Fantasy Clock～Dream Ruler～

In the darkness where you can't see your fingers.

There is no sound.

There is no temperature either.

Only darkness.

cold.

silence.

No one was there, and I didn't know whether he was awake or asleep.

There is only indifference, nothing exists.

It seems that there is still time to expand infinitely.

Not right either. Time just tends to stand still.

That's why it's so long, as if it's going on forever, without end.

As if immutable, infinite extension.

It was so cold, my body was freezing cold from the inside out.

Just as the bones become frozen iron and the blood vessels in the body flow with mercury.

Where is this?

What am I doing here?

Remember I should be in-

It's so cold, why is it so cold and so dark?

Who am I waiting for?

Suddenly, a beam of sunlight penetrated my eye sockets, making the front of my vision red.

But whether the eyes are closed or open, it is the same color.

Everything seems to be there.

It seems to dance in the light of God's last charity to his heart's content.

I stood where I was, waiting for everything in the world to meet me again.

Pain and despair choked my throat.

But I'm still waiting for someone.

Even if there is no sound or temperature in this world, there is only darkness, coldness and silence.

Something I'm not willing to give up so easily is here.

Even if this is a dead end, even if my story is a road of no return from the beginning, I don't want to go back, it is something worth doing.

I'm going to find it-

Suddenly, the world is dyed with colorful colors.

First, there is an empty and boundless land, and then the sky is as clear as a mirror.

There must be grasslands, there must be seas, there must be deserts, there must be forests...

—and life.

Like me, with independent will, not at the mercy of anyone, a free life.

After a long time.

Ten thousand feet tall buildings were built on the plain.

All kinds of life live in a place called "city".

I wander in the world, no one sees my existence.

Countless people were laughing, crying, angry, anxious... and passed me by.

Is this a dream?

A dream where no one can see me...or, I who created the world just observe the world.

Dominate the world alone.

I still wait for the thing I longed for eons ago.

Until I turned around and saw your eyes.

Full of doubts and curiosity, hesitant and afraid of the world, but looking back into my eyes.

"Big sister...why are you in my room?"

The words were blowing through the leaky milk teeth, and he raised his shining eyes and summoned up his courage.

I finally remembered.

"……May I have your name?"

In the room, the books on the desk fell to the ground one after another.

I leaned down and put my arms around his shoulders, looking straight into his eyes that seemed to have magic power over me.

His cheeks flushed like the apples of Eden.

"Su... Nuo Yang."

"...Is it 'Su Ruoyang'?"

A strange mood welled up in my heart, and I pointed to the book that fell on the ground.

His name was written in immature handwriting.

"My name is Xia Qianyan."

I rubbed his head and realized that this kind of mood is called joy.

The joy of reuniting with old friends.

But the door was suddenly opened by someone. It seemed that the boy's father looked around the room strangely, and finally his eyes fell on the boy.

"Son, who are you talking to?"

"Big...big sister..."

"...What nonsense is this kid talking about?"

I noticed the boy's inarticulate eyes, took the encounter as a prank, and walked right past his father to slip out of the room.

Forgot to mention, the title of that book is called "Fantasy Clock".

It seems to be a children's picture book, and the cover is painted with a clock that emits the light of longing like a full moon.

The protagonist is the Grim Reaper with a long-handled scythe.

It is a symbol of the death of life, but it is too gentle.

Like he should have taken my life but instead brought me into this world.

If you are just a character in my dream.

So no matter how tortuous and sad this dream is, I will never wake up.

——It was you who changed my dream.

I wait for the next encounter.

But suddenly, the world made a joke with me.

"Merciful and gracious Mother—you have brought life to this world and created thousands of gripping stories."

The light pierced through the stained glass of the church and came into my vision.

The nun who chanted these words bowed her head under the brim of a black robe.

On the wall she stretched out her hand directly to, hung a long oil painting.

The single empty eye seems to contain everything, making the viewer feel awed unconsciously.

Filled with "0" and "1", the binary numbers are arranged with meanings that no one can understand.

The saint pushed the ceremony to the final stage, marching solemnly to the altar under the mural, clasped her hands and closed her eyes urgently.

"O Creator—"

"In the name of the Holy Mother, please bestow upon this world the end chapter."

As soon as the voice fell, the walls around broke suddenly, the glass couldn't hold up the heavy pressure and cracked, and the precarious ceiling fell down in an instant.

—I stand on the ruins.

The blue sky was torn apart by a streak of crimson, splitting in two, like nothingness stained with blood.

The cracks on the ground expanded as far as the line of sight could reach, and there was a loud sound like the collapse of rocks roaring in my ears.

In just a second, a dark red flame burst out from under the crack, matching the red light in the sky.

Sadly, the fallen town unfolded a picture of hell in front of it——

What am I waiting for?

Redemption, or the end?

In the darkness where you can't see your fingers.

There is no sound.

There is no temperature either.

Only darkness.

cold.

silence.

No one is there.

I don't know if I'm awake or asleep.