High above him— past the looming pinkish-white clouds that were passing by above— Ren was taken aback by the odd pink-hue of the sky above. Having awaken on his back, surrounded by blades of short grass and blossoming white flower for as far as the eye-could see, the gray-haired child felt a pleasant breeze blew across him while continuing to gaze up at the brilliant stars and multitude of moons that accompanied the pastel-nebula cosmos.
The otherworldly colors and the impossible way the entire landscape around him flourished in an ever present light were both grounds for panic— but yet, the eleven year-old child felt nothing but clarity, and serenity flowing through every fiber of his being in that moment.
Ren would have been content with lying where he was at for a few more hours, as the act of stargazing in broad daylight without a sun to be seen was astonishing enough to warrant his attention. However, just as he saw what looked to be a colossal white-whale traversing through space— appearing nothing more than a faded speck, from what far the distance was between the ground and the creature— it was then that Ren heard the sound of soft footsteps approaching him from behind.
With the memory of having been ambushed in pure darkness still fresh on his mind, Ren was once again intrigued at just how calm he felt in that moment, as he slowly sat up from the ground before turning around to face whoever had been gently walking toward him.
Standing before him was a pale-skinned woman with crimson eyes like his, who had long flowing strands of glowing-blond hair— her regal outfit composed of a royal-blue skirt that covered her feet completely, while the rest of her ivory and gold accented dress covered her breasts, and all the way down past the middle of her skirt.
Wearing gloves and sleeves that went down past the bottom of her slender shoulders, the dress-collar she had on concealed her neck, while revealing her cleavage, and the skin from her hairless armpits, down to the middle-sides of her slim torso.
Angelic in both appearance and in aura, the pedals of the white flowers around both she and Ren began illuminating in a white light that radiated a gentle glow of cyan particles; her face— despite how dreamy and comforting the colors and atmosphere around them were— was that of smug confidence, and righteous maliciousness.
Seeing the ground beneath him turn into a platform of brilliant light that shined like a diamond, Ren marveled at the phantasmic beauty before him— his red eyes widened, and his pale lips parted, as he slowly gazed up to focus on the smirking woman standing before him.
Though he couldn't feel his own heart beat, the excitement imploding within his very being was akin to that of a supernova, as he saw the beautiful woman conjuring up a pair of glowing cyan dice— one being twenty-sided, and the other being ten-sided.
Softly letting out an arrogant chuckle, the red-eyed blond woman closed her hands together— cupping the dice together, before shaking them around in her palms.
"You like games, don't you?" The blond woman asked in a confident, and collected voice— her toothy grin curling wider across her youthful face, as she kept shaking her cupped hands up-and-down while staring down at Ren.
Unsure whether or not the divine being before him was genuinely asking him a question, or if it was meant to be rhetorical, Ren simply stared back at her with an uncertain expression on his face— still feeling calm, and at peace, even as she stared at him with an expected stare.
"I… I guess I do— yeah," Ren meekly replied, which prompted an amused chortle from the blond woman, who closed her smiling lips together as she tossed the pair of dice down on the glowing white floor between them.
"As do I; and like or not, it's time for us to play," the blond woman spoke in a hushed, eager voice— one that sounded borderline maniacal.
With bated breath— and a wide-eyed look across her confident, grinning face— the blond woman waited for the pair of rolling dice to finish landing flat along the ethereal ground.
Staring down at the pair of glowing, cyan dice before them, Ren watched as the white numerical symbols that were facing up began to glow white themselves— showing an "XX" on the twenty sided dice, and a "X" on the other.
"Would you look at that, Ren?! A "nat-twenty"— how lovely!" She enthused with an eerie voice, and raised both her hands up excitedly before curling her fingers into fists.
"Combine that with the ten I just rolled, and…" The woman trailed off coyly, and lowered one arm horizontally along her midsection while resting the elbow of her other arm along her upraised palm— holding her cheek, and pretending to be deep in thought, as she furrowed her brows playfully.
Clicking the inside of cheek with her tongue, eventually the blond woman's red eyes lit up as she lowered her arms down and proclaimed, "Well, my word! If memory serves me right, that means we've scored ourselves some "criticals"! Isn't that just "lucky"~?"
Again— combined with how psychologically unhinged the grinning woman appeared, along with her effortless use of magic— Ren wasn't sure whether or not she was actually asking him for his input, or merely speaking aloud to stroke her own ego.
"Uhh, umm… I think, yeah— maybe…?" Ren stammered with his usual calm voice, and gave the enthralled woman a bewildered look before telling her, "I… I-I really, really don't get what's going on here, ma'am…"
Once again amused by the child's baffled behavior, the blond woman seemingly chose to withhold on giving him an explanation. Instead, she locked eyes with the star-eyed child, and smirked approvingly at him while the glowing-white pedals began softly ascending up from the field of grass around them.
Caught in a flurry of magical particles that were seemingly multiplying all around him, as they circled around him like a hurricane— blinding him in light, while the white-glowing ground suddenly, and silently, shattered beneath him.
Though he couldn't see nor move an inch during the transition from light to darkness that was all around him, the comforting aura of divine need for retribution of the woman never left Ren— even as he felt himself plumping downward through a seemingly never-ending white abyss of light.
And as the unpleasant sensation of dulled pain radiating from the top of his head began slowly returning to him, Ren heard the woman's calm, yet violent voice say to him, "Just do what comes natural."