It was all too suffocating for Cora. Those taunting phrases, her own sister's wounded condition, everything was way too throttling for the girl. She felt like a murderer. She felt that she needed to drown in guilt. Cora needed to kill herself. How could she leave her sister alone? The sister who had looked after her, sacrificed her happiness for her, each and every day. And what did she give in return? Nothing. Zero. She gave her nothing but death.

"Naive little girl."

Cora looked up at the sultry voice. Long gone were the students and her injured, dead sister. There only was present in the entire room her own self, and that creature, who had his arms wrapped around Cynthia before. False sympathy and pity danced in his silver orbs. With his slender fingers, the Driren tucked a strand of her hair, behind her ears.

Cora was furious. She only knew that this creature in front of her was the root of every wound inflicted upon Cynthia's body. She wanted to kill him. Cora harshly removed the Driren's hand from her face before lunging towards him. Swiftly and with ease, the Driren dodged the rather weak attack. A snickering laugh erupted from his throat, before he looked down upon the sobbing girl on the ground.

"Such misfortune has befallen upon you," the Driren drawled, as he placed his ethereal fingers under her chin, "You are to blame for everything, Cora Kiorsa. As bitter the truth may be. Nonetheless, it is not very likely of you to put the blame upon others, am I not right?"

It was unfortunate that each and every word that the Driren voiced, was true. Cynthia died because of Cora. Cynthia lost the opportunity to a better life because of Cora. Cynthia saw her destruction because of Cora. Everything was Cora's fault, and she was to blame. Not the creature in front of her.

"What should I do, tell me?" as if entranced, Cora questioned, "What should I do to get rid of this immense guilt? What should I do to avenge my sister's wrongful death?"

"Kill yourself."

His luscious lips carved into a smug grin when he enunciated those words to the nine-year-old girl.

Kill yourself. Kill yourself. Kill yourself. Kill yourself. Kill yourself. Kill yourself.

The same word, like a train, went around Cora's blank mind, tormenting and disrupting her emotions. A shaky breath left Cora's mouth when she found a knife being placed on her palm. The girl could see her own reflection on the blade of the knife. The broken, weak, frightened reflection of a little girl who murdered her sister. What use was it for her to continue living?

Her apathetic eyes followed her hand's movement as Cora brought the blade closer to her wrist. She did not deserve to live after taking the life away of an innocent soul.

With trembling hands, the little girl felt the cold touch of the blade on her skin. A voice spoke inside her head, begging her to draw blood out of her wrist.

"Don't kill yourself."

Cora's eyes shot open, bringing a pause to her initial doing.

"I beg you. Wake up Cora. We need you to survive."

The voice seemed familiar. But Cora could not recognize whose voice it was. It was not Cynthia's, nor was it anyone else's she knew. The mere tone was rather a vibration than any clear voice.

"Look around yourself, Cora and wake up. Please come back."

As if a sudden bolt of thunder streak, consisting of abrupt realization, struck her. Cora dropped the knife, and it fell with a clang on the polished floor.

She knew the voice very well. It belonged to Lena.

Lena Marcuse was desperately trying to call her. And then fell upon the realization that all this time, Cora had been trapped inside one of that cunning creature's illusion so that she could kill her own self.

"You are smarter than I had thought."

The mocking articulation did not go unnoticed by Cora, who looked straight into those silvery orbs.

"Well guess what," with great strength and anger surging through, Cora uttered, "You were not smart enough."

The Driren clicked his tongue in annoyance before another sarcastic laugh came out of him, "I took you lightly, Cora. I should rectify my mistakes too, right?"

Within the blink of an eye, the Driren dashed towards Cora, who was ready to face him although had no basic plan. She was ready to accept whatever fate she was going to face when she felt a tug on her arms and watched an expression full of frustration taking over the Driren's face.

Cora gasped when she began falling into a deep abyss and away from the Driren before her body met with a hard surface. She winced in pain due to the hard contact while trying to sit up.

"Cora! Oh my God! You are fine."

The girl almost fell backwards due to the sudden force she felt because of the unforeseen embrace given by none other than Lena.

Cora returned the hug followed by a breath of relief, as tears pooled in her eyes, "I was so, so scared, Lena. The whole experience, everything that I went through these past moments. I don't even know how much time has passed. It was all extremely mortifying and agonizing. A part of me knew that each and everything was nothing but an illusion. The very epitome of a hellish nightmare. Yet, I could not listen to that rational part."

Cora glanced down at her attire. She was no longer wearing the school uniform and rather her very own garb from the time she had left the inn.

"Where are we?" Cora asked the older girl as her eyes scanned her surroundings. It was a huge area, one could tell. The echoing of their voices only proved that they were in an unending, spacious place. However, the two girls could not understand their current location because of the pitch black darkness surrounding them. It was as if death itself was coming forward to swallow them.

"No idea," Lena shook her head, "I remember entering one of those houses and then, before I could comprehend anything, I heard your sobs. I followed the voice and ended up finding you, but I was far away. It was like a void that had appeared out of nowhere, and I could see you there inside, with the...knife."

Cora gulped in a harsh breath when horrific memories from not long ago rushed through her mind. If only Lena was not there at the right time, then by now the girl would have been dead with the possibility of being a source of blood acquiring for the Driren.

"A layer, I don't know what it was but an invisible ripple of layer was preventing me from reaching you. You were so close yet so far away. Hence, I screamed and yelled as loud as I could and after trying for so many times, you finally heard my voice.

Then suddenly I could penetrate my hand through the layer and bring you out and away from that...thing."

Cora nodded before looking at Lena with grateful eyes, "Thank you so much, Lena. I cannot explain how grateful I am to you."

"It's alright. I promised your sister that I will protect you, isn't it—"

It took only a fraction of a second. One moment, Lena was speaking with her beaming and relieved face to Cora and the next moment, a vein full of scales came out of nowhere before pulling the girl away and into the great abyss of darkness.

Cora could not even scream or hold onto Lena's hand, for an instance. The scale appeared, wrapped itself around Lena's waist, almost making it difficult for her to breathe before dragging her away.

With tearful eyes, before she was pulled away, Lena had looked into Cora's eyes and uttered only one word.

"Run."