Amidst a bare vast expanse, with jagged rocks scattered all around, lay a man with silver hair and silver eyes, unconscious.
There was nothing else.
No humans, no veils, no buildings, no plants and no sound.
Suddenly waking from his unconsciousness, he felt disoriented and groggy.
He felt as if he was emerging from a dense fog.
His senses slowly sharpened and the world came back into focus piece by piece.
Blurry shapes and muted colors slowly coalesced into recognisable forms.
Confusion lingered, his thoughts passing through a labyrinth of questions.
’What is this place?’
’As far as I remember, I fainted on the battlefield.’
A deep sense of vulnerability began to settle in as he did a reality check, by bringing his hand in front of his eyes and continuously opening and closing it.
He stood up, his body felt heavy as if he was lacking sleep.
He looked forward but found nothing, only a vast expanse of crimson-crackled ground.
The same went for left and right side.
But as he turned his head backwards.
He caught a glimpse of something extraordinary.
A massive mysterious shape, in the dark purple sky that seemed to shift and expand.
It appeared to be slowly revealing itself, cautiously unfolding.
Suddenly, he found himself falling.
The ground he was standing on disappeared.
His body lurched downwards with an instinctive shock.
As he kept falling, the world around him was impenetrable blackness, making it impossible for him to see where he might end up.
It was just like the same darkness he experienced before.
The only constant was the rush of wind against him and the sensation of gravity pulling him down.
’Again... falling endlessly. Is this supposed to mean something?’
The next moment he blinked his eyes, the landscape changed, at least for the good, because in the darkness he felt suffocating.
He once again glanced around to see and a familiar feeling settled inside him. Thıs content belongs to 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭•𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮•𝘯𝘦𝘵
It was his current planet.
It was his world but the surroundings were dominated by haunting arrays of shattered buildings and destruction.
Towards skyscrapers, stood twisted, skeletal frames.
Their facades were cracked and crumbled, revealing gutted interiors and exposed fractured support.
Streets were littered with debris, shattered glasses and remnants of building and shops.
The sky above was pitch black, choked with a thick haze casting a diffused light over the desolate scene.
As the realisation washed over him, a blue color holographic frame flickered into existence.
[Conditions Met For Wisdom Of The Foolish]
[Welcome to Galactic loophole]
’Galactic loophole... doesn’t sound like the friendliest place.’
As he read the info displayed on the screen, he saw multiple fragile looking mobs bolting towards him.
They appeared twice as tall as him, their thin arms reached past their knees.
Instead of a face, twisted, gnarled vines emerged from their necks, which seemed to move, almost alive.
With purple hazy eyes and their chest dominated by a glaring, oversized eye embedded in the center.
’What the hell are those things...Creepy’
The boy panicked as he flicked his eyes across the screen.
There at the top right corner he could see a ’leave’ button.
Without thinking further, he quickly pressed the button.
The landscape around him changed almost instantly.
Aziel suddenly jolted awake, disoriented and shaken.
He tried to recall the event, transpired with him a few moments ago that just felt like a dream.
But he could vividly remember it.
’No... not a dream. I had a fair share of dreams myself in past life, none felt like that one.’
Setting aside his thoughts, he peered around only to find Zephyr sitting beside him on a chair with a worried expression.
Zephyr pursed his lips to speak.
"Aziel, are you feeling well now?"
Aziel hesitated for a moment but quickly composed himself and replied with a faint smile.
"Yeah, I feel fine now."
"Okay then, I will be going to the class, wanna tag along?"
Aziel nodded, stretching his arms and standing up.
Zephyr and Aziel entered the classroom and almost every student’s gaze fell on them.
But they quickly withdrew, as the lecture was still ongoing.
Departing, Aziel made his way towards the last seats and settled down.
Glancing to his side, Aziel saw a boy with black hair and emerald eyes calling for him.
"I am Oliver, nice to meet you."
Aziel tilted his head slightly.
"You already know my name. Guess word spreads fast."
Oliver chuckled at the statement, leaning back casually.
"Back then, in the battlefield you were awesome, like you really became someone else for a minute."
Aziel let out a short breath, half a shrug.
"Thanks. I used everything I had there, but still lost."
"Just leave it at that... Say, wanna become friends with me?"
Aziel’s lips curled into a faint smile.
To be honest, he didn’t need a friend.
That was what he thought.
"No, not just friends. I’d only agree if you agree to become my best friend."
He expected Oliver to reject the offer, but to his surprise—
"Consider the deal done."
Oliver gave a thumbs up as he quickly focused his attention towards the lecture again.
Aziel blinked, then allowed a small chuckle to escape.
’I never thought... I would make a friend this early.’
And so, the other lectures of runes and scriptures, transfiguration, potion brewing also came to an end.
With Aziel not being able to understand most of the things.
After that, Aziel wandered through the corridors with Oliver as they struggled to choose where to go now.
"Hey... did you hear? There’s some big shot in the gaming hub, apparently they’ve been K.O’ing everyone like it’s nothing."
Oliver said in a low voice.
Aziel smirked, cracking his knuckles.
"Really? Sounds like they’ve never run into someone like me before."
"...Yeah. And , I guess we don’t have much of a choice either."
As they skidded through the corridors, lost completely in their thoughts, a voice called behind them.
Both of them halted and turned around to look at the source of the voice.
A sense of familiarity washed over him as he recognised the figure.