Blair's POV:
I used to like being noticed.
Not in a loud way. I wasn't trying to be the center of attention or anything like that. I just liked the small things people noticed.
My hair. My nails. The way I dressed.
Little details that made me feel like myself.
I liked changing things too. Dyeing my hair, adding highlights, trying different makeup styles just to see if they worked. Even if nobody said anything, I still enjoyed it.
But when someone did notice…
It felt nice.
Like proof that I existed in the same world as everyone else.
I laughed a lot back then.
Too loudly, according to my parents.
I talked too much sometimes. I got excited about small things. I didn't think much about how people saw me.
I just assumed things were safe.
There was a man that had been around for a few years.
A family friend.
He came over for dinners sometimes. Holidays. The kind of person who was always just… there.
When I try to picture his face, it doesn't work.
Everything about him feels blurry, like my mind refuses to focus on it.
Even his name comes up blank.
I remember pieces instead.
Dark button up shirts.
The smell of his cologne sometimes when he stood too close.
But his eyes… those I remember clearly. Brown. Heavy. Watching.
Like something hungry.
Predator's eyes.
At first nothing about him seemed strange. He talked to my parents. Asked me about school. Smiled at the right moments when everyone else laughed.
Normal things.
But eventually I started noticing little things.
The way his eyes stayed on me longer than they should.
The way he stood too close when he spoke to me.
The way his smile sometimes felt… wrong.
I told myself I was imagining it.
My parents trusted him.
That meant he was safe.
Right?
Then that day, at the festival, I was alone with him.
Not for long.
Just long enough.
My body knew something was wrong before my mind did.
My chest tightened. My arms felt heavy. My thoughts scattered like someone had shaken them loose.
I remember the wall behind my back.
I remember his shadow leaning closer.
I remember realizing that my body wasn't listening to me anymore.
Something inside me shut down.
My body stopped belonging to me.
I don't remember what happened after that.
The memory just… stops. Like a page from a book getting ripped out.
The next thing I remember is my house feeling louder than usual.
Police officers sitting at the kitchen table with notebooks.
Adults speaking in low voices in the other room.
Everyone kept asking me questions.
Questions I couldn't answer.
Apparently they went looking for that man.
But he was already gone.
No one could find him.
No one knew where he went.
The house got quieter after that.
My parents tried to talk to me about it. They even took me to a doctor.
Eventually everything started going back to normal. At least, everything around me.
I started changing.
The highlights in my hair disappeared first.
Then the makeup.
Then the bright clothes.
Little things.
But it still wasn't enough.
Every time I looked in the mirror, I kept seeing the same girl.
The one who liked attention.
The one who laughed too loudly.
So one day I cut my hair.
Short.
Right below my jaw. Straight. No style.
Just something simple.
Eventually, my voice changed too.
I didn't mean to do it at first. It just… happened.
I stopped raising it when I spoke.
It became flat. Quiet.
When I looked in the mirror after that, the girl staring back at me looked different. Paler. Quieter. Almost… empty. Like a person trying very hard not to be interesting.
But together they made me harder to notice.
I used to like being noticed.
I don't want to be noticed anymore.
Ayden's POV:
"It's me, Ayden. How can you not remember me? How can you not remember any of this?"
She shakes her head again, backing away from me by a foot.
I have to remind her somehow.
I try the obvious things first.
"Do you remember Kai? His joke about you being emo? Back at the cabin? It really pissed you off. Enough to where you went to bed without saying another word to us. You remember that, right?"
I gesture vaguely behind me, like the place might still exist if I point hard enough.
"The cave? The Warden? What about the goblins we fought?"
Nothing is working. She's just staring at me. Not confused, but concerned. Like I'm a stranger who's gone insane and is talking to himself.
- Blair: "W-What are you talking about?"
I keep going anyway.
"The cave collapsed. We almost got crushed. Isabella healed me. You and Christy went hunting? What about… the abomination we ran from? The one that couldn't see. The thing with no face and—"
- Blair: "Ayden."
Her voice cuts through the air.
Flat. Careful.
- Blair: "I already told you. I don't know what you're talking about."
My stomach sinks.
None of it lands.
Not a single word.
I try again, faster this time.
"The system. The prompts. The leveling. You saw it too. We all did. The weird screen. You remember the screen, right?"
She takes another step back.
Her eyes flick toward the cliff behind her before returning to me.
- Blair: "You're not making sense."
Shit! What do I do?!
The thing behind me chuckles softly.
My voice.
My tone.
My laugh.
- ???: "You sound insane."
I ignore it.
There has to be something. Anything. Come on, THINK!
My mind races through every possibility and rejects them all just as fast. The cabin didn't work. Kai didn't work. The cave, the goblins, the screen, the monster. None of it means anything to her.
And then it hits me. There's only one option left.
A gamble. A terrible one.
My throat tightens.
No.
The last time someone got too close to the truth, I died.
The memory flashes through me in an instant. My head being decapitated, my body refusing to cooperate with me, the voice in my head mocking me as I died again. The sick pleasure it took in knowing I can't even ask for help.
I'm not allowed to speak of it. My skill.
Phantom's Reset.
If I try this, there's a high chance it'll happen again.
But even if I don't die immediately, I might make things much worse.
My hands curl into fists at my sides.
There's no other way…
I swallow.
"There were other times."
Blair's brow furrows.
- Blair: "…What?"
For a second, I can't answer.
I'm too terrified to speak.
Her expression tightens.
- Blair: "What are you talking about?"
I force the words out.
"That abomination killed us once. It tore through all of us before we even knew how to fight it."
She goes completely still. None of my words are reaching her. She's filled with unease.
"You died too."
I continue quietly.
"All of you did."
Her breathing changes. It's shorter now. Quicker.
I should stop. I shouldn't continue to speak. Every word that exits my mouth pushes me closer to death.
But I continue anyway.
"There was another time. When things… went really wrong."
Her eyes narrow.
"We chose the wrong path. You started suspecting me of being the one at fault."
I keep my voice low and careful.
"I didn't explain things well. Everyone was scared. And someone made a decision."
- Blair: "What decision?"
There's no going back now.
I don't answer her question. Instead, I look her in the eyes.
"I remember dying. Over and over."
I grit my teeth in anticipation as I finish my sentence, waiting for my immediate fatality.
But it never arrives. I'm still standing. When I look down at myself, everything is still attached. The cool air from the cliff is still blowing my way and Blair still stands in front of me, her face drained of color now.
It only takes a few seconds for my words to register. Her shoulders stiffen. It's fear. Pure fear.
She takes another step back.
- Blair: "You're insane! Get away from me!"
And that does it. Something inside me snaps.
All the fear. All the deaths. All the frustration of dying again and again for people who don't even remember it. The fact I can finally speak of this misery I've been put through.
I take a step toward her.
"You don't understand!"
I shout, pointing at her.
"None of you understand!"
My hands are shaking now, palms bleeding as I clench my fists as hard as I can.
"You all killed me!"
My voice begins rising.
"You accused me. Christy finished it. Everyone else stood there and let it happen!"
Blair's face goes pale.
Another step back.
I don't care though. I continue bitterly, while taking a step forward.
"You're all murderers. And I was the victim."
My chest heaves.
"And yet even after all that, I still saved you. I'm still trying to save you now!"
Blair shakes her head rapidly.
- Blair: "Stop. Just stop!"
Her voice cracks.
She takes another step back.
The wind shifts behind her, lifting the edge of her robe. Gravel shifts under her heel with a faint crunch.
I barely register it.
All I see is the way she's looking at me. Like I'm a monster.
And it angers me more.
My voice raises even further. I'm almost yelling at her.
"You think I'm lying? You think I made all of that up?"
- Blair: "You're not making sense!"
She's pleading for me to stop.
"I watched it happen!"
Now, I'm shouting.
"I remember everything!"
My finger jabs toward my chest as my blood drips down onto the floor.
"Every accusation. Every second. Every time I died."
Her breathing becomes sharp and uneven.
I step forward again.
I can't stop.
I need her to understand.
"You don't get to look at me like I'm crazy."
My voice is shaking.
"Not after what you did."
Behind me, laughter bubbles up again.
Mocking.
- ???: "See?"
It's talking to Blair.
- ???: "He just can't help himself."
Blair's eyes flick past me for a split second, then back to my face.
Her heel scrapes against loose gravel.
She doesn't notice.
I reach out.
"Just listen to me."
She jerks away from my hand, almost like I burned her.
A drop of blood falls from my knuckles.
It hits the stone between us with a soft tap.
Then another.
The dark red spreads slowly across the dust and loose gravel at her feet.
Blair shifts back again.
Her heel lands directly on the wet stone.
For a split second nothing happens.
Then her foot slides.
For a fraction of a second her arms flail outward, trying to reach for anything.
My stomach drops.
"Blair!"
I lunge forward, trying to grab her.
My fingers close on empty air.
She disappears over the edge.
And moments later, there's a dull sound from somewhere below.
Then nothing…
I don't move.
My hand is still stretched out over the edge.
Empty.
My fingers twitch like they're still trying to grab her.
It takes me more than a few moments to realize what happened.
And when I do, my heart starts hammering against my ribs. Harder than ever.
"No."
The word slips out of me without meaning to.
"No… no, no, no—"
I stagger back from the cliff, my breathing turning sharp and uneven.
My chest burns. My lungs feel too small.
I press a shaking hand against my face, trying to think, trying to understand what just happened.
I didn't. I didn't push her. I didn't.
My gaze drifts back toward the edge. She's gone.
A cold wave crashes through my body.
"Oh God…"
My stomach lurches violently.
I double over without warning.
The contents of my stomach spill onto the stone at my feet in a harsh, burning rush. Acid scorches my throat as I gag again, coughing and choking while my body convulses.
I barely notice the taste.
My hands press against the ground to steady myself, but they keep trembling so badly that I nearly collapse forward into it.
My chest heaves.
I wipe my mouth with the back of my sleeve, but the nausea doesn't go away.
It just sits there, twisting deeper.
My hands start trembling harder.
The blood still drips from my knuckles onto the stone, but I barely feel it anymore. My whole body feels like it's on fire, like every nerve is screaming at once.
I killed her.
The thought slams into me with brutal clarity.
It's okay. It's just a dream. She's fine. When I wake up, she'll be in the cabin with everyone else.
Behind me, laughter bubbles up again.
- ???: "Well done. Well done!"
His voice is twisting even further as he laughs.
I squeeze my eyes shut.
"Shut up…"
- ???: "You didn't even have to push her. All you had to do was be yourself."
My breathing becomes ragged.
I hear movement behind me.
Slow. Measured. Footsteps against the stone.
Each one echoes faintly in the open air behind my back.
I know something is walking toward me.
But my legs refuse to move.
My entire body feels hollow and weak, like all the strength has been drained out of it at once.
The footsteps stop right behind me.
I feel breath near my ear. It's cold.
Then a whisper.
- Ayden: "You ruin everything you touch."
For a moment I freeze.
Because I recognize the voice.
It isn't just mocking me.
It is me.
The words sound exactly like the thoughts that were already crawling through my head.
Suddenly, my head explodes with pain.
I gasp, clutching my temples as the pressure spikes violently behind my eyes.
It feels like something is tearing through my skull from the inside.
Like my mind is being pulled apart.
My voice cuts through the pain. And I sound amused.
- Ayden: "You always do."
My teeth grind together as the pressure behind my eyes spikes even harder.
"Stop…"
I barely manage push the words out.
The laughter behind me only grows louder.
- Ayden: "You wanted justice."
My vision swims.
- Ayden: "You wanted someone to admit it happened."
My nails dig into my scalp.
"Shut up!"
I shout again, my voice cracking.
The laughter spreads through the air around me like it's coming from everywhere at once.
I stumble, barely managing to stay on my feet.
"Make it stop… Please."
I force myself to turn around.
The man who was standing there before is gone.
In his place stands something else.
The Dreamer.
Smiling.
- The Dreamer: "Good job. You did marvellous. Exactly as I expected from you."
My hands are still gripping my head. My fingers dig into my temples as if I can physically squeeze the pain out of my skull. The pressure behind my eyes pulses violently, making the world tilt and warp around the edges.
"…What the fuck… do you know about me?"
- The Dreamer: "I know much more than you think. After all, I did find you the perfect life. And you threw away my gift."
"So… is this why you're torturing us? Because I didn't want to live in a fantasy? Isn't that hypocritical?"
- The Dreamer: "You caused this. You're interfering in their freedom. You're forcing them to live a horrible life, just because it's real. That's what's truly hypocritical."
He glances toward the cliff, folding his hands behind his back as if he's merely observing a quiet view.
- The Dreamer: "Either way, you made a huge mistake and there's no going back."
The pain in my head spikes harder. It's becoming increasingly hard to keep conscious.
My vision splits.
Two cliffs.
Two Dreamers.
The world sways beneath my feet as the pressure behind my eyes doubles. I stagger slightly, grabbing my head again as if it might crack open.
- The Dreamer: "You really don't know when to stop."
His voice is calm. Patient.
- The Dreamer: "You overwhelm everyone you encounter until they break."
Something inside my chest twists violently.
Anger floods in, drowning out everything else.
"You bastard!"
I lunge forward.
Everything burns inside me as I charge straight at him, my fists clenched, my teeth bared.
For a split second, his smile widens.
Then I blink.
And the ground disappears. Cold air rushes past me.
My stomach drops as the cliffside flashes upward above me.
I'm falling?
Panic detonates inside my chest.
My arms flail uselessly as gravity drags me down toward the rocks below.
No. No no no—
My mind races, grasping for anything to hold onto.
And then the realization hits me.
I was so focused on proving myself right.
On forcing her to understand.
On demanding justice for something she didn't even remember.
I never noticed.
Not the gravel under her feet.
Not the wind shifting behind her.
Not how close she was standing to the edge.
I failed to notice.
Just like she never wanted to be noticed.
The ground rushes up to meet me.
My last thought is a scream tearing through my mind.
Then everything goes black.