I found myself in the hills, and before me lay a precipice leading straight down to the sea; the colours in this world were strange—everything was in black and white, like in old films. Raindrops weren't falling from the sky, but were rising up from the sea.
"It's rare that you actually want to meet me," said a voice that was all too familiar, the voice I heard every single day. "Now that you've heard about Fairytale, do you want to try to reach that stage?"
I turned round and saw a girl whose physical features and appearance were exactly the same as mine. The only difference was her choice of colours—from her hair to her shoes, everything was black with no other colours to speak of.
"You're so frustrated at losing that girl, aren't you? So much so that I could almost possess you with ease," she chuckled, amused. Just like her appearance, her voice was almost identical to mine; the only difference was that hers was a little raspier, with a rough, gravelly edge. "What's so special about her, anyway? You're just her friend, not her girlfriend or anything."
"And what are you going to do now that you've met me here in Nowhere?" A sly smile spread clearly across her face; she rested her hands on her hips, her dark eyes still locked onto me.
"Echila," I called her name; my fists were already clenched tightly—I never thought I'd say this to her. "If you left my body right now, I'm sure I could become Fairytale without too much effort," I stated, and the smile of the girl—no, the creature in front of me—grew even wider.
"True, but what's in it for me?" She began to walk round me, the pair of horns on her head almost hidden because they were the same colour as her hair. "Are you cruel enough to sacrifice the life of one innocent human every month just for your own selfishness?"
She had already walked a perfect circle and her feet showed no sign of stopping any time soon. "Besides, you have the incredibly powerful Everafter, and even though you're still just a Fable now, you still have a chance of competing on a par with a Fairytale."
"But you can't—and why? Because you're still human." A black tail with a heart-shaped tip began to reveal itself. "If you surrender your body to me, I guarantee you'll realise your full potential."
"And let a demon control my body? I'd rather die." Hearing my reply, she gave a small laugh and showed no sign of tiring as she continued to circle me.
"Even though we'd enter into a pact?"
"Making a pact with a demon is tantamount to suicide—I've seen it with my own eyes."
"You are truly different from your mother; she so readily gave up the lives of her servants and even her own husband just for immortality—yet she still ended up dead!" She burst out laughing before her feet finally came to a halt just far enough in front of me. "Do you still remember the sensation of the flames slowly consuming you?"
"What a pity—I'm the sort who moves on easily." From her back, a pair of wings made of black flame grew, larger than both of us combined—she flapped them before soaring into the air, leaving me to watch her from the ground.
I couldn't draw my cards; this was a place that existed only in my mind—and the creature before me was the manifestation of the demon within me. Without warning, she swooped down and her hands immediately clamped tightly around my neck.
"Ngh—eck—bastard," I tried to make a sound, but the grip tightened; my legs tried to kick out at her chest, but to no avail.
"ALICE! ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?!" A familiar voice rang out from behind a cluster of dark clouds; the clouds slowly began to part, letting light shine through. "WAKE UP!"
The world seemed to tremble, and this seemed to annoy Echila. "Until we meet again, my lady," she said in a mocking tone before her grip on my neck loosened and, in an instant, my body plummeted hundreds of metres from the ground—I was like a meteor hurtling towards the earth.
My eyes were still fixed on her from below, and the sly smile that had reappeared on her face was still clearly visible even from a distance—the top of my head hit the ground and at that very moment I awoke, panting heavily.
I looked around me and realised I was in a simple room. "An unfamiliar ceiling," I muttered as I sat up; my hand immediately reached for my forehead—my head always ached whenever I woke up in that place.
"Are you all right?" A woman's voice made me jump in surprise; I turned my head to the side and saw a woman in a nightdress—her eyes betrayed obvious concern and panic. "You were talking to yourself and looked like you were being strangled."
As it dawned on me where I was, I let out a long sigh—I'd been momentarily confused because I usually woke up in my own room. "Mother, of course..." I finally remembered that I'd asked to sleep with her tonight.
Her hands immediately reached for mine and clasped them tightly. "What happened? You're all right, aren't you? Please tell me! I can't tell because my powers haven't returned yet," she replied, sweat beginning to pour down her face and her grip growing stronger, as though she didn't want to let me go.
I adjusted my sitting position so that I was facing her, leaning against the wall. I began to explain to Mother about a world called Nowhere and the demonic creature inside me—though I didn't go into too much detail about how it had got into my body.
"You have a demon named Echila inside you? Why have you never told me?" She didn't seem to fully believe what she'd just heard.
"Just as you didn't tell me that you could come back to life even after being killed," I retorted, and it made her start and fall silent for a moment; a long silence filled the room and I could see Mother looking confused as to how to respond—I'd said it deliberately just to see her reaction.
I turned my head slightly and peered at her through one eye. "It's not as if that's a bad thing," I added, and that immediately caught Mother's full attention.
For a moment she was silent before a smile spread across her face; suddenly she jumped up and hugged me tightly—if I were a balloon, I'd certainly have burst in a matter of seconds.
"Don't scare me like that!" She rubbed her cheek against mine; I wondered just how much vitality there was in her young body now—sometimes I still can't believe she's Mother.
Yet, thanks to her, I was able to wake up faster than I could by relying on an alarm that didn't immediately pull me out of that world.