Kathleen's mind floated in the void, untethered and hazy. She wasn't awake, but she wasn't quite asleep, either. Images blurred before her, unclear and shifting like a half-forgotten memory.

She stood barefoot in a strange, metallic corridor. The walls around her gleamed with a cold light, pulsating faintly as if alive, though she can't feel any magic power in them. The air was suffocatingly still, yet an unnatural hum reverberated beneath her feet, unsettling her.

Ahead, through the thick, swirling haze, she saw a figure. Kathleen squinted, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. The figure was sitting on a strange, moving structure—one that seemed to glide forward even though the floor stayed still. The figure's face was blurry, indistinct, but something about her was eerily familiar.

Kathleen stepped closer, her heartbeat quickening as recognition hit her like a bolt of lightning. The figure was her.

But not. She wore strange clothes—sharp and dark, made of fabrics Kathleen had never seen before. Her hair, tied back loosely, was the same deep blue, but her face was different. It was younger, weary, and carried a hollowness that unsettled Kathleen to her core.

The air around them was thick with an oppressive silence, broken only by the rhythmic sound of the strange place. Kathleen reached out a trembling hand toward the other her.

"Who... who are you?" she whispered, though the words felt heavy and foreign in her mouth.

The figure didn't move. She stared blankly out of a transparent panel beside her, where streaks of motion—light and shadow—blurred by in a way Kathleen couldn't understand.

Kathleen took another step, her hand brushing against the figure's shoulder. But her fingers passed through, as though the figure were made of smoke.

Her heart sank, and a deep unease settled in her chest. "What is this?" she muttered. "Is this... me?"

The figure remained unresponsive, her lips moving faintly, as though she were speaking words Kathleen couldn't hear. The entire scene felt wrong, like something she doesn't meant to see —a vision of something distant and unreal, yet painfully personal.

The world around her began to dissolve, the walls and floor melting into the haze. Kathleen tried to hold on, to understand, but the harder she focused, the more everything slipped away.

"No!" she cried out, her voice swallowed by the void. "What does this mean?"

The last thing she saw was the other version of herself, her form fading into nothingness, leaving only a faint achingin her chest.

Kathleen's eyes shot open, her body aching as if it had been torn apart. The metallic hum of the dream was gone, replaced by the crackling of a fire nearby. The scent of burning wood filled her nose.

Her senses sharpened slowly, and she became aware of the boy sitting beside the fire. The dream's fog lingered in her mind, like a shadow she couldn't shake.

"What happened?" she muttered, her voice low. "Where am I?"

Eddy turned to her, startled, but Kathleen barely noticed. The vision was already slipping from her memory, like sand through her fingers, leaving only a deep, unshakable unease in its wake.

"What happened? Where am I? Am I dead?"

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Kathleen slowly started to regain her senses.

Kathleen shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. The dream, the feeling of dread, it all seemed connected—but to what?

"Are you okay?" Theo asked. "You were mumbling in your sleep."

"It seems I can't remember my dream, but I don't know why... it feels like I'm forgetting something very important."

"How are your wounds?" Eddy asked Kathleen.

"I'm okay. The wounds aren't too deep, so I'll pull through this time."

"...."

"Can you hear that?" Kathleen asked hurriedly.

"Oh, so you've noticed them too. It seems they've caught up with us," Eddy frowned.

Kathleen started to get up and said, "Well, thanks for saving me back then. I can't stay here much longer, or they will catch up."

"Where are you going? And also, what did you do to them?" Theo asked.

"I don't know... I have no place to go. The village I called home was destroyed because of me. I don't know what they want from me, but they are bad News, so I can't stay anywhere. I will only put that place at risk as well," Kathleen said as tears started dripping from her eyes.

"Wait, are you from Ashfell Village? I heard that village was attacked by a bandit camp two days ago," Theo asked.

"Yes, I am from Ashfell Village," she replied.

"Then that means they're the ones who attacked your village, not some bandits. And you've been getting chased for the past two days?" Theo said.

"Yes," Kathleen murmured.

Eddy, who had been listening carefully, interrupted, "We don't have time for this idle chitchat. Now come close—hurry!"

Theo hurried to Kathleen's side, and Eddy cast a gate spell once again.

"GATE!" Eddy exclaimed.

Once again, they vanished from in front of the fire, leaving only the burning fires as proof that someone had been there.

Someone came out of the jungle bushes.

"So."

"They vanished once again. Interesting," said the psychopath woman, smiling creepily.

"You the solder on the far end of left go to our lord and notify him that it's going as planned. We pillaged the village, and finally, they have met each other, and our plane was a success" the woman ordered the soldier and given him a strange emblem.

The emblem features a fusion of a lion and a human. At the center, the lion's face is sculpted , its eyes sharp and alert, yet there is a subtle human influence in the facial features. The human side of the emblem takes on an almost ethereal quality, with a finely detailed forehead and a strong jawline, The lines where the lion's fur meets the human's skin are intricate, as if drawn with a careful hand, giving the impression of a seamless transformation between beast and man.

The soldier, as ordered, turned back into the forest, and the rest of them stood there, waiting for their next order from their LORD.

"..."

After some time, the soldier arrived at a small settlement in the middle of the jungle.

The small settlement was deep within the the jungle, hidden by thick foliage and trees. A simple wooden fence surrounded the settlement, its planks roughly cut but sturdy, clearly built for defense . Vines clung to the fence, giving the impression that nature itself started to reclaim the area.

At the main entrance, two soldiers standing guard. They were are wearing lightweight armor, designed for mobility in the dense jungle, with blades strapped to their waists and spears in hand.

"Hold" Said the solder on the right.

"I have a message for lord its from our lady "

"show me the emblem of proof"

the first solder hurriedly showed the half lion half human emblem.

"ok can enter now"

As the soldier entered the settlement, he got more and more excited. At last, after two years of tireless service, he could finally see the Lord in front of him.

Inside the settlement, a cluster of small wooden huts formed the core, their roofs made of dried leaves. In front of him, he could see smoke curled lazily from a central fire pit, but for some reason, he couldn't shake the uneasy feeling he was having.

But finally, he arrived in front of the hut where the Lord resided.

"What do you want?" the guard asked.

"I have a message for the Lord; it's from our lady," and here is the proof.

"Okay, you may enter."

He started walking inside the hut. On one side, he was excited about meeting the Lord, but on the other side, that uneasy feeling which he couldn't get rid of lingered.

He finally arrived in front of the throne where the Lord was sitting. In that small hut, the throne was very out of place.

"My Lord, I am a humble soldier in your service. I have a message for you from our lady," the soldier said, kneeling down in front of the throne.

"SPEAK."

That uneasy feeling increased tenfold in the soldier's heart. He said, stumbling over his words:

"Our mission was successful. We managed to chase Kathleen into the jungle, and she finally met Eddy and his brother Theo."

"Wonderful"

"...."

To be continued