Lyanna… Lyanna… Lyanna…
Her name echoed..endlessly, relentlessly.
An unknown whisper kept calling her, pulling her upward from a depth without shape or time.
Lyanna's eyes snapped open.
She sat up sharply. Something was wrong.
The room around her , this wasn't hers.
Everything she remembered… was gone.
The familiar furniture, the dim lantern, the colored crystals on her wall...
all vanished.
Instead, Lyanna found herself alone in a white room.
A single bed stood in the center, nothing else.
No windows.
No markings.
Only emptiness wrapping around her like a cold veil.
She looked down
And froze.
The clothes she had fallen asleep in gone.
Instead, she wore a long white shirt, thin and loose, soft against her skin.
A stranger's clothing. Not hers.
Lyanna stood immediately.
Her instincts sharpened.
Her surroundings… this room… all of it..
Someone brought me here.
She scanned the walls.
A single door appeared in the far corner.
No hesitation.
Without thinking, she walked straight toward it.
"I don't know where I am," she thought, her footsteps silent on the spotless floor.
"To wake up in a sealed room…
If it were the old me, maybe I would've stayed frozen.
But after everything I've seen..
If there is a path in front of me… then moving forward is the only choice."
She reached the door.
Her hand touched the cold handle.
The moment she pushed it open..
Light.
A blinding, overwhelming white light flooded her vision.
Lyanna flinched, eyes squeezing shut.
Her hand flew up to shield her face..
the brightness forcing her head down.
And then
"Lyanna, Lyanna… get up. Why are you looking down? Are you sad?"
Tok… tok…
Someone touched her shoulder gently.
Lyanna's body stiffened at the contact.
But then
A voice.
Warm. Familiar. A voice she knew from long ago.
Her breath caught.
She slowly lowered her hand…
and raised her head.
Standing before her..
Naya.
"N… Naya…" Lyanna whispered.
Naya smiled brightly and held her hand, speaking as if everything was normal.
"Come on! Everyone's waiting for you.
We still haven't cut the cake.
It's your birthday today, remember ? "
Birthday?
Lyanna blinked.
She looked around.. and her chest tightened.
She saw everyone she once knew.
Sir Neon laughing with Miss Sara.
Her class teacher feeding sweets to little Ira.
Students from her class chatting on sofas, carefree, full of joy.
Nothing strange.
Nothing dangerous.
Just… normal.
Too normal.
Her gaze drifted to a large standing mirror nearby ,
Her reflection stared back.
A version of Lyanna she had never seen.
She wore a beautiful modern white gown, the sleeves layered with soft fluttering fabric.
Tiny pale-blue and white crystals shimmered like frost along the embroidery.
A small elegant necklace rested at her throat ...simple, pretty… her style exactly.
Her long wavy hair had been left mostly natural, only slightly styled.
She looked…
Beautiful.
Almost unreal.
Ira came up from the side, placing a hand around Lyanna's shoulder.
"Lyanna, what are you doing here all alone? Come with us!"
Lyanna's thoughts spiraled.
This… is this a dream? Or something else?
Even in dreams… why would I see something like this?
I never even imagined such a scene…
Naya squeezed her hand warmly from one side.
Ira held her from the other.
The three of them smiled like close friends from a life Lyanna never truly lived.
Still stunned, Lyanna managed a faint smile.
They tugged her forward gently
and together, the three walked toward the others, laughter echoing through the strange, beautiful hall…
But deep within her
Something twisted.
Something wrong.
Something watching.
Lyanna walked forward with Naya and Ira, their hands warm around hers.
The moment she stepped into the center of the hall
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Everyone turned toward her, smiling, clapping, calling out:
"Happy birthday, Lyanna!"
"Happy birthday!"
"Happy birthday, our precious daughter!"
From the crowd, two people stepped out.
Not two strangers.
Her parents.
Her mother and father came forward with bright, trembling smiles and wrapped their arms around her.
For a moment, Lyanna went still frozen not by fear, but by something deeper.
She lifted her gaze to her father.
"…Father… you…" she whispered.
Then something shifted inside her.
A thought.
A memory.
A truth.
Lyanna's lips curved into a soft smile
but the moment everyone saw it, their expressions faltered, almost as if something cold had just brushed past them.
She gently pulled back and faced her father directly.
And then she spoke.
"For a moment… I almost believed it.
I almost held onto this pretty little illusion."
Her voice was calm. Too calm.
"But tell me, Father… why should I cling to a happiness built from lies?
Why should I hold on to the image of someone who is no longer alive?"
A ripple passed through the crowd.
But Lyanna did not stop.
"You taught me this, didn't you?
To choose truth over comfort.
To choose a painful reality over a beautiful lie."
She looked around.
Naya.
Ira.
Onshi.
Everyone..
All smiling. All perfect. All wrong.
Lyanna's eyes sharpened.
"So tell me , why should I trap myself in this false memory?
Why should I mourn a life that never existed?
Why should I pretend you're still here… when I already accepted your death long ago? "
She exhaled lightly, the faintest ghost of a laugh escaping her.
"Life doesn't stop because someone leaves.
People come, people go…
Naya, Ira, Onshi ...each of them will someday disappear too.
Moments are temporary by nature.."
Her voice grew colder , calm, detached, utterly certain.
"I don't isolate myself because I fear people.
I don't push others away because I despise them."
Her gaze swept across the illusionary crowd.
"I simply see too much.
I see truths others cannot."
She turned back to her father and smiled gently, almost tenderly.
"But regret? No. I don't feel any.
Do you know why?"
She stepped closer, whisper-soft yet cutting.
"Because I am not blind."
Her eyes gleamed.
"And I am not afraid of weakness. "
Silence fell.
The illusion trembled.
"Every path ends somewhere.
Every story has an end.
And you… all of you… these familiar faces around me "
She gestured around the hall.
"You are nothing but copies.
Imitations.
A dream stitched together to keep me asleep."
The world flickered like a dying candle.
Lyanna lifted her chin.
"Go on. Disappear.
All of you."
Her final words fell like a blade:
"I despise sweet lies..
because false dreams only make foolish humans hope for miracles that will never come."
The moment Lyanna finished speaking, the world around her twisted.
The air trembled,
and then the illusion shattered like thin glass.
Suddenly, Her mother suddenly stepped forward,
eyes burning with something unreal..
striking her across the cheek with force. Lyanna froze, startled.
She lifted her gaze, only to see her mother seize a lock of her hair and shove her backward. Lyanna stumbled, landing on the table where the birthday cake had been placed. She rose carefully, taking in the scene around her...
Everyone was staring at her.
But now their eyes held only disgust.
Naya leaned toward Ira, whispering something with a twisted smile.
Her teachers stared coldly, as if she were a stain on their vision.
And her father…
He looked at her with silent disappointment, as though she had betrayed him simply by existing..
"Lyanna… I'm sorry," he murmured weakly.
"I'm… sorry…"
A thin line of tears gathered at the corner of Lyanna's eye.
She wiped it away with two fingers and looked at them all with frightening calm.
Her voice was quiet.
"Mm. The performance was convincing.
Truly excellent."
Naya stepped forward, clapping mockingly.
"You know, Lyanna… we could've survived that day if you tried.
But you didn't.
You only ever think you're right, don't you ?"
Her smile twisted into something venomous.
"You're nothing but a selfish girl.
We thought the realm would change you
but you're still that cursed shadow."
She laughed, sharp and cruel.
Ira approached next.
She grabbed Lyanna's face with cold fingers, squeezing her cheeks, anger burning in her eyes.
"And the stupid part?
We gave you another chance.
We let you stay with us again..
even though that exam hall day was your fault.
Everything changed in a heartbeat, and you never even realized it."
Her expression hardened.
"But today? You could've fixed it.
You could've saved all of us.
We could've lived again."
She leaned close.
"Even your father, Lyanna.
You could've brought him back.
But of course… you only think about yourself."
With those words, Ira pushed her roughly to the floor.
Lyanna remained silent for a moment, then slowly lifted her head and gazed at everyone around her.
A faint smile curved her lips as she began to speak, her voice calm yet biting:
"Am I selfish? Then what about you? Why did you all act so foolishly… so selfishly? Everyone is selfish. That's the way the world is. In one's own peril, no one has time to consider another's suffering. And you expect to be saved? You aren't alive...you're all dead. I could even say the opposite of what you claim.
Why do you fear the truth so much? You live in a world of lies, illusions… and yet you call it reality? "
"Since you mentioned my family, let me say this:
yes, I care for them. I love them. But that does not mean I will keep them bound by lies and pretense. Think about it...when you love someone, do you truly need to stage every moment, fabricate every smile just to receive love in return? "
"Now tell me… where is that love here? Was it ever real, or merely a lie? You understand nothing, do you? "
As Lyanna's words left her lips, she began to laugh.
And as she laughed, the people around her seemed to fade ...slowly, imperceptibly, until their forms dissolved, leaving nothing but empty air.
Lyanna's gaze shifted to her family. She looked first at her father, then her mother, and finally at her older brother. A faint tear shimmered in her eye, but her lips held a smile. And as everyone vanished from sight, Lyanna rose, standing upright...
Her face betrayed no emotion, no thought, no presence of feeling ...entirely empty, as if the essence of her self was concentrated inward, a silent, impenetrable visage, completely untouchable by anything external.
Suddenly, a voice cold, unfamiliar, and sharp reached Lyanna's ears.
"Lyanna… Lyanna. Look. I wanted to give you a beautiful feeling, yet you destroyed it the moment it appeared. How ruthless you are, Lyanna. Not just to others, but to yourself.
How can you call this world merciless… when you yourself act with such cruelty even to your own soul?
You say you wish to move forward, that nothing should stand before you…
and yet, you believe that some path exists along every road.
How resilient you are, Lyanna..
You betray your own emotions, crushing your own happiness with lies, every single time... I gave you the chance for a beautiful dream… but it seems you have chosen to love pain more than anything else."
"Who… are you?"
Lyanna shouted, her voice breaking the silence. She looked around the room, her gaze scanning the empty space in all directions. The room was bare, devoid of any mark, any presence, yet an invisible weight pressed down on her.
Suddenly, her limbs began to feel heavy, her body trembling. She fell to the floor, head lifting slightly, her face completely void of emotion. Her voice emerged slowly, cold and detached:
"A dream? Or a fabricated lie? And for whom should I dream? For whom?" She paused, the weight of her words filling the emptiness around her.
"For those who would call my kindness folly ?For those who will use your truth as their key?"
"Add a lie on top of a lie? And for them? To be made a fool of?
To be betrayed by my own self? I am not cruel to myself.. I just refuse to let myself be a fool. And if, by defending myself with a lie, cruelty becomes necessary… then yes, I am merciless. " A bitter, quiet laugh escaped her lips. "I would rather embrace merciless clarity than linger in a dream of lies.. lies are poison to the soul , and through this cruelty to myself, through this self-imposed torment…I can witness the truth...." She lifted her gaze, sharp and unwavering. " And the real question is: who are you?"
A silence, deep and suffocating, stretched between them.
"I am you… and you are me. I am Eryndara Malveris. Remember this name."