Destruction was the first thing I registered.

Buildings had turned to rubble. The air had been thick with a smog-like fog, limiting my vision.

A distant, ethereal whisper slid through the fog.

"Yumiko..." It had felt like a siren's call—beckoning and haunting. I couldn't pinpoint its source.

The sound seemed to be everywhere and nowhere all at once.

The roaring wind muffled every sound as well.

As I walked, my steps echoed hauntingly in the emptiness. But another sound soon emerged, growing steadily louder—the flapping of many wings.

Dark angels with cracked, broken wings soared above, their piercing red eyes fixated on me.

At each corner I turned, they were there, blocking my path and herding me in a direction I didn't want to go.

Their presence felt suffocating, and their grim expressions promised nothing but doom.

In my desperate escape, the world shifted to a cliffside.

"Yumiko..."

With the abyss behind me and an army of dark angels advancing, my choices had dwindled.

But amidst their number stood one who wasn't like the others—a boy with long, black hair.

He looked about my age, and the angels seemed to defer to him, forming ranks behind him.

"You have nowhere to run, dear sister," he had declared, his voice dripping with malevolence.

"Yumiko...?"

Each word cut deeper into my soul.

As they closed in, despair clawed at my mind. With my back against the edge, the void below seemed inviting compared to the advancing horde.

Would it have been better to fall than to be taken? I wondered, my heart pounding in my chest.

But before I could decide, a hand reached out, grabbing my arm, pulling me to safety.

"Yumiko!"

Or so I thought. The hand belonged to the blonde boy. His eyes, void of emotion, stared into mine.

"Your time is up..." he murmured, his voice a dissonant mix of tenderness and cruelty.

Without warning, he pushed me. I felt the sensation of falling, the wind rushing past, and the distant echo of his laughter...

"YUMIKO!!"

My eyes had flung open. I gasped for air, drenched in cold sweat.

I blinked, and reality rushed in.

Gone were the dark angels and the blond boy's chilling visage. Instead, I found myself safe, surrounded by the worried faces of Beatrice and Lilith.

"I'm... Alive?"

I looked around to see Lilith and Beatrice; their faces were etched with concern.

Without warning, Beatrice engulfed me in a tight embrace.

"It was just a nightmare..." I whispered internally, still trembling from the vivid terror.

"Yumiko, talk to us!" Beatrice's voice wavered with genuine concern.

I was breathing heavily.

"I'm... fine..."

I looked at my arm. It had a massive cut in the middle. And it was bleeding. They hadn't seemed to notice.

Beatrice frowned, "What happened?"

Lilith chimed in, leaning closer with a hint of impatience, "You were screaming."

Gulping, I hesitated, then recounted the dream.

"There were dark angels... and a boy, with long black hair. He... he called me 'sister'."

Lilith and Beatrice exchanged a worried look.

"Do you have any siblings, Yumiko?" Lilith inquired.

"That's just it; I don't remember having a brother." I replied, my voice shaky.

Beatrice sighed, "Dreams can be weird like that. Once, I dreamed I was drowning in a sea of chocolate. Doesn't mean it was real."

I smirked weakly, "Chocolate?"

Beatrice grinned, "Oh yes. It was delicious but terrifying."

Lilith looked down at my arm, and her eyes widened.

"What happened to your arm?!" She exclaimed, noticing the cut, her eyes widening in alarm.

Beatrice leaned in, a frown deepening on her face.

"Bloody hell, Yumiko, that looks deep! Why didn't you tell us?"

"Tis' but a scratch." I said, lifting my arm up in the air and wincing from the pain.

Lilith and Beatrice stared at me in confusion, and Beatrice's eyes darted around the room before she finally spoke again.

"Maybe the bed's cursed. I always said that old thing looked dubious."

Lilith shot Beatrice a tired glance.

"Now's not the time for your theories."

Beatrice scoffed, "Just saying. Beds can be treacherous."

Ignoring them, I tried to remember.

"I don't know how this happened. I just woke up like this."

Lilith sighed, taking my arm gently in her hands. "We should clean this up. And Beatrice? No more talk of cursed beds, please."

Beatrice smirked, holding her hands up defensively.

"Alright, alright. But if it starts floating tonight, I'm blaming you."

The room, bathed in a dim, flickering light with shadows dancing on the walls, seemed to settle momentarily after Beatrice's jest.

Despite the heavy atmosphere of the nightmare's aftermath, her comment managed to bring a brief respite. Lilith brought a bowl of warm water, and Beatrice returned with strips of cloth.

"I really wish Devils had healing abilities..." Lilith remarked as she gently dipped the cloth in the water, wringing it out before she started wiping away the blood from my wound.

The pain flared up anew, but it had felt satisfying... Weirdly enough.

Beatrice offered a weak smile, attempting to lighten the mood.

"See what happens when you don't let me taste-test you, Yumiko? You end up hurting yourself!"

I chuckled weakly, grateful for her attempt to distract me from the pain.

As Lilith cleaned and dressed my wound, I recounted the dream.

While my arm was being treated, the nightmare's remnants clung to me like a chill.

It wasn't merely the vividness of the dream that bothered me; it was the sense of foreboding it left behind.

I shivered, not from the cold sweat that still coated my skin but from the realisation that my subconscious had conjured up such a haunting scenario.

It felt like a warning, a signal of something sinister lurking on the horizon.

Yet I couldn't shake off the feeling that the boy's face and the words he spoke held a shred of familiarity.

"Yumiko, you're not alone here." Beatrice's voice broke through my reverie, her eyes soft with concern.

"We're here for you. Always."

Lilith nodded in agreement, her expression one of quiet reassurance.

"Nightmares can be unsettling, but remember that you're safe with us."

Their support warmed me, a stark contrast to the icy grip of the dream's aftermath. But as the adrenaline ebbed away, exhaustion flooded in.

The events of the nightmare felt like a distant reality, a shadow cast by my mind's relentless imagination.

I managed a weak smile.

"Thank you, both of you. I don't know what I would do without you."

Beatrice grinned, mischief dancing in her eyes.

"You'd probably end up eaten by a bunch of demonic kittens."

Lilith rolled her eyes, her lips curling into a fond smile, "Ignore her dramatics, Yumiko. You're safe here."

I let out a weak smile before leaving the bed.

The afternoon transitioned to the repetitive routine of taking jobs, blacksmithing, earning condensed lava crystals, and teaching Beatrice how to cook.

But the remnants of the nightmare clung to me, casting shadows over every interaction.

At the forge, each strike of the hammer seemed to resonate with the chilling voice of the boy from my dream.

The bustling streets of Mordurn, which once brought me solace, now felt like a maze of echoing whispers.

That evening, while teaching Beatrice to cook, my gaze frequently drifted towards the horizon.

Lilith noticed, her perceptive eyes catching the distant look in mine.

"Yumiko," she started gently, placing a hand on my shoulder, "your dream might be more than just a nightmare. It could be a message or a memory trying to resurface."

Beatrice scoffed, "Or maybe it's just an overactive imagination. You humans have those."

"You know, I once dreamt I was a gigantic lava-spewing chicken. It turned out it was just indigestion from eating too much sulfuric pie." She continued.

"I'm still concerned for this dimension if you become the next demon lord..." I murmured.

Beatrice pouted, "I'm not that bad!"

"I beg to differ." I whispered to myself.

That night, after we shared our meal, I decided to venture out alone, hoping to clear my mind.

Beatrice and Lilith warned me about wandering around Mordurn after dark, but it was dark all the time.

Suddenly, the world seemed to distort all around me. Was it my imagination?

I was hearing whispers.

"Yumiko... How could you forget...?"

They wouldn't stop. They wouldn't stop, no matter how hard I tried to ignore them.

"Yumiko... How could you be so disappointing?"

I felt dizzy, and my head began to throb.

Suddenly, the ground heated up and a rumbling sound intensified; a horrific, blood-curdling howl echoed through the air, snapping me out of my trance.

I glanced in the direction of the noise and was met with a horrifying sight—hellhounds. Massive beasts with fire for fur and eyes that glowed with malevolence had broken free and were rampaging through the city, leaving behind a trail of red fire.

They wreaked havoc and destruction everywhere they went.

Panic seized my heart as the first howl reverberated through the air. The ground quaked beneath my feet, and the world seemed to distort around me.

Shadows lengthened, and eerie crimson light cast grotesque shapes on the soul-stone paths.

Before I could make a sound, I was on the ground in pain—burning. Before everything went to darkness...

***

"Pathetic..."

The whispers were happening again...

"You really are pathetic..."

I heard their mocking laughter echoing in my ears.

I opened my eyes. I wasn't in a bed... I wasn't in Mordurn... I was just in an endless white abyss.

There was an extremely dense mist, the ground was covered in grey mulch, dead, grey trees sparsely spaced throughout the emptiness, everything was grey but the sky, and I was alone.

Suddenly, an onslaught of memories came rushing in, each one more vivid than the last. The pain accompanying them was so intense, it felt like a barrage of fiery arrows piercing through my mind. It was as if I was reliving every moment of my life all at once.

"God! Could this pain fuck off for one second?!" I screeched.

The pain, surprisingly, vanished without a trace—for one exact second.

Visions surged, a torrent of memories overwhelming my senses.

A sunny day at a park with a boy with long, black hair, a younger version of us. The sun hung brightly in the sky, its rays warm and bright.

He was laughing, his voice melodious, and racing towards a playground. Swings moved rhythmically, and kids squealed in joy.

I stood aside, the cacophony of sounds around me feeling distant and muffled, just watching him with no evident expression.

Why did I feel so detached?

The smell of fresh bread and jam wafted through the air as our family sat on a picnic blanket, laughing at unfunny jokes.

But I was focused on the black haired boy. He playfully swiped a strawberry from my plate, winking mischievously. Instead of laughing, I felt a strange resentment.

Was it jealousy? Was It because only I could sense his insanity?

The crowd around the mauled pet, the blood-stained kitchen, the bloody knife in my hands, and amidst the blackness of the void, a familiar face—my brother.

I remembered it all...

***

I blinked. I was in the Mordurn infirmary, Lilith, Beatrice, Ignus, and Gordon—they all surrounded me. But I didn't feel the joy of having people around me any longer.

They were all fake anyway. They were all just a bunch of words on a page.

It also felt as if my personality changed.

Lilith approached, her eyes filled with concern. "Yumiko, are you alright?"

I stared, feeling detached. "Does it matter? Isn't this all just... words?"

Beatrice, confused, chimed in, "What were you talking about? You're scaring me."

"What does demon blood taste like?" I whispered, my voice barely audible yet dripping with an ominous undertone.

Lilith and Beatrice exchanged worried glances, the atmosphere suddenly thickening with tension.

Ignus stepped back, a hint of fear evident in his eyes.

"Why would you ask that?" Lilith's voice trembled slightly.

My gaze seemed to pierce through them, unblinking and devoid of the warmth they once knew.

Silence hung heavily in the room, each second feeling like an eternity.

Beatrice stepped forward, a mix of confusion and concern evident in her eyes.

"Yumiko... What happened to you?" She asked, her voice filled with worry and fear.

"What do you mean? I'm perfectly fine." I replied, I could see the hurt in Beatrice's eyes. But it was oddly satisfying.

"Yumiko, snap out of it!" Beatrice's voice cut through the haze, her concern transcending her confusion.

With the way she's acting, this isn't the first time this has happened to her.

She reached for my hand, her touch grounding me slightly.

But even as her fingers met mine, a shiver ran down my spine. Her warmth, once a comforting embrace, now felt like a distant sensation.

The world around me seemed unreal, as if I were trapped within a sinister illusion.

"This is one of Yukio's games," I murmured, the realisation dawning on me, "I have to win. I will win."

Beatrice, her face contorted with a mix of confusion and concern, moved closer.

"Yumiko... Who is Yukio?"

"I'm going to need allies if I want to have a chance at winning. But knowing Yukio, he would let me get a chance, then destroy it shortly after..." I pondered internally.

Words, glowing with a sinister orange luminescence, began to etch themselves onto the wooden walls of the infirmary.

"Couldn't even remember on your own?"

"So pathetically weak."

The messages pulsed with malevolence, flashing intermittently as if mocking my very existence.

"Yumiko, I think you need some rest." Lilith decided.

"Why would I rest," I had whispered, more to myself than to them, "when Yukio is watching my every move?"

"Oh, they're still here..." I realised.

I pulled my hand away from Beatrice, gazing out of the window at the dimly lit streets of Mordurn.

"It wasn't going to be long before true hell broke loose..."