✔ blue-coloured beginnings 「 khunbam 」

a

The brunetʼs body stirred in disarray as the wound enclosed in ice started to throb, waking him from the forcibly deep slumber. He trembled, realizing that he was alert, eyes were wide open, but he couldnʼt catch even a single glimpse of light. In his grasp were fragments of soil and ground clay, rough and unforgiving- so much like the memory of a home he pushed to the back of his mind four years ago. He does not have any idea on what happened after they jumped at the edge of the mothership, his current whereabouts, or what kind of situation awaits beyond the emptiness. All he knows was that it was bleak and numbing, and that the cold was suffocating.

"Aguero, where are you?"

He tried to call out despite the hoarse friction coarsing against his throat yet it only echoed back, chills running down his spine as he felt how deep the abyss was through how the walls vibrated.

"Please say something. Anything."

Bam just couldnʼt bring himself to accept anything. Not when just a few moments ago, his hands still held Khunʼs like his life depended on that consoling, firm hold. Yet everything he was ever hopeful for bursted like a bubble, disappearing without a trace, and it was like he was trapped inside that bitter cave once more. Abandoned. Lonely. Miserable.

"I donʼt want this." Beads of tears started rolling down his cheeks, falling to the deteriorating soil as he let out a strained sob. "Please let me out. Please let me go back. Please."

「 ᒘᖶᕦ ᘢᓰᘙᐸᕦ ᘜᖳᕢᓧᕦ, my sweet child. 」An ambrosial, mellow voice broke the silence, and Bam did not know why his heart ached at the call, but it wasnʼt the good kind.「 I have longed for the day where both of us shall finally meet. And yet, why couldnʼt you acknowledge me? 」

'Who are you?' He wanted to ask, yet the question remained at the tip of his tongue, as he felt a wintry touch sweep past his damp cheek. It was oppressive and asphyxiating, as if this someone was gracing a heavy weight upon his insignificant life. The voice sighed. 「 It seems you still are nowhere near ready yet. However, I can see that you have a certain desire. What can you do for me in return? 」

"I..." Bam was desperate, and if the only thing he could do to go back to the life he had once tasted was to cling on some divine intervention, then heʼd gladly do it at the expense of a normal life. "Iʼll become stronger. Better than anyone else."

「 Rather than that, 」they tousled his unruly hair endearingly. 「 Nevermind. You will know my intentions when the time comes, and once you do, you will have no choice but to accept it. Now, what do you seek? 」

"I just want to go back and stay with Aguero. To have what we had back to me."

But what if everything that had happened was just a figment of his lonesome imagination? That he was just waking up from a long and wonderful dream? That in truth, the Twenty-fifth Bam never existed in their world? The thought just made the burning sensation of his insides worse, making him want to hurl everything out of his system.

Still, he answered in wishful thinking. Even when distress creeped through him as a light blinded his vision before it disappeared again, filling his sight with black. He crouched against what seemed to be a steep wall of dirt and hugged his knees tightly, shutting his eyes as he prayed.

"Is that too much to ask?"

His toes curled as he shivered in the open cold, hoping that by the time he rousts, everything he had ever learned to love was back to where it all used to be.