Casting a look at the scenery around him, which he had been too preoccupied to even notice before.

  The warm orange light of sunset had dimmed quite a bit, blocked by the tall buildings and mountains, seemed to have separated the world in two different halves, one dark and one light.

  The desolate street, save for a few small movements-distant figures of students in white uniforms happily leaving their nostalgic school with friends on bicycles, the occasional small animal playfully darting in and out of the gentle field, briefly disrupting the sorrowful town-seemed so strange, so quiet yet for some reason, so comforting at the same time.

  The golden wheat field, right in front of his eyes and to the left of the empty street-except for a few gusts of wind that blew every so often, lightly bending the stalks, and a thin column of smoke rising from a wooden house in the midst of the rice field-seemed too peaceful, too still, as if it belonged in a painting.

  Neither was exempt from being divided into light and dark.

  "If only my life could be like so," he thought bitterly and turned away.

  Pushing himself up from his motorcycle tire, he brushed off his clothes to smooth out the wrinkles, then moved to the front of his motorcycle.

  Holding the grips steadily, he pushed the kickstand up and began pushing his motorcycle forward on his own.

  Turning the motorcycle back in the opposite direction. The wind blew through him gently, as if trying to push him back. But he just kept going.

  He had decided to head back after all, as there was no point in continuing.

  He sighed in pity, heart pained, but what could he do except this?

  The road ahead, shrouded in darkness, stretched like a path into the abyss, ready to swallow him whole. Yet, the world around him seemed to sympathize—dancing and singing a gentle symphony of light, freedom, joy, beauty, and hope.

  Life ahead was harsh, but what choice did he have except to keep moving forward?

  But just as he was about to go back to his sorrowful way, all while wondering where he would sleep for the night-and the nights to come.

  Suddenly, he heard loud rustling sound coming from the side of the golden field, seeming to head straight toward him. He stood still, worried and confused.

  Who knew what kind of danger he might encounter? A snake, or something worse?

  Living in the countryside, those things actually happened quite a few times.

  Until, appearing out from the rice plants, protruding its cute head from a wheat bun and looking around playfully, he finally realized—it was just a cute kitty.

  Kay sighed in relief and looked at the kitty.

  It was very adorable, cute kitty its fur a vibrant shade of orange with soft white stripes running along its body. The fur itself looked unbelievably fluffy, like cotton, and despite its small size, the kitten seemed full of energy, constantly moving about.

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  A few stray stalks of wheat clung to its head and fur, as if it had just tumbled through the field. Most notably, its tail had a small bundle of wheat loosely tied to it—though at the rate it was moving, it seemed like it would fall off at any moment.

  Wait, what? …Tied?

  Kay blinked in confusion and checked again, just to be sure. Who knew—just a moment after spotting him from the wheat field, the kitty had playfully leaped toward him like a predator pouncing on its prey. Instinctively, he took a small step back.

  It ran near him, then stopped a short distance before him. After observing him for a moment, it approached, running in circles before it started scratching his pants while looking up, as if trying to say something.

  "Haiz, wait for me a little,"

  Kay was full of questions, hesitating, but eventually crouched down to look at the kitty after using his remaining leg to set the kickstand down and letting go of his motorcycle. The kitty immediately offered him its tail, swaying it with the tied bun of wheat on it, which began to fall out, as if trying to say he should tie it back for it.

  "You want me to tie it back?" Kay asked, puzzled. The kitty didn’t answer, only continued swaying its tail.

  "Ah, okay..." Not like it can understand him anyway.

  Touching the cat’s tail, which was very soft and fluffy, he first examined the wheat bun. A lot of wheat stalks were tied into the cat’s tail; many had fallen off, and some needed to be replaced as they were very worn out. The wheat stalks had been tied together with stems, which someone had stripped of the wheat, leaving only the bare stems. These stems were then tied to the cat’s tail by making a few loops.

  After inspecting the bun, he began searching for and picking out a few good-looking wheat stalks. Then, he returned and tied the stems around the wheat stalks he had just found, while also removing the old wheat that was worn out or nearly fallen off.

  "All done," he said, reaching out his hand to pet the cute kitty, as a reward, of course.

  The kitty tried to shy away a little, but to no avail; in fact, it didn’t actually resist much.

  After a while, the kitty tried a few sways and seemed to feel nice about the new wheat bun. It ran around in circles, dragging the wheat bun, causing it to start wearing out.

  Then, it ran back into the field again.

  Kay could see the rustling from where he was standing, and, hell, he could even see a strangely tall and worn-out wheat bun raised high in the sky, standing out from the field of wheat. Don’t even mention that he could clearly see it moving in a zigzag, sometimes circular, pattern.

  "It's good to be a kitty, heh, just playing all day without a care in the world," Kay sighed again, but he felt warm in his heart. At least his journey to come this far from his distant and backward town wasn’t entirely in vain, as he had experienced the hardships of life, seen beautiful scenes, learned to enjoy the moments, something he had been too rushed to notice before. And not least of all, he had been able to help a cute kitty and stealthily give it a petting.

  "Haiz, if only I could be like that, living without a care in the world like the kitty, even just a little bit. It would be a lot better," he lamented, but he knew better that his life ahead was set in hardship. He went back to his motorcycle and continued from where he had left off.

  But after a long while, when he had passed the spot where his motorcycle had broken down, quite a distance away, a loud rustling sound came again.

  Like last time, the cute kitty's head appeared from the wheat field, looking around playfully. This time, though, it carried a beautifully glowing stone in its mouth.

  He noticed that there was a lot more wheat stuck in its fur than when he had first seen it, suggesting that it might have been playing in the field the entire time.

  Upon spotting him, it immediately ran and jumped toward him, just like it had before. The bun of wheat he had tied to its tail was worn down a lot, but not to the point where it needed to be retied. It shook up and down as the kitty moved in a funny way, a mix of jumping and running, which made him smile a little bit.

  When it came close to him, it dropped the stone in front of him, then moved closer, scratching his pants just in the same spot as before before and giving a few light taps with its front paw on his shoe.

  Kay crouched down, smiled a little more, and stealthily petted the kitty, which this time resisted slightly more by trying to dodge, but to no avail.

  Looking at the glowing stone, he asked the kitty,

  "For me?" to which the kitty answered with a meow while sitting on its hind legs.

  He doubted that it even understood a thing he said. Reaching out his hand, he took the stone into his palm and looked at it in wonder.

  The stone was really beautiful, a red vermilion color, almost like a crystal he had seen once before, though he wasn’t sure if it truly was one. In short, it was striking. But the most astounding thing was that it was glowing—there was something inside the stone emitting light, even in broad daylight.

  Puzzled, he brought the stone closer, starting to inspect the inside for why it was emitting light. Then, as he remembered something, a question began forming in his mind.

  'Wait, it only faintly glowed when the kitty brought it to me, right? But why is it so bri…'”

  But at that moment, before he could even finish the question in his mind, the stone suddenly erupted with light, engulfing him entirely. A column of brilliance shot upward, seemingly reaching beyond the sky, while a blinding flash spread across the horizon, bathing the world in its radiant glow—or perhaps even more.

  In those final moments, still unsure of what was happening, Kay turned to look at the culprit, only to see it dashing off into the field once again. Strangely, time seemed to slow—though he wasn’t sure if it was real or just his perception. The kitty, mid-air, was frozen in a comically dramatic pose, resembling a flying squirrel, its legs stretched out as it leaped away.

  The sight made him chuckle despite the confusion.

  And then, he vanished.

  He didn’t remember what happened after the light fully consumed him—his consciousness faded to black.

  "Only when he woke up did he realize...

  [System Notification]

  Welcome, Traveler, to the World of Vaelthar.

  That the world was... somewhat different...