𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐘𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐍 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐒𝐊𝐘

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐄𝐍

𝐉𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐋𝐎-𝐕𝐈

        The night was a restless one. Tossing and turning in my bed, I couldn't escape the memories that had haunted me for centuries. Faces, places, and the weight of countless lifetimes pressed down on me, threatening to drown me in a sea of regrets. Not to mention the memories I tried to repress that got dredged back up by Kafka mentioning that title.

Though, how is one supposed to forget something like that time? Those memories will forever be etched into the very depths of my soul. I wouldn't be able to forget about them even if I tried.

If I didn't have to sleep and recover my energy, I wouldn't in the first place. It's one of the few past times I don't look forward to. Not anymore. When I do finally fall asleep, I honestly wish I didn't.

I open my eyes into the memory. It takes me only moments to figure out where I am. The glowing base of a large tree, branches that shoot off as far as the eye can see...

I stand before the Imaginary Tree.

Glancing down, a heavy sigh escapes past my lips. I'm in the clothes I wore that day. The day my life changed forever.

I take a step forward, no matter how much dread it fills me to do so. I remember the confidence I had, reaching this ever so desired location. Too much had ridden on my reaching of this plane of existence.

It was a suicide mission, after all.

A last ditch effort to make a change, any kind of change.

To change my worlds fate, I had to give my everything.

Including my life.

There was no other possible way. We all searched for other possible routes. Yet they all lead back here. S̶͚͚͂̈́h̶͓͕̟̃͑ḛ̴͍͇͈̫̓ offered to take my place, practically begged me to let h̷̖̄̓̓ȩ̷̻̫̠͉̄ŗ̷̮͔̳̫͑̈́... but... I couldn't. I couldn't bare the thought of h̷̖̄̓̓ȩ̷̻̫̠͉̄ŗ̷̮͔̳̫͑̈́ having to go through the pain I had to endure just to get to this point.

I just hope that s̶͕̭̋̌̽̚ͅh̵̳̓e̶͚̞̩͘ can forgive me for my cowardice. I didn't even say goodbye, after all. S̶͚͚͂̈́h̶͓͕̟̃͑ḛ̴͍͇͈̫̓ wouldn't have let me leave if s̶͕̭̋̌̽̚ͅh̵̳̓e̶͚̞̩͘ knew what I was going to do.

My head pounds in agony.

This isn't a part of the dream.

My mind is trying to remember someone... but who am I trying to remember? It's... probably for the best if I don't remember.

It's at this point that the Imaginary Tree acknowledges my presence. It's as if countless voices fill my head all at once. A body rises from the sand at my feet and takes form. It's... me?

"You... gave up... everything... to save... a dying world. Why... go... through such... lengths?" The voices speak, broken but intelligible enough to understand what they're saying. I remember the determination that blazed within me. The hopes of everyone I knew, carried in my heart.

"Because we stand in defiance against our fate! We won't just let some tree acting like a god determine our lives! We deserve a chance to show we exist just as much as the next world does!" I shouted defiantly at the mirror image of me.

"You... aren't special..." I bit my cheek.

"I know. We all know that. We're human- each and every one of us in that world are filled with flaws and imperfections. It's what makes us the way we are! When given an impossible scenario, we will fight until our dying breath to save our dying world. No matter what it takes." I won't back down- can't back down. I have to find a way to save them. Each and every one of them. The mirror is silent, eyes blank.