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     Baston's Diary Entry Nightmare#03 120th

     The lastest nightmare reveal the secret "function" of my soul-bounded item, my stopwatch "Temporis".

      In the past, the only way I can enter the nightmare is by sleeping very deep.

      Now, I have unlocked its first true function of Temporis, "Gate of Nightmare".

      The entry Nightmare#03 121th will be my first test using [Gate of Nightmare].

]

At that time, if Baston had known that it would result in memory loss in the already harsh nightmare, he would not have cast the spell in the first place.

Now, all the strategies he had prepared, they will all go down the drain...

" Memoria futuri quam quaero mihi revelatur [Gate of Nightmare] "

Baston casted an unknown magic [Gate of Nightmare] using "Temporis" the pocket watch as a medium.

Right then and there, I heard a soft whisper...

"Only when one's bare mind experiences present can one sense the timeline: both the past and the future."

A strange weight pressed against my chest. My body felt heavy, sluggish, as if I had been asleep for far too long... 

A dull ringing echoed in my ears, making it difficult to focus.

A crushing pressure squeezed my skull, restricting my thoughts.

And then, a final searing pain tore through me, shattering what little awareness I had left before dragging me into darkness.

* 'Memory-wiped' Baston's Monologue *

When I first opened my eyes, I found myself surrounded by a sea of people.

At first, my mind refused to make sense of the scene before me.

"What am I doing here?" I asked myself, still confused.

I can't seem to remember anything at all.

I blinked a few times, trying to clear the haze clouding my head.

I was standing among dozens—no, hundreds—of well-dressed people, all gathered in an open courtyard. The atmosphere carried an air of significance, as if we had assembled for some once-in-a-lifetime ceremony.

Yet, something felt off.

The space around us was nearly pitch black, far too dark to hold a festival of any kind.

Every single person stood perfectly still, as if they were frozen in time.

Not a single movement was detected.

Not a single breath was heard.

The only thing breaking the silence was the pounding of my racing heart.

I glanced down at myself.

I was also dressed in a light blue suit, tailored and neat. Though it perfectly blended in with the others, it was not something I instinctively knew I would ever wear. 

Holding my hand was the person I could barely make out, even when I squinted my eyes through the darkness. 

My mother, whose name I couldn't recall.

She stood beside me, her gown exquisite—elegant, blending into the countless faces around us.

For reason unknown to me, I recognized the person as my mother whose name I couldn't recollect.

"Mom, where are we?" I asked her.

No response… she stood still, unmoving, as if she hadn't even heard me at all.

I squeezed her hand... Still, nothing.

I shook her arm. I called out to others. I screamed at the top of my lungs. 

But still… nothing.

No one reacted. No one moved.

I made multiple attempts to push through the crowd, to force my way past the endless rows of bodies, but they wouldn't budge.

With my strength drained, I forced myself to calm down.

I let out a shaky breath, deciding to wait it out.

“*Sigh* Let’s just chill out and relax… Everything is going to be fine.”

Fifteen minutes had passed… 

“898… 899... 900…”

I had counted the seconds out of sheer boredom, trying to keep my mind occupied.

It felt like hours had gone by after I had memorized and analyzed every little detail within arm's reach—the stillness of the people, the fabric of my suit, the vague outlines of structures beyond the golden gate.

And yet, not a single change happened during this period.

My vision was worse than usual. I could barely see anything beyond my immediate surroundings—the starless sky above, the people around me, the paved ground beneath my feet.

Everything else was shrouded in darkness, the details blurred and indistinguishable.

I searched my vicinity for anything useful before slipping my hands into my pockets.

My fingers brushed against cold metal.

I pulled out a pocket watch.

Its glass face was unbroken. Its gears untouched. Its battery was completely filled with energy yet the hands didn't move one bit.

The time read 7:59:59 PM.

And it hadn't moved since.

The watch was frozen.

Time was frozen.

A flicker of unease settled in my chest knowing that I was completely alone in a world stuck in time.

Another hour passed... 

The silence stretched endlessly.

I felt detached and lonely, adrift in the sea of people who weren't truly there.

Talking to them was pointless. So I spoke to none but myself.

I tried retracing my thoughts, hoping to recall how I ended up here.

But I couldn’t remember anything before I opened my eyes.

There was nothing.

No memories. No past.

Any time my thoughts drifted to events before this moment—even simple things like 'What did I eat for breakfast?' or 'How did I get here?'—they simply… vanished."

'Who am I? What am I? Where am I? When am I... wait that question doesn't make sense' 

Even identity of myself is shrouded in mystery...

But that wasn't normal forgetfulness.

I could recall everything that had happened since opening my eyes perfectly—my failed escape attempts, my mother's unresponsiveness, the frozen crowd.

Yet anything before that moment was just... gone.

As if my mind had been tampered with or my memories had been sealed away.

“I’m pretty sure that I don’t have dementia... but even if I did, I'd probably forget that too” I muttered with a dry chuckle.

The joke fell flat in the suffocating silence.

Another two hours had passed by… 

I had stopped counting since around two thousands-ish.

My thoughts wandered aimlessly, desperate for answers. 

Many ideas settled in my mind and many imaginations left without a trace.

During this time, I noticed that my mood was swinging harder than a schizophrenic and his anxiety level was changing faster than a roller coaster changing its direction.

"Could this be the afterlife?" I thought while holding my head in stress.

'What if I had already died? What if this was purgatory where nothing moved and time never flowed for eternity?'

My breathing quickened.

'Maybe I wasn't just alone. Maybe... I was trapped.'

Panic set in, causing my senses to be amplified.

The walls of the crowd seemed to close in, the air growing thick, suffocating and heavy. My heightened awareness turned against me, making every shadow stretched longer, every unmoving body loomed suffocatingly closer.

Sweat trailed down soaking my shirt. A ringing started in my ears.

My heart slammed against my ribs in a wild rhythm that refused to slow.

The sensation crawled up my throat, strangling my every breath.

My stomach twisted, nausea clawing the edges of my mind.

My mind was drifting away.

'I had to snap out of it.'

Forcing my breath to steady, I focused on what little I could control. My vision—though still hazy—felt sharper than before, like my panic had awakened something deeper inside me.

And that’s when I saw it.

Something new.

Something I hadn’t noticed before.

The world around me was not empty after all.

At the very least, I knew I wasn’t trapped in some endless void. That thought alone was enough to calm me—if only slightly.

Or maybe not so little... My alertness faded rapidly, easing the last remnants of my anxiety.

Maybe I was just feeling tired, but right now, I was more collected than ever.

I decided to look for landmarks or clues, anything to help me figure out where I was.

Beyond the crowd, on both sides, breathtaking gardens stretched into the dimly lit horizon. Exotic plants in shades of violet, crimson, and gold—colors so vivid they felt almost unnatural. An unusual combination of species, the kind only seen in a noble's estate.

Behind me, a towering golden gate loomed, sealed shut, its intricate carvings of phoenixes and celestial sigils glinting faintly under the ambient glow of the palace lights. 

Beyond the fences, rows of brick buildings with slanted roofs lined the opposite side of the street. Their windows cast a warm glow against the night. Yet not a single soul could be seen roaming the empty streets.

An utterly desolate place, devoid of life.

I had never been here before, atleast not that I can recall.

And yet, a deep, unsettling familiarity gnawed at the edges of my mind—an eerie déjà vu I couldn’t explain.

I racked my brain, searching for anything bearing any resemblance to what I was seeing.

Nothing.

And then, the crushing weight of hopelessness settled in my gut, snuffing out the flicker of confidence I had regained, plunging me into despair.

I was completely lost. 

"Where am I...?" I whispered, my voice barely audible over the sound of my own pounding heart.

No answer came. Only silence.