PROLOGUE 1 - Unsightly Dreams

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In a white, hazy space, a little girl with a dark and ominous aura stood alone.

 

She felt hungry and cold.

 

She was hungry and cold.

 

Very much so, in fact. She, however, did not know why.

 

She didn’t know much of anything, really but despite that, she did know one thing; there was something… off with her surroundings.

 

The white space stretched out for miles, really; it looked like it had no limits. A space beyond what humans could achieve with modern technology. That same spotless, white, hazy space, which looked like it spread out forever, abruptly looked like... wallpaper?.

 

A chalky, white wallpaper with several long, raggedly strips torn out of it. But it was also that that made her realize that it was, in fact, not wallpaper at all; chaos itself seemed to be contained within those long, narrow slits. But then, just as abruptly as it had appeared, the white wallpaper disappeared.

 

The wallpaper turned into a red brick wall with a fireplace in the middle, and a red carpet that stretched for seventy meters. A wooden table adorned with wooden chairs on each side was the centerpiece of the room. In fact, if you could take a dining hall of a Victorian Noble and place it in a magical transforming plane of existence, it would surely look just like that.

 

There were no light bulbs or any electrical devices for that matter; all the lighting was made from candles on the candelabras and the magnificent chandeliers on the ceiling. What ‘electrical devices’ were, she wasn’t exactly sure, but regardless, the entire setup seemed weird.

 

On the table was hot and delicious looking food that a whole family would eat on Christmas Eve.

Everything within the room wholeheartedly contributed to making a very warm and cozy background. As if it wanted to make its guest feel welcomed after a long trek in the snow; it gave that kind of vibe.

 

However despite the food laid out before her, It would be sheer ungratefulness to have everything to herself. Still, that brought up a good question… Why was she alone? Wait, was that weird? Was ‘alone’... normal? She knew nothing, but… Maybe it would be fine to just take a bite? She was oh so very hungry, after all.

 

Still, tThe food on the table would taste much better with others, and it would feel so much more warmer and cozier with others, wouldn’t it? Maybe she should wait and eat with everyone. They hadn’t had a feast of this size in, well, ever. She was sure that-.

 

The little girl was so surprised by this thought that she involuntarily spoke out loud.

 

"Aria, Fel, Zed!”

 

Three names were called out, but there was nobody around. She had no idea, no recollection of what they meant either. But she did know they were important. So why weren’t they here now?

 

The girl, obviously looking confused and anxious, looked around.

Behind her, contrasting the previous warm and cozy space filled with furniture and food was an empty red brick corridor, which looked like it stretched out infinitely. There was no end to it.

 

The little girl then saw three silhouettes roughly resembling human beings.

 

"...Aria, Fel, Zed!"

 

The girl, who was obviously starved and was shivering more than a rickety, old car engine on a cold winter’s day, ran the opposite direction from the table filled with mouth watering food and mind-melting warmth without a second thought or a moment’s hesitation..

 

Clank...

Clank...

Clank...

 

Her bare feet made loud sounds each time she stepped on the old wooden floor.

She kept running and running, just for the mere chance to reach up to the three3 silhouettes. Slowly, the strange space behind her was no longer visible due to the sheer distance.

 

She ran more and more until...

 

"Hahh... hahh.... hahh..."

 

She ran out of breath and, before she knew it, the brick walls and old wooden floor had already turned charred black as if burnt by a fire. Her feet turned black with soot, and she felt the slightest embers of heat, with the promise of more, but she didn’t care-

 

'Why am I not getting any closer...? I...'

 

-She needed to get closer, no; she wanted to get closer.

The little girl thought to herself.

 

It was then that the temperature swung down like a teenager’s pubertal mood swings. Each gasp of breath brought out white vapor the temperature had obviously dropped.

It took every ounce of the willpower the little girl had to even step forward.

 

Each and every ounce.

 

The sound of her footsteps, which once sounded like the creak of the former wooden floor behind her, now sounded like the sound of raw meat making contact with ice.

The charred black floor became as cold as ice.

The skin of the soles of her feet stuck to the ice because of the extremely low temperature.

But even then...

 

"...ARRRRRRGH!"

 

The little girl forced her feet to move.

She ripped out the skin on the soles of her feet willingly to move forward.

The splashing noise making contact with the ice was the sound of her own blood.

And with every step she took, the exposed ripped flesh would once again be frozen stuck to the ice floor.

But even so, she ran... she walked forward as if mocking her sense of pain.

The sound of the little girl gritting her teeth in pain resembled a wounded beast's sounds more than a human's.

Each footstep she took left a footprint of her own blood and flesh then and there.

But because of how cold the floor is, she could not bleed to death. The blood froze everytime she took a step forward. Really, all she had to worry about was blood loss.

Eventually, when the bones of her feet were exposed in between bits of badly frostbitten flesh, she just… couldn’t take it anymore.

 

'What did I do to deserve this?'

 

The girl thought to herself.

 

"You know very well what you did, Rei."

 

And then, while the little girl was pondering, the silhouettes had appeared in front of her.

 

She reached her hand out longingly, shakily, for the figure, but it simply vanished. 

 

But with its disappearance, yet another thing was birthed; such was simply the cycle of things. It was just that, in this case, it was the rebirth of something that should have already been in her possession: her memory. Little chunks of it, at least. 

 

"You’re… Aria!"

 

The figure didn’t respond.

 

"You know very well what you did, Rei."

 

The white-haired boy that stood at almost the same height as her... No, Aria repeated the same words he first said.

 

The little girl... Rei wondered what Aria was talking about.

 

She thought and thought, again and again.

 

But nothing came to mind. 

 

'Did I perhaps forget this too?'

 

Rei, however, shrugged the thought off.

 

It was impossible. She was engineered to have a mind that couldn't forget and, therefore, she concluded that the white-haired youth was, once again, spouting nonsense.

 

"What are you even talking about, Aria?"

 

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"Your hand."

 

'My hand...?', Rei thought to herself.

 

She then looked down on her left hand. It was perfectly at her side. It was the hand she liked to use often, but that did not mean Rei was a lefty.

Rei was ambidextrous;, meaning she could use both hands for any activity.

With her left hand being as innocent as it can be, she looked towards her right hand.

 

'My... hand..'

 

It was covered in blood, holding a knife that was deeply rooted into Aria's chest.

 

'What..?’

 

"But it's okay, Rei... We'll definitely be together. Soon."

 

The boy's eyes which seemed to flicker in a yellow flash for a second. It was oddly beautiful.

The boy's eyes would be considered weird to most of humanity.

His eyes resembled a clock hand... an hour hand on his right, and a minute hand on his left.

Although most girls would be entranced by his bewitching appearance, Rei was already used to it.

 

'But why am I shaking?'

 

She was shaking, not due to the impossibly cold temperature which enveloped her body. It had already disappeared when Rei conversed with Aria.

She was shaking, not due to her feet which were searing in bitter pain that would have made an average person collapse. The wounds had already healed when Rei started conversing with Aria.

It was because Aria's eyes had a different vibe to them...

One of insanity and endless destruction to all.

Still, Aria's eyes were always filled with insanity, however, she could tell; this was different.

Rei didn't know why, and that fact made her start quivering. Not of fear, but of anxiety.

The floor that he stepped on as he drew closer to her cracked.

 

"No! Don't come any closer! The knife is--!"

"Don't worry, Rei... my sweet, little, Rei... We'll definitely meet again."

Aria came in closer.

 

Rei tried to take her hand away from the knife but she felt like there was kind of force glueing her hand to the knife. Aria didn't stop, however, up until he held Rei in his arms. No matter the blood that gushed out, or the bones that broke and cracked. Rei's hand was already buried in his chest by now, and the knife could be visibly seen protruding from his back.

Rei was speechless.

At this point, Aria should already be on the ground twitching after a hole was formed in his chest.

However, that showed no signs of happening. Instead, Aria's grasp on Rei seemed to tighten, and he had even started to pat her head.

Wet droplets struck the ground. They were her tears.

The tears didn't stop, it was a river of never-ending tears.

 

"Ah, you finally remembered..."

"No! I didn't! I didn't! Don't leave me!"

 

He paid no attention to Rei’s pleas, simply continuing to talk. 

He seemed weary to the very world itself.

 

"Don't worry... like I said, we'll be meeting again soon. And, if I have to offer a piece of advice..."

"No! Don't say anything!"

"Don't trust the monarchs."

 

After saying that, Aria released his tight hug from Rei.

He turned around and started to walk away.

The 2 other people, Zed and Fel, walked away as well, following Aria into the darkness.

 

"DON'T LEAVE ME! I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU IF YOU DO!"

 

Rei tried to chase after Aria.

However, her legs froze.

Quite literally.

It wasn't just the soles of her feet. This time, the ice reached up to her knees. She could no longer move.

And, even though Rei was already immobilized, the ice never stopped.

Rei kept cursing at Aria but he didn't turn around.

He. didn't. turn. around.

The ice continued to envelop her body. Up until Rei was no longer conscious.

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'!?'

 

The little girl... Aactually, the 16 year-old Rei, woke up in aat a ruined bedroom with broken furniture everywhere.

Everything was broken... the king-sized bed she used to sleep on, the 180-inch curved-screen HD Television she uses to play console games, her wardrobe which housed all sorts of different outfits she wore for specific day to day situations... everything.

If a normal person were in her shoes they would already have grieved over thinking how much they'd have to pay to repair all of the luxury items in this room.

That is, if she were a normal person.

 

'How unsightly... I've done it again.'

 

Ever since that incident occurred, from time to time Rei would have nightmares. Although nightmares by themselves produced no note-worthy events, the problem was the side-effect that happened to her body every time she had a nightmare.

Her eyes would lose their red colour and her body moved on it's own, choosing to vandalize and destroy the surroundings.

It was really quite troublesome because, even if Rei is undoubtedly wealthy, it doesn't change the fact that it stings to have a tenth of your income dedicated to bedroom repairs. Bedroom repairs that you caused with your own nightmares, nonetheless.

 

"Huuuk~ Huuuk~ When they said that this job was a job that required to me to risk my life... I thought they were just joking... Huuuk."

 

While Rei was pondering on her own again, a sobbing noise came to her ears, the sound came from a metal drawer on the far corner of the room.

 

'It changed again, huh...' Rei thought to herself.

 

It was Rei's new personal maid. The personal maid's job was to provide the daily necessities for her master, making her master's daily life more convenient.

From cooking to doing the laundry and changing the bedsheets, that was the personal maid's job.

However, this personal maid had another job.

It was to wake up Rei everyday in the morning for school. Of course, there was a reason for why Rei made her personal maids wake her up instead of using an alarm clock to do it.

It was because she would pass off the alarm rather than wake up from it. Unless it had the same volume as a gunshot, Rei wouldn't wake up.

Most of the time, Rei's personal maid would change often, averaging at once a month, mostly due to Rei's sleep-rampaging.

After all, who wouldn't quit this job? Each and every morning is a nerve-wracking experience. It was like a gacha game of death.

Of course, there was a 29 out of 30 chance that Rei would wake up extremely docile or just plain peaceful, but that doesn't change that there is also that 1 out of 30 chance that you could die by your own employer's hand for something as measly as waking them up in the morning.

 

"Hey you, get up."

"Ah!"

Bonk

 

A metallic clang rang out from underneath the metal drawer... Rei supposed that the poor maid must've hit her head on it in surprise.

 

"Uuuuuuuuuuuw..."

 

A wallowing sound was heard, Rei said nothing for the next 30 some seconds, giving the maid time to recover and stand up. Even she wouldn’t be too hard after something like that happened. It was quite a woeful predicament to be in, even if she herself had never done it.

The maid wiped her tears away, and measly said,.

 

"G-Good Morning, milady."

 

The maid was still clearly quite afraid, her voice quivering and her hands shaking, truly demonstrating how fearful Rei's sleep-rampaging state was. However, Rei did not mind this, and went on with instructing the maid, indirectly telling her that she had no time for morning pleasantries.

She was quite cold this morning, not to mention hungry, so the only command on Rei's mind was...

 

"Get my breakfast ready, make the serving size big enough for four people. Turn up the heater as well, it's a very cold morning again."

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