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Light spirals, a torrent searing Setsuna's vision. It swirls, engulfing his consciousness. His body feels torn apart limbs ripped, veins unraveled, dissolving into fragments.
His mind blanks. No thoughts remain as he plummets into silent darkness. Loneliness stabs; terror grips. Yet despair doesn't claim him. Hope, though faint, persists.
Scattered pieces slowly reconnect. Sensation returns.
Agony erupts, ravaging inside and out. Beyond comprehension, beyond reason. Setsuna screams, mouth agape, the only defense against madness. He writhes, half-crazed, everything shattering in his cries.
A sensation of rising from the abyss. Light floods back.
"…?"
Setsuna blinks, stunned not by the scene but by the pain's sudden absence. A lie, almost refreshing. An urge to run surges, but the view halts him.
He stares ahead, uneasy. Something's off.
A forest surrounds him. Gnarled, nameless trees loom with grim expressions, their dense canopy blocking sunlight, casting shadows that warn intruders away. Too late Setsuna's already here. Or was he brought?
He shakes his head. Moments ago, he was on his school route. No familiar town, no forest in sight. No memory of entering one.
But he recalls something. A gate crashing from the sky. He touched it, and his consciousness vanished.
"Dream, huh?" he mutters. A dream explains it. Dreams defy logic dead friends appear, mortals become gods. Waking in a forest? Par for the course.
"Definitely a dream."
He surveys again. Trees encircle him at 360 degrees, leaving a clearing like an artificial plaza. No stumps, just a roof of interwoven branches, not a sliver of sunlight breaking through. The forest is silent no animal calls, no rustle. Cold air sinks heavily.
"If this is a dream"
A voice cuts through. Setsuna spins instinctively. Alone in the forest, the voice was unmistakably aimed at him.
"Would that make it better, boy?"
A low, feminine voice neither young nor old, ageless. Setsuna, defiant, snaps, "It's a dream."
He studies the figure emerging from the forest's depths. Red. Fiery hair like blazing flames, clad in blood-red robes. A woman, taller than him, her curvaceous form striking full chest, flowing hips, thighs exuding allure.
"What makes you so sure?" Her golden eyes gleam, otherworldly, slicing through the forest's gloom like moonlight. Long lashes frame them, accentuating sharp brows, a refined nose, and porcelain skin. Beauty incarnate. Setsuna marvels distantly.
"Why think this isn't reality?" Her gaze probes, provocative.
He falters, captivated. Her sensual form, her ethereal beauty dreamlike perfection. Only in a dream would he meet such a woman.
"What's wrong?" she asks, frowning, perhaps sensing his daze.
He smirks inwardly, struck by her unshaken beauty even in suspicion. Snapping back, he mutters, "Nothing."
"Hm…" She approaches, closing the five-meter gap. A rich floral scent not perfume, but natural wafts from her. Her eyes, seductive, pull at him. His consciousness wavers, not his own.
Tempted, he steps forward, then stops, raising a hand to halt her. Something's wrong. His instincts scream to resist, despite the dreamlike allure of chatting with a beauty.
She pauses, a satisfied smile curling her lips. "Good."
The words confuse him, but her smile potent enough to disarm him moments ago leaves him unmoved. Strange.
"What the hell?" he demands, eyeing her. Dream or not, this is bizarre. Can he be this self-aware in a dream? Unease hardens his resolve.
"I tested you," she says casually, her smile gone but her beauty undimmed. "It's only natural to check if a summoned human is… useful."
"Summoned?" Setsuna echoes. He grasps the word but resists swallowing it whole. This is a dream it must be. Her claims fit a dream's absurdity.
"Yes. I summoned you to this realm. Ilus Vale." Azmaria=Altemax's voice cuts through, shattering his hopes with brutal certainty. Defeat stings, yet he clings to the dream excuse. Dreams allow anything.
But her presence, her demeanor too real, devoid of falsehood.
"I am Azmaria=Altemax. And you?"
Her question carries an undeniable weight magic, perhaps, or raw authority.
Setsuna's mouth moves. "I'm… Setsuna."
A conviction grips him. He must answer.
"Kamiya Setsuna."
His voice echoes, a birth cry in this new world.