A faint memory blossomed into Naren's mind. A very old and repetitive memory.
"I'm sleepy."
"Don't tell me you stayed up all night again?!"
A familiar voice, that he should've forgotten. But it wouldn't let go, it latched onto Naren's mind, sticking longer than it should.
Naren's heavy eyelids parted to let the light day in. Immediately regretting it after doing so.
'Why's it gotta be so bright?'
His eyes focused, staring at the white ceiling. Then around the room, a similar shade of white balancing itself on each and every surface.
He was on a bed, white thick sheets covering his body, which was much smaller than it should've been. A thin tube stuck out of his wrist, going around into a bag of clear liquid. He stared at his arm, small bruises everywhere.
Everything hurt. Not sharp, but a dull bone deep ache. It wasn't excruciating, but he definitely felt it, like a new normal. This was how it was every time he came here.
He kept looking around the room. Neat and tidy. Fresh fruits on the table, the old rotten ones in the trash. And brightening everything was a single person.
A young girl, barely in her twenties, had a crimson scarf wrapped around her. It was new and clean. She took great care of it. Wavy golden hair fell loose on her face, swept back sloppily by a black headband. Her skin was a pale and pristine, almost doll-like. It was an understatement to call her beautiful.
The girl, grabbed Naren's ears, pulling it.
"Ow ow!"
"How many times do I have to tell you to not stay up?!"
"Ok ok, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
The girl let go, sitting back down beside him, flattening her dress under her with her arms before doing so.
She grabbed an orange, peeling it, shoving a piece into Naren's mouth.
"Jeez, didn't the nurse tell you how important rest is?"
Naren ate without talking. Letting the girl speak about her day to her fullest as they both finished the fruits on the table one by one.
"Hey, I met this guy—"
"You can stop now."
Naren's voice felt unnatural, like he said something he wasn't supposed to. Something impossible.
"You're not real...neither am I."
The girl he was staring at held no face. And he wasn't really Naren. It wasn't his body. The hair was straight and black. The eyes were blue. And most of all, he didn't feel angry looking at his sister. The sister that cursed him.
Instead, looking at the empty, face. He could feel the warmth of a smile. A smile that never existed, making him feel warm inside. A mini sun lit inside his chest.
And with the next beat it was gone.
Naren's eyes opened to nothing. Complete darkness. But it hurt, it stung.
He tried taking a breath, but warm liquid filled his lungs instead. He choked uncontrollably. Floating inside a dark murky ocean. Murky blue-green waters closed over his head and took everything with it: sound, orientation, the memory of which way was up.
He clamped his mouth shut. His lungs were already on fire, who knew how much longer he'd last. But he just held himself still. Trying to listen. For anything.
'Up? Where are you?'
Then the sounds of bubbles hit him along with a light tug at his legs.
Looking down, Naren could see the little girl wearing her oversized school uniform. Her eyes were open slightly. She was on the brink of falling unconscious, suffocating. Her mouth hung open slightly, bubbles flowing out.
But the bubbles. They didn't go up. They went down.
Naren turned down and kicked. His lungs begging for respite, he ignored it continuing to swipe through pure darkness. Until, finally, he broke through the surface of the water with an enormous gasp for air.
Vera followed suit, less than a second later. Coughing as their lungs celebrated.
Naren beat his chest repeatedly, coughing up any left over water still in his lungs.
"Was...that the hole...Shrimpy?"
Vera was still coughing. Tears swelling in her eyes as a result. She was able to nod her head as a result. But as she did, her eyes diverted upwards. And stared. Not moving. Even through her coughing fit Vera stared. Barely able to croak out a single word.
"Cough...Look...Cough"
Naren followed her eyes, looking up. And as he did, his eyes widened. His golden pupils reflecting the most outlandish scene possible.
Staring right back at the two of them, where the sky should've been was land.
At least a kilometer below them, various mountains peaks poked through the ground, rocky terrain looking like ribs sticking out of the ground. Deep green foliage springing up from them. Like a forest under the world.
Or where they over the world.
"This is nuts."
Just then, Naren's eyes shifted as his head swung downwards. Peering deep into the murky waters they floated on. Something was coming.
For the first time in ten years, Naren's heart ached, from a sense of fear.
He immediately leapt out of the water.
"What're you doing?"
Vera grabbed onto Naren's head by instinct.
But as his body drew further from the surface of the water, a force grabbed a hold of him. Like an arm wrapping around and pulling him up. Or was it down?
Naren's body flew towards the land, Vera pulled along, yelling in fear. As they twirled in the air, it seemed like gravity reversed completely.
The ocean was the sky.
Vera hugged Naren closely out of fear. The corners of Naren's lips lifting up a bit in annoyance.
Naren looked around, for anything to use as a reflection. But the land was dark, the only light being what little made it through the ocean. Even so a tiny glimmer was enough for him. Yet there wasn't even that he could find yet.
Nothing except the ocean above. The surface rippled, like there was something there. Under the waves. Something that refused to come out. Something that he would rather die than see.
His hairs stood on end just looking at the surface. Whatever was up there, Naren had no intention of ever finding out.
Naren surveyed the ground. Riddled in peaks. Even the highest one was still at least five hundred meters below them.
"Shrimpy, don't you have any witch powers?"
Vera shook her head no as she buried herself into Naren's chest. Trying to avoid the inevitable drop. Her hair whipping around, hitting Naren's face repeatedly. Naren scrunched his face, adjusting his head to avoid it.
"Don't tell me you're afraid of heights?"
She nodded her head, holding his shirt tighter.
"Great."
They were getting closer and closer to the ground, when Naren noticed a clear murky pond, just reflective enough to work.
He concentrated on the pond, the reflection of the two figures on it growing larger and larger. But what would happen with Vera? Would she go through as long as they were touching?
"Vera, you might die."
The girl gripped onto his shirt tighter, but Naren didn't notice. Instead he was fully focused on the pond below them.
At the exact moment of contact, as they passed through it Naren had to spit them out of the surface, shooting upwards. At the exact moment, or else, they'd just fall through and splat.
Naren's golden eyes glimmered as they reflection grew bigger.
One hundred meters.
Fifty meters.
Twenty.
Ten.
Five.
Now.
The two figures passed through the surface of the pond, but there was no splash. Instead, they shut right back out, their momentum carrying them upwards this time. Until it cancelled out with gravity, falling back down.
This time they were only twenty meters high.
Naren couldn't be bothered to try his stunt again, and he knew this much he could handle. So decided to just hope Vera could too.
SPLASH.
They broke the surface of the water. But kept falling.
CRACK.
Naren's shoulder took the impact. Something definitely cracked as he hit the floor of the pond. Vera's body hitting his own.
Pain rushed through his arm. But Naren ignored it. It wasn't time to breath just yet. He tried to swim, but he couldn't he left arm wouldn't move. It swayed unresponsively.
Vera, opened her eyes. Her amber eyes looking at Naren's. Her face was scrunched. Even though Naren took on the brunt of the damage, she still got hurt herself.
She grabbed onto Naren. Pulling him up, swimming with all her might. But how could she? She was a little girl, and Naren was much too heavy for her. There was simply no way for her to save him.
But despite this, the little girl kept kicking. Aggressively, only tiring herself up.
But they still floated. Somehow.
Under them, a flat creature glided upwards. A small tail wagging as its body rippled in the waters. The creature continued up, just enough for the two to gain the momentum to break the surface.
As they separated, the flat creature kept it's track, lunging at a snake-like fish. It wrapped itself around the the fish, slowly gnawing on it. It never meant to help the two. They just got lucky.
A couple seconds later, a little girl and a boy with reddish-black hair broke through the murky surface of a pond. A big pond. They made their way to the shore, Vera falling flat on the ground to rest.
But Naren didn't. His body was screaming at him, it was tired, hot for some reason, and screamed in pain. But he didn't care. Naren's face had a inhuman grin etched into it, as he made his way through the twisting trees, to the edge of the peak. His left arm hanging uselessly to his side.
Vera limped behind him, afraid to be alone.
Finally, he broke through the foliage, and looked off the edge. A view that could speak a thousand languages stared back at him. Even with those thousand languages, Naren doubted anyone would be able to fully understand it.
Before him, hundreds. Thousands. The rocky peaks jutted out the ground like trees littering a forest. Some narrow, barely wide enough to stand. Others hundreds of meters across.
They all rose impossibly high, kilometers above the ground. Like they were trying to run away. All pale, ghostly, and ancient. A perpetual twilight glow present throughout the land, dim even in the day.
Dark vegetation hung from them, in patches. Deep green, almost black in shades. They all looked wrong, unnerving. Twisting into shapes plants shouldn't, forming faces like they were looking right at him.
Below them, the ground smoldered. Thousands of meters below Slithering like molten lava. An impossibly hot breeze rising from it. The rocky formations below looked to be constantly changing. Melting and resolidifying, making maps completely useless.
And above them, loomed a drowned sky. Dark green-blue murky waves, periodically letting a couple acidic drops hit the ground like rain. It swayed, like a normal ocean. Except nothing about it was normal.
Nothing about this was normal.
That's exactly what had Naren pumped. Nothing about this was boring. He was completely overrun with curiosity.
Grabbing onto Vera who was in awe from the view next to him, Naren shook her aggressively with his good arm.
"You see this? Do you? It's nuts."
Vera slapped his arm away.
"Cut it out."
Naren, turned Vera's head back towards the view. His golden eyes glimmering at the view.
"Did we make it to hell?"