I opened my eyes to find myself in a familiar white room — it was the hospital room again.
I heard the sound of footsteps — my mother entering the room.
"Nox, you're awake!"
She quickly hugged me, trembling. But I didn't return the hug. My mind was elsewhere, thinking about the dark fog.
"Nox, what's wrong? Why aren't you saying anything?"
My mother placed her hand on my cheek, looking at me with concern. I stared into her eyes coldly, then closed mine and opened them again with a faint smile.
"I'm fine, just a bit of a headache."
She looked at me, doubting my words, but didn't push further. Soon, the doctor entered with my father, just like before.
"How do you feel? Any pain?"
The doctor asked while checking my heartbeat.
"I'm fine, just a bit of a headache."
"I'll run a few more tests to make sure. You can stay with your parents for now."
He said that and left the room. My father looked at me, scanning me carefully.
"Son, what happened to you?"
He spoke calmly, but couldn't hide the worry in his voice.
'What a detailed illusion… it imitates even the smallest emotions. But I wonder — is its purpose to trap someone in a happy dream, or to make them suffer by giving them bliss and then taking everything away? Repeating that would destroy the mind.'
The thought crossed my head as I looked at my father silently. After a few seconds of silence, I gave him a weak smile.
"It's nothing, Father. I just had a nightmare."
"A nightmare? What kind of nightmare could cause a seizure like that?"
He asked curiously, sitting on the edge of the bed.
"I don't remember exactly, but it was terrifying."
He sighed in resignation, looking from my mother to me.
"Well, what matters is that you're okay. We'll go home as soon as the doctor finishes the check-up. For now, get some rest."
He stood up, taking my mother with him as they left. She clearly needed to rest too.
"Haah… what am I supposed to do now?"
I sighed in annoyance, leaning my back against the bed. I stared blankly at the ceiling, unable to form a single coherent thought. So, I decided to just rest.
After a few minutes, the doctor came back, did the same tests as before, and soon I was discharged. I was now in the car with my parents.
"How about we go on a picnic tomorrow to get some fresh air?"
"Oh? That's a great idea! What do you think, dear?"
My father made the suggestion, and my mother agreed naturally. They both looked at me hopefully.
"I'm sorry, but can we postpone it to another day?"
I said with an awkward smile. My parents froze — I had never refused a family outing before.
"Ahem… of course, son. You're tired. We'll do it later."
My father cleared his throat, trying to smooth things over. My mother looked at me with visible worry but kept her words to herself.
When we arrived home, I told them I wanted to sleep. I went straight to my room, closed the door, and sat on the chair.
'Alright, I need to figure out when the dark fog will appear. Does it require me to leave the house? To find out, I'll need to seal the place completely and check if the fog can still enter.'
Once I settled on that plan, I went to sleep.
"Let's see what you'll do this time, damn fog."
...
I woke up in the morning to the sound of knocking on the door.
"Nox, wake up, dear."
"I'm coming,"
I called out tiredly. For some reason, the headache returned. I held my head as I stood up and went to the bathroom.
I looked in the mirror again — nothing had changed in my dark eyes. I washed my face and went to the kitchen.
"Hm? What's that smell?"
A strange scent entered my nose, making me freeze.
"It's… the smell of blood!!"
The realization hit me as I ran toward the kitchen. The stench of blood grew stronger as soon as I entered. I looked at the table — my parents were sitting there, but their bodies were headless.
Terror gripped me as I stared at the plates on the table. There — on the dishes — were the severed heads of my parents, drenched in blood.
My body froze; my breath turned cold. I couldn't comprehend what I was seeing.
"Why…?"
The words slipped from my mouth, but no answer came. I turned my gaze to the side — and saw it. The dark fog. Standing right before me.
"You bastard… why are you here?!"
I screamed in fury. My rage consumed all thought, and before I realized it, I was charging at the fog, trying to punch it.
But the fog moved — a whip of darkness lashed out toward me.
"Huh?"
My vision shifted in an instant. I stared in shock at my own body — headless.
"You… cut off my head? How… and when?!"
Those were my last thoughts before darkness filled my sight. The last thing I saw was the black fog expanding, devouring everything.
"Haah… haah… haah…"
I opened my eyes in terror, gasping for air. I was back in my room again.
"Is this some sick joke? Why is this happening?"
I fell to my knees, clutching my chest as another heart attack hit me. I tried to control myself, but couldn't.
My mother entered the room and froze in horror.
"N-Nox??"
Her voice trembled as she stared at her son, collapsed on the floor, clutching his chest, struggling to breathe. Sweat drenched my body as tears streamed from my eyes.
I looked at her, trying to open my mouth.
"I… I…"
Before I could finish, a violent spasm hit me — I lost control of my body and collapsed, unconscious.
"Nox!!! Oh God, Ashur!! Hurry!!"
My mother screamed, rushing to my side and pulling my limp body into her arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
"What happened?!"
My father burst in, looking from her to me. She was holding my body tightly, burying her face in my chest. Her tears wouldn't stop.
"His heart… it's not beating!!"
...
I opened my eyes again — back in the hospital room.
'Damn it… this is making me hate the color white.'
I thought irritably, but then remembered Elena, which calmed me a bit.
'Well, maybe not all white. Anyway, let's think seriously — it seems like I'm trapped in some sort of time loop. Day one, I collapse and end up in the hospital. Day two, the black fog appears.'
While I was thinking, my mother came in, and the same events unfolded like in the previous loops. Soon, I was in the car again with my parents, heading home.
The doctor ran more tests as it seemed my heart had stopped but my father was able to give a quick CPR to my heart. The doctor was afraid of side effects on my body but the test confirmed everything was fine.
'This is annoying. Am I going to watch them die again tomorrow? Can't I live in peace for once? By the gods, what did I do in my past life to deserve this endless suffering?'
I thought angrily as I stared out the window.
'Hmm? Now that I look closely… why aren't there any other people outside? Until now, I've only seen three people — my parents and the doctor. Even when I left the hospital, I didn't see anyone else. I ignored it before, but why is that?'
The outside world was eerily empty — only buildings and abandoned cars filled my view, making it all the more disturbing.
'What if… what if this time loop is built from my memories? That would mean I was hospitalized as a child, and met that doctor back then. If that's true, the illusion might be trying to tell me something. That's why no irrelevant people appear in it.'
It was a crazy thought, but it wasn't baseless. I tried to think deeper.
'But why did the dark fog appear? It's clearly different from the gray fog. If the illusion is trying to tell me something, then why does it only repeat two days? Why not let me live beyond that? Is it saying the rest of the days don't matter?'
"Nox."
'If my assumption is right, that means something important happened when I was ten years old. But what exactly happened?'
"Nox!!"
My mother's loud voice cut through my thoughts. I looked at her in surprise and found both of my parents staring at me with concern.
"What's wrong, dear? I called you several times."
"Oh? Sorry, I was spacing out."
"Alright then, we're home now, so get out of the car."
I looked outside — she was right. We were in front of our apartment building. I got out of the car with them and went inside.
This time, I didn't go to sleep. I turned to my father, staring at him seriously.
"Dad, can we talk?"
He stopped, narrowing his eyes slightly. My mother glanced at us nervously.
"Of course. Follow me to my office."
We entered his study. I closed the door behind us and sat across from him.
"What is it you want to talk about, son?"
He leaned back in his chair, calm but curious.
"Dad, where's my necklace? You know, the black shard you found one day."
I looked at him, waiting for an answer.
'After a lot of thought, I decided to start with this. I've had that shard since I was born — it was a gift. But I've noticed that I don't have it in these loops. That's not something I can ignore.'
My father placed a hand on his chin, thinking deeply. After a moment, he looked at me and tilted his head, confused.
"Son, I'm sorry… I don't understand what you mean. What necklace? I don't recall ever finding anything like a black shard."
I froze, staring at him, hoping he was joking. But he wasn't.
"W-what do you mean you don't understand? Try to remember, Dad. You found a black shard during one of your excavations of Babylonian ruins. It was useless, so you turned it into a pendant and gave it to me when I was born. I wore it all my life — but now, it's gone."
I spoke quickly, trying to remind him, but he only grew more puzzled.
"Son, believe me, I've never found anything like that. And I've never excavated any ruins in Babylon. I'm just an ordinary man — digging in such places would only get me killed. I never gave you a pendant when you were born. Why would you think that? Are you still affected by the fever from the other day? You were hallucinating about strange things then too."
My jaw dropped at his words. He wasn't lying — I could tell. But…
'What the hell does this mean? That I never had such a thing? Could the illusion have a flaw? Maybe the shard's existence would break the illusion if I activated it again, so it erased it — and altered everyone's memories. Yes, that makes sense… that must be it.'
'But… what if that's not true? When I think about it, how could my father, a normal man, explore ancient ruins? Those places are restricted. What if I'm the one with false memories?'
A chill ran down my spine as the thought took root. My body tried to reject it, but my mind kept sinking deeper into it.
'Does that mean… my memories are fake?'
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