"Where am I?" Kathleen's mind floated among the thick atmosphere.
Oh yes, I am dreaming once again.
What is this place? This is different from the other times. And where are the figures? She reached ahead in the heavy fog, searching for them.
She didn't know why, but those figures intrigued her so much. It was like the figures of her friends were calling for her, but no matter how much she tried, she couldn't reach them.
Just like clockwork, the fog once again started to clear a bit, and she could finally see those figures. Well, they were not only figures—she knew them by name. The one in the front was Eddy, and right beside him was Theo. At the back, the tall, muscular guy was Barren.
Her eyes searched around. Where is this place?
She checked carefully—the walls of this place were strange. At first, she thought it was just blue lighting, but no… somehow, this was water. Then she noticed a fish swimming in the water.
They are surrounded by a sea of some sort… What is this place?
Once again, her eyes floated around, searching for Simon and herself.
But where were they?
Eddy's figure looked toward her.
Then, a figure passed by her.
That frightened her.
she couldn't get used to this feeling at all.
It was Simon.
But wait—where was she? And what about the figure she couldn't identify? She couldn't find it either.
A large fish swam above their heads.
All of the figures turned their gaze toward it, their eyes shining with fascination—including Kathleen.
They started to move now, so Kathleen followed, hoping to find out more about this place—and about herself. Why wasn't she with them?
She pushed through the atmosphere.
Wait… why is this so hard?
She couldn't push forward. It felt like she was trapped in the middle of a vast body of water, with the current flowing against her.
No—she was lagging behind.
The figures ahead of her began to fade, their silhouettes vanishing one by one. The scenery around them started to change.
"I miss them."
A voice came from behind her.
She turned, startled.
It was the mysterious figure—the one with no face, standing alone.
What is this place?
The figure's hands were bound in chains, trapped by something unseen.
Kathleen slowly started to move toward it, hoping that this time, she would finally uncover the mystery of the figure.
"I want to go back to my friends."
The figure spoke again.
The voice—she didn't know why, but it felt distant… sorrowful.
"Who are you?" Kathleen asked, stepping closer to the figure.
"I want to go back to my world and spend time with my friends."
Again, the same voice.
But now… it felt familiar.
As if it was a voice she already knew.
That same black void of a face—Kathleen shuddered.
No matter how many times she had seen it, she could never get used to this face.
"Who are you?" Kathleen asked again.
A long silence filled the space.
Then, the figure turned toward her.
That faceless void stared into her soul.
"I am you."
That surprised her. She moved back, her heart beating crazy.
"What? You are me? How can this be possible?"
No—Kathleen started to move backward. She could now hear her own heartbeats.
The faceless figure was still staring into her soul.
"Viola."
The faceless figure stated.
Wait—why does this feel so familiar? The fog started to grow back once again.
"We are the same. Stop rejecting yourself."
The faceless figure spoke once again. Her voice started to morph—now it was just like her own voice.
"No, I am not Viola."
She struggled to move—tried to step back, to run—but the more she resisted, the stronger the force became.
Something was pulling her forward.
Toward it.
Wait—it can't be. She looked toward the faceless figure, but it was not faceless anymore.
The black fog started to clear little by little.
"Can you see me now? I am you. Stop rejecting yourself," the faceless figure said, looking toward Kathleen.
This is just a dream, she thought to herself. The fear inside of her wanted to wake up from this bad dream, but no matter how hard she tried, she was not waking up.
"Look at my eyes."
The faceless figure spoke.
Wait, what is happening? She was actually looking up, but she didn't want to look at that face. Her body was not listening to her.
"Stop rejecting yourself now. Embrace yourself. That is the only way you will know the truth about your past."
Past—oh yeah. Her mind flooded with the memories of her past, which she thought she had forgotten.
She saw someone hugging her. Oh yes, this is her own mother. How could she forget? And those are my friends. She saw the exact same scene from before—where she was sitting in a classroom and her friends were surrounding her. Eddy, Barren, Simon—oh yes, they were her friends. How could she forget about them? The time she spent with them during school breaks and then on the way to her home.
Past memories flooded her mind entirely, which made her weep her heart raced her hand trembled.
"Now you see who you actually are. You are Viola, who got dragged to this world—far, far away from your loving mother, from the friends you cared about."
"I am Viola," she spoke out without even thinking. Her body stood up, then moved toward the figure and stood beside her. She started to release the figure from the chains.
In the midst of all this, her mind wandered around countless memories of a life she had forgotten, a truth she had denied., which just a moment ago war foreign to her. That was the reason she didn't even notice the smile on the faceless Viola's lips.
A slow, creeping smile.
A shiver ran through the faceless Viola's body.
She was free.
At last.
And Kathleen—dazed, overwhelmed—had no idea what she had just done.
To be continued…