Darkness.

That was all there ever was, for what seemed like an eternity.

Then, came the light, sharp and blinding.

It was like burning in hell, with your eyes blindfolded.

You couldn’t see a thing, but you could very well feel the burn.

There was nothing to be done but simply endure, for as long as the burn continued, until eventually he outburned the burn, after which came a soothing sensation.

Neither the hot burn nor the suffocating darkness, but something almost like a comfortable space within.

Here, he remained, feeling more sensation returning slowly but surely.

And finally,

FLICKER!

Light flickered through the world as a pair of eyes opened once more.

The world before him, White couldn’t come to terms with at first.

It was blue, everything around him, with flashes that resembled lightning crisscrossing everywhere he could see.

He looked down at himself and found something bizarre.

It was him, in a familiar mist-like form that reminded him of when he had ventured into the Otherworld, but this time, his body wasn’t in a tricolor.

Instead, he was in a full blue color, made of strands of energy, and the center point of the blue lightning that crossed through the entire area.

Power coursed through every fiber of his being as his energy-like body sparked through the blue space.

A minor disturbance from what seemed miles away, and White didn’t feel the need to turn his head.

He willed it, and in less than a millisecond, he was dozens of miles away from this blue space, appearing before a vortex of golden where a figure stepped out.

She was a female, a human so to say, donning a simple golden shirt and trousers with a robe on top that held a familiar badge.

The badge that White had seen on one of those jets that had bombarded the Supernaturals’ ship.

"Humanity Ascension."

White said, or at least he tried, but no sound was made.

His hand went to his throat as he tried to say another thing, but still no words came out, and he fell silent, watching as the lady fully stepped in.

In her hands there was a panel formed of golden circuitry as she looked at White, pausing where she was.

"Your vocal cords are currently deactivated until I can confirm you’ll be of no threat."

"As for how you’ll be determined to be of no threat, that is by following the following simple instructions."

She said as White looked at her blankly.

"First, move exactly a mile away backwards."

She asked, and in a blink, he was a mile away.

"Step onto the ground."

She commanded next, and he quietly descended onto the ground glowing with golden lines.

Though the second White landed, he felt his body held in a restriction of sorts, as if his legs had been glued to the ground.

"Rise back up."

She said once more, and White really tried, but it was impossible.

His hands reached up, trying to launch himself up, but failing.

After doing so about seven times in a row and failing,

"That’s okay."

She said, and he stopped, watching her tap on the panel.

In the next moment, White felt a bit of power return to his lungs, and he asked.

"How did you—"

He didn’t complete the words when a powerful wave of blue lightning burst out from his mouth, surging towards the lady, whose face paled in horror.

It moved too fast to dodge, and she closed her eyes, expecting the stinging pain, but there was nothing.

Opening her eyes, she found White standing before her, having blocked the wave of lightning with his back.

When he fully absorbed the lightning, he reappeared a dozen more miles away before stopping.

"Sorry for that," he said to her.

The wave of lightning still billowed outward, but since he was far enough, it dispersed miles before reaching her.

She exhaled in relief, but something occurred to her as her eyes flashed in shock.

"Wait, weren’t you unable to escape the golden bond? How did you escape?"

She asked, her hands reaching for the panel to tap.

"I can’t explain if I’m unable to speak, you know that, right?" he asked as her hands paused inches from the tab but then resumed.

"I have orders..."

"Let him have his voice."

The words echoed through the space, and in the next moment, it was as if the space was opened up, as White raised his head, finding a total of five gigantic beings sitting around him on what seemed like a table of sorts.

At first, he wondered if they were titans, but narrowing his perception of the world around him, he was able to notice something.

"Oh, I’m in a tiny orb, which is placed on a table, and you guys are out there looking at me from it."

White deduced as one of the men ordered.

"Return back, Medisla."

She said, and the door appeared.

White saw a chance to escape this place through that door, but not knowing exactly what state he was in, why he was so small, and whether exiting would mean returning to his body or appearing in the air and fading away,

he didn’t act on it, remaining and watching her leave the space.

Now it left only him and the five towering people.

There were four men and one woman.

"Hello, White."

The female amongst them greeted first.

She was an older woman, around the age of thirty, with that type of motherly, harmless smile that excels at comforting.

"Hello," White replied.

"And you know my name?"

"Yes. Though it was hard, given how badly ruined your old body was. We were still able to piece together your original image with a bit of tech and trace your origin back to Xtremecyber Academy."

She answered, and while White’s ears couldn’t help but pick up the "old body" she said, he didn’t try to detrain from that, instead continuing.

"Well, I can tell you you’re right. I’m White... White Sinclaw."

"And... who are you all?"