Hollow Sun

Warm. Wet.

Kael stood waist-high in what felt like water. His body felt weightless yet heavy, as if gravity itself had taken a step back, allowing him to exist within the liquid without truly sinking.

His eyes slowly parted open, and his vision swam with an unfamiliar glow.

A lake stretched infinitely before him, its surface smooth and unbroken. The water was dark yet clear, reflecting the sky above like a perfect mirror. There were no ripples, no signs of life—only the vast, undisturbed silence.

His gaze shifted slightly to the side, and for the first time, in his peripheral, he saw it. A beach of pure white sand. But it was—floating.

That was the only word for it.

It hovered meters away, as if disconnected from reality itself.

Kael blinked.

The landmass shifted out of view.

He hadn't moved. His eyes had barely flicked in its direction. And yet—it was gone. Slowly, he turned his gaze in the opposite direction hoping to spot the shifting landmass if only to confirm his sanity. And to his relief, he did. He hadn't lost his ming, not just yet. He was sure because he saw it. The same beach. The same pure white sand. The same single leafless tree standing at its center—

No.

Not at its center. Slightly off-centered. It was such a minor detail, so insignificant compared to the sheer absurdity of his surroundings. And yet, it bothered him.

'Why?'

Before he could dwell on it further something above him. A presence. A glow. Slowly, he looked up, and his breath caught in his throat the second head did.

'The sun? But it's... different,' he thought

Its core burned bright yellow, its outer flames lined in vivid orange and red. A real sun. No darkness loomed at its center. No oppressive heat gnawed at his flesh. No venomous radiation whispered of infection and death.

For the first time in sixteen years, Kael felt sunlight without fear. And it was beautiful.

The warmth reached his skin, and the sensation was so alien, so unfamiliar, that his entire body reacted before his mind did. Chill bumps raced up his arms, then up toward his neck. It wasn't a new sensation he hadn't already known, but the fact that the feeling was caused by the sun made it that much more significant.

'Whoa!'

A small, involuntary breath escaped his lips. But not from pain, nor from fear. Instead, from something dangerously close to relief. A warmth that wasn't trying to kill him, no matter how often he wished it had.

He barely noticed the ripples breaking the water's surface below. Not until he saw the small waves forming at his waist. He slowly raised his hand to his face, wiping a tear from his wet cheek before realizing it. He had been crying. Perhaps the entire time.

"What—"

His eyes widened in silent disbelief. Kael didn't cry. Actually, he never cried a day in his life. Not when he was beaten down in the academy. Not when his own peers whispered about his existence being a mistake. Not even when he learned the truth about his parents' deaths.

Sixteen years. Not a single tear.

And yet, here he stood, weeping beneath a sun that did not hate him. And for the first time, it felt... good.

Kael exhaled. His tears hade finally stilled, but the emotions lingered on.

After a moment, his gaze drifted back to the horizon. Then he blinked, noting something strange. The sun was moving in the opposite direction of the island, at a speed twice as fast. In mere seconds, it had completed a full revolution, returning to its original position, hovering over the island which was now 180 degrees from where it started. The sift wasn't abrupt, in fact it had been so naturally that Kael barely noticed it until he did.

In that moment, it become clear to Kael what he was seeing. He wasn't standing on an island. He was standing at the center of a world unknown—that, or he was the center. Either way, one thing was evident. He was no longer in the outskirts of Hollowshard Pass.

Then, suddenly, the world stopped spinning around him. It was abrupt and violent. A moment later, the sun snuffed out and went dark, but not like the Hollow Sun. This was absolute. A silence so profound it felt as though the very concept of sound had ceased to exist.

Then, from the center of the strange tree, a void appeared, like a door of pure nothingness. And from it, something stepped out.

A figure.

It was impossible to describe. Not because it was featureless, but because it was beyond perception itself. A shape voided of all light, all reality, all things known to human understanding. It's body crept forward with the fluidity of the water Kael stood perfectly still in.

At this point, Kael was strangely calm. Everything about this place was unsettling, but for some reason, it all felt... familiar.

Then, finally, the figure stopped, but not until it was a breath away. It's form danced as if it were smoke in the wind, but there had not been any since he'd woke in this new place. But more curious was its voice when it spoke. It was just familiar—Kael knew exactly who it belonged to.

"Kael Solis."

There was a pause befor Kael responded, slowly.

"S... System?"

It didn't respond at first. Instead, its fluid head tilted to the side, leaning a littletoo far to the left. The movement was uncanny, or at least Kael thought, as if it were mimicking human curiosity.

It took a second, but Kael finally realized that the figure was actually motioning toward something. He followed in the direction, then he saw it.

A throne, floating just a few meters away.

Kael was confused. The throne hadn't been there before, yet—now it was, floating effortlessly as if the water itself had chosen to cradle it, as if it were its pedestal.

Its frame was obsidian, its armrests lined with intricate runes. Kael studied them, and somehow head could read them. Without thinking, Kael whispered the first of the twelve. He didn't know why, but he spoke it anyway, though he understood none of it.

It was provoking, daring inquiry. Especially from him—it seemed. Then, he brought his gaze back to the figure. Its voice was laced with certainty.

"Keeper of Shadows. You have been chosen."

Kael frowned, but it was filled with fear and confusion.

"I already know that."

The figure shook its head.

"No, you Highness," it replied slowly. "Only one can be the Most High Chosen."

Kael's eyes narrowed as he responded.

"Most High Chosen? Yor Highness? What... are you talking about?"

There was a beat of silence, long enough to invite discomfort, then the darkness finally answered him.

"You have been chosen to become King. That you shall be the King of—"

"Spliitplassshh!"

Before it could finish, a violent force yanked Kael downward, resulting with an explosion of water. He barely had time to registered the first syllable of the figure's final word before he was dragged beneath the surface. But he fought against the force, reaching for that syllable, as to not let it slip away.

However, the further down he went, his lungs compressed tighter, and his mind splintered under the sheer pressure. Soon, the warmth of the lake would vanish, replaced by the crushing depths of the cold abyss.

Still, Kael struggled for freedom as he thrashed against the force pulling him deeper. And deeper. But it was too strong.

The strenuous pressure became too much for Kael to bare. It was know doubt in his mind...

He was drowning.

Then came a flash of cold, and he was no longer unconscious. A rush of freezing water had slammed into his face. It was a feeling he had, for some time now, known all to well. It was the same as training—never slack on the battlefield, or take the bucket. The lesson in it was of survival, and the water represented death. So, this is how he knew, he wasn't dead. At least, not yet.

Kael gasped violently as he desperately attempted to feed his starving lungs. He coughed, then water, at least half of a liter, began spilling from his lips as his vision blurred.

His limbs ached. Every fiber of his body was screaming for clarity. Finally, after a moment of straining, his vision sharpened, and the dream was gone.

He was back.

Reality returned in full force. One sweep of his gaze, and recognition settled—a room. Concrete. Dim lights.

And standing before him, the S-Class Chosen from earlier.

Serika Kurogane.

Behind her, standing just slightly to the right, was a man dressed in a tailored black suit, his insignia gleaming on his chest. All the while, there was no badge, nor rank. And yet—Kael knew. This was a man with authority.

Serika tilted her head.

"You're awake. Good."