My feet were bare.
The ground wasn't stone. It was hard, but smooth—like a hallway, yet too alien to feel familiar. The walls were white. No windows. No sound.
And everything… felt too real.
A cold sweat trickled down my spine. As I inhaled, I felt something stir inside me. It was approaching. I didn't know what it was, but I recognized the footsteps.
The door opened.
The moment I heard it, my knees gave out.
A figure emerged from the shadows. Not large—but his presence was enough to steal the air from my lungs. I couldn't see his face, but I knew who he was. I didn't want to remember him, but my mind hadn't forgotten.
My small hands covered my mouth. My legs refused to move. My eyes stared into the void. My heart beat wildly like that of a frightened child.
I'm grown up now, I wanted to whisper. I'm not here anymore.
But no… my body was small again. And he was still approaching.
The man… was no longer a man.
His shoulders had widened grotesquely. His arms stretched unnaturally. No nails on his fingertips—only claws. No eyes. But he could see me.
"Did you hide again?" he said. The voice echoed inside me. "You still remember me."
I collapsed to my knees. Crawled to the wall. My breath came in shattered fragments, like my collapsing self. I covered my face with my hands—but it was useless.
That thing… had caught my scent.
The corridor narrowed. Lights dimmed. Walls cracked.
This wasn't a memory. It was a trap. That thing fed on my fear. I wanted to scream. But my voice was gone.
The shadows closed in, claws reaching.
Until—
"Elysia!"
A voice. That voice.
I turned my head.
At the end of the hallway stood someone. Tall, cloaked. Blue lights danced at his fingertips.
Lucian.
But he wasn't looking at me. His eyes scanned the area—the walls, the light texture, the ceiling shape… He felt it too. This wasn't his world.
His brows furrowed. His steps were slow—but calculated.
"This is…" he muttered under his breath. "A different plane. A different reality."
Then his eyes found me. He stared for a long moment. Not like a mage. Like a stranger.
"Is that… her? Is that Elysia?"
He stepped forward—And the creature blocked his way.
Lucian's gaze sharpened. Magic danced at his fingers. Sparks flared. His cloak whipped in the air.
The creature hissed like rot leaking from a corpse: "You can't understand her fear. Because this isn't your world. This is her reality."
And it attacked.
Lucian cast his spell. Light erupted down the corridor. The creature recoiled—but did not vanish.
And in that moment… I ran.
My legs were still small. But fear, as always, was the best fuel.
The door opened.
⸻
I was no longer a child. But still young.
A house painted in pastels… cold on the inside. The woman standing beside me had adopted me, but never treated me like her own.
She had two sons. I… was a stranger between them.
One brushed my shoulder as he passed. The other knocked my notebook from my hands. We didn't make eye contact. Because I wasn't allowed to. Because silence… was safer.
But the shadows had followed me here. The children's faces warped into dark silhouettes. Their laughter echoed like nightmares.
I ran.
Opened a door.
⸻
I was grown now.
An office. A desk. A boss's voice shouting: "Do the job or get the hell out!"
My spine wasn't straight. I felt like I was drowning. As I rose from the desk, I stumbled.
But the worst part… I made no sound.
The lights dimmed again. Darkness crept over my boss's face.
"If you can't do this job," the voice said, "I'll end you myself."
That voice wasn't his. It was that thing again. In my mind.
The door. Run.
Another place. My room. At my bedside. I was praying.
The creature stood before me. Smiling.
I ran before the prayer ended.
⸻
I was at my computer.
This time, I was fully me. The real Elysia. The me before the game.
My screen was on. Inside, the world with Lucian. That world.
The creature was here too. It reached for me.
But a hand—another hand—grabbed its arm.
Lucian.
He tore off the creature's limb. It began to crumble. Before it fully dissolved, the creature lunged again—this time at Lucian.
It tried to pierce his mind.
Lucian's voice turned to ice.
"This place really isn't for you."
He raised his palms. Light enveloped the creature. Shrinking it. And then… crushed it like an insect.
Silence.
I stared at him. Frozen.
Then… I saw my reflection in the monitor.
I wasn't silver-haired Elysia. Not the game character.
I was… me.
Brown hair. Tired eyes.
Lucian turned his head. Looked at the screen.
And there—he saw his own face.
He was watching himself.
And on the screen… It was me, controlling Elysia with a mouse.
Lucian's eyes widened.
Even a mage had no explanation for this.
And this time… The question didn't come from his lips—It echoed from his gaze:
"Who… are you?"