“Boss Satel,” Beor, Boss’ spymaster, called out to me as he handed a pile of forms to me. Despite the absurdity of the situation, Beor maintained an air of professionalism as he placed the miniature papers down onto my floating downsized table.

Whenever possible, I would get out of my fake body so Boss’ companions—-my companions—tried their best to accommodate my selfishness. My office table was tiny, my chair was tiny, and even my paperworks were tiny.

I pushed a pile of paper towards him and smiled. He silently pinched the papers and held it against his body, somehow maintaining an aura of seriousness. “I’ll be taking my leave.”

I waved my hand, seeing him off, before returning to my work. I grabbed my quill, raised it as blobs of ink floated towards the tip, and went right back to work. Letter after letter was formed, sweet silence permeated across my little lonely world.

Though, it wasn’t as lonely as I had hoped it would be.

I slowly raised my head from my work and noticed a woman almost the size of me floating in front of me. Her beautiful hair swam in the air, her dress radiated wealth and extravagance. Despite the overly decadent and bright outfit, the woman wore an expression of… gray melancholy.

She raised her hand out and traced her finger against my simple and boring table.

“Satella,” her voice echoed in my head and ears.

I gently placed my quill down and tilted my head. My eyes gazed deeply into hers. “I am no longer Satella.”

“Then what is your name now?”

“Satel.”

The name I was imprisoned under... and freed by.

“There is little difference between Satella and Satel.”

“The difference is a difference between lifetimes.”

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The woman raised her finger, a trace of blood dripped from the tip. She forced an empty smile as she whispered, “You’ve managed to escape…”

Escaped. Not from any physical prison. But from this realm. This reality. This plane of lies.

I nodded gently, responding with a smile of my own.

“How did you find your way out? Did you find it yourself?”

I shook my head and explained, “It wasn’t me. Someone… helped me.”

Her ears perked when she heard ‘someone’. Her eyes seemed to flick between glassy and dead, but for a moment, I thought I saw a glint of light. She took several steps back and solemnly said, “Good. Be free, Satella.”

“Wait,” I called out. “Now that you’ve seen that there is a way out with your own eyes…”

She shook her head before I could finish and replied, “No. It’s too late for me. Too late for the fairies.”

“I can show you the way out. We can live free. Our people can live free.” I stood up.

The woman looked down and grinned. I felt pain. Not mine. Hers. It was a truly lonely grin. “I’m drowning, Satella, and I am tired. The others are lost already, gone. Only I remain.” She paused for a moment before adding, “You and I.”

“I...I don’t understand.”

“You don’t have to.” The woman turned and whispered, “I only wanted to see you one last time. To see how it feels to trust.”

“Trust who?”

“Trust not this world. Not this reality. Not any truth.” A bittersweet silence emerged before the woman disappeared. Her final words echoing in my mind. “But trust yourself and yourself alone.”

She was like a mirage, a hallucination. There wasn’t even a trace of blood on my table. But her emotions felt real to me. I placed a hand against my chest and savored in the resonating beating of my heart.

I’m sorry.

But no.

I found someone else to trust, not just myself.

The door opened again, revealing Beor with a stack of papers. “Boss Satel?”

“Ah. More papers?”

“It’s a bit embarrassing, but yes. I forgot to bring some of the documents over. They looked like napkins, you see.”

“Beor…” I rubbed my temples. “You’re all skeletons, right? None of you would need to sneeze or blow your noses.”

Beor wrapped his chin with his hand as if it never occurred to him that they were skeletons. “It would seem so.”

He placed the leftover documents down and quickly left the room.

I rocked back on my floating chair and sighed. Closing my eyes, I smiled happily. “Ah, Boss. You and your gang are so hopeless.”