Addai caressed Mine’s cheek, his fingers lingering on the soft, smooth skin. Slowly, he lifted Mine’s chin. Mine’s eyes met Addai’s and... something was wrong.

“Hehehe Hehehe…” Mine giggled under his breath.

He wasn’t looking at Addai anymore; his gaze was locked somewhere past him, empty and glassy, like a puppet’s. Even his body felt harder and more artificial to touch. When that thing’s eyes locked in Addai’s, what once was Mine’s usual brightness and warmth, had vanished – snuffed out in a blink. His gentle smile had twisted into something crooked, not suiting the shell.

“What the fuck are you?!” Addai hissed, a cold prickle crawling up his spine as he grabbed Mine’s shoulders and shook him. “Where’s Mine?!” he growled, a deep, guttural sound rumbling from his throat as his sharp fangs bared.

“Hehehe... Hahahaha!!!” Mine cackled, head lolling slightly to one side.

Panic clawed at Addai’s gut.

Mine was gone—something else was sitting on his skin.

Frantically, Addai glanced toward the table and the Satan’s Will flower had vanished.

And the boxes around them? Wrong. Twisted. Rearranged like some silent, mocking hand had touched everything.

“What…? Aren’t you recognizing me?” The fake mimicked Mine’s sad face almost too perfectly, forcing Addai to halt and loosen the grip on his shoulders.

Addai’s hands clenched, trying to crush the thing’s bones, but the eerie resemblance made his fingers falter. The shadows around Addai whined when he tried to crush that entity again, but his body, locked by doubt, refused.

That thing looked like Mine. It moved like him. Smiled like him… but it wasn’t him. Was it wearing Mine like a mask? Was Mine still in there—watching? Trapped?

It was impossible to hurt that impostor.

“The kitty cat is sharp!! Hahahaha!!” the puppet chuckled, its face twitching into something grotesque.

“Shut up!” Addai snapped, sinking his hand into the wall behind the impostor.

The puppet lifted its gaze to look at the hurt hands of Addai on the wall and lazily looked at him again, his face resembled Mine even more. It let out a faint chuckle and its eyes curved the same way Mine did when he smiled.

“You’re incapable of hurting him, right?” A voice echoed from the puppet, but it wasn’t theirs. It was deeper and the one behind it was going through some euphoric moment because of how breathy and excited it sounded. “That’s nice… now tell me… how is your life going, Little Lost Lotus?”

Addai froze, his gaze locked on the creature standing before him.

His body trembled, not with fear, but with something far worse—rage. It burned vivid and ferociously inside him, boiling his blood and twisting his soul.

He couldn’t strike. Not yet. Not while that face stared back at him with Mine’s exact eyes.

His fury churned, black and seething, scraping through his insides like broken glass. He could almost feel his gut tearing, something inside him bleeding out.

His eyes, once heterochromatic, blazed crimson, raw as fresh blood. His jaw was locked like his eyes, not minding how his fangs sank into his bottom lips, making it bleed.

His fangs sank into his own lower lip, splitting skin. He tasted iron.

“Who are you?” Addai growled, approaching the creature’s face.

“ADDAI, MOVE!!!” A feminine voice shouted from behind, piercing his buzzing ears. The familiar voice’s urgency felt so palpable Addai instinctively moved to the side, releasing the grip on the creature.

A round-shaped plant hit the impostor, splashing what looked like acid. It burned and melted the puppet’s skin, tearing it as if it was made of wax until its insides were shown to the light.

Addai stood frozen, horror slamming into him like a hammer.

His stomach twisted violently.

His hands turned to ice.

His heart—

It didn’t just hurt.

It caved in like a crumpled paper.

This was Mine’s face falling apart.

Mine’s face.

And there was nothing human left beneath it.

“HEY! It wasn’t Mine!” The woman approached, shaking Addai’s shoulders and snapping him out of the trance. “It’s a fucking puppet made of miasma!” she slapped Addai’s cheek twice, making sure he came back to his senses.

Addai blinked, his mind slowly clearing after the second slap. The person in front of him was no other than, “Lydia?!” he gasped.

“Welcome back, friend!” Lydia grinned, half worried and half panicked. “Your puppet was better than mine, ugh…” she shivered.

“Where’s Mine?” Addai urged, grabbing Lydia’s hand.

“I don’t know!” Lydia snapped, maybe she was as anxious as Addai. “I… only found one of the originals. You, I mean…” she sighed, rubbing her forehead. “There’s something wrong in this building. I tripped on a box and ended up in a room with two impostors!” she stressed.

“Are you hurt?” Addai asked, his eyes laying on Lydia’s bruised forearm.

“That’s nothing,” Lydia hid her bruised arm. “We need to find Mine and maybe one of the boxes leads to him… or death,” she cold-sweated.

Her hands were shaking, and it was a miracle she could say anything intelligible. Meanwhile, the impostor was still agonizing on the ground, no longer using Mine's voice or appearance.

“I…” Lydia’s voice faltered. “Shiit… I’m scared… Hahaha…” she stammered, still searching for a suitable box, but all of them looked the same.

“Lemme help you,” Addai said, taking the box from Lydia’s trembling hands. “It’s okay, we’ll find a way out–”

A low, rasping groan echoed through the room, the sound thick and wet, like the grinding of insect mandibles. It slithered into Addai’s ears, setting every hair on his body standing upright. Something about it was wrong—too many legs, too many teeth, too much hunger in one sound…

Lydia tensed, “What is this sound–”

“DIG ON THOSE BOXES!!!!” Addai fretted.

Lydia gasped when Addai, in a desperate attempt to find the right box, threw one of them on the tall pile of boxes, causing an avalanche of cardboard boxes. Immediately, she pushed Addai, and they both fell into an open box big enough for them to fit. The box’s flaps closed shut and a suffocating darkness surrounded them.

Silence.

Darkness.

Cardboard smell.

“Hey, buddy,” Lydia called. “Move your butt and roll the box with me,” she wriggled.

“I’m trying,” Addai grumbled. “But I think it’s too small here.”

The cardboard box rolled once, twice, three times, until they managed to get hold of the flaps – well, one of them managed to catch the flaps, as they seemed to be playing a fierce game of Twister, and neither of them seemed to be winning.

“We’re lame,” Lydia chuckled, half desperate, half helpless.

“Shut it, we’ll make it,” Addai grumbled and tried to tear the box with his hand.

But when Addai’s hand touched the cardboard box’s walls, it dismantled. They both fell to the cold floor, Lydia’s leg on Addai’s arm and her hand on his face while he tried to set himself free from the involuntary Twister match.

Finally free from each other, they looked around, and… nothing made sense.

Addai tried to get up and hit his head on what was... the ceiling? Lydia did the same, but what happened was different: she couldn't take any more steps.

Addai rubbed his face, already tired of everything. “Yo, Lydia. Are you sure your plants are licit?” he grumbled.

“OF COURSE THEY ARE!” Lydia fumed. “My beloveds aren’t hallucinogens if that’s what you’re thinking!”

“It’s not what I’m seeing,” Addai pointed to the door on the other side of the rift they were.

The room seemed like a void.

No windows, or walls and barely had a floor – if it could be classified as that.

Addai and Lydia were isolated on a floating cardboard block, and the door was on something that looked like solid ground. Lydia started cursing, kicking a piece of cardboard box, finally being able to move more than a step.

“Lydia, isn’t it Satan's Will doing? Like… I vaguely remember the flower traps you in a maze if it's trying to protect its owner,” Addai pondered, and Lydia looked at him utterly annoyed.

“Of course it is! It did the same thing to me TWICE,” Lydia grumbled and took her wand. “Now move, pretty boy,” she aimed the wand at the door and said something that sounded more like another cursing.

A long, winding path of vines formed before them.

Without hesitation, Lydia grabbed Addai’s hand and pulled him along.

Addai kept his eyes fixed straight ahead, careful not to look up or down—one glance at the endless void surrounding them, and he knew the dizziness would hit hard.

"We need to find my Seraph's Tear,” Lydia said, while searching for something in a mana screen she made. “Only it can lull the Satan's Will effects, and… we need to find what made the flower alert," she said while dragging Addai to wherever she wanted to after closing the mana screen.

"Sure, boss," Addai nodded, and she finally chuckled.

It took long, confusing steps until they reached the door on the other side of the rift. The room they saw was a little too damp, and Lydia at once closed it. Addai looked at her in visible confusion and tried to open the door that was closed by Lydia once again.

"It's a trap, but if you want to feel special, go inside and show off your powers and– ah! Waste your mana,” Lydia crossed her arms, and Addai took a step back. "Good boy," and now it was Addai's turn to look at her visibly annoyed, but she put a finger on his mouth so he wouldn’t talk.

Lydia crouched down and let a vine still shutting Addai's lips. She tugged violently at whatever was in the gap between the door and the cardboard floor.

It was a smiling and happy little plant. It emitted great peace and vitality by how it smiled and laughed happily... until Lydia impetuously plucked all the petals off it while it was in terrible agony.

Addai watched her in horror, his lips shut by the vines.

"Shut it, you plague!" Lydia hissed, and the plant screamed even more. "Yell at me, and I’ll yell at you. WHERE’S MY PRECIOUS SERAPH’S TEAR?” she started violently shaking the plant while all Addai could do was widen his eyes in horror.

"I HID IN THE ROOM FIVE! YOU OPEN AND CLOSE THE DOOR FIVE TIMES!!!” the flower yelled, and Lydia tossed the bud into the void.

Addai was left speechless. Even when Lydia released the vines from his lips, he stayed in shock and speechless.

“Some buds need… violence,” Lydia grinned. “Interesting, huh?” she chuckled while closing and opening the door the five times needed.

“… very,” Addai replied.

“Aha! Now it’s our room!” Lydia beamed and quickly entered the room, yanking Addai inside.

At first, it seemed to be a large glass greenhouse with decorations and different plants of different sizes, even though the glass effect was an illusion made by spells to attend to each plant's needs. It was a beautiful and peaceful place, quite contrasting with the place they came from.

And there it was Lydia’s Seraph Tear flower, standing alone in the middle of the room. It looked so fragile with its almost transparent petals and golden stamens. Its foliage was thin and smooth, just like the Satan’s Will.

More than quickly, Lydia went looking for the plant in the middle of her little jungle where vines were tangled. The smell of wet earth, foliage, and pollen was very good, but they couldn't rest yet, as the real Mine was still missing.

“Here! Come closer!” Lydia called, beaming.

“Hurry up… I’m getting nervous about Mine,” Addai said, shoulders tensed.

"I know you're worried about him, but he's not fragile," Lydia smiled confident. "You're such a good boy," she patted his head, and he, once again, looked at her utterly annoyed. "Shush, pay attention,” she closed his lips before he could complain, just like she did earlier.

Lydia placed the plant on the ground, and with her wand in her hands, she made a kind of magic fairy dust float in the air – like Tinker Bell's. The dust that danced around the flower looked like a beautiful dancer or a silk fabric fluttering in the air, making pirouettes and more pirouettes until the sun (the shining dust) began to illuminate the entire fiber of the fabric.

This powder reacted with the flower's petals and began to show a path with this powder, drawing a straight line from the flower towards the... wall?

“Is this right?” Addai asked.

“The Seraph’s Tear never mistakes!” Lydia beamed, confident. "Let's go!" she grabbed his hand, and Addai started panicking.

“Are you nuts?! You’ll slam your face on the wall!! Do it alone!” Addai tried to break free from the grab, but oh Lydia had some strength.

"Close your eyes! It's just like Platform Nine three-quarters from Harry Potter!" Lydia loudly laughed, and Addai tripped but regained his balance as she ran with a single petal in her hands.

And… they made it! But...

The room was wrecked.

Golden liquid streaked across shelves and half-collapsed boxes, while torn cardboard littered the floor like wilted leaves. Red smears—too thick to be paint—bled down the walls in uneven trails.

And in the middle of it all stood a single figure.

It glowed, literally.

Its eyes shimmered with a mix of gold and pink and a diamond pattern displayed in what the pupils would be. Its gaze was ethereal but also fierce.

Its skin was smooth—too smooth—porcelain stretched over something still. A gauzy veil floated over its shoulders, draping down over clothing that wasn’t quite fabric. It shifted too fluidly like a condensed mist pretending to be cloth.

The creature's glowing eyes fixed on something half-buried in the floor that laughed like a maniac.

Addai reflexively covered Lydia’s mouth in return, his hand pressed over hers, both breathing shallowly. Lydia's other spare handheld Seraph Tear’s pot fiercely. They exchanged a glance—silent, wide-eyed.

But the creature felt their presence and slowly turned its head in their direction. Its glowing eyes pierced their soul. Lydia and Addai barely breathed, their body freezing in their spots.

The creature lifted a hand, and the thing buried in dirt disappeared in glowing specs ethereally floating in the air. Its body then turned to the duo’s direction… but it did nothing. Its head tilted to one side as if it was curious of them.

Lydia’s body was trembling so much that she prayed for Addai to take the chance to run and carry her. However, Addai was as still as a rock, his pupils thin and his body tense.

Before Lydia could reach for her Seraph’s Tear flower, its petals glowed brightly. Its brightness was so strong it blinded every being in the room. All Addai could do was protect Lydia with his own body until the blinding brightness faded.

Slowly, the metallic smell of whatever it was on the floor ceased as well as the entire strange and dark environment. The lighting returned to normal, and the usual smell of cardboard boxes returned.

Addai relaxed his arms and uncovered Lydia. She rubbed her eyes and looked at where the creature was before, but what she witnessed made her gasp hard.

“MINE!!” Lydia shouted.

Mine, laying on the floor, had his eyes closed and Satan’s Will petals all around him. A single petal of Lydia’s Seraph Tear floated in the air and landed next to Mine’s face.