I was running with all the strength I could muster. The halls of the school were flashing by in an instant.
"Ugh..!"
I stumbled several times, scraping my knees in the process, but each time, I'd pick myself back up again and continue to run. I ignored the burning sensation that came with each breath that I took.
The only thought I had in my mind was that I needed to run.
I needed to get away from the mindless beasts that were dressed as my schoolmates. Almost all of them were at the level of an awakened, however thanks to my speed boosting abilities I was able to outmaneuver them in a running competition.
Suddenly a classmate of mine emerged from the corner of the corridor that I was running towards. I did not have any ways to turn as my back was crowded with mindless people running after me and there were no windows present.
Cold sweat trickled down my body, I was either going to try and run past her.. or kill her.
Before I could ponder anything more, I was already upon the classmate. My hand was gripping the knife tightly as I hid it behind me to surprise 'her'. But my grip and steps faltered as her face expressions changed right before me.
She didn't look hollow anymore. Fear returned to her innocent features, and her voice trembled with it. She looked panicked and in need of help.
"Vera!" She shouted, running to me as she saw me running in her direction. "Vera.. What is going on?" Her tone was scared as shit.
Her steps slowed down as I reached into her vicinity.
She opened her mouth to speak—
but a blade was already buried in it, stabbing upward into her brain, silencing her forever.
[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Dream Puppet.]
[You have received a memory: Why did you kill me?]
As I retreated the knife, the girl fell to the ground. Staining the ground with a pool of red. But I was not there to see it as I had already ran away.
'Why did you kill me huh..?'
I cast a glance back. Wondering if it was really her.. but there was no way. The spell had announced that it was a dream puppet. Additionally I had gotten a memory, but I was in a hurry to check it yet.
I wasn't sure who I'd just killed.
I kept running. I had to. But part of me stayed behind, staring at that blood-stained floor.
***
I had finally reached the entrance of the school. The horde of students and teachers were left in a distance. A sole guard was protecting the exit, and he was already looking at me with his feral eyes.
I had a feeling that it was a bad idea to exit the school. If the school was like this, then the outside city was going to be much more crowded, or perhaps not. The creature that had trapped me inside this mind hex was most likely a fallen one. So I doubted the extent of its control over this dream and the quantity of the awakened beasts under its command.
I focused on summoning the memory I had received, hoping it would be a weapon of sorts.
My wishes came true as yellow sparks shimmered and an elegant short-sword was formed in my hand. This one was most likely called a Kodachi.
Finally reaching the guard, he immediately dashed at my running figure. But I immediately slammed my foot onto the ground to stop myself. The kodachi in my hands shot to stab the guard in his stomach, then suddenly with a twist I drove the sword upwards to impale his torso.
Blood sprayed as his insides started to spill to my feet, making me want to puke. But I held onto the feeling and did not let myself vomit.
[You have slain an awakened beast, Dream Puppet.]
'Yeah, yeah… keep cheering, freak.'
The guard's dead body slumped onto me, but I shoved it off. It hit the floor with a wet thud.
Rushing towards the exit, I was finally free from the walls of the street. And as I had guessed, there were not much people outside. Not that I could take them all on — I'd be overwhelmed in seconds. They were superior to me in strength and number.
I started running along the road, the streets were empty of PTV's. I slashed the side of the puppet I ran by. The cut was deep and it would most likely end up with him spilling his insides outside and die in blood loss.
And indeed it did in just a few seconds.
[You have slain an awakened beast, Dream Puppet.]
But then.. once I blinked the scenery changed.
***
I was back inside the corridors of the school. The corners were darker than it was before, and a red lights leaked from above the ceiling where there were windows.
But most importantly I felt something grip my leg.
A deep sense of unease held me rooted. My eyes slowly turned to the ground.
My classmate, the one who I had lodged a knife into the mouth was the source.
She was laying on the ground. Blood spilled from her mouth, eyes, nose and ears.
"Why..?"
My palms were sweaty once again as I stared at her with my eyelids slightly more open than usual.
"Why did you kill me Vera..?"
She writhed beneath me, her blood-soaked hand tightening around my ankle like a curse. I did not give her an answer.
All of a sudden, the ground beneath me quaked. I almost lost my footing, and just as I regained it, I was shocked to see that the scenery had changed once again.
I was at the exit of the school now. Now I could see that the source of the red light was a giant red moon that loomed over the earth dangerously close.
A shiver ran through me as the cold wind caressed my skin.
A little girl was crying as she kneeled before a body that was laying on the floor.
It was the guard.
His organs littered the ground beneath, the little girl wailed as she shook the guard. Her face and hands were stained with blood.
"Daddy..! Please wake up!" She repeatedly shouted.
I stood there, feeling my breathing grow heavy. The little girl was now looking in my direction with resentment in her eyes.
"Killer! You killed my father!" The girl said between sobs.
For a moment, I saw myself through her eyes — not as Vera, but a silhouette drenched in red, blade still dripping.
"Killer!" Her words echoed through my mind.
Was this really how I looked..?
My chest trembled.
Why did I feel so scared?
Everything was fine up until now..
Why was everything going south..?
The scenery changed once again. I was in a familiar dojo.
I saw my sparring partner. Sitting on her knees, and I was sitting on my knees in front of her too.
The knife was lodged into her head. Blood was gushing down from it, staining her white robes.
"I looked up to you."
I stared at the girl. I did not even remember her name, yet I had crossed swords with her several times. In my eyes, she was nothing but a nuisance that I had to spar with due to the orders of the instructor.
"I envied you, you were everything I was not."
She rose without effort, circling me like a vulture waiting for a corpse to stop twitching.
"Tall height.. powerful body.. skill.."
"Beauty.." She said in a spiteful tone as she suddenly she gripped my hair and pulled my hair backwards, making me meet her eyes. They were filled with killing intent and hatred.
"You had everything — strength, beauty, pride. And still, you chose to kill me!" She was practically screaming the last part.
My eyes bulged as they widened in fear. Her face twisted in unnatural ways making it look more like a creature rather than a human.
My arm sprung backwards as the kodachi lodged itself into her face.
She grew limp and fell to the ground with a thud.
'I killed her..'
I panted heavily, drawing heavy breaths in.
'I had killed her again..'
As I got up, my mind suddenly started to get dizzy. I was repeatedly switching between the same scenarios. Each one more intense. More horrifying.
"KILLER!"
My chest rose up and down fast. I could hear my heart beating loudly.
"You killed me!"
The sounds became screams that echoed inside my mind.
"Why Vera.. WHY??"
Drip...
Blood leaked from my nose as my mind was overloaded with intense emotions and images of them.
'WHY. WHY. WHY. WHY'
Not being able to take it anymore, a desperate shout emanated from deep within my throat echoing through every corner of the mind hex.
Then suddenly the sounds and scenarios, everything stopped.
***
I was inside a very familiar hospital room that made my blood run cold. The red moonlight seeped in from the windows, illuminating the room eerily.
In front of me.. was my mother..
Her eyes were open. She sat up straight.. Her long black hair fell over her shoulders, her eyes looking like they had seen the true horrors of this world. Her shoulders were slightly slumped as if she was carrying the weight of the whole world on her shoulders.
My breathing had grown frantic. My body was twitching on its own. Several emotions had overloaded my mind, but that did not stop me from sensing it.
"Dear.."
Her voice was beautiful like always..
Too bad she could not speak anymore.
Because I had gotten up on the bed almost immediately. My hands gripped her throat and squeezed it with all my might. I was letting out all the emotions I had loaded in the past few minutes or perhaps hours, I did not know how much time had passed.
My 'mother' was writhing beneath me. Her hands clawing at my arms. But I did not let go as she stared at me with horror.
The sceneries were changing repeatedly and the same words were echoing through my mind.
At some point, the sceneries were becoming something different. Things like knights lodging their swords onto my back, making me scream in pain. But I never once let go of the creature beneath me.
It was the source of the dream. But its abilities were limited due to its rank. It could not teleport out of my grip, which meant that it could not get away while something was holding onto it.
And this creature most likely made people forget their own existence. But that had not worked on me, because I had entered this body while the previous owner of this body was in the mind hex.
I felt its spine crack in my hands. I had started banging my forehead onto her head to kill her faster.
The dream was collapsing around me, but I didn't move. I just sat there, gripping what was left of her neck, wondering if I had survived…
[You have slain a fallen devil, Memory Thief.]
[You have received a memory, Not so Mundane Gem.]