The sun was high in the sky, and on the ground, similarly clothed men and women rummaged through the ruins left within the small clearance. They all sported the traditional colours of the Immortal Snake Clan: green and black. A thick blanket of warm ashes littered the forest floor as their heat dissipated within the atmosphere. The ground was still warm, as traces of embers remained buried under the ashes.

Not far away, a young man stood with his eyes riveted on the ruins of a wooden cottage, a frown on his face. His thoughts swirled back and forth as he tried to make sense of the scene unfolding before his eyes. Despite his young age, he stood straight like a sturdy tree against a storm while his short, deep green hair shone in the light.

While his gaze was unwavering, a small amount of uncertainty and nervousness blossomed in his heart as he awaited the report from the officials investigating this scene. He took a deep breath to regain his calm, reminding himself not to fear the worst.

To his side was a middle-aged woman in a blue dress who sported a clear look of disinterest in the scene before her eyes. While small traces of aging could be found on her visage, her features relaid that she was once so beautiful that people would become mesmerized at her mere sight. Even now, she was dazzling, yet her cold look threatened to freeze the world around her.

The officials scurrying around dared not even look at her for fear of incurring her wrath, for she was the wife of the clan's current patriarch. In her husband's absence, she was the most senior member of the clan, able to dictate the life and death of any of the clan's members. Obviously, none of them wished to be on her wrong side.

“Noah," she said as she looked at the young man on her side. "Don’t you have anything better to do? She isn’t worth your time.”

Her tone was harsh and authoritative. More than once, she tried to make him see reason, but he always dismissed her care, which gave her a headache.

“Despite what you and father may think, she is my sister," Noah said calmly, ignoring the apparent disgust hidden behind the woman's words. He couldn't help but sigh internally before adding, "Nothing could change that fact, even if you try to deny reality. Our blood flows through her veins. I know this fact makes you mad, and you have every reason to be, but she isn't the one you should vent on. You know this fact better than I do.”

The woman frowned. While she knew in her mind that his words touched upon the truth, her heart sang a different tune. Emotions weren’t that easy to control, even if you knew they were illogical. She shrugged in the end, putting this thought behind her. Why should she care? She wasn’t her child.

While they both looked forward, a heavy silence hung between them. An official reluctantly approached the duo. His back was soaked in sweat, and nervousness showed in his eyes. If possible, he wished to be anywhere but here. Trying to stand between this mother and child seemed like nothing more than self-destructive tendencies. Unfortunately, he had a job to do and a report to hand in.

"Reporting to the Matriarch and Young Lord," the man said as his voice cracked slightly. "The preliminary investigation just ended; more examination is required, but our findings show...”

“Cut the crap,” the woman said impatiently. “I don’t care about all this. Just get to the point. Is she dead or not?”

The man gulped and started trembling slightly. Noah couldn't help but shake his head at this sight. Even he had a hard time keeping his cool in that woman's presence, much less a lowly official who could lose his life were she to utter even one single word.

"We did find a set of bones buried under the ashes," the man said with difficulty. "But we cannot confirm if it belongs to the young lady."

He had chosen his words carefully. As an official, he was aware of rumours circulating within the clan about the young woman who once lived in these woods. Although she wasn't recognized by the family, shunned even, her status was still much greater than his. He still followed proper decorum by addressing her as young lady, yet those words seemed to strike a nerve in the Matriarch, which made him shudder.

“Thank you. Please continue your work. Let us know immediately once you find something substantial,” Noah said as he dismissed the poor man before he had a nervous breakdown.

The man flashed a grateful look to Noah before he bowed and scurried away at almost a run. The woman frowned, clearly displeased at this display, before muttering, "Am I really that scary?"

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Noah smiled slightly once he heard this. Although they had conflicting opinions on some matters like this one, she was still his mother, and he understood her struggles. He knew his father was to blame for this mess, and he couldn't help but smile helplessly as nothing could be done.

His father's attitude toward his sister Sofia had never been clear. As such, most of the household, including the servants, had no idea how to behave. They simply emulated the madam's actions, resulting in Sofia's ostracization. He couldn't fault his mother either. She had no obligation to care for someone, not of her blood.

All this could have been averted if only his father made his stance clear. Besides, why would he take Sofia in, in the first place, only to abandon her soon after? Much of it didn't make much sense, including Sofia's supposed mother—the maid's disappearance. Noah wasn't one to believe that a maid who had given birth to the child of the patriarch could simply vanish into thin air on her own.

He was sure a conspiracy was afoot, but he didn't delve deeper into it. It wasn't worth it. Even if he found the truth and confronted his father, what then? Would that change anything? If Sofia wished to know the truth, this would be a different story, but she never eluded to any of this, so Noah put it out of his mind.

Time passed slowly while they both watched the officials do their work. Noah could hear rhythmic taps as his mother's foot rose and fell upon the soft forest floor, crushing leaves and displacing ashes in her impatience. He sighed and looked upwards.

The once dense canopy of branches and leaves that used to obscure the clearing was gone, while all that remained was a straight path toward the clear sky. He shook his head as regret took hold of his heart. He had just left the day prior when that unfortunate event took place. Maybe if he had paid more attention, this could have been averted. There was no use for self-reproach, however. He could only look to the future and remember the past, hoping not to repeat the same mistake.

******

A short distance away, as if in the void of space, an adult Sofia stood silently, her beautiful face a mask of indifference. Her eyes were cold and unwavering as she watched the scenes unfold. A most peculiar thought arose in her mind. She wasn't a witness to this scene, so how could it be reflected in her eyes so vividly? This was worth pondering.

At first, she thought all this was a reflection of her memories, something akin to an illusion born within her mind, but this disproved that theory. Some sort of time rewind, perhaps? She also dismissed that possibility. How could anyone possess such power? A God, maybe? Who was she kidding? Those were but myths to control the ignorant masses using fear and awe.

Still, her current predicament left many questions unanswered. How long would she be stuck watching this boring show to which she already knew the ending? There was no suspense, no anticipation, just the faithful recreation of what she had already experienced. What did the one in charge hope to accomplish here?

All around her was nothing but darkness as far as the eye could see, except for the scene in front of her. At one point, she had tried to walk in a single direction, hoping to find something more, but without a landmark, walking a straight path proved to be difficult.

After walking for what felt like months, she was back at her starting point. She wondered whether she had lost her way and walked in a circle or whether the space simply looped upon itself without end. Either way, she was trapped. Whatever she tried led to no satisfying outcome. She had had years to come up with a means to leave this place, but she had come up empty.

With nothing better to do, she simply chose to wait. The one keeping her trapped here should get bored of it sooner or later, right? Meanwhile, she watched the show with careless disinterest. She occupied her mind with whatever she could, but boredom was always just a step away. Any average person would have gone mad by now, yet she seemed fine. Well, she had always had a few screws loose since that fateful day.

Curiously enough, she noticed early on that if she concentrated hard enough, she could materialize objects out of thin air. Obviously, they weren't real, just figments of her imagination, yet the sensation she felt when she touched them was just like the real thing. Such stimuli helped her keep her sanity as time passed.

Sometimes, she would conjure exotic foods or maybe some of the drugs she was once forced to try. Anything to pass the time. They weren't real anyway; what harm could they do? Curiously enough, once loneliness struck her, she would conjure a man, from time to time, with a striking resemblance to Felix. What she did with him needn't be said.

The first time she conjured him made her frown; by no means had she intended for it to be him. She simply felt as if being with that man was the most natural thing. At this point, she couldn't conceive to be with any other man. She felt conflicted at first. Why must it be him? Did she fall so low that she would give her heart to a man she barely knew? She scoffed at the notion.

Obviously not. He was simply unparalleled in bed, that’s all. Hey! A girl has her own needs. Okay?

As for the trauma she had about her past... she got over it. It wasn't nearly as bad as she remembered. Being forced to relive it made her realize that it wasn't anything to get hung up on—considering what would happen later on. Well, she was still a child back then and wasn't equipped to deal with something of that scope, but now, as an adult, it almost seemed trivial. The world wasn't by any means kind to the people living in it; she was hardly the only one suffering. Her scars were many, but she would survive, just as she had always had.

Suddenly, the void trembled as immaterial waves pierced through the very fabric of this simulated world. The scene extinguished as if light had gone out upon a stage, bathing Sofia in utter darkness. She hung motionless in space while reality shifted and crumbled all around her.

“Finally,” she sighed. “Took you long enough.”

The sight of reality crashing down didn’t evoke any emotions of fear within her mind, only relief that this farce would soon come to an end. Her heart was as peaceful as a lake in winter, as not even the strongest winds could cause ripples on its surface.

Her deep violet eyes looked straight ahead, unflinching as a light was birthed in the distance, reminiscent of the light she had chased oh so long ago. The darkness receded as the light grew and bathed every inch of this illusory space in its radiance. Sofia couldn't help but close her eyes to resist this harmful glow.

A few moments later, the glow receded and calm returned. Sofia could barely hear small, inaudible whispers around her as a deep ringing was still present in her ears from that earlier explosion of light. She cautiously opened her eyes as her hearing slowly returned, only to see an unfamiliar silhouette standing just a short distance from her face.

“Hey! Hey!” the silhouette said in a high-pitched, childish voice. “She’s awake! How long were you going to sleep, silly? I was beginning to think you were going to die in your sleep. Are you sure her bloodline is a snake and not a sloth?!”

Sofia punched forward.