Dark, darker yet darker. The darkness kept growing, swallowing everything in its path. The shadows cut deeper, creeping into every crevice of existence.

  I pressed my hands against the floor, at least, I thought it was a floor but all I felt was shallow water. It rippled beneath my fingers, yet it didn’t wet my skin. It was as if the water wasn’t truly there, just an illusion of something real, something tangible. A sensation that existed but didn’t belong.

  Slowly, I opened my eyes.

  A vast expanse of still water stretched endlessly beneath me, reflecting a sky that wasn’t a sky. It was black, void-like, yet streaked with a gradient of deep purple, swirling faintly as if it were alive. There was no horizon, no up or down, only this endless, dreamlike abyss.

  “Weird…” I muttered under my breath as I rose to my feet, my voice barely above a whisper. It felt wrong to be loud here, as if breaking the silence would shatter something fragile.

  My gaze wandered across the surreal landscape, searching for something, anything that made sense. But there was nothing except the endless black and purple stretching in every direction. It was empty, hollow, and yet a shiver crawled up my spine.

  I wasn’t alone. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end as I felt it, movement. A presence behind me. The faintest rustle of air. Slowly, cautiously, I turned around.

  There it was. The gigantic dragon I had feared only moments ago lay before me, its enormous body resting on the water’s surface. Its head was lowered to the ground, its eyes closed in slumber. Even in sleep, its presence was suffocating, an overwhelming force that made my chest tighten.

  The silver glow of a moon, an impossibly large, luminous moon hung in the sky behind the dragon, casting its soft light over the beast’s massive, armored form. The pale radiance illuminated the intricate details of its scales, a mesmerizing blend of black and deep violet, shifting like an endless void. It looked almost peaceful, its slow, rhythmic breathing the only sign of movement in this frozen world.

  Yet, every few seconds, its body twitched. When it did, the shallow water beneath us rippled unnaturally, distorting reality itself. The disturbance wasn’t natural, it was as if the dragon’s mere existence caused the world around it to react, to shift and bend to its will.

  I stared at it, my breath caught in my throat. Was this real? Or was this a dream?

  “Um…” The sound of my own voice felt fragile, small, almost swallowed by the vast emptiness around me. I stood there, frozen, at a complete loss for what to do.

  Then, suddenly, a voice. Deep, resonant, filled with wisdom beyond comprehension. It did not come from anywhere in particular, yet it filled the void as though it had always been part of this strange place. It wasn’t a voice I recognized, nor was it speaking a language I had ever heard before. And yet, somehow I understood every word.

  Before I could even react, something flickered in front of me. A translucent bubble of text formed in the air, hovering just before my eyes. The voice, the same deep and knowing one, began reading aloud the words displayed before me, each syllable crisp and deliberate.

  [Photon readings negative.]

  As soon as the last syllable was uttered, the world reacted. The silver glow of the moon behind the dragon flickered, just for a moment, plunging everything into absolute darkness. The absence of light was suffocating, pressing against me. And then, just as quickly as it had vanished, the light returned as though nothing had happened at all.

  “What… was that?” I exhaled shakily, my pulse pounding in my ears. More text appeared. Another message, read aloud by the unseen voice.

  [This next experiment seems very very interesting.]

  The words sent an uneasy chill crawling up my spine. Experiment? What experiment? And who was speaking? I felt as though I were being watched, observed like a subject in an unknowable test.

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  [What do you two think?]

  “Two?” My breath hitched, my chest tightening with an unfamiliar sense of unease. The word repeated itself in my mind, echoing, stretching the moment into something heavier than it should have been. It wasn’t just addressing me. Someone or something else was included in that statement.

  Slowly, cautiously, I turned my gaze toward the enormous dragon lying before me. Its massive form remained still, the slow, rhythmic rise and fall of its breath the only sign of life. The glow of the silver moon behind it bathed its dark scales in an eerie light, making it seem both majestic and otherworldly.

  “But you’re asleep, aren't you?” Or at least, that’s what I thought. For the briefest second, I could have sworn its eyelids twitched. A small, almost imperceptible shift in its expression. The kind of movement that suggested it was listening. A cold shiver ran down my spine. “Was the voice speaking to us? To me and… this dragon?”

  I swallowed hard, suddenly hyper-aware of the vast emptiness around us. There was no one else here. No Yuzu, no Ai, no shrine, no dungeon. Just me, the dragon, and the voice that spoke from nowhere.

  Experiment. Photon readings. Observations. My thoughts raced, struggling to piece together what was happening. But nothing made sense.

  And yet… The dragon wasn’t reacting. It remained still, its massive claws resting against the dark water-like surface beneath it. But I could feel it now, that presence. It wasn’t just an unconscious creature. It was aware of itself. Aware of the voice. Aware of me.

  But if that was the case, “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

  My voice wavered slightly as the words left my lips, barely louder than a whisper. The question hung in the air, swallowed by the vast emptiness around us. Even after I asked, the dragon remained still.

  Its heavy breathing continued, slow and steady, as if it hadn't heard me at all. The silver glow of the moon reflected off its sleek, obsidian scales, giving the illusion of movement even when it remained completely motionless. I stared at it, waiting. Nothing.

  A strange sensation settled in my chest. Discomfort, uncertainty, maybe even frustration. I didn’t understand. The voice from before had spoken to the both of us. The dragon had been addressed just as I had.

  So why wasn’t it reacting? Was it ignoring me? Or… was it unable to answer?

  I took a hesitant step forward, the shallow water beneath my feet rippling outward. The surface was strange, cool and smooth, yet it left no wetness against my skin. It was like stepping onto a liquid that refused to acknowledge its own existence. Still, the dragon remained unresponsive.

  Its massive form lay motionless, its obsidian scales glistening under the eerie moonlight. The only signs of life were the slow, rhythmic rise and fall of its chest and the occasional twitch of its claws, as if caught in the remnants of some long-forgotten dream. The silver glow that bathed its body flickered slightly, casting elongated shadows across the endless expanse of shallow water beneath us. The ripples from my hesitant steps reached its form, distorting its reflection in ways that made it feel even more unreal.

  I swallowed, my throat dry. My fingers curled into fists at my sides. What was I even expecting? That it would suddenly wake up and answer me? That it would acknowledge the voice that had spoken to us both? That it would somehow provide me with an explanation for this strange, weightless void I had found myself in?

  I exhaled slowly, forcing my racing heart to steady itself. The tension in my chest refused to fully disappear, but at the very least, I could keep it from crushing me completely. Panic wouldn’t help here, thinking would. I needed a plan.

  “Use lightning to power a light bulb…” I muttered under my breath, my voice barely louder than the gentle ripple of water beneath my feet.

  It was a line Mashiro had said in the Luminous Dream comics, a silly metaphor for pushing through uncertainty, for finding a way forward even when everything seemed dark. Or, at least, it should have been a metaphor. But in the comic? Mashiro had literally run outside in the middle of a thunderstorm during a blackout, grabbed a bolt of lightning with her bare hands, stormed back inside, and casually shoved it into a lightbulb as if that was a completely normal thing to do.

  …Yeah. Not exactly the most practical or realistic of solutions.

  But even so, it gave me an idea. If I just stood here, waiting for an answer, I’d never get anywhere. If logic and patience weren’t working, then maybe… maybe the Mashiro approach was the best one.

  I exhaled again, deeper this time. My hands clenched, then released, then clenched again. I let the tension build up, let the hesitation boil over—until, finally, I threw it all away.

  I opened my eyes.

  I took in a sharp breath.

  And at the top of my lungs, I roared.

  “OI! WAKE UP, YOU LEWD DENSE CABBAGE!”

  My voice shattered the silence like a bolt of lightning splitting the sky. The echoes of my words bounced and crashed against the emptiness, filling the space with raw, chaotic energy.