Chapter 323 - We Must Kill Sleeping Beauty (5)

I was inside a cold office building. I placed my hands against the glass walls that overlooked the rest of the city. I couldn't believe I was walking up the cave, acting as stairs to the top floor. Someone had intentionally built this building over her cage. This person had to be very successful as the rent and property prices in this area were extremely high.

The office was spacious, showing this was the chairman's room. I could spot rusty pictures of sleeping beauty in between the ancient books when I pulled one out. It appeared the two of them grew up together. Both of them brilliantly smiled while eating cake when they were around seven. One picture showed how sleeping beauty pouted while receiving a bouquet of white lilies. However, his eyes were scratched out in all the pictures.

The name card on the desk was written as Jason Mercier in cursive. It couldn't be that the myth of sleeping beauty was true. He had the same name of her lover inside the story. Traces of that story were first found dating back from a thousand years ago. But it didn't make sense how the smell of paper bonded by glue was present in the futuristic second district. People switched to translucent screens years ago.

I watched the scenery outside the window for some more clues. But nothing seemed out of place like I could walk into this office today and there would be nothing different outside. There had to be clues what time it was inside this dream. I searched for the presence of clocks or a calendar but none of them were present.

"Is this the same time I know of?" I asked the room.

The room was silent, answering nothing. There were no notes to answer my question this time. Sleeping beauty told me that I knew who Jason was, but I had never heard or seen a part of even his full name before. I turned my back to this room as I tried to open the main doors to leave the building. However, the doorknobs wouldn't turn. Was there no way to leave this room unless I went back into the cave?

After failing to find another exit, I searched for the entrance of the cave. The walls glimmered as the signs of the cave wobbled behind another bookshelf. There was a small slit from where I had initially come from. I sighed as I walked to follow the same white ribbon leading the way back to her coffin. Time had stopped inside her cage as if she had never aged. I covered my ears when I heard the sound of high-pitched rings echoing inside the cave.

"There were many paths that you could have taken, each one taking you to a better future. It seems you have made the choices to lead you to one of the worst possible outcomes," a voice rang inside my head with them.

"Indeed, it would be too much when it wasn't purely your fault."

Where had I heard those words before? Why were the same words repeating over and over again inside my head? What did it have to do with the sleeping beauty inside her coffin? My mind went numb as I struggled to breathe. It hurts. My chest panged with pain like someone had shred it into pieces. I couldn't get up as my eyes felt it was burning. My ears were bleeding from all the noises. Someone was screaming for help.

I wanted to open my eyes again. The filter of red made everything turn into pink, all the white wildflowers were painted viciously crimson red. Her light blond hair turned into my original hair colour while her ballgown wasn't blue anymore. No more was the transparent glass cage. Tears of blood dripped down my cheeks.

I screamed as I panted for more air. The next time I blinked, I found myself on a familiar bed. I was in a hotel room with all the décor. I wiped the blood that came from my eyes. Some tissues were placed inside my ears as if they had actually bled. I wondered why whenever I was inside that cave, my physical body was gravely injured as a consequence.

I never had such vivid dreams before. I struggled to rise to sit down on the bed like all my inner organs had erupted. Beside my bed, were the machines that beep every few minutes. My hand was attached to a needle connecting to one of the machines. When I lifted up my dress, I found myself wrapped in multiple layers of bandages.

The room was empty as no one but me was inside. I could use this time to figure out the location inside my dreams. I grimaced while trying to open my marble. My throat was itchy and dry like I haven't drank water in weeks. It was tough moving my fingers that barely responded when I demanded them to move.

I needed to search for Jason Mercier, the owner of that building. His building had to be somewhere close to this hotel from the scenery below his office. My eyes brightened when I discovered there was a headquarters of the Mercier corporation that was around a ten-minute walk from here. Although, there was no mention of Jason Mercier, this was the place I had to go.