7 Ch 7 – “Character Development”

Kaleido's head felt dizzy, the uncomfortable sensation of his empty stomach emptying itself out made him fall to his knee. His hand shook while the knife born from the fabrics of space shattered into motes of void black light. His pupils dilated while the bloody stench entered his nostrils. From his sight, he saw countless corpses littered everywhere like a spectacle created by a god of death.

Broken buildings, scattered rubble, burning flames, squished meat, and battered innards. At that moment, his mind seemed to reach a breaking point as he continuously gags. His hand desperately blocked his mouth from puking more, but he can't stop, he doesn't want to stop. Puking felt like he was expelling his sins, the grave sins, and the blood that gathered from his hands. But deep down, he was still the rational boy who followed logic, and his coping mechanism eventually failed.

"I didn't mean to do this! It wasn't my fault!"

He yelled, he yelled, and yelled excuses to nothing but the damned. He killed, and he knew that clearly. The burning flames and bloody stench created a horrid atmosphere for Kaleido as he started to see hallucinations of wailing spirits rushing at him. The temperature was hot as flames burned brightly, the place smelled awful as the bloody smell invaded his nose, and the thick aura of death made his body shiver from fear.

"No! Don't approach me!" Kaleido cried out and closed his eyes. In that instance, he only felt like running away. At that moment, he didn't want to see the dead corpses he himself killed anymore.

He was still just a normal boy. It was already a miracle that he kept his calm back then when he sneaked around and gathered resources, passing by so many corpses and ignoring them. The act of looting corpses was already extreme enough, but he still held in his discomfort. But a part of the reason he was able to stay calm was due to the adrenaline of the situation, he could die at any moment back then.

This event was different, he wasn't the one who was in danger, in fact, he was the danger. He killed, and his first blood wasn't just on one person, it was on hundreds of people caused by one single wave of his arm. He stared at his hand, all bloody and soaked in puke, the very hand that held the demonic knife of space whose one slash caused so much destruction.

Just a single slash alone, a single wave of his arm, and space itself fractured and warped. The space in the knife's path created a tidal wave and ripples in the air, spreading outwards in a manner maximized for destruction. But did Kaleido intend to kill so many people? No.

It was only a Rank 1 Gu, how was he to expect that it would be so powerful? But he already did the deed, and the reality he lived in was the one where he caused mass genocide. Even if he traveled back in time and stopped himself from doing this, the scene was already ingrained into his mind due to his newfound near-photographic memory. Every second of that gut-wrenching scene replayed inside his mind with vivid detail; the pebble on the ground, the fiery leaves that fell from the ground, the droplets of blood that fell from the sky, the eyeball that ruptured in midair, he saw it all clearly when his eyes closed.

By pure instincts and fear from the hallucinated spirits that charged toward him, the black markings on his body shone brightly once more, and he disappeared with a pop. What remained of Jie Clan was simply a destroyed village, with human and rockmen corpses littered everywhere. Not a single living soul can be seen, as both children and adults, Gu Master or not, died from the god-like attack Kaleido dealt.

Flash.

Kaleido opened his trembling eyes. He saw a small flame inside a dark cave, dying it with a warm orange glow. He looked around the area, he saw the same cave where he was before promptly teleporting towards Jie Clan.

"Jie Clan…," Kaleido's eyes dilated again. Memories upon memories flashed within his mind as he hastily covered his mouth with his blood-soaked hand. It was as if he was once again back in Jie Clan; the same stench, the same burning flame, the same broken buildings, and smashed corpses.

"No! NO! GET AWAY FROM ME!"

His eyes rolled to the back of his head. His body trembled as if it was experiencing some sort of shock, and he eventually paused. Plop. His body landed on the ground with a thud, and one can see his eyes were already closed. His breathing was calm, though sometimes uneven and rushed.

Silence.

Kaleido, with all the exhaustion and mind-breaking moments he experienced in such a short period of time, eventually caused him to fall asleep from how stressful his day was.

…

Kaleido opened his eyes. His breathing was uneven and his hands were trembling, goosebumps can be seen all over his body as he felt haggard and tired. "Where am I?"

He looked around the place, confused. But slowly, his rapidly beating heart calmed down as he laughed loudly. What he saw was a room, a room he was so familiar with. A comfy white bed, the bright blue sky showing through the window, white walls and white ceilings, a wooden desk placed at the corner of the room, and books stacked inside a white bookshelf.

"Ha… hahaha! It was all just a dream!" Kaleido laughed loudly while clutching his stomach. Tears welled up from his eyes as he clutched his painful stomach that ached from his laughter. He felt incomparable joy!

All of the bloodshed, all of the gruesome moments he had to experience, his grave hunger, the uncomfortable cave; all of the pressure weighing on his shoulders seemed to have disappeared in one single moment. His body plopped onto his soft and plump bed; his head slowly sunk deeper and deeper into his pillow as a faint smile was shown on his face.

'That dream, it was really too vivid.' Kaleido wiped his teary eyes and sniffed. That dream really was way too real. The way the flame burned, the bloody stench, the way those mangled corpses exploded into bloody mist in the middle of the air; those past experiences almost traumatized him completely if it weren't for him finding out that they were just a mere dream at the very last moment.

'Okay, let's just relax for today. I don't even care if I'm running late already, all I care about right now is my mental health that is at serious risk of being traumatized and scarred.' Kaleido launched himself out of his bed and stood up. He walked with light and free steps toward his bedroom door and did his usual morning routine.

He took a shower, ate breakfast, wore his school uniform, and said goodbye. Of course, he experienced déjà vu because almost the same thing happened in his dream just before he got sucked into the rift in space-time, but he ignored the uncomfortable feeling.

"Huh?" Kaleido's smile froze and his joy immediately disappeared when he saw 'it.' A rift, a rift so familiar that it almost drove him mad after just taking a look at it.

"No, no, no… This can't be real!" He shouted with despair in his voice. Unfortunately for Kaleido, the same thing happened all over again. A huge suction force erupted from the rift, and with his feeble mortal body, he was sucked into the rift, disappearing from the world altogether.

This time though, he saw something more. In the split second he passed through the rift, before light nearly blinded his eyes, he saw something that his mind couldn't process before. It was the same sight he saw back within the roof, with unimaginable color and geometrical shapes scattered all around within an endless void, but this time… he was inside that void.

That beautiful, boundless sight was deeply ingrained into Kaleido's mind. It was as if it became an eternal picture etched onto his very soul, never to be forgotten and always remembered. The sight was so profound and otherworldly for Kaleido, that at the moment, he felt like he can't even comprehend what he was seeing even though he was 'seeing' it.

It was akin to looking at a messy picture. There were things you thought you comprehend, but upon taking a closer look, it was actually just a mish-mash of colors and shapes that almost resembled what you thought it was. He felt like he understood something, but also nothing at the same time.

'Is this what it means to see an incomprehensible thing? I am seeing it, but at the same time, it's just so… eldritch that my mind can't process it.'

Kaleido once had the same experience as this before, but not of this scale. He remembered back then about a picture circulating all around the internet, it was an AI-generated picture, and the things within were comprehensible at a first glance like some being a chair or a rat, but upon taking a closer inspection, they were actually nothing. If Kaleido had to give an analogy, he would describe that it was like that feeling, but expanded to a cosmic scale.

The more he stared at the boundless void of incomprehensible nature, he eventually passed through the roof and a bright light blinded his eyes.

"!"

Kaleido's eyes opened wide and what greeted him was a rocky roof of a cave. His mind felt hazy and his soul haggard, while his body ached with pain as he slept for an unknown amount of time on such a rocky and hard surface. Kaleido's body trembled upon finding himself back in the cave once again. His breathing hastened while his heart beat with fear. Trepidation was written all over his face as he couldn't help but mutter: "It was really all just a dream…"

"FUCKKKKK!" Kaleido couldn't help but scream loudly. His emotions exploded like a raging river. His outstretched arm fell to his head, and tears welled from his eyes. He felt choked as a heavy feeling weighed on his body.

Reality started to pressure him once again. He's now stranded in another universe, and in just a day, he committed his first murder. Not only that, but he's constantly on the brink of death if he wasn't careful. If powerful Gu Masters capable of destroying buildings with a single strike exist, then wouldn't other beings as strong as them exist? He not only has to deal with hunger, clothing, sleep, shelter, and all kinds of crap, but he doesn't even have access to the internet, manga, anime, novels, or any of the things he loved back on Earth!

He has no family, no friends, and death was all around him. He has to deal with all of this… alone. No one was here to help him, and he also knows no one in the world he found himself stranded in. He bawled and cried; it was truly a humiliating sight for anyone to look out.

His body was covered in blood and puke. Bits of flesh covered his body from head to toe as his torn cloak barely covered his naked body underneath. But he couldn't care less, he was way too emotionally broken inside and out from the pressure he had to face.

This was the reality. Kaleido of course had thoughts of excitement and joy when he first found himself in another world, but as pressure and stress slowly piled up, it slowly build up into a raging river that drove him mad.

But this was eventually also the thing that made Kaleido different from what normal was. Even back then, he had understood that to live a happy life, he has to earn it. And now… what does he need to do to live a happy life free from the current worries he has?

"Enough," a hoarse voice muttered from the dimly lit cave. Kaleido moved his arm blocking his face, his pair of black and white eyes stared at the ceiling with newfound brilliance. "Fuck, I knew that my first murder would be bad, but I didn't expect it to be this bad. Whew, good thing I still had some shred of rationality to return to this cave back then."

Kaleido slowly stood up with a grunt. He moved his aching body with a wry grin, thinking to himself with newfound resolve: 'It seems like the only way to live in this world is if I get stronger. If Rank 3 rockmen are already so strong, then how strong would I be as a Rank 5? Like always, I just need to do this step by step and I'll eventually find a way to succeed.'

Walking out of the cave, Kaleido appears in the outside world once more. Sunlight shone on his body, and even though he looks disheveled and messy, it couldn't hide the amazing brilliance he held. 'Gu and Gu Masters… Ha! Fate and destiny truly are ridiculous for me to be put into this situation!'

Of course, who knows if that brilliance was his unique temperament or lunatic mindset.

AN: This chapter has 2224 words.

Is he insane, or is Kaleido just a goofy goober?

Who knows, but I do know that I like wearing glasses. Yep, can't wait to receive my own eyeglasses so I can placebo myself into thinking I'm smarter than I actually am.

But do you know what would make you smarter? Giving this novel your power stones.

(December 21, 2022 – 391st day of writing)