Darkness enveloped Non like a cloak, so thick that he couldn’t tell up from down.

  He felt her cold nor heat. There was no grouh his feet, nor wind brushing against his skin.

  It was an absolute darkness, devoid of aion or reference.

  For a brief moment, he thought he was dreaming, trapped in a deep sleep from which he couldn’t awaken, but he soon realized he wasn’t even sure if he was asleep.

  ‘Where am I?’ he wondered, floating in that vast emptiness, trying to find some sign of his surroundings.

  It was like being trapped in aernal limbo— to his body, no time, no space.

  Only nothingness.

  Non tried to move, but his body didn’t respond, as if he had been stripped of his owence.

  Then, in the midst of that vast bess, a deep, grave voice broke the silence, eg in his mind like distant thunder.

  "Human... you are dead."

  The echo of those words pierced his being, making his sciousremble.

  Startled, Non’s eyes shot open—or at least, that’s what he thought.

  In front of him, where there had only been darkness, now there was light.

  A bright, blinding light that filled every er of his vision, but it was a cold light, almost indifferent.

  fused, he tried to focus, to uand what he was seeing, but there was nothing beyond that white luminosity.

  He tried to look down, at his hands, at his body, but there was nothing there.

  He couldn’t see or feel his own body.

  It was as if his existence had been pletely erased.

  ‘What is this?’ he thought, terrified by the strangeness of the situation.

  He was trapped in a formless, matterless immensity—just light that surrounded him, preventing him from uanding what was happening.

  Suddenly, a woman’s ughter rang out in the air, light and pyful, as if what was happening were some kind of cruel joke.

  "Oh, not again," murmured the same deep voice, letting out a heavy sigh. "I beg you, don’t start ughing like a lunatic again."

  "You’re s," replied the woman’s voice with a teasing melody in her words. "I don’t uand why you always act this way."

  "It’s because I simply don’t uand you," the man replied, his tone filled with a mixture of weariness and frustration.

  "You don’t have to uand me, darling. You just have to enjoy the moment." The woman’s ughter filled the space again, this time louder, reverberating into what seemed like infinity.

  Non was utterly fused.

  Those voices, that light...

  None of it made sense.

  Non tried to speak, but no sound came from his throat.

  Still, inside his mind, the question echoed clearly:

  ‘Where am I?’

  As if they had read his thoughts, the man’s voice spoke to him again.

  "You feel strange, don’t you? Without a body, it’s normal to feel disoriented."

  "It’s normal," the woman added. "Now you should be feeling what we feel: nothing. Absolutely nothing." She paused dramatically, as if sav the impact of her words, before asking, "So, tell me, how does it feel?"

  Non tried to process what was happening, but he couldn’t find the words to describe what he was feeling.

  It was a strange sensation, as if he were there and not there at the same time.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Non thought. ‘It’s... a sensation I ’t describe.’

  The voices ughed again, but this time more softly.

  "It’s normal to feel fused," tihe man, now with a more patient tone. "You’re here because you’ve died."

  The words hit Non like a gust of icy wind.

  ‘What? No, that ’t be!’ Non thought in desperation.

  The treatment he had received wasn’t supposed to be that dangerous.

  How could he be dead?

  In his desperatioried to activate his time magic, searg for that familiar sensation of mana flowing through his body.

  If he could just go back... maybe...

  "It’s useless," the man warned, interrupting his attempt. "You don’t have a body, so you ’t use your mana. You ’t do here what you enjoy so much."

  Non frowned, fused by the man’s words.

  ‘What do you mean by what I enjoy so much?’

  A sigh of exasperation followed.

  "Do you really think no oiced what you’ve been doing? You’ve been pying with time, altering the world as if it were your personal toy."

  The woman’s voice burst into ughter.

  "It’s hirious! He thinks he’s so clever."

  "This isn’t funny," the man murmured, visibly irritated. "Yht him here, and now you’re making jokes!"

  "It’s fun to see you get angry," the woman replied, her tone full of mockery.

  "You’re a damn irresponsible fool," he reproached her, his voice filled with frustration.

  "Oh, e on. You have to admit, it makes our existence a little more eaining." The woman’s ughter was untrolble now, while the man sighed, resigned.

  Non was pletely stunned by the versation unfolding in front of him.

  He didn’t uand any of it.

  Were those voices... gods?

  Or maybe angels?

  What kind of beings toyed with him like this?

  The woman’s voice went quiet for a moment, then responded in a pyful tone.

  “Hmm, how do you want us to expin it to you? Would you like us to take a physical form to show you better?”

  "Don’t start that!" the man growled, clearly frustrated. "I told you, I don’t approve of any stupid form you decide to materialize as!"

  "Oh, you’re so bossy." She ughed again. "Not even if we turn into fish like st time?"

  The ma out an exasperated grunt.

  "That was a disaster, and you know it! We died in seds because there was no water!"

  The woman burst out ughing.

  "And that’s why it was the best part! Watg you panic like a fish out of water was unfettable!"

  "You were dying too!" the man replied.

  "But it was fun!" she retorted, still amused.

  Non blinked—or at least it felt like he had.

  Had they died before?

  Who were these voices?

  Before he could ask, the man’s voice spoke again.

  "If you promise to behave and not use that ridiculous power of yours, we’ll bring you back to life. You live a normal life until you die for real."

  But the woman’s voiterrupted, ughing.

  "Don’t be ridiculous! If he doesn’t use his pht now, the human in the same room with him will kill him."

  No a jolt of arm.

  ‘What?’

  "He deserves it," the man replied, unbothered. "He should have died long ago, but he decided to keep pying with the world, affeg the work of the others."

  The woman’s ughter echoed again.

  "Admit it, it was fun watg the death children cry when their father scolded them because of Non. All because he kept stealing the souls they had collected with every time reversal. What a show!"

  The ma out another exhausted sigh.

  "You’re hopeless."

  Finally, Non couldn’t take it anymore and, with fusion in his voice, asked the question that had been on his mind the whole time.

  ‘What are you? Are you gods?’

  For the first time, both voices ughed in unison, a stra somehow harmonious sound, as if their ughter plemented each other perfectly.

  "Gods?" the woman asked, amused. "It’s a very simple way of looking at it, but it makes sense from your perspective, doesn’t it?"

  "I still think you’re irresponsible," the man interjected.

  "Oh, e on. If we keep pying by the same rules, we’ll always be behind the others," she tinued, as if sharing a secret.

  "You’re right," the man admitted, though relutly. "But that doesn’t mean I agree with your methods."

  Non, pletely overwhelmed, interrupted them again.

  ‘Could you tell me what I’m doing here? I’m so fused.’

  "You’re a walking disaster... and it’s all her fault," the man said, direg his words at his panion. "Keep in mind that chas nothing good, human."

  The womae the insult directed at her, replied proudly.

  "I’ll remind you that this is the sed human we’ll get to see who finally wins our bet."

  Non, perplexed, raised his voice.

  ‘Bet? What bet?’

  Suddenly, although he couldn’t see beyond the light, Non could clearly feel two intense gazes fall on him, as if, somehow, those entities were fog all their attention on his very being.

  Well, I must say that I had quite a lot of fun marathoning this wain, but I 't my other works.

  I'll keep a for your ents/critiques!

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