71. Somewhere Between!

"What do you think, dada?"

Hiro swallowed hard when he heard her ask. From where he stood, he could feel the heat of the flame. He didn't need anyone to tell him, if that flame was aimed at him, there'll be no way for him to survive. Just how dangerous was the little girl in his arms?

"Dada?"

"Uh? Don't do that unexpectedly again. You can't do this without my permission, understood?"

"Yes dada," Seraphina's smile disappeared. "Should I take it back?"

"You can take it back?"

"Yes," she replied. She took in a deep breath with her mouth and immediately the flame burning away rose into the air and flew back towards her.

Hiro watches as she swallows back the flame. "Anything goes, when it's Seraphina. Anything goes when it's Seraphina," he repeated in his head.

The heat from the flame threatened to burn him and turn him to ash. Luckily, it quickly entered Seraphina's mouth, with not a single bit left behind.

"Wow."

"Dada is impressed?"

"Huh? Yes, very," Hiro replies. He turned to the path before him. The trees and the grasses were burnt to ash. The ground was scorched black and even the roots of trees did not survive.

"Yes! So where are we going dada?"

"Hmm? Oh, to a river. I was going to search for flame stones but I guess I don't need them anymore."

"So we aren't going there again?"

"Hmm, fish will be easier to cook, I guess," Hiro muttered. "We are going to the river."

"Okay."

Hiro continued walking. "Do you have proper control of that fire?"

"I do."

"You do or you think you do?"

"I think I do."

"Are you sure you just hatched? Or did you… huh?" Hiro frowned and stopped walking.

The space around them grew distorted and everything in their surrounding became blurry. It was as if an illusion was slowly fading away.

"Dada, what's happening?"

"I do not know, hold me tight," Hiro replied and gently pressed her head to his chest. She gripped his shirt as tight as she could.

The distortion continued with no sign of stopping. In the space before him, Hiro saw what looked like a hill covered in snow. There was a forest next to it with bountiful fruits. After that was a lake.

Images appeared in the space around them. At one end, there was a city and at another there was a mountain spring. He could see birds flying, unknown creatures running, a man seated was meditating, fire raining down from the sky, stars shining in the night sky, people fighting, giants walking, sun shining and lots more. One after the other, several images appeared all around them.

Seraphina could see some through the space in Hiro's fingers. His arm was placed over her back and his palm was on her head, partially covering her face.

"The dao of time. No, it's not just time, but time and… that should be space." Seraphina heard Hiro murmuring. A bright golden light catches her attention. When she traces its source, she found it coming from Hiro's left eye. Her body trembled slightly. In the next moment, Hiro screamed. "Ahhh!"

His left eye closes tight. As soon as he activated his special eye, he felt an immense amount of pain. It hurt so bad that his grip loosen, almost causing Seraphina to fall from his arms.

"Dada? Are you okay?" Seraphina calls out. Her hands gripped his shirt tighter, to prevent herself from falling. She could see blood trickling down his cheek.

"I'm fine, Seraphina," Hiro replied. He lowered himself to his knees. A smile appeared on his face. His arms wraps around her properly. "I'm fine, just a little sting."

"You…"

"I'm fine."

His smile grew bigger but Seraphina could tell he was lying. The pain didn't let his smile hide it. It wrote itself properly on his face for Seraphina to see. He had his left eye closed while looking down at Seraphina. Yes, he was looking but he couldn't see her.

"It hurts!" Hiro screamed in his head. "Why hasn't it recovered yet? Every other part of my body has recovered."

He raised his head to the images all around him. "We need to get out of here, but how?"

"Dada."

"Yes?"

"Are you really alright?"

"Yes, I am. You don't have to…"

Hiro didn't complete his words. The reason for this was the images around him were disappearing. Quicker than they came, they vanished one after another.

"What the hell is going on?" he thought.

In no time the images were gone. The space slowly stabilized. However, Hiro could only frown. The surrounding had changed. They were no longer in the dying forest. Before them was an ocean, beneath them was beach sand and behind them was a forest.

"Dada, what happened?" Seraphina asked while looking around.

"I don't know."

"Are we in danger?" She looked at him with eyes that said she was scared.

"No, for now no. This…?"

Some distance away, Hiro could see some cottages. "Are people there?" he thought. Hiro stood up with Seraphina still in his arms. His teeth grip his lower lip. The pain from his left eye was persistent.

"Dada!"

And just when Hiro thought it was over, the sky divided. Above them, the sky was as bright as day. While above the ocean, the sky was as dark as night. The sun was at its peak and the moon was at its fullest.

"What the hell is going on?" Hiro thought while staring at the sky. This was his first time seeing something like this. He just couldn't get why the sky was like that. "The dao of time is still everywhere, so we are still in senior's time related area. The problem is the dao of space is intertwined in it."

Hiro's gaze fell on the cracks appearing in the sky. They were appearing and disappearing at interval like twinkling stars.

"The dao of space is tearing this place open, while the dao of time is restoring it to its initial state. This repeated process is causing them to intertwine. Is this also the reason for those phenomenon?"

"Dada, something is coming," Seraphina said pulling Hiro out of his thoughts.

When Hiro looked, a giant shot out of the forest. In its hand was a huge club. Its hair was braided into a single braid that ran to its waist.

Another jumped out of the forest. It was completely bald and unlike the other it held a huge bone in its hand. Both of them had a brown loin cloth around their waist.

"Die!"

The bald giant yelled out and charged at the other. Every step it took caused the ground to quake. Hiro's chest tightened from the pressure being released by the giant. Seraphina gripped Hiro's shirt. Unknowingly, her nails tore into the shirt and grip Hiro's chest.

"Ha, you over estimate yourself," says the braid hair giant as he swung his wooden club.

The bald giant swung the bone and their weapons clashed. A strong shockwave spread out in all direction. Hiro held Seraphina tighter. He turned around to protect her from the shockwave. It was at this moment he realized…

"They aren't real," he muttered. He could see the shockwave pass him, but he didn't feel it. As if it was a cool breeze, the shockwave flew past them and didn't affect them.

He turns around and watches the giants continue to fight. Each trying to knock the other out. "No, they are somewhere between real and unreal."

"Dada?"

Seraphina looks at him, however Hiro didn't pay her any attention at the moment.

"This is going to hurt."

As soon as he said it, his left eye glowed golden light. It wasn't as bright as it used to be. He bit his lower lip until it bled out. Seraphina watched as blood trickled out. It didn't take long for his left eye to shut close.

"Ah!"

He couldn't bear it anymore. His entire body felt it, the pain so great that his left eye refuse to open again.

"Dada!"

"It's alright, I'm good."

"Dada is lying," Seraphina said with watery eyes.

His chest heaving heavily. "I just needed to confirm something."

"What is that?"

"Everything around us isn't real. They are all phenomenons caused by two daos."

"What?"

"Never mind," Hiro said and sat down on the ground.

He wipes the blood on his face. His lips curls into a smile at Seraphina who was still looking at him. She returns his smile with a pout.

"What did you mean by daos, dada?"

"It's a bit hard to explain," Hiro replies. His eyes trailed to the giants fighting. Each swing of their weapon could turn a mountain flat. They both showed pure intent in killing the other.

Hiro took in a deep breath and turned to his left. There, a large vortex stood. He didn't know when it appeared. It was black and it was huge.

A roar caused him to turn to his right. A black tortoise as large as a mountain gave out the roar. And the recipient of the roar was a four-legged green serpent. It was by no means inferior to the tortoise in size. And the green scales that coated its body made it look magnificent in the sky.

It snorted at the tortoise and turned and flew away. Hiro could only wonder why it did. His eyes followed it and watched as it faded away.

Something in the sky caught Hiro's attention. Balls of flame were falling down from the sky. Balls so large, they could rival the size of a continent. Some crashes into one another as they fell and scattered to smaller pieces. They looked so real that Hiro found it hard to believe they weren't.

"Dada…?" Seraphina called out as Hiro got to his feet.

He held her with one of his arms and used his free hand to force his left eye open. Seraphina watched his eye shine before bursting and splashing out blood.

"Dada!"

"Shit," Hiro muttered while staring at the sky. He had just confirmed, those balls of flame were real.