Beyond The Fallen

The white room

Kuro's bleary eyes slowly opened as the tendrils of sleep loosened their grip on his weary limbs. Disoriented, he found himself surrounded by an eerily familiar yet distant scene. The room was filled with a sterile white that seemed to radiate an unnatural purity.

The air was thick with murmuring, hushed chatter that echoed faintly against the eerily immaculate walls. Kuro's gaze darted around the room, taking in the sight of a dozen other people his age, immersed in whispered conversations.

"What the hell?" Kuro murmured, his voice laced with both confusion and bewilderment.

He pinched himself cautiously, hoping against logic that his senses might have been playing tricks, but the sharp sting seemed to confirm the reality of his surroundings.
His memory, a tangled web of foggy impressions, began to slowly emerge from the depths of his mind.

Kuro's gaze fixed on the boy in the corner with curiosity, his mind eager for any clue to the strange situation he found himself in.

The boy sat with slightly slumped shoulders, his messy hair framing a contemplative expression. His ember-colored eyes, despite the quiet melancholy in them, held a captivating intensity that drew Kuro's attention. For some reason, he felt that he was annoying.

The boy's face was defined by a strong yet elegant nose, enhancing the subtle ruggedness in his otherwise delicate features. His body was lean, and small scars adored his shoulder like a splitter of breaking stone in a way that suggested his life was far from kind. Beneath his laid-back demeanor was pain that Koru felt as it reminded him of his past friends.

As Kuro's gaze lingered on the boy, he noticed something strange. The boy's fingers fidgeted with a small coin in his hand spinning it between his fingers with practiced ease. His attire seemed to be quite different from the others in the room as well.

While the others seemed to be wearing fancy clothing that resembled what Kuro suspected nobles wore, the boy, on the other hand, wore a simple leather jacket with a dark rim; the pants he wore were rough and short for his legs, which made Kuro feel slightly more comfortable.

Intingly, despite being surrounded by the hushed conversations of others, the boy seemed to be in his world, completely aloof to the whispers of the world around him, "what a weirdo" Kuro thought, of course he was extremely confused but he was already confirmed in his mind that no one else was as everyone simply conversed no even regarding the strange white walls, this strange kid didn't even seem like he cared.

This only deepened the mystery surrounding him, and Kuro's mind filled with questions. Who was this boy? Was he truly just as lost and confused as Kuro himself felt? No.
But for a moment, Kuro couldn't help but feel increasingly drawn to the boy's enigmatic aura.

"What the hell are you staring at, cunt?" the boy's voice suKuro.

"Welp I was right." Kuro thought as a small frown glazed over his face at the boy's words that cut through the air, breaking the silence between them. He had been staring at the boy for far too long, admittedly. He managed to stammer out an awkward explanation.

"Ah, well I wanna know why I'm here." Kuro looked up at the white wall and pointed up with a curl of his finger. "More importantly, why'd you trap me here." Kuro's brows curved downward, and a slight drip of sweat flowed down his face.

The boy followed Kuro's finger to the stark white ceiling and let out a short sigh
"Ah, I ain't have nothing to do with you coming here." the boy's voice echoed with a hint of sarcasm. "If you truly don't know, then the order must; it's unfortunate this gonna be your grave."

He leaned back casually against the wall, his gaze studying Kuro with a mixture of interest and nonchalance. The boy's statement made Kuro's eye twitch." Threatening someone unnecessarily, don't you think? How about you be serious this isn't the time before I do something unnecessary." Kuro asked, his voice tinged with annoyance.

The boy shrugged, twirling the coin in his hand once again. "Please, I do not need to threaten you, it's more accurate to say we're in the same boat." he gestured around them, "I'll give you a piece of advice, talk to anyone else like that and the test will be the last thing you'll need to worry about." The boy looked up at Kuro.

Kuro's heart skipped a beat, the boy's words hit a small nerve of pride, but it didn't matter. "Test? I-I don't understand," Kuro stammered, trying to make sense of the mysterious boy's words. "What are you talking about?"

"You'll see soon," the boy said, suddenly his face turned cold. "Not like me, talking to the dead." He sigh then stood up, pocketing the coin he had been playing with.

Kuro's confusion deepened, but before he could question the boy further, a sudden voice echoed through the room.

Welcome!" The boisterous greeting echoed through the room, coming from a diminutive man who seemed to shrink even more due to the ludicrously oversized top hat perched atop his head. "The annual beyonder test shall begin!" His face stretched wide in a bellowing greeting, resembled a lion, with features that were both fierce and theatrical.

Kuro's heart pounded in his chest, he had no idea what was going on and honestly part of him still believed this was just a dream, a captivating dream that he would soon wake up from to be colonized in the embrace of the sticky wagon.

The man's words cut through the air with cold confidence, carrying an indisputable authority. His gaze did not waver nor shake as his speech continued, "By the decree of the Order and the Twenty-five Houses, let it be known - those who fail here shall perish."