I felt too weighed down to move. The sensation of movement was there, but the feeling was too indistinct.

Famine... look... at... me.

Did someone call my name? Such a small voice. Barely a whisper.

Famine...

No. It was the droning noise. Besides, I would never allow myself to be known by a filthy consequence.

F...

No. My name doesn't even begin with that letter.

"Of course not."

That voice! I know the sound of that voice!

"I'd be disappointed if you didn't, Brother."

The droning noises p.r.i.c.ked my head like a million tiny needles.

"Open your eyes. See me."

My eyes were already opened. Yet it was impossible to distinguish anything from the blurred blobs.

"Release the pain constricting your heart. Then you can see."

The beating of my heart was literally thumping the h.e.l.l out of my chest to make it ache all over. I ached black and blue. If I could release myself from the pain, I would.

Et abiit dolore.

Ancient words flowed around my head to clear away the droning. It restored my mind to a crisp and revitalized state. It softened my heart beats and soothed the pain in my chest.

"Is that better, Brother?"

I blinked in an unlikely vision of a circular floor depicting a lotus flower in full bloom. It was floating on still waters of a dark pond.

My body was lying within the center. Reflecting my tired form. As I pushed myself, I smiled at the impression of water ripples around my hands. A coolness refreshed my flushed skin.

A familiar place.

"Brother."

The voice drew my attention to the man standing on the opposite side of the floor. Beyond the lotus floor, the area was a ma.s.s of gray s.p.a.ce void of any characteristics.

"This place is?" My voice felt strange.

"All in good time, Brother."

I felt old familiar feelings of longing and a desperation tug at my heart.

"Pesti. It's you, right?"

Pesti exhaled a disappointed sigh.

He stepped closer. I could clearly distinguish his gray eyes and silver hair. It was him.

"It seems you're still seeing me with your worldly eyes. I suppose it can't be helped." Pesti's voice was expressionless.

"Where are you Pesti? Are you alright? I'm worried about you."

He sat down cross-legged before me. We faced each other. I mirrored his seated position, so we were at the same eye level.

"I am not Pesti, but I am the personification of pestilence." He answered.

"I don't understand." Frustration was aggravating the nerves of my hands, neck and sinus area.

"Your body is testing the limits of your will. I see."

Pesti continued to face me without expression.

"Before you leave this place, I'll give you my name. You must promise to only say it when you see my body again," said Pesti. His voice was aloof.

"Pesti?"

"That name is my mask. My real name is who I am," he answered.

He leaned in close, so his dainty mouth was almost pressed to my ear.

When he told me his true name, my body relived every single sensation and emotion I had experience with the Pesti I knew.

"Now you know." His voice left my ears.

I hiccuped and swallowed my tears. I wiped my dirtied face clean with my sleeves.

"Brother. The Power of Preservation will not be enough to reset the false destiny you're facing. You'll need some of your own," he said when he resumed his cross-leg position. "This is going to hurt. Sorry."

"By thy light of the Chiorning Star Ral. I evoke thee Powers of Clarity, Purpose, Preservation and Null!" Pesti's commanding voice saturated the air.

I felt his voice attack every part of my body like it was carrying needles. I was pin-p.r.i.c.ked a zillion times. Torn apart. It hurt to breathe. Think. Feel.

"I evoke thy Power of Null. Return thy power thoust hold to thee!"

My eyes were forced open.

I saw Gat s.h.i.+em's lifetime from conception. Its building stages and the day it was destroyed. Every single life form and creature who moved, lived and left that place. I felt them until I knew them well. It became clear that my power had been there from start. The Power of Null had made Gat s.h.i.+em and saw to its destruction. Naturally, my body was resisting to accept the fact with pain.

Pesti held out a glowing white ice cube before me.

"You've glimpsed history that contained your power. Now that this course of history is complete, the power can be yours again."

"Don't want it." I choked back my tears.

"You have to take it for Sol's future. Gat s.h.i.+em will be forgotten if you do not take back this power." Pesti's voice was expressionless as usual.

"This's low, even for you Pesti. The lowest point of whatever I am." I sobbed.

I faced his unwavering gray eyes. "I want my brother back, whatever you are. You can call yourself what you want. I want him back!"

"I am him. Do not deny what you know in your heart is true. What you know this place to be. We all have one like it. The four of us."

Pesti held out the glowing cube under my nose. "Now take it!"

I grabbed the cube from his hands and braced myself for another painful experience. Waited, but nothing came. I looked to my hands and saw that the cube was gone. More accurately to say, it had melted into my hands.

A white aura shone about my body. I felt present time tingling my fingertips.

"Good. You're ready to go back to your worldly life now."

I frowned, perplexed.

"Do well, Onii-san." Pesti's face lifted with a smile for the first time.

My vision was losing focus again. It was reverting to the black and white obscure blobs.

"No wait! Pesti where are you?! You have to tell me where you are?!"

I felt his image, gray s.p.a.ce and the lotus flower floor leave my mind.

"d.a.m.n it! Don't do this to me a second time! PESTI!"

Worldly darkness reclaimed my senses. His ego was gone. Soon, so was the sensation and vividness of being there. Only a lingering impression remained as a souvenir.

Do I have to open my eyes?

I reluctantly answered my own question when my eyes fluttered open. I saw reality around me again.