Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Boredom

I seem to have run into a recurring problem within the void. I am once again bored. 

 

Now you may be thinking, “how did you even manage to run out of things to do with all of that mana to play around with?” 

 

Well let me tell you. Aside from observing their various characteristics and how they reacted with one another, I cannot actually do anything else with them. 

 

It’s like if you gave a bunch of high quality ingredients to a chef, but deprived him of any and all kinds of cooking tools and implements. Sure, I can continue to see how they react with each other or maybe bash a few of them together, but that’s it. I can’t actually control them in a way you would expect of a fantasy novel. 

 

I’ve already examined each and every one of them in detail to the point that I could distinguish them by smell. Each and every interaction with the same or different mana has been burned into my brain. 

 

There is nothing left for me to mess around with. 

 

Well, maybe not exactly nothing. 

 

See, the neutral mana actually had a pretty cool effect. If I bonk it a few times, it can leave a trail of something,  as if it was a brush and the void was a canvas. The trail it left was like the dimming tail of a comet burning up in the atmosphere. It was faint, but in this void, it was enough to shine bright. The trail lasts quite a while too, around a few hours if I had to guess.

 

So, with my neutral mana pencil, I started drawing. I’ve always actually wanted to learn how to draw and make art and stuff back then. It started from learning about story time animations and becoming enamored by the simplistic art styles and how they would move in the video. It eventually leaned towards more professional artworks and fanarts, but I still found simple art charming regardless.

I start with a crude drawing of a stick figure man beside his stick figure house with his stick figure dog. Could you tell I’ve never drawn before? Well, it’s not like I lack any time for improvement. 

 

Next, I drew a face, still crude, but art is about branching out and trying new things, right? It has eyes, a nose, a mouth, ears. The face is rather round, or circular I guess since I did draw a circle. It had tufts of wiry hair at the top drawn from singular strokes. 

 

Quite a good try for my first time making a face, for a preschooler that is. It’s not that it’s bad, but it really is extremely simplified. 

 

Should I try making random art with the other mana? Just a straight up mosaic, but with mana instead of stained glass? Could be a fun project. Actually, could I make sculptures with the earth mana? Decisions, decisions.

 

Alright, art doesn’t make itself, and I have all the time in the world.

 

☆☆☆☆☆

 

In a certain pocket of the infinite void, several amateurish attempts at the several branches of art littered an area around the size of a moderately large warehouse. There were drawings that were gradually disappearing, paintings of organized, shimmering mana, sculptures marred by soot, cuts, and cracks, and several other finished and half-finished works. It resembled a studio used simultaneously by several artists and deserted for a few months with how cluttered and loosely sorted it was. 

 

And just like that, I’m bored of art as well. Jiminy Christmas, what in the everloving heck should I do now?!

 

As you can see, I’m really not handling the boredom too well. All of this time alone would have been fine had I had anything with me here. Anything at all, just something that isn’t myself or mana. I’m starting to get tired of the idea of drifting aimlessly with only mana to keep me company. I swear to whatever is up there that I will finally-

 

…

 

Hold on a second.

 

…

 

Huh. 

 

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Either I’ve lost it, or there’s another bright twinkling somewhere in the distance that isn’t mana. How do I know that? Believe me, with how long I’ve spent with the damn things, I would be able to recognize it from a mile away blind, deaf, and devoid of any other senses.

 

I guess the only logical thing to do now is head towards it and hope that it’s at least different enough to mana.

 

I once again swim in the void, abandoning my collection of various bits and bobs made from mana. I keep going, feeling elated as I could visually confirm that I am indeed getting closer and closer to that twinkling light. 

 

After around an hour or so, I felt a slight tug which got stronger the closer I got. It was like the gravitational pull of a black hole.

 

Well that definitely is not foreboding or anything.

 

Despite that worrying thought, I continue swimming towards it. I think I am about tens of meters away, and it is starting to resemble a white dwarf star. All small and blinding and compact.

 

Oh boy, the pull is becoming quite strong now. It’s more sucking me in than me swimming towards it. But, who cares, might as well see where this goes.

 

I started rocketing towards it at insane speeds, and finally as I thought I would crash right into its surface, it swallowed me whole, painting my vision darker than the void and sapping away my consciousness, almost as if I was going to sleep.

 

Sleep, huh? Maybe I could finally actually die after spending eternity in this void. God, if you’re there, please, just let me rest. I’ve had enough.

 

And with that thought, I succumb to slumber.

 

☆☆☆☆☆

 

At an unassuming house of a frontier city,

 

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH, HEAVENS ABOVE, IT HUUUUURTS.”

 

“Yer doing great! Just keep pushing, I can almost see the baby’s head!”

 

“Y-yes, just one, more, puuUUUUUUSH!” 

 

“Alright, come on, come on. There we go!”

 

“Hah, hah, hah, c-can I hold, um, him? Her?”

 

“Well lass, seems like ya gave birth to a healthy-”

 

*pop*

 

“...uhhhh. I meant two! Two healthy baby girls!”

 

Two babies were born in one of many households.

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