Chapter 3

Zane wakes up back in his original spot, with no memory of waking up from a nightmare from the previous night. The sun stares at him, silently telling him to wake up. He awakes to find himself alone in a different place than last night. 

[A neutral system has offered you a contract. Will you look at it?]

The new screen that has appeared in front of him confuses Zane.

'Neutral system?' he asks in his mind.

Just then, he feels his body shift into the same dimension he was in last night. The same womanly figure looks at the flowers and examines them.

"You're back already," she sighs. "Well, shall we continue our discussion from last night?"

Zane gulps and nods. The woman smiles and sits on a bench nearby, signaling him to sit with her.

She crosses her legs and leans towards Zane.

"Fighting off Darkness is a tricky task, young one," the woman says. "You need a lot of strength, and most importantly, a lot of discipline."

The woman strolls around the newly transformed lakeside beach area.

"Guidance will be your best friend, and I'll be willing to give it under a single condition…"

With a fade, she disappears from the scene as swiftly as the environment disappears from Zane's vision. He wakes up to Lumina sleeping on top of him. Even more dumbfounded than he was mere moments ago, Zane goes to the same hill he went through the previous night to find some answer. No one stands on the hill, as the breeze denies his suspicions of another entity being there. 

"Something happened?" Lumina asks, startling Zane.

He sighs and sits on the hill. "Well, weird things have been happening."

Stretching, he looks to Lumina, unexpectedly enticing a reaction out of her. Terror clouds Lumina's eyes as she slowly walks up to him.

"Who was it, Zane?" Her adamant question struck fear into Zane, piercing his heart.

"What do you mean?" A reasonable response turned to the worst response as her concern turned to anger.

"She tried negotiating with you didn't she?"

"What are you talking about?" he asks, terrified of Lumina's attitude. 

"Calm down, Lumina," a feminine voice demands.

Lumina looks to see an all-white feminine figure resting herself on Zane's shoulder. She stretches and lays down, yawning as Lumina stares in confusion and jealousy.

"So who are you, and why are you on his shoulder?"

The figure stares at Lumina as if she should already know why she's there.

"A contract is what you seek with the man shackled by Darkness correct?" the reply sent a shockwave through Lumina's body.

"How do you…"

"Now do you know who I am, Lumina?"

The swift question shocked and angered her.

"So now you come?" Unable to control her anger, a giant pink blade manifests itself on her command.

"You know how much Darkness has destabilized it all, and you only show up when someone you find interesting spawns?" 

The figure sighs. With a swift breeze, all magic summoned has ceased to exist.

"Remember Lumina, there are levels to this game," the figure scoffs. "If you want to deal with Darkness, we need a special being who can sustain even a microliter of her strength."

A familiar heartbeat, those familiar words. From a simple time, Lumina silently accepts the current circumstances.

"Just so you know, I'm only accepting this because she is running rampant."

The figure laughs, getting off of Zane's shoulders. She grows as she walks to Lumina's side, putting her hand on her ear and stroking it.

"A new entity has appeared. He wishes to destabilize the order of things." 

Zane looks at the both of them dumbfounded.

"Another one?!" His confusion brews together with anger and shock like a fine wine.

"All these entities have to stop pestering me already!" he exclaims with anger.

The figure walks up to Zane and slaps him.

"You seriously need to stop whining, are you a child?"

Lumina bursts out laughing. "You didn't have to slap him, y'know?"

The figure sighs and sits back on Zane's shoulder.

"Well, I'm going to sleep. Bye now." In an instant, she vanishes. 

[You accepted the terms of the contract! Systems Integration Complete. Neutral System Spirit Akali, now at your service.]

Zane looks at the screen before him confused. 'Systems integration?'

'Am I finally getting somewhere?'

Questions flow through his mind, getting abruptly interrupted by a voice. 'Hello?' a feminine voice asks ambiently.

"I'm going insane," Zane instantly replies.

'Well, bad news for you buddy, you are stuck with me forever now,' the voice replies.

'Well, name's Akali, and yes, just like the things that old man probably read to you, I'm your system.' 

"Well, that makes more sense now, anyway shut up now before Lumina thinks I'm already insane."

As he looks at Lumina's location, she's losing energy with every giggle she does, moving to a different pose every time she sees Zane speak to the void.

"Too late on that part, I guess," Zane mutters to himself.

"You're one funny man, you know that?"

Lumina skips to Zane with the most smug expression on her face.

"Don't fuck with me Lumina," he replies, flicking her forehead.

"Whatever you say, man with the nonexistent plan."

Zane gets annoyed, curling his fist in a ball. "I'll kill you!"

Lumina walks away, snickering as Astelia scoffs.

"You need to read some more books, you know?" Astelia snickers, holding in her laughs. 

"I read plenty of books, thank you very much!" he yells back.

Both of them snicker as they walk away from him.

'Those people are great to have around, aren't they?' Akali echoes in his mind.

"I guess, I just wish they took me more seriously…" He curls into a ball and sighs.

"How do you know what your potential is?"

"Well, it's very complicated to understand that."

The man signals the curious child to sit with him.

"Have you ever heard of flow state before?"

The child shakes his head, innocence radiates the area. Clearing the clouds, revealing the canvas of a calmer place. Water flows from weird places, like from an upside-down mountain.

Hot springs bubble and the grass fights against the current with every opportunity it gets. The child sits down, observing the environment from a cinematic view.

"Old man, why is the land like this?" the child asks with concern.

"Well, kid, many things can happen when people don't get along," he replies solemnly.

"When people don't get along, things get like this."

"Just don't get like that for my sake, okay?"

The child looks at the old man with a confident smile.

"I won't! I promise to make this place better than it has ever been before!"