POV: Calvin

I turned with hurried movements after discovering the shrinking of the dome and threw my axe in my right hand towards the mirrors in the direction Akir was in.

The mirrors shattered immediately after coming into contact with my axe, but they showed something different from what I had expected. Utter darkness.

'Where is he? Did he disappear? Did my sense of direction get confused?' I thought before concluding that the third was the most likely and pulled my other axe back before throwing both my axes and guiding them to shatter every single mirror on eye level.

I then looked behind every single mirror before they unshattered themselves, but I still saw nothing but darkness.

He was gone. Akir, my only companion left, was gone.

'I shouldn't have gotten so attached,' I thought pessimistically.

However, I couldn't help it at the time. There was a connection between me and him. It had been there ever since he accepted to join my group, even though I could tell he originally had no intent of joining one.

I guess we both saw something in each other. Maybe both of us saw the same exact thing in each other, which is why we clicked. We had both changed a lot, though, and still we were like old friends.

I hadn't thought this place was so bad at first, but I began to hate it more and more as time went by. I just had to wonder what would have happened if Akir and I had met on earth.

Would we have been friends?

I never really had any friends. It was probably the same for him. It was most likely that if we hadn't been in the Ruins, we would have just repelled each other.

Still, it was cool to imagine the two of us drinking and laughing together. Maybe that's why I couldn't resist making friends with him, even though I had a hunch it would end up like this.

With every passing ruin, I started to believe it more and more. That I was cursed to survive this place all alone.

I gazed at myself through the mirrors as I thought. I couldn't help but notice how different I looked. My appearance hadn't changed in the normal sense. My body fat had remained the same, and my skin was still healthy.

It was my eyes that had changed. Not like those of Akir's, but they had still changed. The color was still the same, but looking at them felt different. It was like something invisible had been laid on top of my eyes.

'That's really me I'm looking at?' I thought as I touched my face and saw the reflection do the same.

I had experienced things like this back on earth too. Subtle changes in my appearance that changed the way I viewed myself were nothing new, but this time I couldn't spot the difference and still didn't want to acknowledge that it was truly me that I was seeing.

"Aagh," I groaned and rubbed my eyes.

Then I started walking into a random direction in the hopes of discovering something. However, I found nothing, and nothing found me.

I changed directions, walked in circles, broke mirrors, and did pretty much everything I could think of, but nothing happened.

'What is this?' I thought irritably. 'Wait, if I'm being left alone, does that mean the ruin is after Akir? It's been pretty long since we split, but he's still holding out. I need to find him before he dies!'

I began sprinting, but not long after, a quiet but powerful voice entered my mind. "Dream."

I lost control of my body and collapsed onto the ground, face first.

I summoned my weapons, but they were of no use. I couldn't move an inch, even when I tried my hardest. Eventually, my resistance was negated, and my mind went blank.

***

"Hey, wake up," a familiar-looking young boy ordered me as he jumped on top of my chest.

He was only about twenty kilograms, but the feeling was in no way pleasant.

"Ah, get off," I said, pushing the kid to the side.

Immediately, my eyes became the victims of the sun, and I was forced to put up a hand to block it. I supported my upper body with my other hand, which rested on the picnic blanket beneath us, as I looked around the grassy plain.

People walked by on the gravel road not too far from us, heading to the beach on the right, and there were some other people having picnics around us, but I didn't care much.

I just focused on nature. The pleasant, cool wind that came from the sea not far from us and smelt a bit like salt, the heat that radiated from the sun, the glistening of the seawater, the noise of leaves rustling, the seagulls making their usual noises and watching out for their children.

What a beautiful mixture of all senses it was.

Then I looked to my left and saw my little brother, my mother, and my father, who were all looking at me. It was the usual. My father looked a bit dismayed by his time being wasted, but he was still happy to see me and my brother playing around. My mother's judging gaze was directed at me after I had pushed my brother. My little brother is looking at me with an enthusiastic expression, ready to wrestle at a moment's notice.

Stolen novel; please report.

My heart started beating rapidly, and my breathing became hurried. My hands were squeezed into fists and relaxed multiple times within seconds, and my blinking became erratic.

"Is everything okay?" my mother asked, abandoning her previous expression the second she saw me display unnatural behavior.

'Stop it!' a commanding yell echoed throughout my mind for a second or two.

Then it all went back to normal as fast as it had started. But there was a change in my vision. It became blurry. And not long after, tears started streaming down my cheeks.

I had no idea what was happening at first, but when the tear drops started falling down into my lap, everything went back to normal, and I started wiping my eyes confusedly.

"Eh, why are you crying?" my brother asked, sounding worried as well.

"I'm not crying," I responded. "It's allergies."

"But you don't have any allergies," my brother retorted.

"You rascal," I said, jumping up, grabbing my brother by his feet, and starting to swing him around.

"Waaaaah! Save me mom!"

"Stop it, Calvin. You'll hurt him," my mother said disapprovingly.

"Yeah, yeah," I said and stopped swinging him around and laterally raising him high enough that he could meet my eyes. "You got off lucky this time, boy," I said mimicking what sheriffs sounded like in western movies.

I lowered the boy, who then started acting like he was throwing up as soon as he landed. My mother instantly rushed to his aid before looking at me and speaking with a reprimanding tone, "How many times have I told you not to play so rough with him?"

"Come on. It's my divine duty as his big brother to shape him into an honorable young man," I said puffing my chest out.

"Pfft," my father let out such a noise before taking a sip of his coffee and returning his expression to his usual one. "Let's not waste more time. Sit down, everybody, and let's eat."

I smiled and sat down, my mother and brother following suit not long after.

We all then clasped our hands together and said a prayer before digging in. The picnic held all kinds of delicacies, but for some reason, it all tasted bad. It was like I had brushed my teeth just a minute ago.

I couldn't shake the feeling that everything was off. However, I hid my unordinary feelings and acted as if everything was just fine.

After we finished eating, my father looked at me and raised his brows. I was immediately reminded of something, and reached for my backpack that was behind me and took out a small box wrapped in white wrapping paper with a red ribbon on top.

"Happy Mother's Day!" I handed it to my mother, who gasped in a bit of an exaggerated manner.

"You didn't have to."

"I know, but you deserve it."

My mother undid the wrapping and opened the gray box underneath the wrapping paper.

"Huh?" My mother showed a shocked expression as she discovered the golden heart necklace. "Where did you get the money?"

"I've been saving up," I responded as a smile forced itself onto my face.

My mother stood up, and I did the same, sensing that she wanted to give me a hug.

However, I couldn't help but notice a blade in her hand as she approached me. I was confused, but I was sure it couldn't have been true. I was just seeing things. She was my mother. She could never...

'Don't!' a horrified scream entered my mind again for just a moment.

I ignored the voice and pulled her into a tight hug, not willing to accept such a possibility.

Soon after, I felt a sting.

My eyes opened wide as I remained still. Then I looked to my right, where my brother and father were standing, staring at me with black eyes.

I gulped and looked around, just to see more people standing still with their dark eyes aimed at me.

'It can't be. Please wake up. Wake up!' I screamed to myself, but nothing changed.

Then I pushed myself off of my mother to see if the feeling was real. And after falling onto my back, I found the feeling to be very real. As real as the knife lodged in my chest.

I wanted to scream as every single pair of dark eyes stared at me without a hint of emotion or any type of humanity, but my body wouldn't let me make even the slightest sound.

I closed my eyes with the hope that everything would disappear, but the pain only grew as I felt my back get soaked in my own blood.

The moment before my consciousness finally faded away felt like it lasted forever, and in that eternally painful moment, I had only one thought.

'This is hell.'