Circles.
Endless orbits.
Many had lost count of how long it had been since they started flying in this nightmarish vortex.
Lost.
Afraid.
Even Asahi struggled to find out where he was because the walls of blur and light kept shifting. He tilted downward, discovering his legs trapped by swirling winds. His muscles wouldn't respond, leaving him paralyzed and suspended. His eyes widened in shock, his heart thudding with fear.
(Where am I?)
Amidst this incomprehensible swirl of people and living things, Asahi searched desperately, scanning the chaotic vortex and calling out for Kendra, the one he had promised to bring to the surface. When he turned to his left, he spotted a long strand of individuals spiraling rapidly around the gargantuan cave. Their terrified screams echoed through the cavern, bouncing off the large beacon of light at the epicenter.
"LET ME OUT OF HERE!"
"Please, have mercy on us!"
Prayers of terror echoed throughout the cavern's vortex. Winds shrieked as debris slashed through the air. Cyan light trailed the chains of tens of thousands, blinding some in its wake.
Most people appeared as tiny blurs, while distant silhouettes remained visible. Asahi was terrified by the weightlessness as he soared past stone pillars and ancient underground cities.
(This can't be real…) The wind stung Asahi's nose.
A light passed by his face again and again, making him dizzy. He saw the chains of people stretching into circles. The terrifying, dream-like panorama convinced him this was real when he heard children crying and vomiting in the vortex.
(I… I feel like…)
Abruptly, Asahi's white hair whipped across his face. He felt his body lift with the thousands chained to him, like a sick and twisted carousel.
There were times when he had tried to move his arms. But immediately after he had moved just a single centimeter, Asahi's body would be forcefully pushed back by the wind to its original position, rendering the task almost impossible.
(I can't breathe.)
As he uncontrollably flew, his feet scraped the same cliff he'd passed many times before. Seeing that cliff each round made him uneasy, scared of what would happen next. But nothing did.
Blonde hair. Gray hair. Blue hair. Green hair. Brown Hair. Pink hair.
Gray eyes. Brown eyes. Blue eyes. Golden eyes. Green eyes.
Long legs. Short legs. Buff chests. Slender chests.
Asahi struggled to identify others in the winds; the colors were the few details he noticed in the vortex.
When would this end?
What could I do?
These two thoughts lingered as he shut his eyes, confidence and optimism slipping from him as screams drowned his hope in despair.
"Help!" A blonde one said, covering her mouth with her hair.
"Let me die!" A green-haired, short-haired man screamed as he flailed his legs around.
"I can't breathe. I… I can't breathe!" Panicked, they are pulled into the wind again and again.
"Please, anyone… any Ruler out there… Please save us." Murmured a preacher as they felt their skin rattle.
Terror stabbed Asahi's heart as he heard these scared voices. He had tried multiple times to reach them, but each attempt had failed. With nothing else to do, Asahi floated senselessly in the vortex, silently pondering as he recollected.
(I cannot bear to see my followers like this. Millions are trapped in this vortex. Hard to believe The Guardian caused this.) As he felt the winds whistle into his ear, Asahi looked downward, focusing on the funnel's center. There, he saw only shards of the knight's presence, deepening his concern. He squinted at The Guardian's floating remains, lost in thought.
(I can't do anything but watch this event unfold. I feel like I'm losing my mind being here. Had hours passed, or were it minutes? Are the people still alive? Where is Kendra? I… never thought that the cave would be this tall. I can barely see the ground anymore.) While circling past the same cliff for what felt like the eightieth time, Asahi peered into the vortex. He hoped to spot animals among the living beings.
During his search, Asahi could only spot lines of people, distinguishable by varied shapes and sizes, hurtling from one side of the vortex to another. Just as he was about to look away, he noticed five shepherds spinning wildly nearby, tossed by the relentless winds.
(Shepherds?) Asahi thought, twisting his floating body to the right for a clearer look. (How are they still alive?) From his left, he suddenly began to hear animal sounds—pigs, birds, snakes, cattle—filtering through the chaos. The realization that animals could survive in this environment, just like people, left Asahi even more confused about their resilience.
. . .
(How did my people survive here?) Asahi flew along the vortex, curiosity gnawing at him with each moment, almost driving him mad. Just as it threatened to overwhelm him, a voice called from his right.
"Lord? Is that really you?"
Asahi's eyes shrank in shock.
It had been so long since he had heard someone talk to him that, when he heard a voice other than a scream, Asahi flinched. He turned and saw a man with short brown hair and blue eyes flying beside him at the same pace. Stunned, Asahi questioned if the man was real or just an illusion.
Nonetheless, when the man realized Asahi was looking at him, his face brightened up in relief, and he said.
"You… returned. You returned to us. I never thought I would see your face. But…" As Asahi tried to keep balance against the floating force, the brown-haired man continued. "... y-you're here. You're really here!" He said with a trembling expression.
Asahi struggled to keep his glare fixed on the man as crowds of people and animals flew past, nearly blocking his view and making conversation almost impossible. Each time a chain of flying figures and flashes of light crossed between them, Asahi focused on whether the man was still beside him—he was.
"Lord Asahi, is something wrong?"
Hearing this stupid question, Asahi nearly raged. He could hardly believe this man was his follower.
Given the nightmarish scenario unfolding, one would admit this was wrong.
Yet the man asked his lord that baffling question.
Struck with confusion and disbelief, Asahi replied to the man with a piercing glare.
"What? Can't you see what is before us?! There are millions of people flying around without control! Of course, something is VERY wrong."
"That's a reply I would expect from my lord." The man replied as they passed five stone pillars. "Don't you remember who I am?"
Asahi responded with a quiet shake of his head.
"No."
Despite bobbing in the torrent with chains of others, the man continued speaking, undeterred by the chaos.
"Ah, that makes sense. Since it's been many years since you saw us, it's no surprise our beloved God would forget," the man said, grinning broadly. After they passed several towns set within stone walls, the man quickly revealed, "Look, it's been so long, but… I'm one of the many Lesser Rulers of Cleira! The Ruler of…"
Before the man finished, the vortex surged, hurling him away from Asahi with inaudible words.
As he watched the man hurtle toward the swirling chain of people, Asahi's face tightened in shock at the mention of him.
(He said he's one of the Lesser Rulers of Cleira?) He said with wide eyes.
Winds shrouded Asahi's vision, his head spinning with dizziness.
Something clawed at his thoughts; a memory he could barely grasp.
At that moment, upon his revelation, as he stared into the eyes of hundreds in the vortex, memories of the past suddenly entered Asahi's brain.
* * * * *
Tiny hands.
Ten stubby little fingers glowed underneath the embrace of the sun.
Tiny feet.
Ten dwarfed toes wiggling underneath a much greater arm.
Fading out from the white glow, he noticed his body was noticeably ten times tinier than what he remembered. He nimbly tried to turn his head, but it was of no use. It almost felt to him as if every part of his body was fragile, like a thin sheet of glass.
(Why can't I move? What is this?) The boy thought to himself after he exhaled his first breath. Everything around him was giant. The leaves, the flower pots, even the body around him felt surreal to him.
He was confused at first about how he had appeared in such a strange place, but then a comforting voice spoke to him, accompanied by the sounds of rapid, exhausted breathing.
"I… I did it. Even without the help of what mortals call midwives, I am still able to… give birth to a child."
Before his tiny eyes stood an unimaginably beautiful woman, her hair as radiant and bright as the clouds; her eyes smooth and sharp, like a lovely, clear night sky; and her skin almost reflective from its spotless quality. Despite the tattoos she had borne on her lower body and left shoulder, this woman appeared not to have shown any signs of age.
As Asahi felt a cold but comforting texture tickle his back, the woman slowly knelt over him and smiled, cradling him softly in her arms.
"You are as beautiful as your father and I imagined you to be." She said, "A sweet, adorable face accompanied by our respected birthmark. Oh, how blessed it is to have you born before your father and my love."
While the bright, hopeful rays of sunlight streamed down through the openings carved in the radiant white stone walls, the woman slowly slid her finger down the S 'birth mark' on the newborn's face and closed her eyes, feeling the shallow water cleanse the air around her.
Despite her rather revealing, otherworldly attire, which covered only a few parts of her body, the woman treated the newborn as if it were hers, cradling it and singing as she took rapid breaths of exhaustion.
As she heard heavy footsteps echoing through the walls in what could be a cathedral-like place, the woman rested near the newborn and whispered, as the lovely chirps of birds filled the sun-bathed building.
"It's been many hours since I have delivered you unto the world, dear. Although I might not have understood it before, I understand now how human suffering is connected to birth." Caressing the newborn, deep in the soft bed of her arms, the beautiful woman slowly lowered herself onto the shallow pool of pure teal water, carved with glorious markings along the edges. She whispered to it, her loving grin.
"But with suffering comes happiness and relief. A feeling that everyone should experience once in their lives. Though I may be ageless, let us all hope for many years of joy and love."
As she felt her child's stare pierce her face, the mother let out a nervous chuckle and realized.
"Oh. How silly of me. I didn't realize you couldn't understand me yet."
After a silence, the mother's echoes across the walls; she changed her tone of approach while weakening her grip.
"Sigh. Birthing a child was a troubling task for your father and me. Throughout all that time, I never understood the practices by which these mortals give birth to their children, let alone how Rulers may take it. But after many years of trying…" With one warm breath, she took the baby back into her arms and slowly lifted herself from the shallow tub of water, whispering with a smile that would be remembered.
"... all of those difficult, confusing moments were worth it in the end. I can finally deem myself what mortals call a 'mother'."
Taking a large cloth from a stone shelf, she slowly wrapped it around her baby and said as she gently rocked him back and forth.
"Dear, you have been given a beautiful gift..."
The mother said as the soft fabric fondled the baby's bare back.
"A glorious and miraculous present on which we call life. It's an experience that contains both good and evil, problems and solutions, questions and answers. It's something that every god, monster, or human in existence should ALL appreciate. Including me, you, and your father. It's something you are only in control of. "
As she rubbed her soft fingers across the baby's birthmark, she slowly leaned her child's soft ear over and whispered lightly.
"No matter the condition we are in, your father and I shall do our absolute best to take care of you."
. . .
After the mother had taken several minutes to comfort her newborn, she found a tall, large man with gleaming white hair and multicolored eyes standing boldly atop a staircase leading into the shallow pool.
"Lest you be grateful for what your mother has offered you, little one." He said as he elegantly approached the mother. "For all that you see before you belongs to us now."
Standing near the corner of the mother's eye was a man with soul-capturing beauty. His skin, radiant and spotless, shone like the lustrous clouds floating in the sky.
Any individual's focus would immediately be drawn to his piercing, sharp, and clear eyes, a magenta and gray, before shifting downward to his hulking, influential figure.
Thick black straps outlined the man's bulging muscles and strong forehead, growing brighter as they stood.
Looking at the opening in the walls to his right, the man felt the sun stream through his lustrous, silky, and straight white hair.
While he entered the shallow pool of water with his wife, the newborn watched in awe as all his father's stringy bristles melodiously flowed in the wind, like his thick, loose brown robe, which protruded down to his feet.
"Always remember this, little one..." He said as he touched the newborn's forehead with his finger. "That no matter the problems you are in, the dangers and miracles you make, realize that no one is in control of you… except yourself."