Chapter Text
The world was always a vast white blankness.
To exist here was like being mist—unnoticed, unremarkable.
By the time the very First One realized it had been lingering in this place, the world had already grown noisy.
Yet no living thing seemed to see it.
And that confused it.
Even the confusion felt strange.
It was just staring into the distance, as it always did.
It turned.
Beside it, its kin sat on the ground, staring blankly along with it.
But when it moved, those dazed kin turned too, gazing right at it.
【Why?】
All of them wondered.
Only then did the First One lower its head, vaguely.
And as it did, the liquid inside spilled out, pooling into a lake on the ground.
Something felt wrong.
Confused, it stared back into the distance.
But the lake drew small, scurrying creatures.
They darted around it, drawn by the water.
Some even climbed onto its hand.
Yet they acted as if it wasn’t even there, lowering their heads to drink.
Suddenly, it lifted its hand.
In an instant, the little creatures seemed to realize something.
They scattered in a panic, crying out in alarm.
“Ah!”
The lake fell silent again.
Slowly, bit by bit, it stood up.
And its kin rose with it.
【I… can walk too? Just like those small beings… I am no different from them.】
The feeling was wondrous.
And so it truly began to walk.
It still moved like mist.
When it passed through the small creatures, they trembled—
but once they sensed no danger, they inched closer, cautious but curious.
After all, whenever it bowed its head, a lake would form on the ground.
The creatures drank deeply, leaping with joy.
As time passed, they no longer feared it.
The mist was now something they leaned on.
【I am… Ah.】
That was how the story began.
More strange creatures came with time,
but to Ah, they were just scenery along the way.
Perhaps it, the mist-like being, was just as easily overlooked to them.
Until one day, Ah kicked something.
The jolt made it stop abruptly.
The large creature rolled over from the kick, let out a shrill cry,
and began to wail loudly.
Their first meeting was as absurd as that.