Somewhere between memory and prophecy...
The forest swallowed us in silence, broken only by our shallow breaths and the distant cry of owls. The monk's lantern swung gently as he led us through narrow trails, and every flicker of light cast long shadows across the undergrowth.
But something in my chest throbbed. A strange burn. Not pain, but pressure — as if something inside me was waking up.
Then—snap.
A root caught my foot. I stumbled forward, bracing my fall, but before I could hit the ground—
Everything shifted.
The trees disappeared. The air grew heavy and metallic. And when I looked up, the sky was ash.
The world around me was cracked and gray — a temple, or what was left of one, stood before me. Vines wrapped around broken pillars. Statues lay in ruin. The place reeked of endings.
"Freen…"
I turned.
Becky stood at the edge of the temple, blood on her hands, her hair disheveled, eyes filled with something that split my soul in half — grief.
No. Not the Becky I knew. She was older, battle-worn. Her voice shook like glass about to break.
"I couldn't hold them off... they—they're all gone, Freen."
I staggered toward her, heart racing. "Lady Rebecca?"
She fell to her knees. "You have to go back. Before Nop takes everything. Before I'm taken again. Find me, Freen… before the story ends like this again."
Lightning cracked the sky above. The temple began to crumble.
"I don't understand—what is this place? What happened to you?"
She reached for me. "You projected here. You've done it before. You'll do it again. You're not just running in this life, Freen. You're remembering. Fix it."
As the world collapsed, I screamed her name—
I woke with a gasp, sweat clinging to my skin. Mr. Lee's voice echoed faintly nearby.
"She's waking."
My hands trembled. On my wrist — something new. A faint glow. A mark I didn't recognize… yet it felt as though it had always been part of me.
"Freen? Are you alright?" Miss Nam hovered.
I looked up slowly, meeting Tee's eyes — and for a moment, something flickered there too. Recognition?
But I said nothing. Not yet.
Because in that other place, Becky had died. And I had felt it.
I wouldn't let that happen again.
Present Timeline – Elsewhere
Becky jolted awake in her room. Her hands clutched the bedsheet. Her chest heaved with sobs she didn't understand.
The dream was too vivid. Too real. A temple. Fire. Blood.
Freen, cradling her, whispering her name with shattered breath.
She reached for her sketchbook with trembling fingers. Without thinking, she began to draw—lines, circles, a sigil she didn't recognize but had seen.
Her pen moved on its own. Her tears fell on the page.
And when she looked down—
The same mark that glowed on Freen's wrist now stared back from her sketchpad.
Present Freen — POV
I sat on the edge of the bed, the diary Mr. Lee gave me resting heavily in my hands. The yellowed pages smelled faintly of old paper and rain. I hesitated before opening it, unsure if I was ready for what it might reveal.
The handwriting was familiar—my own, but older, hurried. One passage stole my breath:
"For every life I've lived, there was always a moment I forgot who I was. But you reminded me. Always, it was you."
My fingers trembled as I flipped the page. Suddenly, the room around me shimmered. Candlelight flickered wildly.
The walls dissolved.
I was no longer in my room.
Heat pressed against my skin. The air reeked of ash and blood. Trees towered around me—scorched, splintered. I was in a forest.
"Where am I?"
"Freen…"
The voice made me turn.
Becky stood at the edge of a ruined temple, blood on her hands, hair tangled, voice filled with a grief that cracked something open inside me.
She was facing away, and I was hidden behind a tree.
"I couldn't hold them off… they—they're all gone, Freen."
I staggered forward, whispering, "Becky?"
"Lady Rebecca?"
But another voice answered.
One that sounded exactly like mine.
I peeked past the tree.
I gasped.
There I was—me, but younger. The same face I saw in the mirror during those strange moments. She knelt beside Becky, trembling.
"You have to go back," Becky said, voice breaking. "Before Nop takes everything. Before I'm taken again. Find me, Freen… before the story ends like this again."
Then, in an instant, the other me vanished, her eyes wide with the same terror I now felt.
Crack.
I had stepped on a dry leaf.
Becky turned, her gaze locking onto mine.
Time stopped.
Then—movement. A soldier appeared behind her.
"No—!"
Too late.
A spear pierced Becky's side. She cried out, blood blooming like a red flower across her clothes.
I couldn't move. Couldn't speak. I could only watch as the nightmare unfolded.
And then—
A violent pull. Like being yanked through a hole in the air.
I hit the ground.
Back in my room.
My breath came in gasps. My hands shook.
I looked down.
The diary lay open. A single page was smeared—fresh blood across old ink.
And just below the smear, words appeared—ink forming on its own, as if written by an invisible hand:
"This is not the last time you'll bleed for her."
The room pulsed. The diary trembled.
Then a knock echoed on the door.
Three slow knocks.
And a voice I hadn't heard in years whispered from the other side:
"Open the door, Freen. We don't have much time."