire for destruction and extreme hunger were eating away at my mind.
But even so, I couldn’t move easily. I continued to feel a sense of frustration, as if I were trapped in a narrow passage and unable to move my entire body. As if I would be torn, broken, and ruined with the slightest mistake, I focused all my nerves even when moving a single finger.
“That’s because you are not a god.”
“Do you want to die?”
Even while the two were talking, I was extremely carefully calming the energy raging inside my body. A tightly drawn string could be broken even by a slight breeze.
The situation unfolded rapidly. A sword pierced Khalifa, and the floor was covered in frozen blood. I ran breathlessly along the garden, leaving Kyle behind.
And then I heard a familiar sound near my ear. It was a language similar to the one the one-eyed owl made, but different. Semi-transparent, colorful clumps of fur floated between the branches and leaves, shouting noisily.
“Shut up!”
I covered my ears and screamed, and an ominous light burst from the blood-stained necklace around my neck. I tried to take off the necklace immediately, but it was stuck to my body and wouldn’t come off.
Everything I had barely calmed down began to rage inside my body. I hugged my shoulders with both hands, pressed down hard, and begged.
“No, no……”
―Beeeep!
Pipi flew in from somewhere and pecked my head with its beak, crying loudly. The things that were so full that it was hard to breathe kept stabbing and hitting me to get out.
My head was throbbing as if it would break, and I began to hear the sound of something snapping and breaking inside my body.
―Beep, beep! Beep beep!
“I said no! Go away! Get away!”
―Beeeeeep!
“No, I don’t want to……”
Enduring the terrible pain, the moment tears mixed with blood flowed. Puk, the body that couldn’t endure it finally shattered into pieces and scattered.