Somewhere or perhaps nowhere in the universe was a secluded domain wherein no being dared to step in—that they couldn’t even if they wanted to.

Neverland.

The place was referred to as Neverland.

Nobody knew how to get there, much less how the domain came to be.

Some overlords theorized that the place was even older than the universe itself.

Others wondered whether the wonderland even existed in the first place.

Yet none doubted the power the domain presumably withheld.

After all, Neverland was one of the Twelve Wonders of the universe.

The lone girl stood in the heart of the mystical wonderland.

Crystal-clear tears ceaselessly rivered down her face into the mossy ground over a shatter of her broken soul.

She embodied despair, drowned in sorrow, and something darker, darker than the barely penetrated sunlight beneath the trees looming from above.

Flowers with gauzy petals trembled as if they also felt her pain. Their transparency only aggravated the darkness closing in around her.

By a stagnant, murky pond, she knelt.

Her sobs darkened the dark water and reflected her distorted image at her.

The clawed trails in the mud quickly filled with her tears.

Owls with black voided eyes watched from the nearby branches. Insects buzzed. The plants recoiled from her to curl away and avoid absorbing her despair.

The moss and leaves beneath her were colder than her hands as she clutched at her chest to hold the overwhelming grief that tore her piece by piece.

She curled into herself with her knees drawn to her chest in a futile attempt to protect what little remained of her, her mouth open in a soundless cry of anguish that waned into nothingness.

Suddenly, a bizarre tune emerged from the depths of the mystical forest.

Zan Zan~

The strains of a familiar instrument wove a melody through the air. Its notes resonated and pierced through the girl's despair.

Zan~ Zan Zan Zan~

The melody of what gave an impression of the saz grew stronger.

The forest began transforming as the skewering branches and skewed trees straightened and reached toward the light that broke through the green umbrella to cast warm beams.

Her breath steadied and filled with the soothing music wrapped around her in a warm embrace whilst the birds began to chirp along.

Delicate flowers with glassy petals swayed a celebratory dance at the return of light and life.

She felt a warmth spreading through her chest and reaching into the deepest corners of her heart. The weight of her sorrow lifted and was replaced by calm and even slight contentment as the naked girl stood up and wiped away the last tears.

She walked the path before her as it began to ascend and lead her up a gentle slope buoyed by the enchanting melody of the saz guiding her through the magical forest.

Neverland’s mystical beauty surrounded her. Leaves lightened as if lit from within whilst the glassy flower petals sparkled and lined the path with enchanting fragrances.

Astral Energy was so dense it wisped through the air and tickled against her skin.

Rainbowed birds flitted between the branches as she neared the top of the slope.

Strange and wondrous creatures with winding fur and shining eyes watched her with curiosity.

The forest opened into a clearing bathed in dawning light at the crest of the slope.

Beneath a majestic tree with crimson canopies that pulsed with life sat an unassuming man.

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His fingers quivered over the strings of the saz to coax forth the melody that had guided her.

His appearance from afar was ordinary.

Too ordinary.

This being looked like a common person with black hair and an ordinary-looking face—except he had no facial expression. No, he didn’t have any face at all.

The man patted the ground beside him.

She unhesitantly began her descent into the clearing.

His music encased them and shut out the darkness of her earlier despair as she lowered herself to the velvet ground beside the figure.

The being in the form of a man continued to play until he suddenly stopped. “You look awfully gloomier than usual today.”

“Usual?” The girl locked her eyes with the man. “Do you mean to tell me that I’m always gloomy?”

The figure nodded his head. “So? What happened? Did you get beaten again? Or is it the usual ‘Why am I so dumb’ or ‘Why are they all so dumb’.”

“None of your business!” The girl puffed her cheeks. “I mean, why ask when you know? What do you take me for, huh? Just look at my body! Wait, I don’t feel pain. Right, this is a dream, after all,” she sighed. “I always forget about this place whenever I wake up. I can only get my memories of this place back inside my dream.”

He tilted his head toward her. “Nothing escapes this place.”

“Right,” she leaned further back on the tall tree. “I wish I couldn’t escape either. Why can I?”

Seconds passed. The girl resumed her cries. Her attempts at hiding her emotions and downplaying her troubles were rendered futile in the face of her past miseries.

Tears painted her gloomy face.

The faceless entity shifted his head toward the miniature sun in the sky.

In the blink of an eye, the girl vanished, only reappearing elsewhere as if by magic.

When she came to her senses, the girl sat on a wooden bench near a man. They were on top of a hill surrounded by lively greenery.

Only their attires changed. The girl went from naked to a threadbare cotton shirt while the regular-looking guy went from regular wear to regular wear.

The view was nothing spectacular. Still, for the girl who lived in utter darkness, the light of dawn bathing the forest in a rosy glow renewed its brilliance.

“Did he do it again?”

The girl nodded.

The figure sighed. From where? She wouldn’t know. The figure didn’t have a nose, after all. From where did he speak? She wouldn’t know. The figure didn’t have a mouth, too, after all.

“Wanna have a drink?”

The girl nodded more energetically.

“Tea or coffee?”

She knitted her brows. “You ask it all the time! I hate coffee! Just gimme the damn tea already!” Her tears washed her lips and fell to her lap. “Oh, I’ve read in one book that this is what you call a distraction technique. Like the psychological trick of distracting someone by asking irrelevant or silly questions. Couldn’t you come up with ‘I’m so sorry for you.’ or ‘I’m sure it will get better’ or at least ‘That damn stupid father of yours’. Sona, you senseless fuck! No wonder you have no face—”

The figure lightly slapped at her head. “One less cookie for you. How many times I’ve said that a girl your age shouldn’t use curse words.”

“Shit. I’ve still got another one, though—”

She hurriedly shut her mouth and watched the man shake his head.

“No! At least one cookie! You can’t believe how hungry I am! What a cruel world it would be if I couldn’t even eat in my dreams! Carrot and a stick! There is no carrot, so how’s the stick supposed to work?” she annoyingly shook the man’s hand.

The figure conjured a cup of hot tea and a carrot cake on a plate. “This is something new I’ve come up with.”

Her eyes sparked as she bit at the cake while dawning her tea. “Haha! I’m so pitiful, don’t you think so? You can’t break the broken. That’d be too cruel. I knew you had some bare decency.” The girl munched. “Wow! This is too good! Heavens!”

She leaned back on the bench after finishing the desert.

Tears traced down her cheeks as the empty plate fell to the ground.

“You won’t get a second one. I never fall for the same trick twice,” the man said.

“Tsk.” The girl wiped her tears. “Can you pretend you don’t know and let me eat more cake? At least one. Damn it. I can’t even control my own dreams. You have an infinite supply of those things anyway.”

The figure fed an approaching deer while sitting on a bench. He blatantly ignored her protest.

“What? So even Garry gets food, but I don’t? Do you not have a heart either?”

He pointed at Garry. “See him? Garry deserves it. He’s always behaving well and never talking bad.”

“You are talking shit! Garry can’t even talk. He’s a fucking deer! I promise I’ll one day grill the damn animal!” she screamed at him while piercing Garry with her gaze.

“Wow, animals have feelings, too, you know.” The man shook his head from right to left and left to right. “This would make Garry sad.”

“Would make. But he does not have intelligence, and hence, it won’t! I am a human and still treated worse than an animal, whether in my dreams or real life!” The girl jumped at the deer. “Never mind. I’ll grill him now and here!”

Sona stopped her. “How about I tell you The Tale of The Hero instead?”

“The Hero?” She absent-mindedly looked at his absent-everything face. “You’ve promised it like when? When I was four. What is it with you all of a sudden? I’ve asked for it dozens of times when I was a kid. But I care no longer. I just want to eat.”

“You’re still a kid.” The man lowered his head. “Alright, you win. The whole tale is very long. I’ll tell you the summary of The Hero’s Tale while we play chess, and if you win, I’ll give you one more piece.”

The girl beamed with a smile. “Sure!”

Since Sona sucked at chess anyway.