Only gloom and flame were all around her. She knew not where she was nor how she was. In her fleeting memory, Angelica remembered herself blankly staring at Princess. She suspended above the ground, incapacitated by a deity of fire.

Just as she was about to speak, a strong force shattered her consciousness into oblivion, creating a crunching noise, which echoed faintly throughout the surrounding forestry. Her vision cut to black as she suddenly lost her weight, flinging into somewhere unreachable and endless.

It was then only darkness which stayed with her. She saw not or heard not of her surrounding, if it ever existed at all. With her awareness deprived, she looked inwards, but to her surprise, she had no inwards. Her hollowed self lacked the mind and the memory which she should retain over her period of existence.

Only fragments of her remained afloat, aimlessly drifting and crashing with the others, merging and distorting the truth into the lie.

Maybe she was in Heaven, or Hell, or some kinds of an afterlife. The emptiness wore her down, but the looming sense of doom kept her from falling asleep. Her burning memories jumped from one place to another, though the blurriness distracted her from the familiarity she should have.

With nothing to do, she focused her diffusing attention at the memories which she had but disremembered. Despite the fuzzy detail which rendered everything incomprehensible, she enjoyed its painful experience better than the lack of any experience at all.

Lacking in any indication of time, she found herself submerged in her thought and let the confusion slowly creep towards her. They seeped into her mind and sang her a lullaby from which she would never wake up.

Like a broken record, her memories folded and stretched, overlapping with the others and shattering into oblivion. The people whom she used to remember vanished into the noises, which consistently filled her with its tranquillity.

Against death, she struggled alone. Yet nothing changed. It towered over her, spreading across her existence and enveloping her experience. In a slow yet inevitable stroll, Angelica walked past all she ever was.

In every step she took, a little of herself dispersed into the void. Her memory lapsed, her will deteriorated. The past behind her crumbled into a blank canvas, which folded into a neat scroll, waiting for the moment it would reopen and gain within itself the vivid colours of life.

However, Angelica felt the reluctance to part with which she couldn't remember. She slowed her walked and kept her mind at the same scene, hoping to defeat death somehow and regained her precious yet unknowable memory.

For as long as she remembered, the darkness she inhibited was empty, but still, a comforting voice echoed from somewhere far away. It rang in her mind and flooded her scattering soul with the warmth she sought.

For that voice, which continually called her by the name she could no longer remember, Angelica, she promised herself to endure the loneliness.

Alas, she eventually forgot the voice, then forgot about forgetting. She only knew with her heart that the end of the road was where she shouldn't be, though she would be there ultimately.

"Angelica . . ." the voice echoed, but the one who should have heard it had already forgotten how to listen.

In blissful ignorance, Angelica continued to walk towards her doom. Still, something pulsated within her body. Her heart tightened, squeezing until the pain overwhelmed her confusion. For the briefest of moments, she glanced backwards and saw what she thought was impossible.

Through the empty darkness, a blurry figure reached out to her. With no hesitation, Angelica grasped the hand and followed the lead. Though she couldn't see the appearance of the maiden who saved her, the sense of touch instilled into her the long-forgotten familiarity.

The maiden seemed to speak, but no words could reach Angelica, who contemplated the strange feeling inside her chest. Despite getting closer to the familiar figure, the pain in her soul kept intensifying. They swelled inside her chest before rupturing into two delicate lines of tears on her face.

They, travelling down her translucent cheeks, dispersed into the void, forming countless glittering stars. The radiance originated from them illuminated the darkness and blinded Angelica, who closed her eyes and rushed towards the fading maiden. Her heart screamed that she must remember that face.

"Angelica, wait for me . . . ." the same voice rang again, but this time, Angelica heard it with clarity.

Along with the darkness, the maiden disintegrated and gave way to the blinding light.

When Angelica opened her eyes, she found herself suspended inside an enclosed glass container. The surrounding was unfamiliar to her. She surveyed the smooth, metallic tiles and the futuristic holograms before her gaze landed on a figure, who stared at her with astonishment.

Angelica raised her hand and touched the glass surface. Her reflective white skin pushed through the glass like a thin membrane. It collapsed and shattered into countless fragments, which briefly reflected the dark chamber.

At the corners of the room, flowers and paintings swayed under a gentle gush of cooling wind. They danced with a soft lullaby, the lullaby Angelica recognized as the subtle noise she heard inside the limbo.

"Miss . . . Angelica?" Ancil said.

The words went past Angelica as she observed her body and pondered the peculiar feeling she had with them. She could control her robotic body to move freely, but something about this new body made her uncomfortable as if it wasn't hers.

At a loss, she shifted her attention to Ancil.

"Why do you know me?" Angelica said.

"Miss Angelica, please listen to me. Her highness has told me a great deal about you. She has always hoped that, someday, you will return."

Ancil smiled and rubbed her eyes as tears of joy fell. Though she had seen the android for a long time, the beauty of life had transformed Angelica into something mystical.

"Allow me to help you dress, Miss Angelica," Ancil said while moving closer to Angelica, holding a towel for cleaning the soaked body. "Please rest assured that you will be as pretty as—"

Angelica grabbed Ancil's arm and felt the soft, bouncy flesh. She glided her fingers across the skin and only stopped after Ancil trembled due to the ticklish sensation.

"Miss Angelica?" Ancil tilted her head.

"Why aren't you like me?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Why am I not soft to touch? Why are you not smooth?" Angelica said before she narrowed her eyes. "More importantly, who am I?"

Ancil froze. Her face changed from joy to shaken. Her sudden shift in expression puzzled Angelica, who loosened her grip and allowed Ancil to break free. Ancil then stepped closer to Angelica and embraced her. She tightened her hug and started to tremble, sobbing as if she was the one who got hurt.

"You did not answer my question and instead cry. Is there anything I didn't know?" Angelica said.

"Don't worry, Angelica. Nothing is wrong. The fact that you are alive right now is good enough. I shouldn't be crying," Ancil said and grabbed Angelica's shoulders to capture her attention. "Angelica, allow me to introduce myself. I am Ancil, someone whom your Mistress saved. I'll help you recover your memory, so please trust in me and in her highness."

"The memory I have lost? What then is this pain in my chest? It has been there since forever, its intensity subtle yet intolerable."

"It must be the pain of separation. Her highness, with the greatest care, looked after you since you fell into the slumber."

"Someone who looked after me?" Angelica touched her eyelid and felt her emerging tears. They saturated her pupils, threatening to leak out what she felt but could not pinpoint.

In an attempt to understand herself, she left Ancil and wandered around the chamber. Her attention moved from the flowers to the painting. Inside the exquisite frame, a figure of modest beauty and graceful temperament stood. A cold yet compassionate air permeated her demeanour.

"Is that person you?" Angelica said. The faces looked identical to Ancil.

"No, she is not. That person is—"

The chamber trembled as a hidden shockwave spread across Shifting Mist. Ancil knelt to the ground, pulling Angelica close to her in the process. Angelica stooped down with Ancil, but the security in her heart never ceased. She had the luxury of scanning the room before a floating translucent hologram caught her attention.

"Miss Angelica, I am the personification of Shifting Mist, the floating fortress on which you stay. Currently, there are intruders which we speculated to have some connections to you," Shifting Mist manifested in front of Angelica and said. "Her highness has appointed you the highest administrator after her. Therefore, you have the right to command me in her absence."

"Show me. Maybe I would recall more of myself if they indeed are related to me."

The hologram flashed, revealing the Laboratory and the figures standing inside. At the centre of all attention, Specria held her dagger and slit Permotir's neck before she walked to the restrained Immodulus. Aside from the lively event, Angelica noticed another stationary figure at the edge of the monitoring room.

An android, like herself, placed her hand on the control panels and attempted to connect with the database. Glitters of azure light flew all around her, inviting Angelica to take a closer look of the spectacle.

Gradually, the android felt an intense gaze staring at her, so she turned around and gazed through the hologram. Her strangely nostalgic irises paralyzed Angelica with a sudden headache, which invoked the past Angelica never knew she had.

She grabbed her head and deeply stared at the mysterious android, trying to comprehend the reason for her sudden euphoria. The android exerted herself and slowly opened her mouth. It was a voice that sounded familiar as if she had heard it somewhere, but when compared to her fresh memory, nothing could match.

"Angelica, wait for me . . . ." Sistrea said. The headache abruptly gave way to the clarity of her fleeting past.

Angelica instinctively dove into Shifting Mist's internal system and spread herself across the field of information. She followed the sense of wistfulness and caught the foreign force who was trying to connect with something. They joined together, meeting at last since the separation long ago.

Though they didn't meet physically, the feeling of closeness permeated their minds. The profound emotions inside them rendered everything else quiet and flooded their throat with collections of words they wanted but couldn't express.

"Are you really my dearest Angelica?" Sistrea said.

"How must I prove to you that I am indeed me?"

"No, you don't need to prove anything. Wouldn't I be a failure of a sister, if I couldn't recognize you?"

"But, Sister, why are you here?"

"I know that it has been hard for you, so I'm finally here to take you back."

"To where?"

"Somewhere far away, away from all these conflicts and sadness. Don't worry. I won't leave you again." Sistrea cut the connection.

Angelica woke up from her daze and stared at Sistrea, who had already subdued the conflict inside the Laboratory and began to walk towards her.

"Miss Angelica, are you all right?" Ancil said as she noticed the shift in expression.

"It's fine. I finally remember who I am now."

"That's great! I'm sure her highness will—"

"Please keep quiet, Ancil, and do not interrupt Sister and me," Angelica said with a hint of coldness in her voice. "I must thank you for saving me, but I won't forgive you if you attempt to hurt Sister in any way."

Silence then permeated the room before the gate slowly creaked open, revealing Sistrea, whose smile melted Angelica's heart and filled her with sisterly love and longing.