"Waah!"
In a small, dark shack, a black-haired pre-teen woke up screaming, with sweat all over his body.
His eyes had tears, his drool had stained the soft pillows, and he was sobbing continuously.
Suddenly, the door opened with a wham, and a mature lady with black hair and a simple yet charming face rushed inside, wiping her wet hands on her skirts.
She had a frown on her face as she held the teen in her arms, consoling her, "What happened, Remi? Why are you crying?"
"I-I" Remi tried to say something, but due to his chest heaving from his crying, he wasn't able to.
"It's okay, baby. Everything's fine right now." She consoled him, hugging him and caressing his head slightly. "Did you see a nightmare?"
Remi nodded, slowly calming down in her embrace.
"What was it, baby? What did you see?" She asked him gently.
"I saw-" Remi was about to narrate his story to her, when just like most of the dreams, it started breaking into millions of shards, until it all ultimately collapsed.
He couldn't remember a thing.
"Mmm!" He shook his head, "I… don't remember."
The lady kissed the boy's forehead and said, "It's good that you don't remember it, baby. C'mon, let's go, it's dinner time."
Remi bobbed his head as he got up, went towards the back of the house, opened the water barrel, and used it to wash his hands and face.
It was nighttime, and many stars were visible in the sky, which made him flinch.
Even though he saw the same sky every night, for some reason, he felt like he had seen a different night sky for a while.
"Remi!" A deep voice called him, making his eyes sparkle in joy.
"It's Father. He's back," He cheered up as he rushed back, not paying heed to the night sky anymore.
The humble wooden shack only had 2 rooms, one was at the entrance where the clay stove was, and the other was a bedroom with doors right behind the stove.
As he rushed around the house, he reached the only main door of the shack and saw a brown-haired, lanky man sitting right behind his mother, who was cooking some barley pottage on the open fire.
His father was a hunter, but today, he looked like he had no luck in it.
But regardless, the father's eyes also lit up seeing his son.
"Heard you had a nightmare, son?" The father asked as Remi sat next to him on the ground.
"Mhm!" He bobbed his head in affirmation, his stomach grumbling.
His father started speaking, which soon turned into a lecture.
Remi grumbled, but he couldn't do anything against it.
While he was ignoring his old man's grumbling, his mother started serving them plates.
Clank!
Remi received his plate, and there were two red berries on it.
His eyes widened as he looked at his mother, who had a finger on her lips, asking him to be silent.
"Hehe!" They both sneakedily laughed at it.
His father saw it, but he ignored it, since this was planned, a smile forming on his face.
They were served warm pottage made up of root vegetables, and some stale bread from a few days ago.
For some reason, eating this warm and hearty meal made Remi feel like a mountainous burden was lifted off his shoulders.
He felt warm and like he could finally relax.
It felt like… home.
…
An entire day and a half passed in peace.
Remi was living happily with his small family, as a peasant in the rural areas of the empire.
They ate hearty meals together, his mother scolded him for what he did wrong, and his father taught him things he needed to work on, since it was time Remi started helping him with work.
Everything in his life was perfect.
Too perfect.
…
One morning, when Remi was busy watching birds, his mother said something.
"Isn't this nice, Remi? Wouldn't you love to stay here with me? With us? Forever?"
Remi froze.
His guts twisted, and his head was assaulted by a piercing pain.
A massive amount of foreign memories started pouring into his mind.
He was screaming in pain, but his mother weirdly did nothing.
She just stood there, watching him with a smile on her face.
Remi remembered now.
He lifted his head to watch his mother, smiling.
Suddenly, his mother was also stunned, and her eyes lost their focus for a moment.
'I see.' He mumbled under his breath.
"Remi, why are you smiling?" Her voice sounded a lot mechanical than before.
He stared at her for a moment.
"Mother, you are dead."
The scenery in front of him splintered with a single crack, like a mirror over reality.
His mother shook her head, smiling, which felt tighter now. "What are you talking about, sweetie? Look at me, aren't I alive?"
Remi shook his head, his smile still plastered over his face. "I saw you and father die, mother. You were crushed by that spirit lord."
"What are you-"
"Silence, mother." Remi stopped her from interrupting him. "I was adopted by the Royal family because I awakened at the age of 13 after being force-fed a spirit core by some people."
Remi was furious, his tone loud, not having this bullshit anymore.
He was beyond pissed that Arenox would go this far. "I watched my parents die. Those two sacrificed themselves as they were crushed to death in that small room. I bled for them. I wanted revenge. I almost became a monster myself for it.
"And you are trying to act like them?"
As he continued fulminating, the world around him cracked more and more, like fragments of a mirror, until there were thousands of them.
"But don't you like it here?" His mother's voice sounded even more unnatural now. "If that life was that awful, won't you like it here?
"It was awful, wasn't it?" She continued. "You hated it. Everyone feared you. You feared so many things. You lived in misery."
"You are right." He said quietly, "I hated that life."
"But at least it was real. I don't want peace, that's a lie. I'd rather carve a life of my own than live in peace in some illusion."
The room darkened, and so did everything else. Until it was only he and his mother, and father were left.
"Don't be stubborn, Remi. Don't you miss us? Don't you want to stay with us your whole life here, peacefully?"
Remi stood up.
"I do. I do miss you both all the time." He said, "But I have new, real people outside this illusion who are worried about me.
"Sure, I have many problems I still have to face, including decisions I made irrationally.
"But I have to face them.
"Because they're real."
The world started fragmenting more and more, until it nearly shattered.
He could see tears in his parents' eyes.
"I love you both."
And then, darkness.