Some people may appear weak and fragile, but sometimes they are the most dangerous ones. People tend to hide behind those facades, fearing judgment or perhaps believing it helps them accomplish something. Those people intrigue me because I was one of them.

I have been wearing a mask for a very long time. Some people might assume they know me well, or say I am simple to read, yet those assumptions are merely speculation. No one truly knows what kind of person I am, except for one person.

"You," a man was standing, crying in fear, looking at another man.

On the other hand, the opposite man, holding a bloodied knife, was confused and didn't know what to do.

"What? NO! NO! NO!" His voice reverberated through the surroundings.

As his voice shocked the entire environment, he realized he was dreaming.

He gasped repeatedly, "Ha ha ha," seemingly exhausted from the exhilarating dream.

As he inspected the surroundings, he found himself standing in the middle of a room filled with corpses dressed in white clothing resembling priests. They were covered in their own blood. Edsel was shocked. He inspected himself and found his neck wide open and dripping blood, his white clothes soaked in red.

His flesh was regenerating, but it was too slow. Shock and fear gripped Edsel's heart. The first thought that came to his mind was to run. Surveying his surroundings, he concluded that a slaughterer had been there.

He started to run, stumbling over some of the corpses. Some were beheaded, some died with open eyes. Edsel wanted to vomit but knew he couldn't stop running. The hall of the church was wide and long, filled with endless corpses.

The sun brightened the inside of the church, yet for Edsel, it was the darkest day of his life.

As he approached the big wooden door at the end of the hall, he saw a figure standing in front of it. It was a tall man with pale, soft skin and long black hair. His eyes bore no emotion, his cold demeanor evident. He was holding a bloodied katana and wearing a black kimono.

"Shit, he's the slaughterer," Edsel concluded, fear evident on his face as he shook intensely.

"How can I get past that door? Shit!" he pondered, frustrated.

While he was tense, the standing man remained unmoved, focused entirely on Edsel. It seemed he was waiting for Edsel to approach before launching an attack.

"There's no way I can beat this man... I just need an opening to get past that door," Edsel thought. Fear engulfed him as he gritted his teeth and bravely ran forward, containing his fear in his heart.

In his mind, it was better to die trying than to die pathetically.

As Edsel closed the distance bit by bit, the man began to move his sword slowly, anticipating Edsel's approach. His movements were slow yet magnificent, like flowing water. He began to slash. Edsel, on the other hand, had no means to dodge or block it. It was certain death for him.

Before the sword touched his neck, Edsel closed his eyes in fear. Three seconds passed, and he was still alive. "Huh?" He opened his eyes in confusion, finding himself in a dimension where different colors encompassed one another.

There were floating brown doors everywhere. Seeing all of this, the fear that once engulfed him was replaced with confusion.

"Maybe I'm just dreaming," Edsel concluded seriously. "Okay, I must force myself to wake up." He then slapped himself.

"Pah! Pah!"

"WAKE UP, YOU MORON!" "Pah! Pah! Pah!" He slapped himself a dozen times, yet he still didn't wake up.

His cheeks were already red. "Or maybe I need a little push," he thought, punching his face. "OUCH! That's not a good idea."

This made him give up. He sat in front of a wooden door, waiting to see if someone would open it.

Minutes passed, and nothing happened. Edsel sighed. As he was about to retract his gaze, the door suddenly creaked open. Inside, a man in cowboy clothing with blue eyes and yellow hair ran fast toward the door, shouting, "WAHHHHHH! A MONSTER!"

Edsel realized that inside the door was the environment he had been in a while ago. The man continued to run and eventually made it out, panting. "Ha ha!"

Looking at the open door, Edsel saw the slaughterer. Before he could say a word, the other man shouted, "YOU MONSTER, STOP FOLLOWING ME!" Although his tone and manner were not serious, it seemed he was mocking the slaughterer.

Before the slaughterer could go through the door, it disappeared. Unconsciously, Edsel looked at the man and asked in fear and confusion, "Wha-what are you?"

The man, whose back was turned to Edsel, laughed wholeheartedly before saying, "I'm you from the future." Edsel was taken aback. "In the future, I'll be a weird cowboy?"

"Hey, I'm not a weird cowboy."

"What? You can read my mind?"

"Of course," the man replied proudly.

"Eh?" Taken aback by the man's claim, Edsel then asked, "Are you seriously the future me?"

The other man said, "Yes." As he said this, the environment turned quiet. He then added, "Just kidding," and laughed. "Hahaha!"

Edsel, looking at the man, thought, "Why does this world have a bunch of weird people? The emotionless guy and a weirdo cowboy."

"Stop referring to me as a weirdo cowboy," the other man shouted.

Edsel asked in a serious tone, "Then what can I call you?"

The man smirked before saying, "I'm Clay, the Traveler."

"Clay, the Traveler?" Edsel asked.

"You will soon find out why," Clay replied with a warm smile.