Darkness claimed me… everything around me. Even if I forced them to, my eyes won't open. Or do I even have eyes? I don't know. This is too menacing. A silent buzz deafened my ears. All my other senses failed to work. Smell? None. There was no saliva circling around my mouth. I couldn't move until…
"Quimora…"
A whisper involuntarily opened my eyes. A tall woman in a red velvet dress greeted me, her brown hair reflected the light from the crimson clouds that flowed like water below us. A foamy fog enclosed our space, zero-visibility on the outside, like beyond a certain radius from us were a total typhoon of destruction.
The woman held with two hands a gold goblet filled with dark wine, like she was praying for a sacrifice to a higher divinity, but no… She opened her arms, a cold welcome to someone who died recently, me. The goblet floats, spilling the dark water infinitely, which turns to bloody red the moment light hits it. I couldn't wave or shake my head, my vision only focusing on what's before me, though I still could speak even without feeling my mouth moving.
"Welcome to the show," the woman greeted, bowing as her hands gestured at the start of a performance. "May Entropy guide you through the rest of your journey."
"Who am I?" After that last dream… Or was it really a dream? … I couldn't remember anything. My name, my life, my purpose… Yet a tingling sensation inside my soul urged me to discover that life, my gut telling me that there's still something I should do… Something I need to do.
"Alas! The question of the century, my dear Quimora," she said, summoning a cloud that flew like dragons behind her back, forming a concrete circle that showed a video. In that presentation, I witnessed glimpses of the life of an innocent girl who had a healthy life, yet still met an unpleasant death caused by love.
Her fingers wriggled, swinging her arm in a playful manner. "This role will be yours, a fortunate daughter of the Wallenstein family, very demure… However, I saw her die thousands of times. In every scenario, she's a character who just can't survive death. The word of mouth is… boring."
I voiced, "I can't remember any of that."
"But you'll experience it." she giggled, leaning onto me with a playful grin, and whispered, "Do you still remember even a glimpse of your past?"
My heartbeat raced, tightening my chest, feeling desperation to know my history. Laughing, the woman's head jerked back, her hand covering her mouth. The goblet overflowed with infinite blood faster than before, its pressure increasing the moment the woman was elated.
I haven't heard her name yet, but when she calmed down, she responded, "You will know my name soon enough, for I am the Entropy. I am the error in all logic, the disorder, the mole outside the visible system, and the disaster."
"Since you know what I need to know, tell me what I should do."
"Adoring, so straight like aged wine. However, directness doesn't mean simplicity," she said, pinching her chin. She approached the cloud and pointed to the recently shown image of the strongest man in the world she was referring to. "Give me a Quimora that can withstand death and become the pinnacle of power, where people should look at you when the name God is stated. Until that moment comes… The End, you should protect the said world in exchange for the wish you need… Revenge."
"Revenge?" I asked.
"Your wish. A human being still breathing whilst having a miniscule chance of living from forty gunshots."
"Why me?"
"Fret not, my darling," she exclaimed, summoning a fan on her hand, and shaking it. "Memories will return along the way. Feelings will inspire you or tug you down, and relationships will weaken you. I witnessed capable beings surviving the most impossible calamities, you're included."
"Do I even have a choice to decline?"
She turned her back at me and giggled, "Who knows? Some time in the future, the answer you seek will approach you, maybe in the worst time possible. Oh! I'm so glad to have this conversation with you, Quimora. It felt such a long time ago when I last talked with you. I wonder when we will meet again."
"You didn't answer–" Cutting off my speech, my view witnessed my view elevating up of me… Or was I the one falling down? The more distance that grew apart us, the louder the echo of her giggle went, like a cave where all sounds bounce at a center point. She shrank, little by little, until she vanished from the distance, together with the only lit velvet clouds.
She knew everything, yet still played her cards right, a tense moment controlling me to be her puppet. But that doesn't mean I'll just become an actress on her show. I will reach the upper ranks without her influence, search my memories, and go back to my past.
After all, the rage that burns within my stomach didn't leave me even in the afterlife…
… It's the rage of losing a loved one.