Welcome to my Dream World || (deukae)

Chapter 2: Nightmares Unveiled

Beneath the ghostly pallor of a waxen moon, Handong tread softly along a path fringed with creeping fog and overgrown brambles. Her footsteps were silent, her breaths measured as the murmurs of Yoohyeon's voice echoed through the corridors of her slumbering mind, guiding her steps like a siren's call. With each step, the weeping willows bowed their mournful heads, their drooping branches caressing Handong's face like the fingers of lost souls beckoning her deeper into their lament. Swathed in shadows and secrets, the grove seemed to breathe with a life of its own, whispering tales of forgotten dreams and concealed destinies. Eyes seemed to look directly towards her everywhere she walked, sending chills down her body.

"Yoohyeon believed in me," Handong murmured to herself, her gaze flitting across the gnarled trunks and silvered leaves searching for a sign. "I can't let fear hold me back."

The verdant fingers of the willows shuddered as if responding to her resolve. The air was thick with the scent of damp earth and ancient whispers, an otherworldly shroud that clung to her skin, yet she pressed onward, undaunted by the grove's eerie embrace.

"Each step is a victory," she declared, her voice steady but small against the grove's oppressive silence. Handong's eyes darted from shadow to shadow, peering through the veils of hanging moss for the hidden truths that Yoohyeon promised lay ahead.

"Where are you leading me?" The question lingered on her lips, the answer perhaps etched in the bark or buried beneath the roots of these ageless sentinels.

"Deeper," the voice of her dreams urged, and Handong could almost feel Yoohyeon's spectral hand upon her shoulder, nudging her forward. "Deeper where the courage of your heart will shine brightest."

In the heart of the willow grove, where the moonlight dared not penetrate, Handong paused. She closed her eyes, drawing in a deep breath and letting the symphony of the rustling leaves and the distant hoot of an owl fill her senses. It was here, amidst the unsettling stillness, that she felt an unspoken promise hang in the air—a pledge that this journey would lead her to answers, to freedom, to the key that would unlock the Nightmare that ensnared them all.

The sounds of water awakened Handong's senses as she recalled her sister's words...their tears a river leading to the mirror. She knew she had to be close, one step closer to saving her sister. A reflection of silver light shone just enough for her to notice the mirror resting at the edge of the riverbank.

Handong's gaze fell upon the Mirror of Lysithea, an opulent relic tarnished by time and dark enchantments. Beneath its imposing frame, two other women about her age lay entangled in their own reflections, their bodies suspended as if submerged in still water. Their eyes told tales of countless sunsets seen only through the glassy prison that held them fast—eyes wide with fear yet glistening with a plea for salvation.

"Please," one of them's voice quivered, her words barely a whisper against the silence. "Don't leave us here."

"Someone will come," the other murmured, more to herself than to anyone else. "They must."

The air was thick with despair, but Handong felt it cut by something sharper—her resolve. She circled the mirror, fingers trailing over the cool surface, feeling for the imperceptible flaw that might be the key to their liberation.

"Yoohyeon spoke of a weapon," Handong mused aloud, her voice steady amidst the unsettling quiet of the grove, recalling her conversations over many nights. "A Dream Caster that can shatter illusions."

"Is it here?" the taller of them pressed, her voice hitching with hope.

"I have not found it yet," Handong admitted, her brow furrowing. She inspected every vine-wrapped statue and moonlit crevice, her search methodical and unyielding.