"Newlyweds? What nonsense are you talking about, who did I marry?" I asked in confusion, suddenly realizing that Cyra was not wearing her usual white dress - instead, she was in a bridesmaid's dress!
"What's with your clothes?"
"Hello, I'm your bridesmaid what! What else would I be wearing?" Cyra replied and pulled me outside, urging "Stop dawdling! The wedding is starting, let's get to the chapel!"
I impatiently stopped her in the hallway, demanding seriously, "Tell me clearly whose wedding this is!"
I was lost about how I got here and why I was in a wedding dress. And now Cyra was dragging me around talking about a wedding... this situation was just too bizarre!
Cyra turned back, looking at me as if I was being unreasonable. "Don't tell me you're having second thoughts? Or did you just doze off in the waiting room earlier?"
I cut to the chase and asked directly, "Why would I be getting married? And who is the groom?" Her messing with me had left my mind in chaos.
Honestly, everything was bizarre after waking up, with an ominous atmosphere everywhere. I would not rest until I got some clear answers.
"Are you joking with me?" Cyra looked at me in disbelief. "You agreed to marry Reilly yourself! And now you're asking me why. Don't tell me you're having second thoughts?"
"Reilly?"
I doubted my ears - Reilly had become Nicola, how could he be the groom? And why would I marry her, two girls in a lesbian wedding?
"Take me to see..."
Since asking Cyra was useless, I would ask Nicola directly. I took the initiative to follow her toward the familiar large door at the end of the hallway. As it opened, a grand hall appeared before my eyes.
"This is the Tivi Palace? Why is Elara using the hall for the wedding?" Many questions swirled in my mind. Something seemed missing from my memory - if I could remember it, all this would make sense!
There were so many people inside... The hall was filled, and all seemingly familiar faces - Norma, Mona, Aetna ... even Selene, Alfreed and Adrian were there!
I quickly went to Adrian and asked in surprise, "How did you get here? This is Edenmere, how can humans enter?"
"What is Edenmere..." Adrian looked at me strangely, but before he could reply, Cyra pushed me forward... The crowd parted to reveal two people standing under the Archangel statue.
"Bishop Rist?" I stared at him dressed in bishop's yellow robes, standing before me. Even more shocking was the other person. "Reilly?"
Indeed, the so-called "groom" before me was unexpectedly Reilly instead of Nicola! The male version of him!
"How can this be? How did you change back?" I asked incredulously. Could this be some illusion magic? But as I sensed him more closely, I found no traces of light elemental power on him.
There were no signs of any light elemental power, not only on Reilly but also in the surroundings and everyone present!
"Don't tell me... I'm not an angel anymore?" I turned and realized I had no wings at all, they weren't hidden, they were simply not there! Nor could I sense any light elemental power in myself.
I kept examining my body. I was not an angel anymore, so why was I still in female form, even wearing a wedding dress...
"What change back? Angels, what are you talking about?" The Reilly-lookalike looked at me blankly as if he had no idea about the gender change. Then a sudden look of realization, "Oh I get it darling! Of course, you're my angel! We're getting married after all!"
He even tried to hug me!
"Go away!" I pushed him away in disgust, this sleazy "Reilly" was nothing like the one I knew. My instincts screamed he was an imposter.
In truth, not only he but everything and everyone here felt off and strange, despite being in a familiar setting. It was like I had entered an alternate reality where nothing made sense.
"Strange, why don't you have any memories?"
Upon hearing my harsh rebuke, "Reilly's" face finally cracked as he asked incredulously, "Strange, why don't you have any memories?"
Before I could answer "Reilly's" question, Cyra who was standing at the side also suddenly said the same thing.
"Are you a tape recorder..." I had barely finished my words when the bizarre scene that happened next made my skin crawl - everyone started repeating like mindless puppets,
"Strange, why don't you have any memories?"
"Strange, why don't you have any memories?"
...
It was as if I had suddenly been transported from a wedding scene into a horror movie, creepy as hell.
"What the hell is all this!" I cried out in terror, retreating to a corner. But it was useless. After everyone finished repeating the chant once, they started on another sentence.
"Why can't we manipulate your memories?"
"Why can't we manipulate your memories?"
...
"Just who are you?"
I shouted. After calming down a little, I vaguely guessed what was happening - either this was a hallucination, or it was a dream.
If a hallucination, then someone was trying to manipulate my memory. But a hallucination still didn't explain why my memories were disjointed.
I could remember little before waking in the waiting room as if parts of my memory were wiped clean. The only memories that still retained any vivid details were those hazy experiences, the welcome banquet, and the lessons. I just had some faint impressions left which might soon fade completely.
Could those experiences have been real dreams? Compared to the bizarre happenings now, somehow those dreams felt more genuine.
So could I still be dreaming now? But why did I feel so lucid and awake? I rubbed my eyes hard and pinched my arm, feeling the pain distinctly but not waking as expected.
"How can you tell that you're dreaming?"
"How can you tell that you're dreaming?"
...
As if reading my thoughts, the broken records changed their chant again.
"Let me out!"
I was certain now that the voice was behind this mess, using some mystical power to trap me in this endless dream-sleep. But why? What was its aim?
Another bizarre thing happened as soon as I shouted. I saw those chanting "puppets" suddenly vanish without a trace, and then the entire scene around me drifted away and faded to darkness...
Next, I felt myself lying in bed, eyes shooting wide open.
Was I just...dreaming earlier?
Sitting up, I saw my six wings strewn across the bed and it all came flooding back. Nicola had left not long ago, then I activated the light isolator before washing up and falling asleep. So I really must have been dreaming just now, but what an absurd dream!
It was extraordinary! The mental impact was far stronger than any normal dream, where even lingering impressions tend to be vague and blurred. But this dream experience remained etched clearly in my memory even now, with such an intense lucid awareness of dreaming that I had never attained prior.
"What exactly happened, was that a real dream or not? If so, why did I wake up instantly when I realized I was dreaming?"
I shook my head violently and got out of bed, going to the desk to turn off the light isolator.
Right before external light elements came flooding back into the room, I thought I caught a whiff of that familiar stench again.
The smell of dark elements?
I couldn't be mistaken. Edenmere had somehow contained traces of dark elements? Although that faint wisp vanished immediately, I was certain it wasn't an illusion, after spending days immersed in the dark elements of Dark Lands.
Could monsters have penetrated Edenmere without notice, even infiltrating my room?