The distant flashes of lightening followed by the sonorous rumble of thunder brought promises of rain. At that time, a blond-haired, brown-eyed man was speaking to a God.
The God was rich with a continually changing opalescent,and was reverberating between shapes and figures with two conspicious blotches like spilled crimson ink for eyes. There was no body, just some sort of floating amoebic mass of glob that Ginji thought of as a head. It had a voice that was projected directly into Ginji's head, leaving him only to obey, he was hanging by the God's every word.
It was the eyes that did it; it was definitely the eyes that cast the hypnotic spell over him.
Your destiny lies here, with me, the God was saying but no words were spoken
What should I do? Ginji found himself responding.
The taciturn God directed him to follow the wall, so he did.
The instant he touched it, he knew the wall, he knew where he was… it was the limitless fortress. The coarse feel o underlying stone with the chipping paint, the flow of electromagnetic waves all about it, the obvious metal lining causing that magnetic tinge, it all came flooding back to him. He walked on.
The hallway was dark and stank of rotting flesh; the Godhead's luminance was all the light there was. The darkness was black, like the inside of a room with no windows, or the dank of a desolate cave. He could hear giggles and whispers in the corners, it sounded like Shido and Pore and Masaki, singing filthy ballads about the fall of the prodigal lightening emperor.
Is this a dream? he pondered.
Of course, it's a dream.
Then can I wake up?
Not until I've had my say.
The labyrinth of the limitless fortress is one of the most intricate designs; build to compete with the best. The Minotaur itself would lose its way in the corridor, had it walked the hallways of Maze City. But the lightening emperor grew up here, played 'hide and go seek' and eventually went on to rule the lower town of the limitless fortress. But all of that was in the past, why relive it again and again? He thought. I just want to forget it all.
You will not be permitted such solace.
Why? I moved on, I am free. At least, I want to be.
The corridor curved up ahead leftwards to meet black darkness. There were no windows, however somewhere behind him; Ginji could hear the pelting of the drizzle on glass. His stomach knotted and he felt like a fish swimming towards a hooked worm, being baited and tantalized.
At a distance a solitary light sprayed into the corridor. A slightly ajar door lay silhouetted against the bright illumination.
Ginji made his way to the lit room, tentatively, edged on by the voice in his head. Go on; go on, the God was saying, but his legs felt liquid and wobbly. He managed to drag himself to the room and peer in, with all the prudence of a cat. And his hazelnut eyes began to scrutinize the scene within.
The dishevelled brown-haired man looked back at him, he was smiling lightly but it was difficult to make it out. His features resembled a shrivelled raisin, skin sticking to the bones and arms like twigs. He was a slim, tallish figure withered by the mistreatment of the years. His arms were weakly slumped by his sides, his shoulders hunched and all the vitality Ginji remembered had long since faded from his azure eyes. It was all very pathetic, to see the fallen serpent pitted against such indignities.
Ginji would have said his name, out of surprise if not despise, had he not woken up in a pool of his own sweat.
Moonlight blended with a sullen yellow sodium light from the warehouse below flowed into the room through the window. He walked to it and stood there concentrating on the flicker of some distant neon sign, he was lost in his thoughts. He stood there unmoving for what seemed a lifetime and then walked back to his bed.
'Dammit… Dammit all. Looks like I'll have to move again.'