"Where am I?"
"This isn't Father's room anymore…"
"These towering trees… the grass… What is this place?"
The silence was loud, but Reiji stayed seated idly, his eyes wandering around while he wondered.
It was a soft breeze accompanied by the crackling sound of the branches of the trees filled the air.
"My hands, feet, and even my whole body look normal. Except for a glimpse of glow on my hand, everything looks as usual."
"Am I in the afterlife? Did I have a heart attack or something?"
Reiji's mind was flooded with questions. But the more he looked around, the more questions filled his mind, rather than answers.
Then, a sudden sound of a hooves running in a soil road broke his confused yet calm state.
Although still disconnected from his usual sense of self, he stood up to approach the source of the sound.
The closer he got, the clearer it became: Metal clanking, wood rattling, and a conversation among men in which language he did not understand.
Overwhelmed, he collapsed onto the ground, shaking, his eyes wide with disbelief at the sight before him.
"A parade– It's a cosplayers parade, right?"
Once again, his mind was bombarded with questions.
"But the surroundings– is this how it looks in life after death?"
"Is this a dream?"
Staring blankly into space, lost in his own thoughts, Reiji stayed motionless until the marching passed him by.
After a while, he shook his head and noticed the group of people was gone. Then he started staring at his hands, searching for any signs that might ground him in reality.
"It's definitely a nightmare. I need to move my toe, that's right. My toe. Wake up, Reiji. Wake up."
But even after all his efforts, nothing changed. He looked up, his eyes clouded with despair, and suddenly, he punched his own face as hard as he could.
The impact was so hard his sight blurred and his hearing momentarily muted.
"Hahaha…" Reiji laughed. "I'm still here…"
A few moments later, Reiji came back to his senses.
When his gaze refocused, he was startled by a towering white rabbit with piercing red eyes staring down at him.
Startled, Reiji let out a strangled "Ggggasp!"
Reiji's body shook in dread, and his instincts told him to run away, but fear kept him in place, and he grabbed at the grass with his shaking hands.
His efforts fell short, the rabbit suddenly swiped its massive paws and slammed him onto his left shoulder, sending him flying toward a large tree.
The impact was brutal, and Reiji's body crumpled against the trunk and his mouth bursted with blood.
Pure horror was etched on his face as Reiji's eyes widened in shock, his mind racing with fear.
"What– what is this?! Why is this animal attacking me?!"
Infuriated thoughts swirled in Reiji's mind as he struggled to recover from the pain of the slam.
Before he could even fully recover, the rabbit charged toward him with a sudden burst of speed and fierce intensity. The rabbit grabbed Reiji with its massive paws, wrapping them around his torso in a crushing vice.
"Ahhh... my ribs... you're going to crush me, you colossal rat!" Reiji exclaimed, his voice strained but resolute.
Out of nowhere, a little girl's voice rang out, sharp and dismissive. With a hand on her forehead, she muttered, "Khemterra'n ini ka galakhu" ("This one is troublesome").
Reiji whipped his head toward the sound. "Huuh?!" Reiji snapped, irritation boiling over. "I've had enough surprises for today. In fact, I've had enough of this crazy place!"
Contrary to his remarks, he took slow, deep breaths, calming himself down as he sturdily withstood the pain from the giant rabbit's grip.
In his calmness, visions arose in his mind, "Words are echoing in my mind–"
Following what he saw in his mind, he started speaking, "Corpo si illumina—"
But before he could even finish, the girl had already completed what sounded like a chant of a spell, "Sekhemu Netjeri, shamru'an Khema'nu Ani'i sagkot hotepu. Suedjet!" ("Sleep!")
A black ominous bubble flew towards Reiji, and as soon as it popped, Reiji fell into slumber.
Reiji found himself in darkness, adrift in nothingness. But there were instances where he would momentarily wake, realizing he was being carried over the shoulder of the rabbit that had once attacked him.
As Reiji's consciousness flickered, he caught snippets of the little girl's words. "Tani shemu ngakan Khema'nu–" ("His words carry the breath of the foreign.") she murmured, before his mind slipped back into darkness.
Later, he stirred again, and the girl's voice continued, "Wi'nu, Tani Khemterra'n Ankh." ("Yes, he's an earthly living being.") Her words were a gentle hum in the background as Reiji drifted off once more.
Reiji was completely adrift in peaceful slumber until a swirling vortex emerged behind him, slowly sucking him in like a vacuum. Reiji gasped, panic filling his eyes as he shouted, "No, not again!"
"Wakey, wakey, sleepyhead—"
He jolted awake, jumping in panic from his deep slumber, and found himself sitting on solid ground within a rustic house.
His surroundings were a large, single room with a central hearth for cooking and warmth. Rough-hewn wooden planks covered the floor, while wooden beams supported the roof. Two high windows with glass panes letting in natural light.
It was all cozy and relaxing except for one thing: he was shackled, his hands bound behind his back, and his feet tied together by an unknown white light.
He swept his gaze around the room and spotted the giant bear-rabbit creature that had attacked him, now standing in one of the corners. The little girl stood in front of him, looking at him with a piercing, judgmental gaze.
Reiji assumed a defensive stance, though his physical demeanor remained calm, his eyes were telling a different story.
"This little girl– What did she do to me? What have I gotten myself into?"
His tension was brooding, and the girl's nonchalant demeanor only seemed to heighten it.
The girl suddenly spoke up, "Calm down, would you? You're acting tough on the outside, but your soul is breaking apart. Loosen up now. If I wanted you dead, I could've done so in the first place."
Reiji who was stiff as a rock just moments ago had his eyes widened, his jaw dropped, and his lips froze. "You— did you just speak my language?"
Wrinkled forehead, Puzzled expression. That's the face Reiji was giving and he asked again, "Little girl. Stop fooling around. Where am I? Am I being played here?"
"Before I answer anything, aren't you gonna move on with that confusion you've had ever since I saw you?" The little girl replied.
"What? I think you are out of your mind, kid. Of course I'm freaked out. I was just standing in my father's room, and all of a sudden, just because I fainted, I ended up in this foresty place – if that's even a word."
"Then there's that marching army in dashing armor. Mind you, some of them were riding lizards. Lizards, for pete's sake. And I think you must have forgotten, I was punched by that big lout right there for no reason. Tell me, who and what kind of person in their right mind wouldn't be as dumbfounded as I was?"
"I wasn't even overreacting. But all this just doesn't make sense. If it was anyone else, I bet they would collapse. You hear me? And now I'm talking to an enigmatic white-haired little girl with the power to bind someone using a light that feels like it would rip my limbs off if I even try to get out of its restraint."
"Now, while it's relieving to finally let all this craziness out, I'm still not relieved. Not at all–"
"Blah– blah– blah–" The girl interrupted Reiji
"Little girl, what's with that attitude?" Reiji sighed at her apathetic response.
"Hey, you," Reiji said, turning to the rabbit. "Aren't you supposed to be parenting this child?"
"I can even believe I'm talking to you right now. I must be crazy." Reiji paused momentarily. "Am I really talking to a rabbit? What are you, anyway?"
The little girl replied. "It's Bobbin."
Reiji's immediate response was, "It's a Bobbin, right. Bobbin. I don't even know what that means– a type of an animal? A new species?"
The little girl let out a sigh and said, "That's a name."
Reiji shot back, "Okay, well, you should've told me that in the first place. Cause I believe what I was asking was what kind of animal it is–"
The girl asked sarcastically, "You talk a lot, don't you? Now it's got me questioning why I even brought you here."
Reiji blinked a few times, stared at the little girl, and said, "Oh, I have the same exact question, little girl. Why am I here? I can't even see the time, my phone all of a sudden had died. I have a flight to catch."
"Can you at least pretend to be level-headed again? You were easier to deal with that way."
"I thought I was being a calm and collected dude in this situation. I don't know what you mean to keep myself level headed. How? After all that craziness I've mentioned about?"
"Oh god, I don't even know why I'm trying to explain everything—"
The little girl turned towards Bobbin and said, "He's still in shock, it seems."
Then Bobbin walked towards the non-stop talking Reiji and slammed a chunk of meat into his mouth, stopping his blabbering.
As the little girl stepped out, Reiji mumbled complaints through the meat stuffed in his mouth.
"Just crawl over to that bowl of water over there," she said, her voice dripping with disdain. "You're talking too much and I'm not listening to any more of it for today."
The door slammed shut, leaving Reiji gagging on the meat, his feet shackled and hands bound tightly behind his back as he sat helplessly on the ground.
The little girl's voice still echoed faintly from the inside, "I couldn't stand it, Bobbin. That guy talks like a Goblin King."
As he heard their footsteps walking away, Reiji spit out the meat and exclaimed, "At least release the binding on my feet!"
From outside, the girl's voice returned, "I already did. Be done with your protest."