Leere [ˈleːʁə]

There was nothing as I descended down the dragon’s seemingly endless throat. It was a void, in itself. After floating through the nothingness for an eternity, I slowly faded out of consciousness.

I awoke in the same void as before, with a faint purple glow shining far off in the distance. It was completely dark otherwise. It was cold, yet somehow soothing at the same time, as if it gave everything to me while taking everything away.

My entire body was subject to its paradox nature, as all I could do was float toward the light, very slowly.

The endless nothingness slowly filled my heart, replacing all my thoughts with nothing. Not even a single thought ran through my mind as I mindlessly floated through the endless darkness. The few thoughts of Yuri that sparked up quickly vanished into the same emptiness I was currently held in.

As I neared the faint purple glow, I could barely manage to make out its form. It was an orb of pure nothingness, yet it somehow had more mass and glow than the rest of the endless emptiness. The longer I looked at it, the more it dragged me closer.

Yet I knew that if I touched it, I would simply vanished. The thrill of touching alone still pushed me further, however. What if she was inside and just couldn’t get out?

It was still far off, but my mind began racing again, now filled purely with thoughts of her.

Is she in there? Is she safe? Does she even remember me? Is she cold? Warm? Hungry?

There was one thing I didn’t have to ask myself though.

She’s all alone. All of this, is just her loneliness manifest. Why didn’t she tell me about any of this? I would have tried my best to help ease this… monstrosity.

A loud roar from outside resounded throughout the void, as the sphere slightly twitched. So I was still inside the dragon, but also in an endless space of nothingness?

After finally reaching the orb, I simply hugged it. I knew she was inside. I just knew. I felt my outer layers of skin dissolving with a simple touch, but that pain could never measure to the pain of ultimately losing her, after everything I’ve been through.

My body began heating up endlessly, regenerating my skin at the same pace as it dissolved. I leaned further into the orb, with it absorbing more of my body, which still heated up further. To counteract the endless heat colliding with the endless nothingness, my eyes began glowing brightly, reflecting inside the orb.

For the first time, my two powers properly worked in tandem, both healing me and cooling the process at the same time.

I delved even further into the orb, my pain intensifying with every millimeter further inside. I could barely hold on to consciousness, my body almost fully paralyzed. I simply had to keep going, though. There was no turning back.

There was just a single thought on my mind as I kept pushing.

Yuri.

After unimaginably excruciating pain, I finally managed to reach inside the orb. I could barely hold onto her arm, the void itself trying to push me back out. I held on with everything my body could possibly give, yet still only managed to pull out one of her hands.

Her pale skin, almost as white as my hair, glistened in the soft purple hue of the orb she was reaching out of. I held onto her hand as tightly as humanly possible, and began pushing my legs against the orb. She didn’t budge, though.

“Please, Yuri. Stay with me!” I screamed; my voice being consumed by the emptiness around me.

Then, a single sign of life. Her fingers entwined with mine. I immediately fainted.