Facing the man was a young and rather childish face.

  Celeste couldn't move or change a thing about it. She couldn't react to how the man moved and grabbed her face and shoved her away either. That almost happened to Ellie as well, but she and Haggard were further away due to their humanity.

  And William was even further than they, right when the crimson calmed, and his panic went from confusing desire to incredible fear because this man... shifted again.

  The air was weird but no weirder than the man, who winced his upper body alone and got up without moving his legs. Celeste rolled away because of his simple gesture and even lost her vial.

  The man's attention was all over the place, half dreaming or still out of his wits. Be it his eyes, mouth, or overall face, he was in a daze and wasn't sure what that first face was about.

  It piqued an interest because the next thing he did shocked the rest of the people. He moved, grasped Ellie's face, and pushed her closer. Then he watched, staring at her eyes as her heart skipped a beat; no depth could describe what she watched next. She froze, unable to think of anything.

  No thoughts. No fears.

  She floated in the air, falling into the sea without water or air. The man's eyes attracted her like a magnet, and she lost herself in a place with nothing around.

  “Yes... This is it. What do we have here?” The man suddenly spoke and blinked, and the glint surrounding the boat came back to nowhere or back to himself. It was hard to say what moved first, how quickly it came, or what exactly happened to space.

  It was not like they could notice it, for there was no light around the boat anymore. It was pitch black beside the man, whose forehead glinted in the starry light, and then... well, there was one weird, crimson entity, and one white and black scar.

  “I took a nap, went for a swim, and then... what? A jolt away from a starry sky? Odd. But it sure is a beautiful sky today,” the man said, glancing upward and speaking in a sweet tone to Ellie.

  His mesmerizing eyes watched her flustered face when he blinked again and let her eyes free.

  “S-sir?” she mumbled, still captured by his touch.

  “It is beautiful today. I know the answer to your question, yet your heart is not flattering. Interesting. It is taken.” The man furrowed his brows and stopped touching her face.

  Ellie fell and touched her face to see if it was even there and if the sudden darkness left anything else. It was a weird experience and feeling. It was as if the water and the sky had disappeared, and her mind had no body.

  The man stretched his chiseled body, cracked his neck a little more than should be healthy, and his pearl remained tranquil. Blood pumped what was right, and his spirit returned to normal, or what it should have been like.

  “Yep. What a nap. I guess I overdid it again and didn't thread the line lightly. Odd. That one is,” he sighed and moved his right arm up. There was a little vial between his fingers. It contained an interesting liquid that he had watched not that long ago.

  Because of its proximity, it created interesting motions, and his pearl found it welcoming enough to wake him up and notice a weird situation came out of nowhere.

  By this point, Celeste had reclaimed her footing, gotten to her feet, and wondered why she couldn't breathe or do much of anything. Instincts and froth of fear were old habits, and this one... was fucking awful one.

  She looked at that almost naked man holding her treasure and felt deep, well-known internal turmoil.

  “Give back!” She shouted.

  The man glanced at her. “Oh, that is curious. Try.”

  The rest of the people on the deck couldn't move. They were unable to understand this man or what he was saying and doing. It seemed they had met something they shouldn't and met someone absolute. They didn't have to care for this man at all; he was taking a nap in the ocean, so why worry and shout over nothing?

  It was Haggard's fault...

  However, it was common sense to check someone like that. Drowning wasn't right. There were many ways to die and kill a person. Checking him out was at least healthy, and Haggard didn't regret his action.

  “A-are you alright, sir?” Haggard forced himself forward because he was the only adult present.

  Glaring at Haggard with a curious glance, the man didn't even need to speak. A smile on his face indicated a questionable idea or a simple chuckle as if he had found something very funny.

  “We thought you were dead,” William blurted out from far away, on the opposite side of the deck, fearful and sweating and thinking he should get out of this boat. Celeste was not far from him, standing on her own feet and wondering if she should do something else.

  Both of their Emblems were like rabbits, not undulating or thinking about anything stupid, but... well, it was daring for this man since both were itching for it. Very much so.

  Changing the direction of his gaze, the man disregarded Haggard for air and looked at William with particular curiosity.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Interesting fella,” the man expressed, knitting his brows together, and began tossing his vial up and down.

  Then, he began approaching William, who was unable to leave or do anything about his wincing arm that tried to grab his own damn face. His hands and feet didn't listen. The man got close, crouched down, and panic crossed the darkness and crimson alike while Celeste judged them both and still weighed on her choices.

  Still, the man touched his chin and glanced at his face from a few inches away.

  William's eyes were different from Ellie's, hiding things.

  Memories. History. Wiped ideas. Something worse. Much worse than a swim or a nap.

  Frowning, the man's pearl dimmed as if he had found the reason to think and believe again.

  William wanted to escape, yet his eyes froze, and he began to sink when his vision blinked, and his mind twisted, loosened, and became robbed.

  It was a mesmerizing feeling, not as panicked as death, nor as overwhelming as drowning in misery or Madness. The base idea of losing oneself was still terrifying, but it couldn't change if the face of death itself arrived. Such a sheen of gold and silver was unnatural, and William sank to the bottom of everything and didn't dare to look back.

  Then, he hit something big—a big pearl. It was like a huge mirror that showed a glimpse of his face and body, and one distinct difference. What else had he seen, felt, or couldn't?

  It was himself; hundreds of different shadows and faces, each gazing forward and showing something else right before him, with differences, faces, wounds.

  The mirror was vast, layered in obstacles, and seemed to be made of hundreds of layers. Some people inside there hold onto swords, a great hammer, or a wide, biting hand. Some faces seemed like his but different, narrower, or scarred with crimson layers or many faces.

  Dazed and hazy, what he was seeing came off as messy. Blinking didn't help. Then, he noticed a little monster that should've been bigger in one corner of the mirror. It was one... not two, or three, or a hundred.

  It was very little yet human, and it laughed, pointing with its stump for an arm at him, and shut off the nonsense that knocked onto the pace of its Reality. It refused this with contempt and dissolved this sick fuckery.

  William shot away as if the mirror and that creature pinched him back. He blinked and found the man's face before him, looking interested, with his mouth twitching between a smile and a word.

  Everything shone differently when that pearl moved, and this person glanced through everything. He observed mysterious strangeness and patted William's shoulder in rare praise.

  “Such robust emotion and Ego. You are made of conviction and a sheer fucking will, aren't you?” the man asked with a serious expression.

  William swallowed his pride and came up with a single answer he was able to do. He nodded, as that was all he could muster right now. Being right or wrong no longer mattered, since both his arms and legs were useless. He wanted this man gone, and his feelings should also get lost like that damn vial.

  “Clueless, and...right? A Rank 0 Walker is always so wonderful and bizarre. This one is the same but a bit different. It is hard to guess their nature and....” A step jolted his wandering lesson.

  Celeste was right beside him, pushing her hands forward and aiming at the vial that kept going up and down in the man's arm.

  “Mine!”

  “Nope.” The man smirked and shifted the vial in the next swing.

  Celeste still punched forward, fighting against the air, that hand, and trying to catch her treasure.

  “Quick. Not accurate.”

  “Hm.” Celeste pressed her mouth in anger and felt challenged. She got even quicker until her towel loosened, and the man shifted and tensed. Then, she caught the vial, and the man paused, looking at the moon instead.

  “This is... very inappropriate, young lady.”

  Celeste didn't give a shit. She sniffed the vial, and not a single drop lost its appeal. Then, she secured her towel again and wished to kick this person's ankles.

  “Who?” she asked, hopeful that William was alright because it didn't seem like it.

  “We met.”

  “No.”

  “We did. Really!”

  “No...” Celeste angrily said and etched this person's face into her memory. Then, she made her stance clear and acted like an angry cat before an annoying human.

  “Alright. You are peculiar. Interesting. Interesting. And... what is the time again?” The man crouched, turned, and grasped William's left wrist. His watch worked and showed time but no date. That was a bit unfortunate, the man supposed.

  “Not much time comes at the wrong targets. I might add this meeting was greater than usual.”

  “D-does something matter?” William voiced his uncertainty, unsure of what his problem stood for.

  “Nothing at all. I am just looking at your soul and her emotional impact, " the man said, aiming his eyes and pearl at him and Celeste alike. His voice never shifted. It was calming as if he were watching a koi fish in the pond.

  “Hm. No flick whatsoever, yet the fear is so honest and... stronger than the desire. You are good. Good. To see this vial and to keep up, that is sufficient. It learns.” The man chuckled and backed off from William.

  Celeste got defensive when she felt he would steal her treasures again.

  “I don't want them. Don't worry. What use do they even have for me, huh? Ask yourself next.”

  “Dunno. People are crazy.” Celeste answered. “You are crazy, Stinky.”

  “Stinky? I've never heard that one before.” He said, stopped, sized the boat, and flicked his five-inch-long hair down one side. They often obscured his forehead. Droplets of water flew around, and his hair was fresh in a heartbeat.

  Rubbing his hands through his hair, he regained his dignified appearance, and his natural actions changed. Then, Celeste's face opened, and she pointed her finger at him.

  “Ah! You!?”

  As if what he did was of utmost commonality, the other three people couldn't get anything because they had never met the Principal of Emblem Academy.

  Alan Fain pulled one finger over his mouth and smiled at Celeste. “At last, hmmm.”

  They never met like this, and William swore Mi-Yung was a kitten in comparison, even if he didn't recognize this man. It wasn't about manners, voice, or reason. He was genuinely shocked, terrified, and confused about this man's entire being and voice.

  For now, Fain ignored Celeste after she recognized him, got even more defensive, which was cute as hell. Then Fain stepped in front of Ellie, won another hissy fit from Celeste, but she refused to engage.

  Fain lifted Ellie's hand and kissed her palm with lightness and gentle touch. It was a peculiar gesture that dated back centuries.

  “Let your dreams be a reality, young lady. Have a good night in these especially dazzling stars and light, and do not be too lost in disappointments of alluring youth,” the man winked at her, turned, and waved at everyone. Then, with a burst of a single step, he left the boat as if he had disappeared from the spot.

  A singular step akin to a jump wobbled the boat, guiding him far above them and onto the top of the Assembly Island.

  That simple act was probably the most normal of everything he had done, and left the boat back in normal, but not that trio. Those were far too shocked.

  For a while, everyone on the deck was silent. Some of them even determined him to be an Assembly Walker, but which one? His Rank might be very high, and there were many weirdos among them, or it wasn't the case. Ellie was sure of it, and she never met or seen face of Alan Fain.

  What was certain was that man was weird, eccentric, and his seemingly odd wording and tense aura played with the mind and soul alike. The fact that he swam like a dead body around Assembly Island was another thing, or it might not even be the most suspicious part.