S.O.L.E (Scion Of Late Era)

B1 Ch7: Dim Reality

---Atonement---

Huff. Huff.

Ceno was long oblivious to the number of days he been wandering inside the unknown region. He was too engrossed in getting away that he couldn't even bother to notice himself and his surroundings.

Needless to say, his current state was quite awful. The thin white undergarment he wore had slits and was covered by dirt. Countless of scratches could be even spotted on his body and his breathing was heavy and hoarse like he was trying to catch his own breath. Furthermore, his throat needed something to drink, it felt very dry.

But then, fortunately, out of the long course of his journey, never did Ceno encountered one single beast even though the surrounding was shrouded by loud echoing shrieks and growls.

A misstep led Ceno to stumble on the ground. It wasn't new since he been falling for numerous times already. The small body that tried to push himself forward had been long ago on the brink of exhaustion. The only reason he could still muster some thread of strength and persevere for more was due to his own stubbornness.

However, he had been long forgotten the reason why. What he knew was, he had to go and never let himself halted even for a second.

Still, at the end, he couldn't keep up anymore and was left lying, facing the gloomy sky.

Ceno was so tired physically. As if giving up all resistance, he quietly remained on the cold hard ground. Not only his eyes seemed heavier in every opening, its sight was dimming and his hearing could only pick some ringing sound.

Ceno may be tired but his mind was awake. Something within him fought to stay on conscious. However, even after holding out for so long, he began to sway and succumbed to exhaustion.

"Hey, you." A familiar voice spoke, sounded as if he was utterly bored. "How long are you going to play dead? Not like you're going to die just from this."

Finally hearing something, Ceno slowly opened his eyes. Though with difficulty, he tried hard to focus on the blurred figure above him.

"...C-Ce...na..." Ceno hardly said.

After a bit of humming, the figure who stood near, looking down on Ceno, chuckled as if he found the response quite amusing.

"N-no." Ceno's eyes sharpen as his gaze intensified. "You are not him."

The figure who looked a lot like Cena gave a gentle smile. It was exactly the same as Cena which made Ceno sullen.

"What are you saying, Ceno? I'm Cena."

"Don't you lie. Your eyes." Ceno simply replied.

The other Cena whose eyes were gray remained calm and just casually asked. "Why? Although the eyes are different, aren't the presence the same?"