Walking along a broken, desolate path, she stopped and closed her eyes. “I sense… a new coming. It will rain soon.” But when she opened her eyes, instead of neglect she found a hooded beggar. She calmly asked, “What is it you want?” He smirked and replied, “What do you need?” Looking a little agitated, she retorted, “Nothing. I’ll be leaving now.” With that last word put in, she started to walk off with her eyes looking the opposite way of the beggar. The hooded man laughed, and then grabbed her by the arm. She was like a cat softly hissing with her ears bent back in agitation. “Madam, the world you see is nothing. There is an Eden waiting somewhere within these wasted lands. I am sure you cannot find them, because it would go against everything you people think. Isn’t that right? It doesn’t exist. It never will.” He asserted with a fake smile. He continued, “You can go back, and cry if you want. But I’m not following you. There’s another world. I promise.” She quickly jerked her arm back and started to walk back again without looking back. She looked behind her to see if he was gone, but she saw a translucent version of the man dissolve into the arid atmosphere.

She thought to herself: I partially remember. There was a war here. What caused it? Nobody knew. It had seemed their memories were…frozen. Only some parts could be thawed out and understood though. The city was a makeshift little town. There were no big cities or even light. Everything was always gray and hazy…and it stayed that way. As for me, I was just me: Kamilia. People say I always looked somewhat depressed, but what reason did I have to smile or be happy at all? I didn’t and that’s why I acted the same. People…sometimes I really wish I weren’t human at all...

She had arrived at her lonely shack nearby the local pub. She had never any business going in there though. She plopped on her thin mattress on the floor and contemplated what the odd man had said. Stupid hag...thinks he knows who I am…he has no authority to tell me of any new world and whatnot. People only say things like that to try to scare you for personal gain. They’re full of idiocy. Though she never listened to others, she decided to see what was outside of this mangy place called “New Promise." The absolute last thing they had was hope.

For the first few miles, she found more and more wasteland. But along a narrow dirt road, she eyed a rather peculiar building in the distance. The road she was walking along seemed...different. She noticed many tiny orbs of soft blue and purple light floating around. She barely touched one, and it burned out and crashed to the ground. What kind of place is this?! There was definitely a strange aura to this place. And it was completely silent. The only sound was Kamilia’s footsteps and those weird orbs of light. By the time she reached the front door of the building, she was allured by its strange calmness. She pushed her weight against the door to get it open. To the left was a detailed stained glass picture of a beautiful woman with a serene smile on her face and her hands were touching each other to the side with her arms parallel. She also had an extra eye on her forehead, but it was closed. There were empty benches lined up along the rest of the room. She walked around observing everything in complete retrospect. Somehow, this place seemed familiar, but she could not remember ever coming here before.

She then sat on one of the benches and stared at the platform in front of her. It seemed important. She then closed her eyes sleepily. She was drifting off somewhere pleasant. She could feel secure and happy for once. She was having a long-awaited pleasant dream. Her body was filled with warmth from a white flame. This flame she could touch and it gave her a new glow. And somehow under these circumstances, she felt purer. As if she was being born again. But when she opened them again, she was in the same place. There was an elderly woman sitting next to her praying. The old woman was silent. Taken aback she said, “I’m sorry miss. I didn’t see you there.” The old woman seemed to not hear her and kept praying. “Excuse me..?” She observed the silence and waited for the woman’s reply. The old woman’s body turned into a soft translucent blue and finally unfolded her hands and turned to her. “Oh, Kamilia, I haven’t seen you in a long time. Where have you been?” She was silent. How does she know my name? I have never seen her before...but somehow I think I can trust her...But before she could respond, just like the odd man from before, she disappeared into the background. She knew this was a very, very strange place, but somehow she felt at home. She looked around for the elderly woman, but she was nowhere and everywhere. Maybe...if I...

She ran out of there to find more; to see if there was anywhere else like that with real people. She ran for 15 minutes straight and stopped when she saw another town.

Except this one was different. It was somehow lit up and you could hear noise coming from it. She entered the city’s limits and saw people. But these were real…and they were all...smiling. It was very surreal. Unlike where she had been before, it wasn’t gray, bleak, and dusty. Kamilia’s short journey had turned into what seemed like a giant hallucination. She quietly crept into a street alley and sat in a corner. I really like it here. Maybe this is what I love. Happiness. I’d like to stay here perhaps. She closed her eyes and imagined a life here, in this town of happiness. It was like a nice break, but she wasn’t sure how long it’d last. She opened her eyes and it was dark. She looked up at the moonlit sky. A face smiled at her maliciously. It giggled and whispered in a child’s voice, “You’re all mine. And I’ll never stop. I love my dolls. They’re so sad, but it’s what gives me happiness.” And with that, a hand came plummeting towards her.