The first thing Lapillus noticed was the taste of copper on his tongue; the second was the feeling in his body. That- That should not be possible. Lapillus should be dead; he was well aware of that fact, and yet, here he was, staring up at the purpling sky dotted with colored clouds.
Blinking away the haziness edging his vision, Lapillus couldn’t help but just lie there, watching the sky grow darker as the minutes passed by, his heart feeling like a drum being beaten. There was no pain in his chest, no itch in his throat. Even shuffling his legs, he could feel no dull ache at his joints, just the feeling of stiffness, something that came along with staying still for a prolonged period of time. It was… surreal.
It didn’t feel real. It- It wasn’t real. Was he in the purelands?
That explanation, however, did not make sense, even for him. His deity, Lady Penates, had told him he would be laid to rest; he’d feel no pain, nothing. He’d just sleep for all eternity, forever cocooned in oblivion.
Lapillus couldn’t help but think he had. Even if he does trust Lady Penates and could never see her truly doing something so lowly as to lie about being put to rest, especially after the favor and sacrifice he and his friends had done, he couldn’t help but think that a deity is on a completely different thinking spectrum. Maybe he had misunderstood. Maybe there was a mistake that caused him to end up here. Whatever it is, he’s here, wherever that is, alive, and wasn’t that a weird thought?
Sitting up slowly, long strands falling over his shoulders as he did so, Lapillus let out a slow, measured breath, calming his jittery heart as best he could, though it did little in its intentions as a fine shiver ran through his body. A weird feeling of anticipation and hope and sadness and grief all wrapped in one as he tried his best to wrap his head around what he was coming to understand.
At least, he thought, he knew of two things about where he was; for that, Lapillus was grateful, despite what he was feeling.
One, he was in a forest, a pretty dense one at that.
‘And two, he was clearly not in the same world he had been in previously. Looking up once more, he blankly took note of the fact that there were now two moons hanging in the sky, one smaller with a ring around it, while the other stood large and on full display.
The air felt different, cleaner yet heavier than the one he used to breathe. While different, it also felt easier. It was odd, feeling the magiculs in the air be heavy and yet refreshing. Another reason to truly believe he was alive, that he had somehow ended up in a completely different world, no matter how bizarre that explanation was.
Lapillus could only hope it was similar in some ways to his old one. Looking down at his rough hands, palms open and up and faintly shaking still, with freckles dotting the tanned skin, he truly could only hope it was so.
A thought occurred before he was shuffling into a stand, stumbling only slightly at the ease of it all, and wasn’t that something. His joints didn’t groan with every move, and his heart didn’t race at the small strain. There wasn’t even a strain to begin with. Lapillus knew he should probably get a move on, find shelter and water, as he had no way of knowing what monsters lurked around him. However, he just couldn’t get over the feeling of being alive. With no pain attached to him like chains on a beast, no shadow following his every move.
He just knew it was going to be a while before he could brush off this feeling, though it was one he would gladly accept. Being able to just breathe normally was as much of a luxury as one would find in a warm meal. He had always felt like he was slowly rotting away inside, decaying at a snail's pace but nonetheless dying. Now… Now he hadn’t the faintest idea of that.
Letting out a small sigh, clenching his hands as he looked down, a wisp of faces dancing in his mind's eye before Lapillus finally decided that now wasn’t the time for such matters as he pushed the feeling of it all back. He knew dangers were lurking all around, and it was only a matter of time before one took notice of him. Tucking a strand of that burnt orange hair behind his slightly pointed ears, blue-green eyes finally took note of the area surrounding him.
A forest as dense as the Komiteía Forest, from what he could tell, though fauna he had never seen before was quite abundant. Some even glowed in blues and purples, dotted with smaller fauna in whites and golds. It was beautiful and quite handy in mapping out his surroundings by sight alone. Though it wasn’t as if he truly needed it, as his mana made up for his lack of visuals, sweeping over the land as far as he could stretch them without strain.
Which was farther than before, he noted. His body must have been truly terrible if it even affected his range and magic sense. Brushing off the feeling of sadness, he decided to focus on survival for now. Even if he had no goal in mind anymore, having lost everything he ever cared about now that he has found himself in another world entirely, he still didn’t want to throw away his life.
Life was precious, even his own, and he was sure he would never be able to face his sister, let alone the friends he called family, in the purelands if he threw this opportunity away. He knows they would want him to live his life to the fullest, now that he can. Especially since he died so young…
Walking forward, picking to go south as he avoided the denser mana around him, steering clear of those unknown creatures, Lapillus couldn’t help but smile.
Sixteen was far too young to truly be able to live, after all. He couldn’t wait to see what this new world had to offer. ‘And if his smile was tinged in grief and sadness, well, only Lapillus would know.
Maybe, one day, he’d be able to call this place home.
Hello! Thank you for reading this far. I hoped you enjoyed this little jot I did. Lapillus is a very special character to me, as he is very much adored. For those who would like to know, he grew up terminally ill because of being a vessel for a deity, and ended up dying at the age of 16. He was expecting to finally rest with the four other friends who perished with him, each of them holding deities of their own, only for him to wake up, alone, in a vastly different place.
I would go on more, but I fear I would over spam this already long blog, so I will end it here. This is not, however, the last of this boy or the world he fell into~
