Chapter 33: Shadows Within

The woman looked at where Rueben disappeared and then looked behind her; a doll was there, sitting on the stool unmoving.

She looked at the doll, then she was held up by the mannequin and walked towards the doll.

"Hershey. You gave me quite an interesting man." She chuckled as a chair formed beside the doll.

The doll looked at where Rueben disappeared and then looked at the darkness, the void. She felt that she could see the soul of her brother staring at her.

She could feel the souls of her other friends staring at her.

She felt guilty, she really did. But she had to do this. She had to protect Sara from turning into a doll.

She cannot let her one and only friend become a doll like them.

The woman only looked at the doll and shook her head, "Keeping Sara away from meeting anyone will only delay the inevitable, Hershey. Everyone that Mother sees as her children would eventually turn into a doll. Its better this way."

She then grabbed the doll and threw her in the air, "Hershey, take my advice. Let Mother do whatever she wants to do. She is the one who gave us new lives after all. Something far better than what we lived back then."

The doll stayed silent the whole time as she disappeared in the air.

The woman then sat down on the chair as she became alone in the darkness. She took a sip of her tea in peace.

She remembered the days where she was 'disciplined' by her beloved Mother for millions upon millions of deaths. She knew her mother was doing that for her own good. Because of that, she became one of the strongest within the labyrinth.

She felt the doll's burdensome gaze and couldn't help but sigh, 'Why can't I forget about my past? Am I cursed to forever be with this doll even though I have already created a new and more superior body?'

The past that she was desperate to forget was something that she didn't dare throw away for reasons unknown to her. It was something that chained her from becoming something that she didn't want to become, yet the pain of the past was too much, even to her who had experienced countless millions of deaths.

A ball of fire appeared behind her as bricks started lining up.

She wanted to warm herself up with a fireplace, she could imagine anything and it would become real. This was the ability of her "Domain". Inside, she was the absolute being, anything that she wanted to change will change and become real but once the Domain is closed, it will all disappear.

This was the power of illusion combined with Domains.

Domains are something that Monsters use, Monsters that are of higher ranking.

Domains are just a separate space that is isolated from the outside space. The owner of the domain has absolute control over the domain and does whatever they want, conjure whatever they want.

If Great Ones are beings that are considered gods, then Monsters are their aides or attendants. Monsters regain or even retain some of their memories as a human or as something else, the more they grow, the smarter they become. These are one of the traits that separate them from beasts, who had no sense of reason or intelligence anymore.

Apart from their appearance, Monsters are more tamed and rarely attacks except when they are still in their development stages, when they are strong enough, they can gain a Domain.

That was what her mother had thought her about the differences between Beasts and Monsters.

She had gained her Domain and she thought that her brother must've already had his before her. She sighed as she remembered the hatred and aggression he had towards their mother and hoped that he could calm down and see the efforts that their mother had did for them.

Just as she was about to reach out the tea cup, she suddenly turned around and found a man with his head burning.

She remembered that these flames were the flames that she had conjured up.

The man looked at her through the burning flames and opened his mouth to speak, "You asked me what reason I have to cling to life?" She stood up as she was cradled into a mannequin's arms, which immediately dodged away.

"Hunter? You are still alive." She was surprised when she found him but she calmed down, her millions of deaths made her like this.

Rueben pointed his finger at her, his head still burning, he didn't expect that he would come out with fire above his head, he didn't managed to react because he was focused on getting out and that caught his head on fire.

Though, Rueben felt no pain. It was a surprise, he had high pain resistance but he was sure that being burned on the head was painful.

He had wanted to put out the fire but he was really eager to answer the questions that she asked him. And he felt that this fire wouldn't go out so he just proceeded with his plan.

"You asked me what reason I have to cling to life, I have found an answer to that."

The woman looked at her with a surprised expression but thanks to the veil, it hid her expression from Rueben.

"Really?"

She asked mockingly.

"Is it about justice? About sacrifice? Promises? Something of those? Ha! How utterly cliche."

Then she clicked her tongue as countless mannequins started rising up from the lake. This man was persistent that she had thought, just like her brother back then-

"…" She stopped her thought there and gritted her teeth.

'What's happening this time? Why am I remembering all these painful memories now of all days?'

She felt a headache and summoned more mannequins.

Rueben looked at her as he prepared himself to fight, his head burning as he made a fighting stance. He had found a new resolve, and she was here to test it. He would prove to her that he has a reason to live, just like every other living being in this world.

"Tell me, Hunter. What is your reason?"

Rueben looked at her, then punched a mannequin in the face and grabbed its arm before throwing it towards the woman, the woman dodged using the butler but she was surprised when she found Rueben close to her, his head burning, his eyes burning, his bones were already showing as his skin was burnt black.

"Someone's waiting for me."

He then punched her face.