I stood there, my heart pounding wildly, my eyes fixed on the man who claimed to be my father. But his last words shook my entire world.
"They made you forget because they were afraid of you."
A sudden dizziness washed over me, as if the room itself was spinning. I looked at the little girl sitting in the corner… at myself, at ten years old, and I saw something I had never noticed before.
Shadows curled around her, wrapping her as if they were a part of her. But these weren't ordinary shadows… they moved… pulsed… alive.
I gasped, my hand flying to my mouth.
"What… is this?" I whispered, but no one answered.
I turned to the other version of me, the one who had been standing beside me since the beginning. She didn't speak, didn't move—just watched me with those glowing eyes, as if she knew I was beginning to understand.
But the truth was terrifying.
I turned back to the man who claimed to be my father. "Tell me everything!" I shouted, my voice shaking with anger and fear.
He smiled that cold smile again. "Well, since you insist on knowing…"
Then he raised his hand.
And in an instant, the room ignited with a strange light, as if the walls themselves were dissolving, changing, shifting…
And suddenly, I was no longer in the room.
❈ ❈ ❈
I found myself in a completely different place.
The sky above me was pitch black, without stars, and the air around me was thick like smoke. I looked around—there was an old structure, resembling an abandoned palace, its walls covered in strange symbols, engravings that didn't belong to this world.
Then I heard a sound behind me.
I turned slowly…
And saw someone I never expected.
It was a woman—tall, with long silver hair and glowing red eyes. She wore a flowing black gown that trailed on the ground, surrounded by fluttering black butterflies, as if they were a part of her.
But what terrified me the most… was that she looked just like me.
"Finally…" she said in a soft, eerie voice. "You have returned, Iris."
❈ ❈ ❈
I shivered.
"Who are you? And how do you know my name?" I asked, but my voice barely came out.
The woman stepped forward, the black butterflies swarming around her, feeding off the darkness.
"I am not the one who should answer that question." She smiled, but it wasn't comforting. "You are."
I felt like I was on the verge of breaking down, but deep inside, there was something else… an old sensation, a feeling that I knew this woman, that I had been here before.
But when? And how?
The other version of me was still beside me, silent as always. But this time, she looked at me as if she was waiting for me to make a choice.
Would I run away like I always did?
Or would I face the truth, no matter how terrifying it was?
To be continued...