"Ah, I love the smell off fresh bacon on the morning!"

"I still don't think it's a good idea to start cooking in the middle of a dungeon when we're not even in a save area!"

"Gret, you're always such a killjoy! Live a little!"

"Last time you said that I almost got eaten my a moldergriff".

"You never feel more alive than when you almost die!"

Gret and Philomena are arguing again. She continued complaining about how hungry she was so in the end Gret allowed her to eat something.

"Pyuun!" Babbit suddenly exclaims and started snuggle with my cheek. Hehehe, that tickles...

"Mama, I also wanna snuggle!" Zar shouts from the storage.

((Later then Zar, if I let you out now Philomena might mistake you for a regular animal and turn you into a hamburger)).

"What's a hamburger?"

((I'll explain later)).

"But mama! We never play anymore! It's boring!"

((How about the others? Can't you play with them?))

"Morgana disappears every time I want to and Row-Row only wants to train all the time!"

((Is that true you guys?))

""I don't know what he's talking about..."" Rowan and Morgana say at the same time.

((Don't you know playing is necessary as a child in order to evolve as a person? From now on, please play with Zar at least sometimes, ok?))

""Ok...""

((Great! Now what should I do- Nngh!!!))

"Mistress! What's wrong!?" Rowan shouts.

((M-my head, it- it hurts! Ahh, I feel so tired..))

"Mistress!!!"

Everything goes dark.

................................................

I'm in my classroom, sitting on a chair that's in the middle of the room. Other than the chair and me there's nothing else. No other chairs, no benches and also, no people. Only me. But I know it's my classroom. I've seen it hundreds of times.

The classroom is dimly lit with only a small light hanging from the ceiling and it's silent. The only sound seems to originate from my own heartbeat.

I blink and when I open my eyes again I am no longer in my classroom nor am I sitting down. I am standing at the edge of a small crowd that stands in the middle of the street. It's snowing but oddly enough I don't feel cold. I can see a couple of ambulances and a police car nearby. Suddenly I recognize the place. I used to walk here a lot with my friends. Good memories. But why does everyone seem so... down. Did something happen?

I walk towards a man in the crowd.

"Excuse me, but what happened here?" I ask. The man doesn't answer me. No, he doesn't even look at me. Did he not hear me. "Excuse me" I say, reaching for his arm. "I asked what happen-!". My hand goes right through the mans arm. I try to touch him again but my body just go through him.

I am confused, not being able to comprehend what's happening. But then I hear it. Crying. I walk forward, my body phasing through the people that stands in the way. The closer I get the louder the crying gets.

Then I see him. A teenage boy, holding a bloody lump in his arms. It's Marcus, I know him. He's my... or he was my very best friend. And that must mean... that bloody lump is me.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

Marcus is the crying but he is not the only one. My other friends that followed us are also here and crying as well. Please, don't cry... Suddenly some people walk through the crowd and towards Marcus and my body. It's the paramedics and a policeman.

"Young man, I know you are in shock" the policeman says with a sad voice "but we need you to let go off the body".

Marcus turns towards the police, embracing my corpse even harder. His eyes are red and his cheeks soaked with tears but he's got an enraged look on his face.

"Don't call her a 'body'!" he shouts, causing the paramedics to take a step back. "She's got a name!!!" The policeman seems unfazed by Marcus sudden outburst and pulls up a sheet of paper and a pen from his pocket.

"And what is her name?" he asks.

"Her- her name is-" Before he finishes his sentence everything goes dark and when the light returns I am back in the classroom, sitting down on the chair once again. But this time I'm not alone. A tall figure stands in front of me. It seems to be made out of the darkness around it and I can't see any limbs nor face. But I know it's alive. I can feel it.

"Who are you?" I ask.

"..."

"Is this a dream?"

"..."

"Where you the one showing me those memories?"

"..."

"Ok I understand, but please, answer at least this; why am I naked?"

"..."

"Pervert". I stand up and look around. "Well I can't stay here forever! Time to head towards the exit! Wherever it is...". I start walking around but I immediately notice the shadow thing following me. "Hey! If you're not gonna help then don't follow me!"

"..."

"Sigh, what do you want from me?" I say while turning around, not expecting an answer.

"... Songbird..."

"Huh? Did you say somethi-" It's gone. The shadow that is. Instead there's a red door. Uhmm... Thank you? I guess? I put my hand on the handle. Why? Well, I don't have any other choice, do I? I take a deep breath and push down the handle.

......................................................

I open my eyes and see a familiar stone ceiling and some familiar faces.

"She's awake!"

"I can see that Phi" Bastion says. "How are you feeling Ruth?"

"Ugh, wh-what happened?" I ask.

"We don't know, you just suddenly fell unconscious and we couldn't wake you up, no matter what we tried. You really scared us there for a minute".

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you..." I say while blushing.

"There's nothing you have to apologize for" Gret says while smiling. "You couldn't help it. But please, tell us if you feel bad. We are here for you".

"O-ok, thank you". But I won't tell you what I saw in that dream or whatever it was. I get the feeling that it would just complicate things. Suddenly someone puts a hand on my head. It's Leo.

"B-be careful, ok?" he says while turning as red as a tomato.

"Uhm, ok?"

What is going on here?