I should have known that the dreams would start, because the first one came wrapped in soft silk, but with the sharpness of glass.
I didn't pay much attention at first. I thought it was either a memory or I just missed my mother too much. The scent of roses, mixed with the faint hum of sewing machines.
But as I looked closer, I was shocked because the hands sewing by the window were not mine, but my mother's.
"M...mom?" I whispered into my dream but my voice came out so fragile that I felt it was breaking the air.
She heard me but she didn't look up. Instead, her fingers moved with a speed so impossible that the threads started shimmering red, darker than crimson dye, more like...blood.
The dress she had on the sewing machine was both horrifying and breathtaking.It looked so alive, as the bodice moved, and the skirt pulsed akin to a heartbeat.
"No...stop. Stop!" I tried to shout, but for some reason my voice came out extremely muffled, as if the dream itself was trying to silence me.
'Host, you shouldn't be here.'
"Nova?" My gaze darted around, feeling relieved I heard his voice but my dream was empty with an exception of my mother.
'Host you shouldn't be here because you are walking through her memory and it's bleeding to your present. You need to wake up!'
"But she is right there! I want to talk to her!Let me talk to her!"
'Except that's not her. That is what she left behind. That's a memory fragment.'
My beautiful mother finally looked up, her eyes still glowing, but this time, the gold seemed to burn through more.
She smiled at me and I felt my world trembling.
"Rui darling... "She started softly, purposely stretching her words as if trying to buy time or show insistence. "Please don't touch the second door."
The air suddenly cracked and I found myself in the space, the same glow in her eyes illuminating there.
"Rui, it harvested from me," her voice was a tiny whisper but I could still hear her. " Just don't let it harvest from you too."
I tried reaching out for her hand, but everything shattered and I woke up gasping for air.
I was drenched in sweat with my sheets tangled all around me, as if they were firmly holding me up in place. Through my window, I saw the city lights blink faintly.
'Welcome back host. Consciousness has never looked this good on you. By the way, that was a terrible experience.'
"You think?" I grunted, my voice coming out irritated and scared. My chest still ached, as I could still feel the pull from my dream.
'I kept on telling you why you shouldn't be there host. Bit by bit you are accessing her memories, which isn't something good. Each time you do, you are destabilizing.'
"So you are telling me I am kind of..killing myself in my sleep?"
'You could say that.'
I groaned. "Hmph. Sarcasm not appreciated."
'Except I am not joking this time host.'
The seriousness in Nova's voice startled me because he barely showed me this side of him. Normally, all I got from him was dry humor or passive aggressive words.
"What exactly is happening to me Nova?"
'You are deepening your connection with the space faster than you or your body can handle. At this point, you are touching threads and pieces that are linked to your mother's final project...the one that took her life.'
"In few words you mean the second door?"
'Affirmative.'
His words hit me like a bucket of cold water, deepening the curiosity in me at the same time.
"Tell me something Nova, what's behind it?"
'I can't host.'
"You can't or you won't?"
"Both. Because the knowledge will corrupt you once I tell you and before you and I know it, you will die."
I laughed pathetically. "So apparently ignorance is bliss..."
'In this case, yes.'
My hands kept trembling that even shoving them under my blanket wasn't helping. I just couldn't understand things. I just wanted to seek my revenge quietly. Who knew I was in for some mystery along the way...
Cutting of my line of thoughts was a knock on my door. Thrice.
My heart jumped because...who would even knock someone's house at 2 am?
I smoothened myself a bit and checked the cameras. Lu Jinghao.
Of course.
The moment I opened the door, he was there dressed in grey sweats, his hair messy and his usual sharpness no where to be seen.
"Jiang Rui. Are you okay?" He asked softly before adding, "I have been calling but you didn't answer."
I blinked in surprise and confusion."Uhh...you have been calling?"
He held up his phone as proof. "A little over twenty times. You missed the design briefing you were supposed to attend and I figured out you might be at the studio but the whole building was shut, with all the lights off."
That's when my schedule for the day hit me. Oops...I had undergone a rollercoaster of emotions earlier that I forgot about everything I was supposed to do.
"Ohh..that." I tried sounding as casual as I could. "I was just, uh, sleeping."
"You sleep like that?" His eyes flickered to my sweat soaked collar, my pale face and red hands. "Rui you look like you just ran a marathon through the gates of hell."
"Maybe I did."
He hesitated, still scanning me."Are you perhaps open to talk about it?"
I shook my head, quickly dismissing his offer. "You don't have to worry, it's really nothing."
Of course he didn't but it. Lu Jinghao would never buy such a pathetic excuse.
He stepped closer, his presence suddenly in my apartment. I didn't even bother stopping him because his scent was really calming me down, more than I would love to admit.
"Jiang Rui," he said softly, "I though we talked about this yesterday. You even promised me not to overwork yourself. We agreed that you cannot pour from an empty cup."
"Perhaps I like empty cups."
He didn't answer me but gave me that strict look we usually wore. I could see frustration and concern in his eyes.
He sighed, brushing off a piece of loose strand away from my face.
"I won't say much, but whatever is haunting you...you can face it together with me."
For a moment, I almost told him everything, but something in me hesitated. I knew that once I told him my secret, he wouldn't look at me the same.
So I chose to just keep my mouth shut.
He sighed once again before approaching the door.
"I don't come here because I want to force myself into your world, I just wish to see you in your best form. I care for you more than I would love to admit...I...just take care of yourself Rui. I will take my leave now."
I felt something small in me shatter but I didn't stop him. He left and the door clicked shut.
'You have a lot of trouble on your hands host. That man is falling in love with you.'
I blinked."He is a decent man. He is just worried about me."
'Decent people don't check on their employees at 2 am host. The sooner both of you confess your feelings for each other, the better.'
"I have barely figured out the situation I am in Nova, I can't let him into my questionable life Nova, at least let me figure things out first."
Nova didn't answer me and the room fell quiet, apart from the ticking of my clock, which i just discovered I hated.
I reached out for my sketchbook, intending to distract myself but when I opened it, I was shocked.
The pages that should be blank were not blank. They were filled with drawings I don't remember doing, all with impossible details.
At the center of a specific page, there sat a unique design, far from the rest. A beautiful gown split into two, with a crimson thread binding it. It was half black, half white, with writings exactly at the center.
The door of threads.
"Nova?"
'Oh damn it! It is really starting.'
"What is starting?"
'The second phase of your inheritance host.'
I absorbed his words as I stared at the now glowing sketch. It looked so...alive.
"I feel like I am standing at the edge of something big Nova."
'Because you are host and that's why Lin Yue is constantly warning you. If you cross this edge without completely understanding anything, then it won't just just take your art and talent, it will also take you.'
I didn't say anything but just closed my sketch book carefully, afraid that whatever was in there might explode.
Lu Jinghao's words came back to me, overlapping with my own mother's words.
I think they were too late...
'Go to sleep Rui.'
"You know I can't Nova."
'Then draw. It is safer when you are creating darling.'
"You really think art can save me Nova?" I smiled softly as I asked.
'It saved her...but for a while.'
Outside, dawn was beginning to break but beneath the peaceful morning, sat layers of questions in my head. I knew I was going to break through this but when and at what cost?
I watched the pale light spill into the room, catching the corner of my sketchbook, making me feel like the dress was simmering in fresh blood.
Beneath the morning sun, I could swear her voice was ringing in the air.
"Do not touch the second door Rui."