* Continuing... 'Memory-wiped' Baston's Monologue *

I sat down on what little empty space I had inside an open-air cage made out of an immovable pile of human bodies.

As a final attempt to escape this nightmare, I closed my eyes, hoping that slumber would bring salvation from loneliness and despair.

My fatigue pushed me to the brink of darkness.

My mind emptied, and my body drained.

I was drowsy and exhausted, physically and mentally.

Yet no matter how long I waited, I never lost consciousness.

It seemed that a barrier was preventing me from sleeping.

At this point, what my mind could do felt so limited, I wasn’t even surprised anymore.

I clenched my fists until they bled, just to make sure this was real.

Tears fell down as pain, agony, and suffering were the only feelings I had left.

I was going crazy...

The time that passed felt like days, yet the night never fell, and the day never came.

My stomach never growled, and my body never felt thirst, yet I remained energized.

My mind almost reached the point of insanity, yet it kept recovering as time passed, never letting me completely fall into the abyss.

It was as if my body had shut down and everything was in my head.

I opened my eyes, hoping for any changes, even the slightest one.

But what greeted me was the same scene of people, buildings, and nature. Everything remained unchanged.

My bleeding hand had completely healed, like there had never been a wound.

My ever-steady clock, still at 7:59:59 PM, never moved to its next second.

I had come to terms with the situation I was in.

I was sad, and I was scared. But I refused to let this continue any longer.

If I ever wanted to taste freedom again, I had to overcome it.

Rotting away slowly in some forgotten place wasn’t an option.

I’d rather die trying than wait for death to come.

With newfound resolve, my mind surged with determination like never before.

Sometimes I wondered, would I ever escape this hellhole?

Sometimes I wondered how long it would be until time started moving again.

Maybe it’s just my mindset and my perception trapping me in this place.

Maybe… I hadn’t tried everything yet.

“Hey! What did I do to deserve this?” I asked the sky, in case somebody’s watching.

“What do I have to do to get out?!”

I continued like a crazed man talking to himself.

“Let me out! Let me out already!”

Unexpectedly, nature responded to my will.

The wind started blowing, and stars started glowing.

It made me look like I had asked to be trapped here.

It left me feeling like an idiot.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…”

So, after waiting for what felt like an eternity… Wasting hours— days—… and trying literally everything—pushing, screaming, losing my sanity.

I had gone to hell and came back.

I gazed into the fucking abyss.

And yet, the solution to this problem is to ask?

“This is stupid. What kind of cliché is this?” I snapped.

Smoke flowed out of my ears as I raged.

I threw my pocket watch on the ground in frustration; unfortunately, or fortunately, it didn’t break.

‘That looks expensive. I shouldn’t have thrown that. Is this even mine? Well, it is in my pocket, so it’s probably mine anyway.’

I calmed down a little.

The whole situation seemed staged, but I couldn’t deny that I felt relieved.

I was finally freed.

The hourly ring from the pocket watch indicated that the time had finally moved.

Then the scene in front of me unfolded as colors returned to their respective places. The lampposts flickered to life one after another, pushing back the remaining darkness.

Before me, a magnificent statue of a phoenix stood tall, its wings spread wide. A cascade of radiant sparks burst from its beak, forming a luminous beacon that bathed the courtyard in shimmering golden light.

Beyond it, a palace of glass and crystal towered over us.

Its massive chandeliers blazed like miniature suns, their glow so intense that even the outside walls gleamed like liquid silver. The sheer brilliance of the structure left me stunned… And then, cheers erupted all around.

Fireworks burst into the sky, painting a dark canvas into a colorful one.

Soldiers marched side by side in a military parade, swinging their weapons in unison. The marching band played their tunes to welcome the guests.

After the parade ended, many mini shows popped up along the stages, both along the streets and inside the gardens.

Magicians performed intricate spells, weaving trails of mana in midair and creating surreal projections for all to see.

Every casting circle of theirs was so complex and beautiful yet fragile. It seemed like…

 “One wrong step and accidents will happen,” said one spectator to his friends.

Knights engaged in mock battles with their respective partners. Their blades flashed like falling stars, leaving afterimages of their aura behind.

 “Look at that duel! Look at her!” A kid called to her friends while pointing to a duel between a rapier and a saber.

 The female knight wielding a rapier maintained her momentum with continuous thrusting and stabbing without revealing any gaps. Her movements were so fast, I couldn’t follow them with my own eyes.

 The male knight, in his defensive stance, only deflected and dodged while stepping back and waiting for his chance to counterattack. In the end, that opportunity never came, and the saber was lost.

Other groups of people representing their masteries, like Summoners, Mystics Masters, and Scientists, also showed off their skills and products of their hard work but I didn't get a chance to visit their stages.

The main driveway leading directly to the palace was now filled to the brim with people standing in awe of the performance happening on their sides.

 The once silent courtyard transformed into a vibrant festival, exuding an air of joy and wonder, leaving no trace of the dead air that once filled it. The emotions I felt moments ago disappeared like water under the bridge.

Despair? Dread? Paranoia? All of that was gone, like it had never been there.

However, something still made me feel uneasy. Perhaps it was because of what just happened, possibly the sense of the unknown, or maybe something else. Either way, I had to figure out what was going on first.

When the shows finally ended, most of the people, including me, dispersed towards the main building. I was still walking with the person I recognized as my mother… Yet I still couldn’t remember who I was.

‘Let’s just go with the flow first.’

Even though I walked mindlessly, the trek to the manor took longer than expected. Finally, we arrived at the Phoenix Statue.

‘I already knew that it was massive the moment I could see the details clearly at the entrance. But looking at the statue and the mansion from close by really makes you wonder how the ants looked at you.’

A knight captain, fully armored and standing guard, blocked the mansion’s front door and announced…

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the royal palace, the Phoenix Annex for the Hundred Lights Festival.”

‘Royal palace? Hundred Lights Festival? What’s all of this?’

Then, information regarding the "Hundred Lights Festival" flooded into my mind. Not only that, but some other information also came along with it.

‘That can’t be right... The Hundred Lights Festival isn’t supposed to happen for another two years.’

My mind started racing as copious amounts of knowledge entered my head. I searched for clues as to why this is the case… Until I saw something in one of the mansion’s crystals… Someone’s reflection… My own reflection… But something was off.

‘That face looks close enough to what was mine. So does this brownish-black hair and…’  

I pulled my sleeves up to reveal my scar on my left wrist.

‘…the scar. It’s here. Why have I not noticed this before? Why did I just realize it now?’

Even though it was my first time seeing myself after I woke up, I instinctively knew that this is definitely my own body, and thus a clear picture of my normal body is formed.

‘My height also increased by a lot. And my usually short hair is now in a neck-length ponytail.’

And so, I pieced the puzzles together using all the clues and came to a single conclusion that…

‘I am transported into the future! That would explain everything— from my growth to the date of the Hundred Lights Festival. And the forgetfulness and frozen time can also be concluded as side effects of time travel.’

‘Also, the fact that this flood of information does not give me a headache but rather relieves me from it also confirms that I already knew those information, and it is just my mind reclaiming its missing part.’

That was the only conclusion that made sense anyway. There was no way it could be wrong… Atleast that's what I thought.

‘Welp… It seems like a set of puzzles has many correct solutions.’

Except for the fact that my past memory gradually returned after I came to that conclusion, and at that moment, I understood exactly what was going on. I facepalmed and cursed inwardly… spell made by my real self, to be exact.

'Damn it, Why is the spell's repercussion so severe?'

With my mind returning to its full power, I weighed the pros and cons of both methods of accessing my dreams. I concluded that....

'It's still better to know whether I will be entering the nightmare. Atleast for now, I won't have to be anxious of whether I will be waking up in unknown place.'

Because of my blessings, I am cursed to live in time of crisis.

This wasn’t the first time a situation like this happened either. In fact, most of the time I sleep, I fall into a dream like this.

While an average person would call this a ‘lucid dream’ or ‘revelation from the gods’, I called this a ‘certain-death nightmare’.

‘Goddammit… not this again.’

I complained so much because, in these dreams, you always… 

‘…die’

It’s not like I wanted to be dead to escape this place, but these dreams always contain an apocalyptic event that erases everyone’s existence at the end.

So if I'm going to die anyway, I might as well struggle till the end.

'Atleast dying like this would have been more meaningful than rotting away like a scaredy cat.'

As I was lost in thought, contemplating my past self’s decisions and my future self’s fates. Someone called out to me.

“Baston,” my mother said, “let’s head inside.”