Dubieties of Truth

Miru Blue I

Kagiso Regnos stared down at his world, standing alone in the void. All the while he was there, he had spent his time peering through the looking glass under his feet. It stretched for miles; Kagiso would run as far as his legs would take him, nothing changed. The world he used to be a part of would always be a quick glance down-it was torture. This place called "Purgatory" was just hell, disguised as a realm of bright sapphire.

Kagiso had thought it was Abrigodemiru-the world where good and kind Athrenians went to after death-when he first awoke, despite the mysterious words he heard earlier. Above him was a clear cerulean sky without a stray cloud; Lusa always had grey, dolorous clouds that covered the city with rain. Below him was something similar, a floor that matched the gaping sky. Upon closer inspection, Kagiso saw that it wasn't opaque, it was slightly transparent. Kagiso could see his district, the lush meadow where he became one with Doritéia Regnos, and the park where his paj passed away. All he had to do was think about someone and they would appear under his feet. Kagiso soon realized that this was not a floor, but a colossal window into the world he used to be a part of.

He spent what felt like ages watching his friends attend the Institution of Lusa, Doritéia rocking their restless child to sleep, and Ma sobbing in bed all day. Whatever Kagiso thought of, he could see-his heartache had no say in the matter. Kagiso's joy of seeing the people in his living life shriveled into bitterness when he realized this wasn't the blessed world Abrigodemiru. The cerulean sky over his head became a churning, hollow ocean that had swallowed him up.

Kagiso had died. Someone else died with him, and that was all he knew. His head felt like an empty sac whenever he tried remembering the day he died. That someone else who was with him was also a haze; he didn't know who ne were, what ne looked like, or anything about nem. The only reason he even suspected someone else was trapped here with him was because of the voice he heard-a dismal voice that spoke to Kagiso while he slept in the darkness.

A small hand tugged on Kagiso's hand. Then someone pulled Kagiso, as if trying to lead the Lusan through an abyss of slumber. The darkness was silent; Kagiso couldn't hear a breath or smell a Lusan rainstorm. When the person spoke, it was a jolt to all of his senses.

"Your time in the living world has come to a cessation."

Kagiso opened his soot-colored eyes wide. Before the bright sky became a hollow sea of torture, Kagiso stared at it as he searched for the source of the voice. He turned his head to find nothing but a colorless chasm stretching ahead of him.

"I'm...dead?" The Lusan in his nineteenth year looked around. "But...but how?"

Silence. Kagiso gazed down at his palms and flipped them avidly. "Why? What's going on!?"

How did he die? Why did he die? Was this really happening? As Kagiso tried to conjure any memory of his death, a sharp pain shot through his head. It felt like he was supposed to know-he couldn't describe it, but he felt like he was reaching for something only to grasp nothing. "I can't...remember."

"You can find your truth within the folds of The Abyss, Kagiso Regnos."