I wake with a gasp.
Cold stone presses against my back, and for a terrifying second I believe I am still inside the corridor of mirrors. My heart pounds wildly as I sit up, scanning my surroundings.
I am alone.
The corridor is gone.
Instead, I find myself in a narrow alley, hemmed in by tall concrete walls slick with moisture. Neon lights flicker weakly above, casting broken colors onto the wet ground. Rain falls steadily—not snow, not black rain, but ordinary rain—yet every drop feels heavy, as if carrying memory with it.
The city.
I recognize this place.
This is where everything began.
My fingers instinctively reach for my chest. The pearl necklace is still there. Warm. Real. The letters EG glint softly beneath the dim light.
"So it wasn't a dream…" I whisper.
A sudden sharp pain stabs through my temple. I stagger, pressing my palm against my head as fragments of memory push forward—images that don't fully belong to me.
A younger version of myself, standing under the same rain.
A tall figure offering an umbrella I never took.
A voice saying, "If you walk into the rain, you'll never be the same."
"I don't remember this…" I murmur.
Footsteps echo from the mouth of the alley.
My body tenses instantly. Every nerve screams at me to hide, but there is nowhere to go. I press myself against the cold wall, my breath shallow.
A shadow stretches across the ground before the person steps into view.
It's him.
The man from the house.
Dry. Immaculate. Untouched by the rain.
Our eyes meet, and the world seems to pause between heartbeats.
"You came back faster than I expected," he says calmly.
My hands shake. "Did you bring me here again?"
"No," he replies. "You brought yourself."
Anger surges through my fear. "Stop lying to me! You locked me in, you took my phone, you—"
"You touched the mirror," he interrupts gently. "That was the first choice."
I laugh bitterly. "A choice? I was trying to escape you!"
"And you did," he says. "Just not in the direction you thought."
Thunder rumbles overhead, low and distant.
I take a step back. "Tell me who you are. Tell me what EG means."
For a moment, he hesitates.
The rain begins to fall harder.
"EG," he says slowly, "is not my name."
My heart skips. "Then whose is it?"
He lifts his hand and gently taps the pearl necklace with one finger. The warmth spreads through my body, sending a strange ache through my chest.
"It's yours," he says.
The world tilts.
"What…?" I whisper.
"You just forgot," he continues. "When you chose the rain that night, you chose to forget."
Images explode in my mind—
Standing in front of a mirror long ago.
Blood on my hands.
A dragon-shaped seal burning into my skin.
I fall to my knees, gasping.
He crouches in front of me, finally close enough for me to see the truth in his eyes—not cruelty, not madness, but something far worse.
Regret.
"I promised I'd protect you," he says quietly.
"Even if it meant you'd hate me."
Tears spill down my cheeks. "From what?"
He looks up at the dark sky.
"From yourself," he answers.
The rain suddenly stops.
In the reflection of a puddle beneath us, I see not two figures—
But three.
And the third one smiles.