As I sipped down the honey tea, the parchness and scratchiness in my throat were alleviated.

  Tastes good.

  ...Real good.

  Isn't that right? La-

  "70... What?"

  "Hmm?"

  My head shot up at Yulei's question.

  "You were saying something, a number? 70... You were mumbling."

  Oh!

  "70,093,412. Just a number."

  Also.

  I rhythmically tapped my mask; I'm still waiting for the reason behind the invitation.

  As, Yulei still didn't bring it up almost 10 minutes into our lunch. Most of our conversation consisted of the taste of the food and her favourite desserts. It was nothing interesting and contained zero information about the reason for the invitation.

  Click.

  "You know..."

  Yulei daintily put her utensils down.

  Oh?

  "I'm thankful to Lady Esme."

  I could see a faint smile rising even as she pushed her head down out of my line of sight.

  "She's amazing, isn't she?"

  ...Oh?

  "...Yes, she is."

  She's still not providing the reason.

  Ding~

  Suddenly, the vibrations of a clear, pleasant bell echoed across the garden and into the gazebo.

  Yulei flinched, looked toward the source of the noise, then turned to me.

  "I'm sorry, Lady Alora, we may have to cut our lunch short on this pleasant afternoon..." Yulei was politely asking me to dismiss both myself and her, she couldn't tell me to leave directly to my face after all.

  "No worries, Hil- Ahem, Lily?"

  "Yes, Lady Alora."

  As Hilda was 'missing' for the moment, Lily pulled my chair and allowed me to hop off.

  Bidding farewell to Yulei, I followed Lily off the gazebo and across the bridge, and waiting for us there...

  "I am a cabbage. I am a cabbage. I am a cabbage. I am a cabbage..."

  ...

  Kneeling there with her hands in the air, Hilda repeated those words to herself like a form of self-hypnosis. Her hair was messed up in the wind, basically turning her into what she was repeating.

  "You look like a cabbage."

  Lily took the words right out my mouth.

  "...Not wrong."

  I handidly agreed with that statement.

  ...And then Hilda turned her head towards us, her gem-cut ruby eyes bleeding with pity and grievance, "...Can I stop? Please?"

  Lily smiled.

  "You can get up."

  "Ya-!"

  "But you can't stop."

  "..."

  Crocodile tears dripped from Hilda's face.

  "...I am a cabbage."

  ...

  We ended up listening to that cabbage song for the next hour.

  -----

  I received no answers in the end.

  Her purpose was never revealed, and her status as a victim couldn't be cleared up or crified.

  If, however, I had to point out one thing:

  She's disabled.

  Enough to bind her to a wheelchair and at most stand up once or twice to give a bow.

  Swoosh...

  A breeze washed over me, cooling down my heated head.

  I observed the vast, glistening ke and occasionally let my eyes wander to the distant mountain range. There had been something I've been curious about ever since I read of the Uclidian Mountain Range.

  "Are they those mountains...?"

  I have no way of knowing.

  I barely know the geography of the Domain of Light, let alone the geography or history of the outside world.

  But if they are;

  Is that never-ending night, the eternal darkness, on the other end of those mountains?

  I am still incapable of wrapping my head around that fact. What is a world bnketed in darkness like?

  Cold, dead;

  But how does that work?

  Without the sun, pnet Earth would become entirely uninhabitable within a short period. So how come life still exists on this Dark World, within this Domain of Light, for example, with its Aurora, or in the Land of Cinderbloom with their artificial light-

  It shouldn't be enough to keep their nds warm enough, should it?

  I detached my eyes from the curious mountains and averted my attention to the setting aurora.

  Another day was almost over.

  Hilda and Lily had long left my side, returning me to the grim silence of this terrace.

  ...

  "I know it's not silent. Shut up."

  ...

  "Yes, yes, yes, eyes, eyes, eyes, I'll give it to you, stop talking."

  Hopping off, I strolled around the table and to the railing. My neck barely reached over the railing, forcing me to stand on my toes to grab the items on the other end.

  Squelch.

  Slimy, squelching eyeballs slithered across my fingers; why are your eyeballs so cold?

  ...

  "Oh, makes sense."

  Pulling my arm back, I tossed them over to the chatty bastards.

  "Satisfied? If so, stop talking for a bit."

  Hopping back to my chair, I jumped onto it and leaned as far back as possible.

  The cushions supported my neck as I stared into the skies, at the endless white haze rising from the gardens below and into the sky.

  What are you?

  And why?

  Why is it that when I absorb you...

  I took a sharp breath.

  "Why do you give a familiar peace?"

  "Peace?"

  Sprinkles of chestnut-coloured hair descended upon me, the scent of her body electrified my veins with impeccable-

  Peace.

  "What peace?"

  With her arms wrapped around my neck from behind, she leaned over, revealing her beautiful side profile. Sparks fshed within her oceanic eyes, they oozed with endless, familial love.

  Her saccharine smile dripped with sweet nectar, "Is it the peace of your mother's arms, sweetie?"

  I opened my mouth.

  I gazed into her eyes.

  And obediently:

  "No, mother."

  I responded.

  "Oh? What is it then, sweetie; my dear, sweet, Alora?"

  "My Perfect Alora?"

  My arms lifted as they pointed at the drifting white haze. "I was wondering why the white haze produces a mild effect that vaguely replicates the same lovely peace as your warm embrace, mother."

  Pomf~

  Mother patted my head, nuzzling my cheek with her own:

  "Good girl, good girls never lie; they always reveal the truth, right?"

  "Yes, mother."

  She paused for a moment, then followed my finger upwards, to the drifting haze, "Is it nicer than mother's embrace?"

  "Never."

  Mother chuckled at my immediate response. "Good girl."

  She tightened her embrace, "This is why you are perfect, sweetie, isn't that right?"

  My eyes gazed into the distance, my pupils were still, and my chest heavy;

  "Yes, mother."

  Yet, my mouth was light, clear, and prompt.

  "I am perfect."

  My breaths began to falter, almost twitching in response to my solemn, dreary chest. "Always perfect."

  Warm, slender fingers caressed my neck, drawing a neat line around the entirety of the thin bones making up this creature.

  "Indeed, sweetie, you are nothing but perfection."

  -----

  Dead of night.

  Upon the canopy-less bed, in the midst of a room covered from tip to tip in debris, mirror shards, and-

  Whispers.

  Countless whispers.

  Numbers.

  Countless numbers.

  -Voices.

  Countless voices.

  Maskless, clothless, bare from body to soul, exposed to the elements-

  Sweat drenched its golden hair; the liquid dripped and soaked the mattress beneath its petite, pale-white, soft flesh.

  And its eyes.

  Those pale iris'

  They were open.

  Yet.

  It was asleep.

  Its mouth was open, endlessly repeating words;

  Yet.

  It was asleep.

  ...And it stayed there, still as a rock.

  A fragile, frozen doll.

  The night continued to deepen, casting away the faint light leaking in from the disc of light roaming the night sky; the darkness began to seep into the corners of the room, overtaking and consuming the shadows.

  Then.

  Once all light was gone.

  Once true, unquestionable darkness arrived;

  "Hah!"

  An abrupt breath moved its body upwards, from a lying position to a sitting position.

  Its eyes were still steady, its mouth still whispering;

  But.

  Horror.

  Vile horror clung to its skin as the sweat began flowing with sticky tar, drowning the mattress beneath it in bck.

  Terror had grasped it.

  For.

  Again.

  For the millionth time.

  It heard.

  Not the voices.

  But the voices.

  The mind-numbingly petrifying voices, the whispers of the devil;

  The voices of madness.

  It heard.

  It quivered.

  It cried.

  It bled bck from its skin.

  It enveloped the room in vile tar.

  ...Then.

  Thud.

  It dropped onto the mattress, sinking into the filth.

  The darkness retracted.

  The voices began to fade away.

  And the madness left.

  ...

  "...Hmm...?" She mumbled as her eyes clicked back in pce, dazedly gncing around with confusion.

  Groaning, she scratched her head and turned her body into a more comfortable position. Her arms wrapped around the vile tar, clinging onto it for warmth; a smile even licked its disgusting lips.

  She opened her mouth:

  "Okay."

  Responded.

  Then.

  Returned to sleep.

  -----

  Another nightmare...?

  Stretching, I yawned as I tapped my mask. Again, it was pced on my face, unbeknownst to me, not that I could compin; it stopped Hilda from seeing my face every morning.

  And the clothes, sleeping nude doesn't-

  Sleeping nude-

  Sleeping clothed makes me feel sticky when I wake up.

  But-

  I don't smell good.

  -I sniffed my arm as I turned the bath water on, allowing it to rush into the bathtub at a mildly cold temperature.

  I preferred colder baths in the morning; they help reduce the pain.

  Removing the yers of dirty clothes, I ran my fingers across my pale skin. It was cold to the touch, almost frosty; I can feel the muscles beneath tearing apart.

  Pnting one leg into the bath-

  "Ugh-!"

  -I hurriedly shoved my shirt into my mouth, biting down on it.

  Taking a couple of muffled breaths, I plunged my other leg into the water, squirming as I did so. Finally, lowering the rest of my body, I was able to release myself and rex in the almost-frozen waters.

  I shut my eyes.

  I listened to the tiny spshes of water rippling off the edges of the bathtub.

  Then.

  I moved inwards.

  Into my body.

  Into the overflowing Curses.

  And I commanded:

  Burn.

  Fwooosh-!

  Bck fmes erupted from my skin, overpping with the water and steaming the room up almost instantly as the stench clinging to me was gradually incinerated.

  But the burn-

  The burn-

  "AAAAA!!!"

  My mouth opened and released a guttural scream, and my vocal cords shifted and cracked once more as further bursts of pain rushed over me: an incomprehensible mixture of burns, broken bones and peeling skin.

  Skin-

  Sk-

  ...

  ...I passed out.