Lucianna opened her eyes.
A pure white sky. A massive silver circle with lines spreading out like sun rays. A mysterious and unfamiliar scenery that defied explanations.
Blinking twice, slowly, she brought her right hand up to her face: pale white, with long delicate fingers and all five nails painted black. It blocked out the sky.
Lucianna sat up.
A cold sensation grazed the underside of the skin on her forearms. Surrounding her were countless flowers, spreading out across her vision.
After looking for a while, she soon realized that the silver lines—or rather the pillars—that sprouted out of the silver circle in the sky, splitting the horizons, were actually parts of cage-like structure surrounding this place.
A pure white sky. A massive silver cage that contained hills of flowers of every color.
And at the center of it all.
Lucianna turned around. And there, a small white circular pavilion, standing alone above the hill of flowers, providing shades.
She lifted herself to her feet, and began walking toward the white pavilion, following a path made from cobblestones, causing the leaves to sway as she moved past.
And when she finally arrived.
Clink~!
Wearing a simple apron with his long golden hair tied up in a pony-tail, moving around while carrying a porcelain tea set—faintly, the owner of that figure also seemed to be humming a simple tune.
Eden spun around.
“Oh, you’re finally up.”
The golden-haired figure walked toward Lucianna, placing down the tea set on a table to the side.
Seeing her looking around the pavilion without saying anything, Eden called out to her again.
"I decided to clean up a little."
A bright smile that seemed to sparkle, along with both arms that stretched out proudly.
"Do you like it?"
“...”
Silence hung in the air.
Lucianna continued to stare at Eden who retained his cheerful face without pausing.
After a while…
“What happened to Karzio?”
—Those words came out of her lips.
“Hmmm…”
Eden placed his hand on his chin, without looking away from her.
“Dealt with.”
A simple reply; one that left so much unspoken.
A flood of questions entered Lucianna’s mind…
“To be able to do something like this… It seems like this isn’t your first time, is it?”
However, recalling her previous interactions with the being in front of her, she decided that it would be better to avoid direct confrontation.
“Not really…”
Eden narrowed his eyes.
Altarin, Vena, Ruby… Even Athena.
During his time in this world, at some point, he had seen their dreams.
Eden looked away from Lucianna, to the tea set placed to the side. Then, untying his ponytail, letting the bundle of long golden hair come loose, he proceeded to pour out two cups of tea.
“So, do you want something to drink?”
When Eden turned around, unexpectedly, one of the tea cup floated out of the tray he was holding, across the small white round table in the middle of the pavilion, and the chairs by its sides.
On the other side, Lucianna held out her arm, as the tea cup floated gently into her hand.
Sitting down on the nearby chair, and without showing any emotion on her face, Lucianna brought the porcelain tea cup to her lips.
“Though I might not be on the same level as you. The dream world is also my area of expertise…”
But then, immediately after saying that, she stopped herself.
—Although, perhaps, as someone who showed such a miserable appearance moments ago, it wasn't really something she could say.
“...”
Eden didn’t say anything to the Lucianna who was seemingly lost in thought. Instead, he simply took off his apron, left it on the back of the chair next to him, and sat down opposite of her.
In the reflection of her face inside the tea cup, there was a ripple.
The entire situation ran through her head.
The fields of flowers outside sway to the breeze, rustling.
—Right now, all the [fog] in her mind had cleared away.
Quiet serenity. A peaceful warmth.
Perhaps, because of that, she felt like it was fine...
It was fine if she just told him everything.
After a while.
Lucianna opened her mouth, closing it, and then reopening it again.
Eventually.
“All of this only happened because Karzio was able to accidentally tap into a weakness I didn’t know I had.”
…..
“2000 years ago…”
Softly. Quietly. Her voice rang out among the flutterings of the flowers.
“The River of Styx flooded… And the angels that were supposed to become parts of the Order faction fell into the Chaos side.”
The reflection in the teacup distorted her face.
A battle that took place on the border of the Empire of Feylund escalated to the point where certain Divine-level beings were forced to descend to the Mortal World… but the details of it were not important.
The only thing that mattered was that people died, countless numbers of them.
“We were captured by the Chaos Demons and turned to slaves. Abused. Tortured.”
Lucianna paused. She closed her eyes. Reopening them narrowly.
“Inside that [Abyssal Prison]. It was as if time didn’t exist.”
The hands that were holding the tea cup silently tensed.
“But I struggled. I had a plan. I’d use everything at my disposal. My body, my dignity.”
Her voice wavered, threatening to break, but she quickly controlled it.
“It didn’t matter what I had to do. It didn’t matter how lowly I had to act.”
The breathing that was slightly hastened quickly calmed down.
“I caught the attention of a devil of pleasure and got taken in as a servant, allowing me to start climbing up the ranks.
“I betrayed him. Took control of everything he left behind. A network of brothels in the lower floors of The Abyss.”
She paused.
A tired smile.
“But he was just the first of many.”
—Hide your fangs. Don’t reveal your claws. Become whatever the audience desire.
“Evil or good. Even those who were innocent.”
—Pleasure was only given as a transaction. For every satisfied patron, another soul was taken hostage.
“Even the people who loved me.”
—To gain more power. To gain more influence. To guarantee her own safety.
—Hurt yourself. Hurt others. Innocent or not. Deserving or not.
“I would seduce anyone, steal their secrets, and control them. Devils, demons… gods.
“Until eventually, I became one as well.”
A spider of lies who sat among the webs of conspiracies during the most chaotic time in the history of this world, tugging strings, giving aids to both sides, never had any true allies or enemies, all for the sake of its own survival.
The Lady of Red Lamps. The Chaos Goddess of Lust and…
[The Order Goddess of Secrets].
—A title known by herself and her alone. A name uttered only in whispers.
“So did you regret it?”
A calm voice reached Lucianna’s ears.
“...”
After 2000 years of betrayals, lies, and sins…
As the scent of blood grew so thick she had no choice but to wear it as ornament. And as the shadows of her past became something she had to hide from herself.
"Of course not."
No matter how much those shadows would chain her down, those decisions weren't mistakes. If she were given a thousand more chances.
She would do the same thing a thousand more times.
“But in those moments, it was as if my true self was blocked off.”
—When was the last time she ever felt that anxious? Afraid enough to be unable to move?
“And all I’m left with is this…
“Terrifying, shapeless lump.”
Unending.
Cyclical.
“—It’s a recursive nightmare loop.”
…..
A sudden voice interrupted her stream of thoughts.
Lucianna turned to look at Eden.
Her scarlet eyes widened in confusion.
“A what?”
“It’s a term in psychology.”
Tilting his head a little, Eden moved his hands to the cup of tea on the round white table, and continued to say to the baffled Lucianna.
“Subconscious and conscious. The way the different versions of you interact with itself might not be entirely intuitive, but it’s always explainable. A nightmare loop is a result of your mind anticipating the worst case scenario which led to the creation of said worst case scenario."
“The brain is a closed system. Well, most of the time. It can only reuse bits and pieces of your memories to construct something that’s an amalgamation of things that already existed.”
“...”
He looked straight into her eyes.
“But you should never fear it.”
“Fear… what?”
“The past.”
"..."
Eden took a sip of his drinks, before placing the cup back down.
“Because that’s what dreams are. That’s all it’ll ever be.
“Whether it’s as nice as you wished, or as horrifying as you feared.
“When you wake up, it’ll all just fade away.”
“...”
The fields of flowers swayed as the breeze blew past.
A faint fragrance that felt ever so soothing. Along with the scattering petals that began to take flight.
Like a dream, the scent was the only thing you’d remember, as the colors faded away from your mind—lost, to the flow of time.
Back inside the pavilion, Lucianna refocused her gaze onto the figure sitting in front of her.
“What about you?
"Will you also fade away?"
Eden paused slightly at the question.
He shook his head and smiled.
"No.
"When you wake up, I'll still be there."
Lucianna silently looked at the calm smiling face of Eden.
And in the next moment, before she could even comprehend, before she could even feel a change of any kind.
Suddenly.
She woke up.
…..
Once the figure of Lucianna disappeared from the spot, the tea cup in her hands fell.
Eden reached out quickly, grabbing the cup out of the air, holding it, before placing it down gently on the round white table.
He breathed out a small sigh of relief.
Lucianna was able to get out of her dream safely. And with this, at the very least, his purpose for coming here was accomplished.
—Even if, for him, it wouldn’t be so simple to do the same.
Suddenly, the movements of the winds, the flowers, and the air stopped.
Plank—!
With an ear-piercing breaking sound, like a mirror, the sky behind the pavilion shattered into pieces, falling to the ground before bursting into numerous swirls of black tendrils.
They reached for the nearby flowers, eating away their colors until they crumbled into dust.
The crack in the sky spread—spreading, until more and more of the environments were broken. The liquidy black tendrils poured out, bringing along with them the black mists that threatened to consume everything.
“I guess now…
“It’s my turn… right?”
Lucianna woke up, leaving Eden alone in the dream world that started to be consumed by the void.
Crack—!
—[His] void.
Craaaack—!
Because always, always, and always—always and always and always and always and always and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever AND EVER AND EVER AND EVER.
Whatever the beginning or the end be...
Ten thousand eons of history—refused to be forgotten.
—————……….
