"My sword is one inch away from slicing your neck. My victory is one inch away, yet why can't I do it, Althea? What kind of spell have you cast on me to have me thinking about you all day?!"
-----------
Byeol meets a tragic death at age nineteen...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I must be dreaming.
As soon as I woke up in that same forest, I knew this wasn't reality. Only this time - it was day. The sub creeped through the now dense trees as I looked up, small rays of sunlight lighting up the whole forest. I remember those being fully withered, yet now they had bloomed beautifully. The withered roses had come alive again, as more started to grow around me. Birds sung and bees buzzed around me, as I walked down the sunny path.
The memories from this place - they were gruesome. All the times I died, in the hands of.. that thing, kept coming back to me.
Yet the forest looked welcoming. Like it had been cleansed of all evil, like the animals weren't afraid to come out now.
Soon, I stumbled upon a blue pond. I don't know how I made my way there, I don't remember walking to it. The water was sparkling, and at the other edge of it stood a deer, drinking water from it.
Still, I found myself wanting to wake up. Something didn't feel right.
I turned around, and saw... my old self?!
My eyes widened in shock, as I stared at her. The eyebags beneath her brown eyes, the messy hair, the wired headphones that always helped me escape reality...
She was standing right there. Just beside a tree a few feet away from the pond. And I found myself running. I ran as fast as I could - maybe she had answers to what happened; to what brought me here.
And just when I was reaching her, a car passed by so fast, it made me stop dead in my tracks, I blinked and she was gone. Both her and the car, vanished.
"No!" My voice echoed through the forest, as if I was in a tunnel. I slowly walked to the spot she was standing at.
Beside the tree, almost covered by a flower, laid a stamped envelope.
I got down on my knees, reaching for it. When I tried to open it, I couldn't. The paper wouldn't rip, the wax wouldn't come off, nothing.
I leaned against the tree, staring at the envelope. What the hell was in here that was so important, it wouldn't open at the hands of anybody?
Maybe the Pope had an idea... then again, I'd have to tell him that I'm from another world. I couldn't tell him, no.
Slowly but surely, I drifted off, and when I woke up, I was in my bedroom. The dream was over.
Slowly, I opened my eyes, the sunlight invading them as my maid opened the curtains.
I sat up with a mumbled 'good morning'.
"Morning, Lady Althea. It's time to get ready for the day." Harriet spoke, and I couldn't say I wasn't dreading it. I haven't had this feeling ever since I died, but I think I was hungover.
