I awoke in my bed. It had all just been a bad dream. A shockingly vivid one, but all just a dream nonetheless.

It was a bright Fall morning, not too hot, not too cool. I walked down the stairs, saw my parents making breakfast in the kitchen. My sister was sitting in the dining room just across from them, my Aunt was there too, coming over for a visit. I sat down with them. A few moments later we ate scrambled eggs and bantered. For some reason, I don’t remember what we said.

Afterward I ran back upstairs, got dressed and grabbed my backpack, and then ran back down the stairs racing my sister. Of course, my parents wouldn’t let us leave without mushy goodbye hugs. Aunt Catherine refused such sappiness but sent us off in her own way.

After escaping me and my sister met up with Laura and Hayden. The school wasn’t terribly far away, in perfect walking distance. Brown and reddish leaves fell from the trees. It was all so perfect.

Until the moment was interrupted by the person who just pummeled into me, knocking me to the ground. It took me a moment to get my bearings, but soon she came into focus, the green haired woman…

Thalia

Wait what? She wasn’t even real?

What the heck was going on?

She stood up, rubbing her head from where she ran straight into me. “Jeez kid. Wake up and watch where you’re going already.”

Then she continued running as she had before, from my left to my right. I looked where she was going. Towards an abandoned old building, a large house that looked both Medieval and Modern. It had turrets like a castle, a dome roof with a cross atop it, statues of knights in the yard, even a moat, yet the rest was decidedly modern.

Just who was she? Where was she going? I couldn’t shake the feeling that I knew her, that everything around me was a fabrication, that I would never truly know who I was unless I followed her.

Wait what? Was I losing my mind?

I had two choices. Follow her and find out what it all meant, and potentially have my perfect world shattered, or keep going to school, live a normal life, and never know, have it drive me mad forever.

In truth there was only one option. Even if I regretted following my curiosity, I knew I’d regret not following more.

Kish, Hayden, and Laura called out as I ran but I didn’t care. I had to know the truth. I crossed the bridge over the moat, felt the gaze of the stone knights as I walked through the plain, wood, modern door.

I stepped into the massive hallway, two sets of stairs led up to a second floor. Both floors had nine rooms each, symmetrically aligned. The room was empty, no sign of her. I walked up the stairs, one particular door called to me. It was the top center one. It looked like the others, but for some reason my instinct just pointed me to this one. It felt right.

I turned the nob, and walked in.

Now I was in some kind of Greek odeon, or at least that’s what it looked like. The door behind me disappeared and now I was standing in the center. For some reason it was night now, but the sky was almost a bright blue and the moon was brighter than I had ever seen it.

“Confused?” A voice appeared from behind me. I turned around, a silhouette appeared, barely visible, almost a grayish color.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“That’s not important.” It said back. “You should be asking yourself that instead.” It then lifted its finger to point at something behind me. I turn around.

It’s a girl, but it’s me. She has almost the exact same face as me. Like looking at a mirror, only slightly off.

“This is who you were, your Other.” The figure said. “Her name is San. She is both you and not you.”

“And who am I?”

“That’s for you to find out. I can’t just spell it out.” It says. “Just… keep an eye on things, don’t do anything stupid, just observe, take in information, and once you’ve figured it all out well… you’ll know what to do. Don’t worry about all that though, just relax, figure this whole Seraph thing out.”

“Wait!” The figure evaporated in front of me. I turned around, San lingered for a second, smiling at me, before evaporating as well.

Now the world was shaking. Marble started crumbling from the theater. I collapsed to my knees. I heard another voice, more familiar, a frantic voice, shouting “Wake up! Where are you?”

It was Thalia’s voice.