Chapter Text
Prologue: Realization
Narrator: Soul Morillo Murata
In my unconsciousness, I, Soul Morillo Murata, had a curious realization.
I was falling.
Even without opening my eyes, the feeling of emptiness enveloped my body like a blanket. I could feel the wind combing through my messy hair. I could feel my arms hanging limp, a sign that gravity was doing its job. And so… I opened my eyes.
Time seemed to slow down.
Blue, an immense blue, flooded my vision. It was the first time I had ever seen the sky so close. I watched as the clouds slowly drifted further and further away. And yet, I wasn't afraid.
Not because I felt like this wasn't real, not at all. The sensation of falling in a dream was very different from what I was feeling right now.
It's just something about me. Since I was a child, I've possessed an unnatural calm. Nothing made me lose my patience, nothing made me panic, nothing scared me… well, that last part is a blatant lie.
Nothing is scarier than my girlfriend, Raiden Mei, holding a ladle after I've invaded her sanctuary (the kitchen) in search of provisions. My best friend Kiana and I had learned our lesson the first time.
A small, amused snort escaped my mouth. Even in this unbelievable situation, I couldn't help it.
I also couldn't help but wonder, what the hell did I get myself into this time to end up falling from the sky?
The last time I did something this stupid, I ended up with Uncle Siegfried in the middle of the Sahara desert, naked, with one camel and two dwarves. And it all started because Siegfried wanted to prove to Kiana that her father was a real adventurer and that his stories weren't 25% made up and 75% the ramblings of an incredibly controlled drunk for the amount of alcohol he consumed.
Anyway, it took us two months to get out of there that time, with sand up our asses, but alive.
Now.
What the hell happened this time?
As I was thinking, I saw one of my friends, Heber, shoot past me like a drooling, sleeping cannonball… wait, what?
With considerable effort, thanks to physics and all its wonders, I twisted my body in mid-air to witness the most surreal scene I have ever seen in my short 15 years of life.
There, in the air, falling even faster than me, were my four friends from the Dominican Republic, the island where I'd gone for vacation to spend a month with my grandmother since I was a kid.
They were all asleep, in bed-like positions. Eury looked like he was in a coffin, his usual sleeping pose; sometimes we thought he was dead after an obnoxiously loud sleepover. Joao was falling while sucking his thumb and a chicken leg at the same time. I refused to think any more about that. Gabriel looked serene, calm, and cool… if it weren't for the fact that he was crying in his sleep and my ridiculously sensitive ears managed to pick up something through the strong winds that sounded like: "Quantum physics is terrifying." Poor bastard, he can't escape his strict private tutor even in his dreams.
And finally, there was Heber. He was just… falling. Spinning like a top.
I went blank at the sight.
I deliberately ignored the absurdity and returned to my monologue… where was I? Oh, right. What the hell happened yesterday?
And why did I feel like, somehow, this was my fault?
Oh, of course, it was my fault. On our last vacation, after a particularly tense game of Smash Bros, we all woke up in a bubble dimension after an experiment of mine—made with a Honkai core, three mints, and a soda—went successfully wrong. Now, what happened this time?
And for some reason, for the first time ever, my curiosity and my sanity united in a single thought.
"I don't want to know."
And with that last thought, as I watched the green of the meadow approach, I braced for impact.
Except, the impact never came. What did come was unconsciousness, a strange voice that sounded like bells and starlight, and a blue screen in the back of my mind with golden letters that read:
"Welcome to Aethergald… My love."
The last thing I thought before a strange sleepiness claimed me was:
Yep.
Mei is going to kill me.