The woman's body lay still on the ground, her lifeless eyes staring into nothing.
Izmir froze flabbergasted ,his breath catching in his throat. Her… again?
He crouched beside the corpse, searching for a card, even though the intruder had already claimed she had none. The act was half desperation, half denial.
Ray noticed the man raising his weapon toward Izmir. Without hesitation, Ray lunged grinning, driving his pocket knife forward. The attacker twisted away, narrowly dodging, and leapt back with unnerving agility.
"Her stone belongs to me," the man hissed, eyes fixed on Izmir. "Yet she carries none with her."
Rachel, standing quietly at Izmir's side, suddenly spoke her tone edged with recognition. "I know her… her name is Sharon."
Izmir's head snapped toward her, his face drawn tight with worry.
"What's wrong?" Rachel asked, her eyes searching for his expression.
But Izmir only sighed, his gaze shifting back to the hostile figure.
Ray pressed the attack again, driving the man toward the window. But the intruder was quick and desperate. He darted for the frame. Ray grabbed his collar mid-motion, but a sharp elbow struck his hand, loosening his grip. With a snarl, Ray retaliated, plunging his knife into the man's shoulder. The attacker yelped, then ripped free, slipping through the opening.
The dragon train was slowing, preparing to land at Domingo Station. Without hesitation, Ray hurled himself after the fugitive.
The two crashed into the platform chaos ,commuters scattering, gasping.
The attacker vaulted the station railing ,running , dropping onto the first-floor platform. Ray mirrored the move, landing squarely on his back, pinning him hard against the ground.
Ray pressed the knife to his throat. "How do you know Sharon?" he demanded.
The man struggled for air, breath rasping against the blade. "She… she was part of the Luxico City incident. That's all I know."
---
Izmir followed Rachel off the dragon train, leaping onto Domingo Station's polished floors.
The crowd was thick, flowing like a restless tide. The station gleamed with its strange mixture of modern futurism and fantasy . The dragon-shaped trains resting in their platforms like colossal beasts, glowing lights pulsing along their metallic scales.
The air smelled faintly of ozone and rain ,a climate system designed to mimic calm weather indoors. Beyond the glass walls stretched a dizzying cityscape: towers spiraling upward, connected by luminous skybridges that curved through the air like ribbons of light.
It was breathtaking, yet alien.
Seems like all the failures of the real world are successful here.Izmir thought bitterly.
Suddenly, a sharp beeping filled his ears. His vision warped, the station dissolving into a blur.
---
He jolted awake.
Izmir found himself lying on a white bed inside a pale-colored room. A harsh bulb overhead glared into his eyes, blurring his vision further. Blinking rapidly, he turned his head.
A tall figure stood beside him.
The man ran a hand through his curly black hair before exhaling. "I've been waiting for you to wake up. I'm Doctor Hector." He slumped into a chair with casual ease.
Izmir frowned. "Do all psychologists talk so nonchalantly with their patients?"
The doctor skimmed through a sheet of paper perhaps Izmir's file, before replying coolly. "Only when the patient seems uninterested in talking at all."
"Uninterested?" Izmir muttered under his breath.
Dr. Hector's expression sharpened. "Dr. Lupin told me you've been experiencing hallucinations. Can you describe them?"
Izmir's lips pressed into a thin line. Hallucinations? He had wondered about it himself. But LUNES WORLD felt too vivid too real to be an invention of his mind. Twice now he had denied the possibility, but doubt gnawed at him.
"What if I tell you nothing abnormal has happened? That I'm not hallucinating?" he asked quietly, gripping the blanket in his fists. His gaze bored into Hector's face, desperate for a crack in the doctor's composure.
But the man remained unmoved. He simply scribbled something onto the paper with his pen.
"Well then… I shall take my leave," Dr. Hector said, rising smoothly from the chair.
Izmir sighed as the door clicked shut. Finally. Alone.
He turned his head toward the wall clock. 7:00 p.m. already.
I have to talk to Rachel. I need to know what she really knows about my mother
Sharon.
---
Outside, Rachel had been listening. She heard the creak of Hector's chair, then his footsteps. She hurried down the passage, pretending to be a casual passerby as the doctor emerged. She waited until he disappeared down the right corridor, then doubled back and slipped into Izmir's room.
"Izmir!" she said barging in.
He turned from the clock, eyes weary.
She sank into the doctor's empty chair. "I can't help you any further. From here… you're on your own."
His eyes narrowed. "How do you know Sharon?"
Rachel's hand went to her hair, twisting strands nervously between her fingers. She avoided his gaze. "She… she was the one who asked me to give you the card."
Izmir's chest tightened. "The card?"
"Yes. The invitation to LUNES WORLD. Once you receive it, you can't resist its pull. It forces you to follow the instructions, whether you want to or not. It was her request...her deal...that I deliver it to you. I… can't explain everything. I am not allowed to explain everything."
Izmir leaned back, his mind racing. So that's why the card responded to me. Why I shifted after scribbling the symbol . when I spoke my name .She was the one who invited me in. My own mother.
And now, because of that… he was trapped. Either to suffer in LUNES WORLD, or die painfully trying to escape it.
He chuckled bitterly. "Haha…"
Rachel frowned at the sudden laugh but ignored it. "I should go." She stood, turning toward the door.
"Wait!" Izmir snapped. "What happened, the last time you were in LUNES WORLD, before you shifted here?"
Rachel hesitated. "You crouched beside the body of Ms. Sharon."
Izmir's stomach twisted. So… Rachel is stuck in the past. And I'm in the future. She's lying about something.
He rubbed his chin slowly, eyes narrowing. She knows more than she's saying.
Rachel stepped through the doorway, a faint smirk curling her lips. She knew exactly what had happened in the last moments of LUNES WORLD. But some truths… were not for Izmir to know. Not yet.