Before Rayen's vision went blank, he felt his own mouth move.
"Let there be light!"
It wasn't him who said that, but it was definitely his voice.
In a split second, a loud crack reverberated in the entire room, followed by a thud, not just once but multiple thuds, as though multiple large objects fell hard to the ground. Under Rayen's gradually fading consciousness, he glimpsed the silhouette of his teammates collapsing with him.
...
When Rayen opened his eyes again, his mories were blurry.
'Who am I? What am I?'
No matter how much he racked his brain, he couldn't recall anything.
He glanced around, but only darkness surrounded him. His body seed to be floating in water, headed nowhere. Like he was nothing, he didn't exist, he's not existing at all.
"Initiating system ergency preservation..."
Like a murmur, a chanical, distorted voice spoke in the depths of his mind.
Just then, a myriad of stars glowed in the darkness.
"Rayen..."
"Rayen..."
"Rayen..."
The stars seed to be calling soone.
'Who's Rayen?'
One of the stars that was glowing pulsed aggressively. Its voice also floated above the chorus of voices.
It kept calling a na. However, Rayen did not recognize it. As if that na didn't belong to anyone.
However, the star refused to be ignored. Its pulsing body beca even more aggressive, to the point that it burst. The light scattered, plunging down into the darkness that surrounded Rayen and blinding his eyes.
The chorus of voices disappeared, replaced by the sound of a pen scribbling on paper.
The blinding light was gradually disappearing.
At the sa ti, a distorted voice followed.
"His na is Rayen De Guzman."
He found himself sitting in front of a work desk, scribbling on a piece of parchnt, muttering by himself.
However, Rayen instinctively knew that this distorted voice wasn't his. Even the body he was occupying didn't seem to be his own.
He continued to write.
[Born on August 15, 2xxx, ti 00:16. His mother said, "He's just like a wrinkled monkey. He looks terrible, not unlike the adorable kids I've seen on TV."]
After writing that entire paragraph, he let go of the pen.
"This should be fine for now. After this, I'll sneak this into the library database," the distorted voice said.
He blew on the parchnt to let the ink dry, but as he did, the scene suddenly crumbled as though blown away by his breath. However, it was quickly replaced by another scene.
A long ti seed to have passed.
This ti, he was standing in a park, watching a few kids playing. One of the kids caught his eye. He was accompanied by his mother, watching the other kids play from afar.
Instinctively, Rayen knew that this kid was the wrinkled monkey.
"Rayen, do you want to play with them?" the mother asked the wrinkled monkey.
'Wrinkled Monkey' Rayen shook his head from behind her.
His answer troubled the mother. She knew that her son wanted to play, so she just looked around, trying to find ways.
"Then, do you want to just play in the swing?"
Finally, Wrinkled Monkey Rayen's eyes brightened. He nodded in enthusiasm.
The mory ended as Wrinkled Monkey Rayen was pushed in a swing by his mother.
And then, the scene jumped once more. This ti, Wrinkled Monkey Rayen had beco a primary school student, who was being cajoled by his mother to go to school.
To no avail, she couldn't convince her son to go inside at all. Until one kid approached them.
"Do you not like kids?"
The mother and son duo glanced at the kid with a confused gaze.
"I ask you, do you not like kids?" the kid repeated, staring at Wrinkled Monkey Rayen.
"I don't..."
"But kids are fun! You should like them."
"....."
"Co. I'll introduce you to them!" Without waiting for a response, he suddenly grabbed Wrinkled Monkey Rayen toward the classroom. "By the way, my na is Liam. What about you?"
"I..."
Wrinkled Monkey Rayen could only helplessly ask his mother for help, but she had already turned around and left.
"Mom..." Wrinkled Monkey Rayen silently cried.
Liam didn't seem to hear him and continued to drag him inside while blabbing by himself. "You should hate the teachers instead. Kids are fun, but teachers are not. They're not cute at all."
Once again, the scene crumbled and got replaced.
Wrinkled Monkey had beco a high schooler, flanked by Liam and another person while walking ho.
When the three people passed by Rayen, his mouth opened again, and a distorted voice ca out of it. "Things should proceed accordingly now. It's probably ti for the next phase."
When the scene crumbled into the next, Rayen found himself holding a red flower, standing in front of many people; male, female, young, and old. However, this group of people shared so similarities. They all had breathtaking androgynous features.
Despite not willing it, Rayen approached one of them — a kid who looked about like a middle-schooler.
'Who is he? Why does he look familiar?'
He held one petal of the flower and pulled.
Suddenly, a blinding pain assaulted him. Beads of cold sweat rolled down his chin, and his breath raggedly ca out of his mouth.
It was as though sothing was being plucked out from the very depths of his soul.
A few monts later, an object had appeared in his hands — a red petal.
"Haa... Haa... Haa..."
Despite the weakness in his body, he never stumbled. He pushed the red petal in his hand against the chest of the kid, which was directly absorbed.
Rayen felt his consciousness split up, transferring to soone else. His perspective had shifted.
What appeared before him was a person holding a red flower. This person looked like a middle schooler, but this one was even shorter than him. Rayen also couldn't recognize this one's gender. He was male, but at the sa ti, also female.
"You are now Yoo Gyeo," the shorty said.
Before Rayen could even wonder what that ant, they walked away.
As he followed the person with his gaze, Rayen discovered that he was now among the group of beautiful people.
After the short person approached another person in the group, he reached out for another petal and pulled.
"You're Hiraya," the person said after pushing the petal to the chest of a beautiful woman and walking to another one.
One by one, the short person gave them nas. Every ti he did, he would pull a petal from the red flower with gritted teeth, visibly growing weaker.
By the ti there was only one petal left in the flower and there was no more person to give it to, the shorty's face had beco as white as a sheet. He stepped back and faced everyone.
"We're all the Overseer of Scribes, but from today onwards, only I am Siel," the beautiful person with unrecognizable gender and age said, voice distorted.
The sensation of being at two places deeply disoriented Rayen. He couldn't fully understand what this person ant. However, the na Siel... Why did it sound familiar?
Once everyone had gotten their nas, Siel stared at them with a satisfied look on his face.
"You should know why I created you, right?"
Everyone nodded, including Rayen.
"Make Rayen famous!"
This scene fragnt ended with this cheer. Rayen was once again surrounded by glowing stars.
"Error... Error... Data is incomplete... Requesting more assistance."
Siel's distorted voice sounded everywhere, however this voice lacked emotion.
'It sounds the sa, but I think it's not Siel.'
Rayen waited inside this darkness, staring at the myriad of stars. Just then, another star pulsed.
"Remote assistance received. Sender, Hiraya," the distorted voice said. "Stars of Light reactivating..."
The pulsating star burst, its light enveloping Rayen's consciousness once more.
"When I see you again,
Please don't forget to say hi."
Just like before, even if Rayen had no intention to sing, his mouth moved on its own. However, his voice now belonged to a girl.
[ADRIFT - Faraway Music Video]
– This song really touches my heart...
– Another hit song? Who's this band?
– Ah, I can't get the lyrics out of my head...
Rayen experienced the sa thing as before, jumping from one scene to another.
Sotis, he would be listening to music in a classroom. Sotis in bed, before sleeping, he would browse the internet.
[@Rayen'sNo.1Fan posted
ADRIFT's Rayen at the National Arena's "With You" Concert.
(Rayen_Adrift_jpg)]
[@Rayen'sNo.1Fan posted
Have you seen ADRIFT yet? Listen to them!]
[@Rayen'sNo.1Fan posted...]
Dozens of posts were made by him. He bought rchandise, attended concerts, and stread ADRIFT's music, never missing anything.
Just like right now.
He was now standing in a long line, holding a CD in his hands. At the forefront of the line was a long table where three people were signing albums that the fans laid in front of them.
At last, it was the turn of Rayen and the girl he was inhabiting. Rayen felt the corners of her lips stretching upwards as she put down the CD in her hand in front of Wrinkled Monkey Rayen, who had now beco a mber of a band called ADRIFT, together with his two friends.
'This scene seed familiar...'
ADRIFT's Rayen lifted his gaze. Rayen, who was hiding inside the girl's consciousness, saw the girl's appearance in ADRIFT's Rayen's eyes.
Hiraya was smiling widely, sending ADRIFT's Rayen into a daze. After what seed like an eternity of staring, he also smiled in return.
"Hello," he said, feigning a cough in embarrassnt.
"Hehe, I've been your fan since birth!" Hiraya exclaid.
ADRIFT's Rayen laughed in response. "Is that so?"
Hiraya nodded, but as she did so, the scene crumbled into darkness.
"Error... Error... Requesting more assistance..."
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