My eyelids felt like someone had tied weights to them. Everything was blurry. Hazy. I couldn't tell if I was awake or still dreaming.
Wasn't I supposed to die?
Or... did I die?
The questions circled in my head, unanswered. Always unanswered.
Voices echoed somewhere distant, muffled, like I was underwater.
"Doct... patient... waking... two months..."
Two months? What?
I tried to move. Nothing. My body felt like concrete. My arms wouldn't respond. My legs were dead weight. Even my fingers refused to twitch.
Am I paralyzed?
The panic started as a flutter in my chest.
I blinked hard, forcing my vision to focus. Shapes became clearer. Three men in white coats stood around me. Doctors, probably. One was writing something on a clipboard. Another was checking a machine beside my bed.
My bed.
I was in a hospital.
But I wasn't supposed to be in a hospital. I was supposed to be—
The train. The mirror world. The ghost.
The memory hit me like a fist to the chest. The creature's face, twisted and wrong. The way reality had fractured around us. The pain—oh god, the pain when it touched me. That couldn't have been a dream. It felt too real. The burning in my chest, the cold spreading through my veins, the certainty that I was about to die.
But if that was real, then why am I here?
I turned my head—barely—and saw straps. Thick leather straps binding my wrists to the bed rails. I looked down. More straps across my chest. My ankles.
They tied me down.
The panic exploded.
"What—" My voice came out as a croak. "What the hell—"
My whole body jerked against the restraints. The straps bit into my skin. I couldn't move. Couldn't get free. Trapped. I was trapped.
"Get these off!" I yanked harder. "Get them OFF!"
My heart was hammering so hard I thought it would burst. Sweat poured down my face, soaking the hospital gown. My hands shook violently against the restraints.
Is this real? Is the hospital real? Or am I still in the mirror world? Is this another trick?
What happened to the monster? Did it follow me here?
"AHHHHHHH!" The scream tore out of my throat. "SOMEONE HELP ME!"
The doctors jumped back. One of them looked genuinely frightened. They were scared. Of me. Why were they scared of me?
"Calm down," one said, his voice steady but his hands trembling. "Everything's going to be alright."
"Calm down?" I thrashed against the bed. "YOU TIED ME DOWN! WHERE AM I? WHAT HAPPENED?"
Two doctors grabbed my arms, pressing them down. Another one held my legs. I bucked and twisted, but they were too strong. Or I was too weak. I couldn't tell anymore.
"Hold him still!"
"I'm trying!"
Through my panic, I saw the fourth doctor approaching with a syringe. The needle caught the fluorescent light.
No. No no no.
"Don't—" I gasped. "Don't you dare—"
He came closer. The other doctors pressed me flat against the mattress. I felt the cold swab of alcohol on my neck.
"Please," I whispered. "Please just tell me what's happening—"
The needle pierced my skin.
The liquid burned going in. Then warmth spread from the injection site, flowing through my veins like honey. My racing heart began to slow. The panic that had been choking me started to loosen its grip.
My vision blurred again. The doctors' faces swam above me.
"Sleep now," one of them said softly. "Just sleep."
My eyelids were so heavy. The fear drained away, replaced by a strange, artificial peace. My body stopped fighting.
The last thought I had before darkness took me:
*Was any of it real?*
Then nothing.
**[Congratulations. You have conquered the Tier 7 Mirror World.]**
The voice echoed in my head again. That same robotic voice from the announcement. The one I'd heard when I first entered the mirror world.
Tier 7? Mirror World?
Wait—what?
Wasn't I just in a hospital? Tied down with straps? Someone injected me with something. I felt it go in. I felt myself falling asleep.
What the fuck is going on with me?
Everything feels wrong. All of it.
I gasped for air—relief flooding through me for half a second before reality crashed back in.
I opened my eyes.
The train. The same train. The same last compartment I'd been fighting in.
But the monster was gone.
"Ah, man..." I breathed out, looking around frantically. "I think I actually killed that thing. The ghost. The rebound. Whatever the hell it was."
The announcement said I conquered the mirror world, right? So where's my reward? There's supposed to be a reward, isn't there?
I stood up slowly, checking myself for injuries. My body ached, but nothing felt broken. I was alive. Somehow, I was alive.
Then something pressed against my leg.
My right pocket. There was something in my right pocket—and I knew for a fact nothing had been there before.
I reached in carefully and pulled it out.
A red hexagon.
It was small, fitting perfectly in my palm, and it was glowing. Not bright, but a steady, pulsing shine that made the edges seem to shimmer. The surface was smooth, almost glass-like, but warm to the touch.
I stared at it, turning it over in my hand.
"What the hell is this supposed to be?"
The hexagon pulsed once, brighter, like it was responding to my voice.
I had no idea what it was for. No clue what it did. But something deep in my gut told me this thing was important.
This was the reward.
---
**[Ghost Essence acquired. Defeating Ghost Rebound entities will grant Ghost Essence corresponding to the Tier of the Mirror World. Collect essence to access the next Mirror World.]**
The same announcement. The same damn robotic voice. And still no answers.
Ghost Essence? Is that what I'm holding?
I squeezed the red hexagon tighter in my fist, feeling its warmth pulse against my palm. "So where do I even use this thing? Huh?"
*Phewww.* I let out a long breath, trying to steady myself.
"Okay. So this red thing is Tier 7, I guess. And that hospital..." I paused, my chest tightening. "Why did that feel so real? Why did I have that dream—or was it even a dream?"
Shit. Shit. *Shit.*
"Breathe. Just breathe." I closed my eyes. "In... hold... out..."
But the panic kept rising.
"I don't want to go to another Mirror World!" I shouted at nothing. "Are you fucking crazy? I almost died in this one!"
Silence. Of course. Just the empty train car and my own ragged breathing.
I looked around. The red seats. The flickering overhead lights. Everything looked the same as before, except the monster was gone.
My eyes landed on the door to the next compartment.
"Maybe I can leave now. Maybe I can find other people. Real people." I moved closer, one step at a time.
That's when I noticed it.
The door was glowing.
Faintly at first, then stronger—a deep crimson red that matched the essence in my hand.
"What the..."
I pulled out the hexagon and held it up near the door.
*Hmmmmmmm.*
The glow intensified immediately. Both the door and the essence vibrated with the same low, humming frequency. The air between them rippled like heat waves.
Then it started.
*WHOOOOOOSH.*
The door began pulling. Not just air—*everything*. My clothes flapped toward it. Dust and debris spiraled inward. My hand jerked forward, dragged by an invisible force.
"Whoa—wait—WAIT!"
The entire train car *shook*. The seats rattled. The windows vibrated in their frames. It felt like an earthquake, like the whole world was coming apart.
My fingers started to slip. The essence was being ripped from my grip.
"No—don't—!"
*SNAP.*
My hand flew open.
The red hexagon floated up, suspended in mid-air with no support, spinning slowly. The glow became blinding.
"Get back here!" I reached for it, but my hand passed right through like it wasn't solid anymore.
The door's pull grew stronger.
*WHOMP WHOMP WHOMP.*
My heart hammered in sync with the pulsing light.
The essence rotated faster. Faster. The humming rose to a high-pitched *WHIIIIINE*—
Then it shot forward.
*FWOOOSH!*
It slammed into the door and—
*Pop.*
Gone.
Disappeared into thin air like it was never there.
The door stopped glowing. The shaking stopped. The pulling force vanished.
Everything went quiet.
I stood there, panting, staring at the door.
"Okay. Okay, that's... that's fine. Maybe that means I can't go to the next compartment now. Maybe I'm stuck here. Safe. That's... that's good, right?"
I needed to see. Needed to know.
Slowly, carefully, I reached for the door handle.
*Click.*
It turned.
The door swung open with a soft *creeeak.*
And what I saw on the other side—
It wasn't the train compartment.
It wasn't anything that should exist.
"What... the *fuck*..."
My legs went weak. My brain couldn't process it. Even seeing it with my own eyes, I couldn't believe it.
This wasn't real.
This *couldn't* be real.
But it was right there in front of me…..