After the new Iris left, I stood still for a moment, trying to process what just happened. It was very confusing and I had no idea what was what… Before long though, I just gave up, laid my back against a nearby tree, sat down, heaved a large sigh and asked the old Iris, “Could you please explain all of this to me?”

She was flustered, and seemed to be having a hard time finding a way to tell me the details. “Well… You know…” She started.

However, her expression was troubled, rather than trying to find out a way to explain this situation, it looked like she was actually trying to come up with something… As if she no intention of telling me the truth. This worried me, I don’t believe she’d ever lie to me if she had any choice, but then… Why? Why try to come up with a lie in the first place? I hoped I was wrong, that I was reading far too much into it when she was simply trying to come up with the right explanation to all this, but I had to be sure… I had to know who was the new Iris and what was her relationship with me, to know why she looked so sad when she left and… To know what Iris told me after our first kiss. “Iris, I don’t have a clue about what happened just now, but you do. You understood it, you know the meaning of the other Iris’ words… Please let me understand it too.”

She gulped her saliva down and then stayed still for a few moments, it seemed like she was thinking really hard on how to approach this issue. Eventually, she took a deep breath, flew to my lap, held my hand and said, “Aria, I know this is very confusing, but please believe me… You don’t want to know what that was all about. It will only hurt you more.”

At Iris’ words, I opened my eyes wide. It was hard to believe her on that one. Even if it did hurt me, wouldn’t I be hurt even more from not knowing the truth? From being forever wrapped in the mystery of two Irises existing? One that loves me and one that loved me? One that has always been with me and one that… Kept bugging me about the words said after our first kiss. Words that I can’t remember no matter what, yet don’t leave my head. I keep coming back to it again and again, what did she say? What was so important that she had to ask over and over? It was undoubtedly a very important moment of our lives, and while not remembering it confused me, the fact she wanted me to remember it so much made it seem even more relevant. I’m sure it will all make sense once it comes back to me, so… I just had to know.

I couldn’t take her request. I looked deep in her eyes before answering, “Iris, I want to believe you, I really do… But how could I? How could I honestly believe knowing more about the existence of a second you would hurt me more than being forever shrouded in this mystery?

“How could I believe it is okay for me to forget the words you told me after our first kiss? Or rather, words that the other Iris said she told me when we kissed? Nothing here makes sense… I really need to know this, Iris, please let me know the truth.

“Don’t try lying to me, Love. For you know I’d never deceive you either.” Except in those times that she needed to… Go? Go where? Why would I lie to her? I don’t have any reason to ever lie to Iris, is my head playing tricks on me?

Iris was hesitating. I’m sure she knew the answer to all my questions, but why does she seem so scared of telling them to me? Is the truth really that harsh?

“Sleep.” A voice suddenly echoed in my head. My eyes felt heavy, when did I get this tired?

“No! Don’t sleep yet, Aria! You should stay awake! Listen to me!” Iris hugged my head and shouted that, my eyes went wide open. That’s weird, wasn’t she the one that was supposed to make me sleep?

… Wait, why would Iris try to make me sleep? Shouldn’t she instead try to enjoy each day with me? Why are those weird thoughts entering my head?

“You do not need to remember, just sleep.” I felt even more tired than before, it was hard to keep thinking, Iris silhouette was fading…

She kissed me and my eyes went wide open, the tiredness disappeared as if it had never been there in the first place. “Don’t sleep yet, stay with me.” She said, the words echoed in my head… But those weren’t the right words, those were not the words she told us after our kiss… What did Iris tell me back then?

“Why are you interfering?” The voice said, “This is also the best for you.”

Iris seemed to also hear it, and it looked like those words made her very… Sad, almost as if she felt guilty of something, as if this voice was telling the truth. However, she recovered. She shook her head, looked up, and replied to whatever was speaking to us, “I know. But I don’t want her to forget, I don’t want to lose all we already built.” Wait what? I was going to forget? And lose the things we’ve built together? How? Why!?

“This is foolish.” The voice said, it seemed slightly angry.

“Love is foolish.” Iris said while breaking into a smile, and then she looked me in the eyes… I hate this smile, why smile when you aren’t happy? What’s the point? You always gave me this expression when I held the truth from you… Stop… Stop thinking of weird things, I never held the truth from Iris. Not now, not in our first kiss, and not when she left for the… No, I did lie when she left, when she was going to…

My thoughts were interrupted by the voice, “Love? Are you in love?” It seemed to be echoing directly in my head, however the words were not aimed at me, but at Iris. And the impression it gave, was that the voice’s owner was genuinely confused, which was honestly surprising. I mean, was it really that hard to believe Iris loved me? I know I’m kinda worthless, but Iris is special… Wait, no, I shouldn’t think I’m worthless, I have worth for her, she loves me and I love her, I matter, why did I think I was worthless? Was it because she couldn’t… What couldn’t she do?

I looked towards Iris, at her tiny flying figure. Even though she was this small, I couldn’t think of anything she couldn’t do. Iris was perfect, as long as she was there, everything would be fine… And then, she giggled, she was laughing at my deep stare, it made me smile… But not for long, for she looked up again, and directed her reply to the voice, “How could I not be in love? I am Iris after all.” I felt a pang in my heart, something was wrong, Iris would not ignore me like this, Iris would answer my gaze and tell me directly… She would tell me the words she told me when we first kissed. Why is this still coming to my head? What does this have to do with anything?

“I see.” The voice interrupted my thoughts again. Only, it scared me this time, the voice was cold, it sent shivers down my spine, “Then perhaps it would be for the best if a smarter Iris took your place.” Wait, what!?

Iris looked at me once more, she was no longer smiling, she wasn’t hiding before a faced anymore… She was terrified. Her body was shaking, her voice barely came out, “I’m sorry, Aria. I guess this is goodbye.” No! Don’t go!

Iris was consumed by a blinding flash of light, that cursed light that had always taken her away. I instinctively closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, she was no more… Where was she? Did she go back to the Fire Realm? But was it that time already? I don’t feel any mana deficiency yet…

Wait, what am I even thinking about? I need to find Iris, I need to get her back before I… “Sleep.” My eyes felt heavy… “Forget it all. Let your dreams be dreams.” No, I don’t want to dream anymore… “Just sleep.”

I didn’t want to, but I could no longer stop it… My consciousness faded, and my vision became black.

“Morning, sweetheart.” I heard a familiar voice and then the light touch of lips connecting to mine… It was disgusting.

I opened my eyes and saw a familiar fairy right in front of me. “Who are you?” I asked.

She seemed confused and tilted her head, “Who else? I’m Iris.”

Her words made me angrier than I expected. “You’re not Iris, be gone. And give her back to me.”

She seemed scared, “Aria, are you alright? I’m right here, I’m your” I didn’t let her finish.

“What did you tell me after our first kiss?” I asked her curtly.

She staggered, “That was…”

“You’re not Iris!” I shouted. Reality seemed to crack.

“Sleep.” A voice resounded in my head.

“No! I will not sleep! Give me Iris back!” For once, I didn’t feel slightly tired, I was just… Angry. Yeah, I was pissed off at this voice.

“She is right in front of you.” I felt like punching that gods’ forsaken crystal, “You just need to believe. Believe, and your dreams will come true.”

“Believe!? Don’t give me this nonsense! You killed Iris right in front of me and are now presenting me with a fake! I refuse! Give me back my beloved!” I shouted. And as I said it, more cracks spread across reality. I couldn’t even recognize the forgery that was put in front of me anymore.

The voice answered calmly, “It seems your memory is returning, yet you are not remembering the most important part.” Huh? What does it mean? “The Iris you loved, was the very one you chased away, nothing here was real. Not for as long as you didn’t believe in it at least.”

Reality finally shattered and I was now back to the darkness, I was holding a shard of the kingdom’s relic, and in front of me lied its main body, which was even bigger than last time I saw it.

“I cannot love you…” Those were the words Iris told me after our first kiss… How could I forget?

“If you did not forget, how could you believe in your own dreams?” The voice answered, I had also forgotten about its annoying habit of speaking directly in my head.

“Then you’re telling me that the ‘new Iris’ was the real Iris? The one I always lived with and loved above all else?” I asked the relic.

“Correct.” It simply answered.

I felt speechless, she loved me, yet she said she could not love me. She wished me to find someone else, yet chased after me when I found it. She wished the best for me, yet left me to die inside the dream? What is going on through that mad head of hers!?

The voice replied again, “Living beings are often inconsistent.” Yes, of course, that definitely solves all my questions, thank you very much, oh, all knowing voice. “Sarcasm will take you nowhere.” I know that much!

Seriously… I took a deep breath and asked the crystal, “Hey, what was the ‘old Iris’ then? I thought this was all a dream fabricated by you. She seemed to be actively defying your will and acting on her own… That doesn’t seem like what you’d plan for her.”

“A puppet show can only go so far in making a dream come true. One might enjoy a play, but even the most loyal fan will get tired after seeing it enough times.

“To truly make your wishes a reality, a real being was necessary. A dream-like existence that reflected your desires, expectations, and the memories that were not conflicting with what you wanted to believe in.” The voice clarified.

Wait, in that case… “Are you telling me she was… Alive?” I asked.

“In a sense, yes. She was her own independent being with her own volition, though she was nothing more than a dream created by your own internal reality and would naturally disappear when you did.” It explained.

I was starting to get mad again. “So… What happened to it? When it became that disgusting flash of light I have seen each God-forsaken time Iris had to return home?”

“She disappeared. That illusion had a purpose to fulfill and yet it was not working towards the completion of its goal, this meant its existence was unnecessary and better off removed altogether.” The crystal said with such a disgustingly calm voice. It was almost as if it was talking about the weather, something completely irrelevant that nobody could care about. “Why should anyone care about it?”

“Okay, look, I appreciate the honesty and all that, but… You’re pissing me off!” I shouted, “You promised to make my dreams come true, and what did I get? I just lost Iris! Not one Iris, but two! And you got rid of it for good, for like… Forever!”

“It was not Iris, it was just” I cut this stupid relic off.

“An illusion created by my own desires, yada yada yada, who cares!? You created a new Iris for me and then made away with it the moment it disagreed with your dumb methods?! Well, I have some bad news for you, I don’t want to deal with this nonsense you’re doing anymore!” I flew towards the relic’s main body and held it in my arms. I had no clue how I was able to fly towards it in the first place, but I couldn’t care less about it.

I felt the humongous amount of mana flowing through it, it was overwhelming… And yet, I felt like I could do something about it. “What are you doing?” It asked.

“Making sure you never piss me off again.” I made my mana go inside the relic. It went in easily, way too easily… Rather, it was pulled in, my mana was being constantly pulled into this crystal, and I was now speeding this process up. Moreover, I could feel it was not just my mana there, there were ton of different mana signatures inside it, taken away from their original owners and made roam inside this divine piece of garbage. I wonder if its size kept increasing in order to contain all the mana and life force it absorbed… Well, that won’t matter for much longer.

“Stop it, you have no idea what you’re doing.” It said. For once, it actually felt scared, it was nice to hear its voice sounding like that.

“Oh, I know exactly what I’m doing.”  I stirred my mana up, made it start flowing wildly inside the crystal, hitting the other signatures inside it. The crystal’s own humongous mana tried to contain it, but it was vastly outnumbered, for the chain reaction I started quickly grew into more and more mana signatures going out of control, slowly creating cracks in the relic’s body… Who’d have guessed? People that willingly gave their lives away for a dream can desire to live again once they get the slightest push… Well, the crystal certainly didn’t guess it.

“I am the manifestation of the goddess! To go against me is to go against the goddess herself! You are dooming yourself for a life of misery! Do not dare to defy me!” That was actually cute, this useless garbage was so scared to the point it was trying to threaten me? Good attempt, but you know what else is good?

“A big! Flashy! Explosion!” I threw all my mana inside it in one go, I also felt a bunch of life force being sucked, but I couldn’t care less. I just wanted one thing right now… To get this thing out of my sight, forever.

And that, I certainly accomplished. The Wild Rose shone brightly, its body was no longer able to contain the vast energy inside. A humongous noise echoed, the crystal shattered into a myriad of pieces, my body convulsed in pain as the shards hit me, the life force deficiency made me unable to stand… And I felt satisfied. I mean, I just exploded that stupid divine relic, I was pretty proud of myself.

I just… Wish Iris was here to see me. I wish I hadn’t chased her away with my stupid thoughtless words… No, they weren’t stupid, the stupid thing was giving in to this crystal in the first place… I’m sorry.

And after that, I woke up.