Awakening from a bad dream

In a dark and silent place, Shin opened his eyes drowsily without managing to see anything around him.

Shin opened his mouth to speak but no matter how hard he tried to produce some noise all he could hear was absolute silence. He couldn't even hear his heartbeat or any other sound.

'What's going on?'

Shin tried to move but all his limbs seemed to be tied to something.

Shin tried to remember everything that had happened before he woke up and realized that he had been swallowed by the sphere of souls that the demon had thrown at him.

'Damn it, I should never have taken that sword...'

Speaking of swords, Shin tried to feel if he was still holding the sword and indeed felt how he was gripping its hilt.

'That woman...she steals my body and because of her I am now in this place.'

Shin didn't know what had happened to Astheria, the demon's attack was supposed to trap the woman using the souls trapped in the mirrors.

Stopping thinking about the woman, Shin closed his eyes and began to analyze his situation.

For some reason his body felt light, all the wounds the demon had inflicted on him during his fight against Astheria seemed to have disappeared. He could even say that he felt as if he had just woken up from a long nap.

Shin tried to think of what to do but his consciousness seemed to be fading as if he was about to fall asleep. He tried to stay awake, but he was as sleepy as if he hadn't slept in days.

And as if in an instant, Shin opened his eyes and was met with a familiar white ceiling.

He quickly sat up and began to pant heavily.

"I-It can't be!"

Shin stuttered nervously as he looked around.

At some point in his life, Shin began to despise the color white after being surrounded by so many white things.

To Shin the color white did not symbolize freedom, it symbolized the opposite. Shin associated the color white with ties that held him back from his freedom.

That is why when he saw himself surrounded by white walls that he detested so much, he began to feel anxious.

After all, he was in the place he least wanted to be, he was in the laboratory room where he had grown up.

Shin got up from his bed and looked around.

"T-this can't be real"

Shin began to fear that it had all been a dream, that all the freedom he had gained from coming to Grigarm was nothing more than a dream.

As much as Shin had suffered and as much as his life was in constant danger, if given the chance to return he would always say no.

That's why Shin was scared, he didn't want to lose his freedom.

It wasn't until a voice was heard in the room that Shin came out of his confused state.

"It's a strange sight"

Shin turned around to look at the person who had spoken. In front of the window was a tall woman wearing a black dress that highlighted her curves and matched her white hair and eyes.

As much as the woman was beautiful, Shin was not in the mood to admire the woman at the moment. All Shin could think about was getting out of this place.

"Who are you?"

The woman smiled at Shin's question.

"You know me, I borrowed your body for a while...though it didn't turn out so well"

Shin's eyes went wide.

"You're the one to blame for this situation!"

The woman's smile twisted for a second as she didn't expect that response from Shin however, she quickly began to apologize.

"I... I'm sorry, at the time I couldn't do anything."

Shin frowned not accepting the woman's apology.

"You should never have taken my body in the first place!"

Astheria's apologetic look disappeared, and she quickly pointed at Shin.

"It's your fault for being so weak!"

Shin was undeterred from the woman and confronted her.

"It wasn't me who was locked in a damn sword!"

The woman walked towards Shin and retorted:

"Without that damn sword you would never have gotten out of the labyrinth!"

For a few minutes Shin was fighting Astheria but neither of them wanted to accept the blame, so the fight only got longer and longer.

It wasn't until the room began to shake that they both stopped talking and looked out the window.

"Is that normal?" asked Astheria pointing to the big hole in the sky.

Shin looked at the woman in disbelief.

"How can that be normal?"

Astheria looked at him and groaned:

"This is generated from your memories, so I don't know what's normal for you. As far as I know you could be crazy"

Shin shot a furious glare at the woman but didn't have time to reply to her comment as the hole in the sky began to expand rapidly devouring everything in its path.

Shin and Astheria could only watch from the window as the sky changed from a blue to a dark red color and didn't notice the moment when the white room, they were in had changed to a destroyed room full of ashes very different from the clean room they had been in a couple of seconds ago.

They both looked around suspiciously and as if in silent agreement they both decided to put their differences aside to understand what had just happened.

"Where are we?" asked Shin looking at Astheria who shook her head.

"I don't know...I doubt this is one of your memories."

Shin walked over to the window of the room and looked out at the scenery.

"Definitely not one of my memories" Shin flatly denied.

On the other side of the window were hundreds of islands floating above a large void and debris floating between the islands like broken bridges connecting them.

Shin stopped looking out the window and lay down on the bed in disrepair.

Astheria noticed that Shin had laid down and couldn't help but look at him strangely.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Shin settled on the dirty mattress and replied without looking at Astheria.

"Maybe when I wake up, I'll be in heaven instead of hell."