A falling droplet of water made a pleasing resounding tone as it hit something, echoing momentarily then followed by another droplet.

    Aqueo was in a daze. He had been hearing it at the edge of his consciousness for quite a while now. It felt so far from him but he knew it was the sound of a droplet of water hitting water beneath.

    Everything around him was dark and his whole body felt like he was submerged in deep cold water. Uncomfortable. He couldn't move a muscle nor make a sound nor see nor breathe. But this sound he had been hearing, there was something in it. Something felt pleasant inside him every time it resounded. And every time a drop echoed, the next one seemed louder and stronger was the pleasant feeling it gave.

    He clung onto it, waited for it, excruciatingly; for each interval felt like eternity, for in that torture of uncomfortable coldness it was the only thing pleasant that his senses could perceive. For how long, he couldn't tell.

    As if rewarded for enduring the submerged feeling for a long time, a faint light appeared in his whole field of vision, similar to what one would see when their eyes were tight shut while facing the light of the sun. And with it was warmth that caressed his suffering body.

    It took Aqueo by surprise. In that seemingly endless pressure of coldness, the feeling was ecstasy, many times greater than the effect of the sound. So when the light and warm feeling vanished, swiftly as it appeared, and were replaced by the pressing coldness, he felt like a child whose pacifier was suddenly taken away from him.

    His body jerked, his eyes opened wide, his breathing became heavily erratic, his head swung left and right, looking for the light, longing for the warmth. But it was nowhere to be seen, nowhere to be felt. The only thing he could see was the dimly lit jagged stone ceiling in front of him. And that was when he realized that he could finally see, he was breathing and his body was feeling an uneven floor pressing cold beneath his back.

    'A cave,' he thought while looking at the jagged stones in front of him, expanding his lungs as much as possible to stabilize his breathing. He felt like he just emerged from a breathtaking deep dive.

    'How did I get here? Where is this?'

    His consecutive questions were swiftly followed by visions of memories as he tried to remember what happened last: the museum, him taking pictures, the glowing gem, and lastly, him walking in the middle of the street and getting hit by something—he got into a street accident. It must've been some kind of large construction vehicle because he saw it in his peripheral vision just before he got hit. Thinking even further, based on the color of it, and as someone who had been living there for a long time that he knew most of the colors of popular commercial vehicles, it must've been a truck of that construction company.

    He just sighed at the memory.

    'That slam hurt a lot,' he thought as he remembered the feeling of being hit by a truck and sent flying in the air, landing so hard at the cement road, rolling several times on it, hard, and finally hitting the thick, solid railings at the side of the street. It happened so fast yet he could remember how it felt like every moment of it. When he was hit by the truck, his breathing was as if suddenly cut off, and when he hit the cement road, it seemed like all the air in his lungs was suddenly expelled from his mouth and when he was bouncing and rolling hard on the cement road, he felt like his body and his limbs were so fragile that they could’ve been torn into pieces in mid-air, and when he hit the railings, it felt like his world stopped. He was still conscious after, but everything hurt. He tried to breathe but it was difficult and painful. The last things he could remember were the sounds of honking and people shouting and approaching around him while his vision was slowly darkening, the pain dulling, the sound dying. Then everything was dark and silent.

    "I must've died," he whispered, and with it were tears that flowed slowly on the side of his face.

    It was the conclusion he came up with. If he didn't die, he should be at the hospital right now, not in a cave. It was also because of all the novels he had read before, so his mind immediately went after the possibility of reincarnation or transmigration in addition to his preceding experience in the dark a while ago.

    He attempted to lift his hands to try to wipe the tears but it felt weak and aching, so it fell back on the ground. He tried to get up but was greeted by the same pain and weakness. His head slammed back to the uneven stone ground when he failed, adding another pain to endure.

    Another sigh, but of helplessness. He didn't notice the pain earlier because of the feeling of coldness. He realized too, that his mouth was dry and he was feeling hungry.

    He glanced left and right and down, looking for something to help him—there was none, just stones of walls and ceiling in different shapes. The dim light was coming from above his head, so he tried to look there even though it was difficult. As he did, a pleasant sound resounded from a distance above him. With it came the familiar feeling he had when he was in the cold darkness a while ago—the sound of the dropping water. This time, it was clearer and louder.

    He waited again as he was certain it would be followed by another one just like earlier. He waited, and waited until many seconds had already passed and the sound wasn't coming back up.

    'Why isn't the sound coming back?'

    He felt anxious, but he waited as that was the only thing he could do right now.

    His anxiety grew for each passing minute, afraid it wouldn't go back. And just when he was anxiously flailing his head to look above for the sound, it once again echoed.

    He closed his eyes as he enjoyed the pleasant feeling it gave to his body. He felt that the pain and weakness had lessened—the sound was healing and rejuvenating his body.

    He felt hope. It wasn't as he remembered it, the sound seemed continuous in his memories. But even so, if he just waited for a bit, the pain might completely vanish and he would be able to stand again.

    No. He couldn't wait. With the aching lessened, he rolled over and started crawling toward the source of the sound. There must be something there that could help him.

    About five steps away in front of him was a medium size crack on the wall which was the source of light that dimly illuminated the cave he was in. 'It's so near. I should be able to reach it,' he thought. So little by little, he crawled, even though it was painful.

    Midway, the sound resounded again which made him crawl a bit faster.

    When he could finally peek at the crack, he noticed a glowing translucent blob of blue substance floating towards him from the opening. And just like the effect of the light he saw when he was in the dark a while ago, he felt this pleasant warmth that coated his whole body. The pain vanished, his strength returned, and he knew that his body was finally back to normal—though he was still feeling a bit hungry.

    He sat up and stared at the glowing ball in front of him. It looked like water, but so translucent, about the size of a man's head. It was still exuding this warmth that felt so relaxing for Aqueo.

    It suddenly blinked. Aqueo didn't notice those two small balls on it with a deep blue dot each in the middle. Those must be its eyes because they were blinking and had the expression of looking curiously at him from head to toe.

    "What are you?" he asked his savior.

    The blob of glowing ball stopped staring at his feet and immediately threw its gaze to Aqueo's eyes when he asked that. It earned a surprised look from Aqueo.

    "Can you understand me? Do you know where I am right now?"

    The blob of glowing ball just blinked its eyes.

    "I. . . guess you can't talk then," Aqueo said disappointedly, "but can you—"

    Without any sign, it suddenly turned around and began floating toward the crack on the wall.

    "Hey! Wait!"