Ivy sat in bed that night after Ray left as she hugged Daisy in her arms while rubbing the empty space next to her. “What are you afraid of Ivy?” She asked herself as she wondered about her refusal to fall asleep alone or in the dark.

“Are you going to keep spiraling in your world of confusion?” Ivy questioned herself as she stared into the pitch-dark sky outside the window.

“Are you going to let the fear grip you like a poor weakling? You aren’t that weak Ivy… You are always stronger… Why are you letting yourself dwell on hopelessness?” She questioned as she slowly drew herself into the dark abyss. She quickly opened her eyes when she felt the wind only to find herself awake in her paracosm.

This time, she sat by a high cliff where it was very windy while she stared with her piercing eyes at the abyss where the aurora-lited sky was. She was confused for a second as her messed-up memories kept replaying in her mind and stirring her emotions.

She recalled the first time she saw the ember by the plains of irises and it didn’t burn her. The snippets of her and Phoenix playing his harp as he gave her a bouquet of the yellow iris as a proposal and how he kept his promise to protect her from Petunia and the serpents.

She was touched as a moment of hesitation gave Jason the chance to escape. Avinha, on the other hand, took the chance to push on more lust for vengeance into her.

Ivy tried to shift her focus back on the enemies lurking around her. She could see evil Jason’s shadow as memories of Jason tutoring and teaching her life lessons flood her mind.

She shook away those memories as she began to realise her reality was messing up her paracosm but she realised it was evil Jason’s weakness to break through his world. Protecting her was his weakness.

She wondered who was the other shadow lurking and what it wanted from her. She then continued to challenge evil Jason to trick the other shadow to reveal itself. Ivy wanted to charge at evil Jason several times only to have him blink away each time. Strangely, she could feel her urge to kill subside as each time she pushed out her urge to kill, a little of her memory and feelings return.

She fell to the ground in further confusion as she pondered into the dark abyss on the Phoenix human form which looked identical to evil Jason in her memory.

“Who is this? Is he related to my past? Why am I feeling as though there is another being in here other than that evil Jason? What is this lust to kill that is endless?” Ivy questioned as she was getting enraged after figuring out she was being controlled.

She vowed to seek revenge this time as she abruptly continue chasing evil Jason who was caught by surprise.

Before she could catch Jason, she drew the second sword from the chamber in front of her which was labeled as “revenge” on its seal. She noticed the first sword she drew when she was motionlessly killing swarms of humans earlier was labeled as the sword of confusion. She saw there were another five more swords ahead of her.

It made sense to her now that she was no longer confused as she could tell the shadow in front of her was not evil Jason but the other lurking shadow whom she had tricked to reveal himself.

Avinha.

Instead, she felt a strong vengeance in her longing to seek revenge.

Evil Jason was surprised to see his brother in the realm with them as he quickly blinked away and hid. With the lust to kill him growing in Ivy, she charged at Avinha only to fall off the endless spiral stairs while catching herself looking at that familiar face of the woman whom she had always seen pushing her off the stairs.

Strangely this time, Ivy was no longer afraid but rather she was curious to find out who that woman was the next time.

She squealed awake as she sat gripping tightly to her palm till they bleed. She could feel the pain was adrenaline stopping her from breaking down as she winced. She slowly realise she was getting hold of ways to control her sleep paralysis and was able to move and breathe.

Ryu on the other hand was the one who woke in shock to comfort her. He hugged her while she was catching her breath.

“Ivy! You’re alright?” Ryu took a quick look at her as he heard footsteps outside and knew Peter wasn’t asleep yet as Ivy didn’t wake up with a scream this time. It was Ryu himself overreacting to her that made Peter barge into the room.

“Breath Ivy… Breath… It’s alright… It’s alright…” Ryu comforted her as he slowly forced open up her palm to find her injured.

Peter then came in with a warm glass of water. “Dad, she’s injured. Look after her while I take some bandage…” Ryu informed as Peter nodded before heading to her side and passing her the glass of water as he gently patted her arm.

To Peter’s surprise, she let him as she drank the glass of water and held on to the empty glass with her bloody palm. Peter noticed she didn’t cry this time but instead, she was breathing hard to fight.

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He was at ease with her improvements as he smiled briefly. When Peter was about to leave, Ivy pulled onto his hand and held him for a hug. It caught Peter by surprise as she continued to calm herself down in his arms.

It’s been a while since she once felt the warmness of her father and it was no doubt comforting to her as she eased in and let go of all her worries. When Ryu returned, he was glad of what he saw as it moved Peter to tears eventually.

The next day, as Ivy sat by the balcony still trying to grip some sense of her paracosm and thoughts of reality, Peter came to cover her with a blanket as it was chilly from the nonstop rain since the day before. He smiled as he walked away noting her not resenting him much like before.

That afternoon since it was a Wednesday, Melody was excited after class as she quickly sprint to the front gate of Ryu’s school to wait for him. When she saw him, she was jumping with joy though was a little nervous. Ryu chuckled at her the sight of her.

“You’re that excited? It’s just meeting my sister…” Ryu greeted her as he patted her head.

“Of course! She’s my idol too! Oh, you’re not having Mr. Jin send you home today?” Melody noted.

“No. From today on, I have decided to not bother with it. Jin had his girlfriend picking him up since they always hang out in her boutique. It would be a waste of time and resources. Mr. Jin could have done something better. Besides, I have learned to take the bus from you.” Ryu explained as they walked to the bus stop.

“Well, if you don’t mind, I could accompany you to the bus stop daily…” Melody said as Ryu smiled and nodded.

Ivy was wondering to herself when will the rain stop as she wanted to try and step outside like she had promised Ray to do. As she sat with Daisy after a brief lunch where she sat quietly with Peter at the dining table earlier, she took a stack of papers from the magazine section and began to fold them into stocks or stars. She couldn’t help but think back about her paracosm.

She realised she had begun to see not just evil Jason but also their nemesis, Avinha. Was it because she was slowly embracing the fact in reality and overcoming her fears that things were being revealed in her paracosm?

She also realised she wasn’t afraid to look at the woman who pushed her down the spiral stairs’ face. She then noticed that it was so familiar as though she had seen her somewhere but she really couldn’t remember who it was.

It was all still a mystery she couldn’t solve no matter how much she thought of it.

The house’s lift rang as Melody stepped in with Ryu. Melody managed to bring along a small pot of succulents for Ivy. Melody first greeted Peter as Ryu accompanied Melody who bravely stepped forward to the balcony.

“Sis! I’m home and I have a guest for you!” Ryu greeted cheerfully as Ivy smiled and turnaround to look at their guest. Ivy recognised her and Melody quickly stepped forward as she gave Ivy the pot of succulents.

Ivy smiled and took it from her noting how shy Melody was. “I… I…” Melody stuttered as Ryu patted her back to gently calm her.

“I’m Melody… I know I promised I won’t come to visit you if you woke up but the fans are really curious about your recovery and we all hope that you would recover soon enough to come to watch Ryu in his upcoming match in the finals. It’s the season finale and you must come, Ivy.” Melody urged as she began to become more and more confident.

Ivy smiled and held her hand as it send Melody and Ryu both relief.

“Stay here. I will go change and we can head down to study…” Ryu informed as Melody nodded.

Melody could feel Ivy leading her hand for her to sit next to her on the sofa. Ivy then carried Daisy to her lap after putting the pot of succulent on the table side to make space for Melody to sit.

“Are you cold?” Melody asked as she helped to cover Ivy with a blanket which Ivy gladly let her.

“I didn’t know what to get you. I hope that little pot of succulent could accompany you while you rest.” Melody said as Ivy smiled and nodded.

“You don’t have to worry about Ryu. He is doing really well in his studies. Oh, and he trained a lot for this finale next weekend. Nowadays, I help to keep the fans under control, and every time he has a training session or competition, we will have all the fans attend and there will always be an after-party. Sometimes, Ray would help out too especially on big events like his final match coming up. We all would chip in to prepare for the refreshments…” Melody was too excited as she updated Ivy that she forgot to check on Ivy’s expression.

When she noticed Ivy frowned at her last sentence, she paused for a moment. “... Oh, oh but don’t worry, Ray actually reimbursed us, especially on the big events. However, we all felt bad as we fans wanted to do something special for him. So, we all helped out with Rahi’s and Opha’s marketing. We would help to post marketing advertisements online subject to Ryu’s approval after discussion with the management. It’s done free on the surface but in actual fact, it’s the tiny effort we fans do in return for the treats. Initially, we wanted to help do part-time and pay-by-the-hour giving out flyers but it’s a technology society now, and online marketing seems to be effective I hope. I have never asked Ryu about the results but we fans hope it would help somehow or rather.” Ivy gently patted Melody’s hand. In a way, she was praising Melody as she began to wonder how much trouble is the company in that Peter hasn’t cared but the management seemed to be struggling.

Before Melody could explain further, Ryu was back urging her to head for their study sessions.

“Oh, sorry Ivy, I couldn’t stay longer… I will keep the fans’ page updated for you to see… take care…” Melody said as she wanted to let go of her hand from Ivy’s only to be held onto as Ivy smiled.

Ryu could tell Ivy’s look was wondering when will Melody visit again. Ryu stepped in and held Ivy’s hand.

“We would always have study sessions on Wednesdays. I can let her drop by to see you awhile before we study, alright?” Ivy nodded and smiled happily with her eyes closed.

“Are you sure?” Melody asked as Ivy nodded again.

“Oh, thank you, Ivy! I will see you next week then…” Melody cheered as Ivy smiled watching them both head off.

Ivy then continued to sit as she played with the pot of succulents which reminded her of Lentils and her power which was given to her in her paracosm. Perhaps it would be of some use soon.

She shook her thoughts away as the brewing troubles in the companies crossed her mind. She was trying to coax herself to start taking ownership and help out with the management as she opened up her office emails only to see Jason’s previous emails and it was enough to make her put away her phone.

It was still too painful for her to get down to serious business especially when she was not fully coming to terms with his death yet. She sighed as she blinked away her tears, wondering what else could she do to accelerate her acceptance.