"Oh, it seems you've come back for another reunion." A voice whispered throughout a dark eerie space. "Well, I was getting bored anyway, so I can't say I'm not happy." It continued. The source is unknown, seeming to come from all directions.
Suddenly, bright, luminescent chains manifested out of the darkness. They swirled and curved, seeming to head in a certain direction.
The chains stopped abruptly and began to twist around themselves. They formed an eye amid their vortex, a gentle center untouched.
Just a few moments later, something began to manifest within the eye of the chained vortex. Starting from the roots, it manifested upwards, and when it finished, a girl dressed in conventional clothing with messy, short, black hair stood surrounded by the luminescent, golden chains, contrasting the shadowy abyss.
The girl's face was shadowed by her hair, and as she stood, the chains wrapped around her. They clenched her feet and dropped her on her two knees. The chains dragged both her hands backward, which inadvertently straightened her back. Her hair flickered, revealing part of her face, however, her eyes were still covered.
She gritted her teeth and began struggling to release herself from the binding chains. As she struggled, a sudden voice stopped her. The voice sounded similar to the one before. However, this time, the source could be identified. The voice was right in front of the girl.
"It's pointless to struggle." The voice conveyed. "You're just fighting the inevitable." It continued, sounding more and more closer. "Because you see..." The voice whispered slowly, as a mouth manifested to the ear of the girl. It was a smokey, shadowy jaw with long, sharp, white teeth. It lingered at the girl's ear, whispering, "You cannot defeat what you cannot control..." In an instant, the mouth grew bigger opened its jaw, and proceeded to brutally tear off the head of the girl. Blood splattered everywhere and the shadow mouth, now covered in blood, chuckled and snickered with a devious grin.
"Ahhhh!!!" A voice screamed in terror.
She was panting and captivated in cold sweat. Her expression was one of dismay, her eyes widening and her hand quivering. She was the source of the scream.
"Ah... Again..." The girl uttered. She looked very similar to the girl who was chained. She was in her bed and it seemed she had a nightmare that caused her trauma.
The girl got out of her bed and went to her bathroom. She dashed her face with water to calm herself. She then took a towel and dried her face. She gazes upwards at the mirror, staring at her reflection, which reveals her pitch-black eyes, both iris and pupil. Then a thought crossed her mind. "That dream... Why does it keep happening?" she rhetorically asked, her eyes drifting.
She looked at her reflection once more, and when she blinked, the same shadowy mouth abruptly appeared beside her. She jolts in shock, drops her towel, and stumbles over, landing on her butt.
Whilst falling she hit her head and grabbed it in pain. "Ugh... Dammit," she cursed.
She then got to her feet and cautiously began to look at the mirror. "Wait what... I could've sworn..." She was perplexed as she had not seen the mouth she saw earlier.
"Oh, whatever, I need to get to school." She muttered. Then turned around and began walking off, preparing herself for school.
After a while, she was ready to go to school. She was fully dressed in her school uniform, which was a black skirt, with black stockings. She wore a pressed white shirt with a black tie, and her hair was combed nicely.
Before leaving she took up a pendant off of her side table and exited her apartment.
While walking down the stairs of the apartment complex, the girl saw an old lady sweeping a sidewalk. "Hey, good morning, Miss Jun." She greeted me with a wave.
The old lady, Miss Jun, turned around and saw the girl coming towards her. "Oh, good morning, dear. I see you heading to school now." Miss Jun commented.
"Yes, I'm going now. Bye." The girl said as she walked off.
The old lady smiled as she watched the girl walk off to school.
As the girl walked on the sidewalk, she shielded her face from the searing hot sun, commenting, "Ah... This heat is unreal. Just look at those heat waves." She sighed while looking at the distant, wavy, high temperatures. "Well, that only means this summer is just right around the corner. I can't wait!" she exclaimed with a cheerful smile.
After a few moments, she reached a bus stop. She patiently waited for a bus to arrive, and as soon as one arrived, she went aboard as it drove her to school.
Eventually, the bus stopped at her school. She exited and stared upwards at the large, majestic structure.
"There it is... Central West High." She exclaimed with amazement. Although it isn't her first time at the school, it still surprises her at the grandness of this edifice. She proceeds to enter the school.
While walking along the corridor to her classroom, two voices ring out simultaneously from in front. "Hey, Sora, wait up!"
"Huh?" The girl voices in confusion, who we now know as "Sora". She tilts her head upwards as she sees the sources of the voices that rang out to her.
Two teens, a girl with very common hair color and eyes and wearing the same clothing as Sora and a boy with average hair color and eyes to match while being dressed in a male version of their school uniform, which consists of black pants, a pressed, white, long sleeve shirt with a tie.
"Oh, it's you guys." Sora commented, "I was wondering whose familiar voice that was." She continued.
"Well yeah of course it's us." The boy commented with a hint of ignorance. "What, were you expecting someone else? Maybe a 'Class President'?" The boy teased.
"Oh c'mon, Tatsuki, you know how sensitive Sora is when you mention the class rep." The girl also teased Sora.
Sora laments, "Ugh, you guys are the worst. Ren doesn't even like me. He would never see me in that way." As she said this, the mood drastically dropped with Sora sulking.
Seeing the sudden decline in the mood, the girl in front of Sora realized that her friend was filled with doubt and felt the need to uplift her spirits. "Listen, girl, you'll never get closer to him with that attitude. You need to have more confidence in yourself. I mean, you two have known each other since childhood. Ain't no way he doesn't have the slightest of feelings for you." The girl explained pointing out Sora and the class rep's deep history.
Sora felt a little better after her friend's words, but she was still not fully convinced.
Sora's friend, seeing that Sora was still a little doubtful, continued to explain. "Look, he may be the hottest, smartest, and most popular guy in school who never talks to any female for more than two seconds, but at the end of the day, he's still human. So stop sulking and gain some back bone!"
After Sora's friend's long talk trying to uplift her spirits, Sora finally became convinced and thanked her friend. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Umeko."
Umeko, Sora's female friend, replied, "Of course, anytime. So, let's get going before the teacher arrives." Umeko stated as the trio went to their classroom.
Once they entered, they were greeted by their classmates talking amongst themselves. There were many different friend groups throughout the classroom, and Sora and her two friends were one of them. Some students were seated on desks, some in chairs, and others were just standing.
"It seems teach isn't here yet." Tatsuki noted while assessing the classroom.
"Ah, thank God. That means I've got a little more time to finish my homework." Umeko shared.
Tatsuki with an expression of disappointment, comments, "Seriously?"
Umeko retorted, "Hey cut me some slack, OK? I mean, it's not like I didn't try. I even contacted Sora to ask for help, but I was just too busy!"
Tatsuki, frustrated and tired of his friend's irresponsible ways, retorted back, saying, "That's just some lame excuse! Tell that to Ms. Shizumiya and see if you'd be let off easily."
Umeko was hellbent on defending herself so she countered, saying, "I swear I did ask Sora for help! Right, Sora?"
But as Tatsuki and Umeko were having their usual banter, Sora's attention was diverted to something else.
"Sora?... Sora...?... Hey, Sora?!" Umeko shouted to get Sora's attention after her previous attempts proved futile. Sora jolted in shock at the unexpected shout.
"Hey, why were you spacing out just now?" Umeko asked, worried for her friend.
"Oh, I was just..." Before Sora could finish her words, someone soundly stood behind them, catching Sora's attention.
"Excuse me." The person said. It was a tall, slightly muscular teen with silverfish eyes and hair. His tone was deep, silent, and cold as if every word he spoke was more of a command than simply speaking.
"O-oh, uh, Class President, Ren, good morning." Umeko, stuttered but quickly caught her composure and greeted the Class Rep and President. The trio gave way for the class rep to enter the classroom.
Ren coldly replied, "Good morning." Before walking into the classroom. However, before moving from the doorway entirely, he turns his head to the side and glares at Sora, saying, "You shouldn't be standing at the door."
Instantaneously, the trio realized that they were still at the doorway of the classroom and hadn't gone to their seats.
"Oh, sorry about that, we got carried away." Tatski conveyed while scratching the back of his head. "Hey, guys, we should get going," Tatsuki stated. Sora and Umeko agreed, and so the trio went to their seats and gathered into their groups.
They began talking amongst themselves, laughing and exclaiming. But all the while, Sora had the thought in the back of her head about their earlier confrontation with the class rep and how, for some reason, it felt as if Ren was directly staring at her when he mentioned them standing at the doorway. Due to her intuition, she knew that Ren seemed to dislike her for some unknown reason.
After a while, the teacher entered the classroom. Immediately, everyone went to their seats and the class became silent.
"Good morning, class." The teacher announced. She was dressed in a white, pressed-button shirt with a few buttons open, which slightly revealed the separation from her huge chest. She also wore a black, tight, short skirt which enhanced her figure even more with beautiful black heels. She wore glasses as well and her long black hair was tied into a ponytail. Simply put, her figure was stunning.
Just seeing her made all the male students' faces red; however, despite her amazing figure, they were still aware of her serious, strict, and aggressive demeanor and knew not to upset her.
"Good morning, class." The teacher greeted me once more.
"Good morning, Ms. Shizumiya!" The class greeted in response.
Ms. Shizumiya proceeded to her desk in front of the classroom she then began speaking to the class.
Transitioning to later in the day, Sora is attentive in her class. She's seated towards the back right of the class next to a window. The sun's rays pass through the windows and form sudden beams of light that set the scene into a calm and soothing feeling. The class is quiet and attentive; everyone is focused on the male teacher's lesson.
While scribbling down her notes and listening to the teacher's explanation, Sora's view slowly blurred red, and then the once calm, quiet, soothing, and warm classroom transitioned into a dark, disgusting, eerie, and terrifying graveyard.
"Huh? What the hell?" Sora gasped in shock at the unexpected change in the place she was.
"Where am I? How di-" Abruptly, before she could even finish her words, a huge monster lifted from the ground in front of her, aiming to devour her flesh. It resembled a zombie I'll be it, around five times larger than a regular human.
Sora screamed, her face morphed from a look of confusion to one of dread. The monster ran towards her with unparalleled speed. Sora began running away as fast as she could.
"Ahh! WHAT'S GOING ON?! HOW DID I MANAGE TO END UP IN A PLACE PLACE LIKE THIS?!" She frantically asked, shouting in terror and frustration as she ran away. However, her questions received no answers, and from the look of things, it seemed only she and the monster were in the area.
As she ran away from the voracious monster, Sora's gasps for air increased, and she was sweating profusely, becoming slower and slower. The area around her slowly morphed with her unaware as she wished she was somewhere else other than here. But then she stopped in her tracks, sensing something was off not hearing the monster's footsteps behind her anymore. She turned around to clarify whether she had lost it and as she thought, the monster was no longer behind her. However, she was now in another area. As she stared at the new area she stood in, which was a dark, sinister forest, her expression morphed from curiosity to horror as her gut feeling kicked in.
Sora is a very intuitive person, and it's been that intuition that has made her survive the countless vivid nightmares she has had and right now, her instinct is screaming at her that she's screwed.
She's covered in cold sweat. Her expression was a silent scream that was enough to tell you that something was watching her, something so terrifying that if she were to even take a single step or the slightest hint that she knew of that thing's existence, it would rip her to shreds.
Sora is a very intuitive person and although it's been that intuition that has caused her to survive the countless vivid nightmares she's had, it's also that same intuition that has been her greatest weakness. She's so intuitive to the point that whenever she knows of anything or can pick up on something, it becomes increasingly difficult for her not to say or show that she knows of this thing. She's desperate to ignore the creeping feeling that she knows something she shouldn't.
"What should I do? What should I do?" Sora muses. She's so terrified that she's as tense as a statue."I can't allow that thing to know that I know it. Which means I can't turn around and walk back to where I came from as it would be suspicious." She evaluated and continued, "But if I even take the slightest step forward, I know I'm done for. So what should I do?" She weighed her options.
"It seems you're up in another interest predicament. How amusing." An abrupt voice whispers with malice. It follows with a chuckle and then the same shadowy, smokey, devilish entity with big, sharp, white teeth that formed a maniacal grin manifested to the ear of Sora.
"Huh?" Sora was bewildered at the sudden appearance of the grinning devil. She wasn't scared but rather startled as it hadn't been her first time seeing this entity. However, while it isn't their first time seeing each other, Sora is still not familiar with this strange entity. And this becomes apparent when she asks, "Just what exactly are you?"
The grinning devil snickered and then replied, "Me? Well... I'm you."
"What?" Sora was visibly confused.
"I understand you want me to explain but I can't do so unless you escape this place." The devil explained.
"Escape?! How am I supposed t-" Before she could finish her words, Sora was slammed into a tree by the same monster she was trying not to get eaten by. This was because she spoke too loud and blew her cover.
The monster appeared from the shadows and to say it looked unsettling was an understatement. The creature was a terrifying chimera, its body a twisted fusion of different animals. The main body was that of a large lion, but the mane was replaced by a hissing tangle of snakes, reminiscent of Medusa's deadly locks. The tail was long and scaly, like a crocodile's, and the hind legs ended in horse's hooves, while the front paws remained those of a lion. Its eyes were a piercing hawk's gaze, and its tongue was a darting snake's fork. Most disturbingly, its mouth was filled with countless long, white teeth, razor-sharp and gleaming.
Sora, leaning against a tree, was in dismay. She didn't know what to do; there was nothing she could do. And as the chimera got closer, it opened its jaws and prepared to bite off her head. As it did, the same trauma from the morning came back and she screamed in terror. Her eyes widened and she screamed in horror.
The whole class jolted at the unexpected scream. Sora was panting heavily and she was covered in sweat. The teacher called to her and asked her what was wrong. Everyone in the classroom stared at her. Tatski and Umeko, who were also staring, had a look of worry on their faces as if they knew what was wrong.
"Um, excuse me, Sir. May I use the bathroom" Sora raised her hand and asked.
"Oh, yes, no problem. I was just about to tell you to go to the bathroom to refresh yourself." The teacher stated, granting Sora permission.
As Sora prepared to leave the classroom, she and the class rep, Ren made eye contact. However, it was very brief and she left the classroom and headed to the bathroom. Once she got there, she immediately washed her face. She stopped and looked up into the mirror. She was dazed for a while, her hands shaking from the previous trauma, before turning around to leave. However, before she could leave a familiar voice called out to her.
"Just wait one moment. Didn't you want me to explain who I was?" The grinning devil asked.
Sora remained silent and turned around to go back to the mirror. As she stared into the mirror, her reflection slowly warped into the grinning devil's.
"So tell me... Who are you." Sora sternly asked. It was the first time seeing her look so serious.
"As I've said before, I am you." The grinning devil began speaking. "Or simply, a fragment of your imagination. I am your insecurities, your lies, your negative self manifested into an entity with no face." As the devil continued, Sora became more and more attentive. "I am you and you am I. I am your illusion. A consciousness created by yourself. Every action I perform, everything I do is all by your order." The devil became more and more intimidating. "Or simply, the order of your subconscious." The devil ended.
Sora was still confused as this revelation only brought more questions than answers. "I still don't understand. What do you mean? Please just tell me?!" She pleaded.
The devil acknowledged her request and stated, "What I mean, Sora, is that you are one of few in this world. A world filled with superstition, that's what this world is. Things like ghosts and spirits are all real; they all exist. But you are so intuitive that you are imperceptive to this fact. The one skill you have that, on the surface, seems to be a great tool against these spectral entities is the biggest detriment to your survival. To summarize what I just said and to put it simply and bluntly, you are bound, restricted... You are chained by your illusions." The devil concluded.
Sora only stood there, staring at her reflection. She couldn't believe all that she had heard. "What...? Chained... By my illusions?" She was sweating profusely, her eyes widening as she stared into her reflection. At this very moment, she couldn't decipher whether what was staring into the mirror right back at her was her reflection or the devil's mischievous grin, after all... it could all be an illusion.
(To Be Continued)