Chapter 1: Am I Dreaming
19 years later
The wind rushes across her face as she races through the empty trees, trying to put some distance between her and the demon chasing her. Her hair wit and grey like the moon and her eyes blue as the sky.
"Raaaaaghhhh!" Demon Shadow
The face of the demon roar shakes the ground beneath her feet! She trips at the edge of a pool of water, catching a glimpse of her scratched and muddy face in the process…
"Come on, get up. Keep moving!" She motivates herself.
She digs her fingers into the soil, pushing herself towards the mirror she seeks desperately.
"Just a little further!" She tells herself
Suddenly the demon crashes through the trees just behind her.
"Rrrrrroooaaaaghhhhh!" Demon Shadow
She rolls onto her back as the demon growls towards her vulnerable body!
Out of all other options, she throws her hands up, and an energy bolts through her fingertips!
"Get away from me Demon" She yells
She bolts upright in her bed, grabbing her chest as her heart feels like it wants to jump out.
"That…that felt to real!" A girl with hot red hair and the same blue eyes said to herself.
Her phone buzzes on the nightstand, and she look over to see that it's almost six. She puts the alarm off.
"Now to get ready for that meeting with my mentor." She scrambles out of bed and heads to her closet to throw something one like her red long-sleeved shirt and long black pants.
Once she's dressed, she heads out the door, not noticing someone watching her from inside the mirror.
She walks into her mentor's office without a moment to spare and sits into the chair across from her mentor's desk
"Sorry to bother you this time in the morning"
"You're not bothering me, so that's quite alright, Ms.…" Ms. Lee pauses and rifles through some papers on her desk.
"Just Klara will be fine."
"Klara, right. Forgive me, I'm more used to dealing with more…Troubled students." Ms. Lee answered
She finds the right file and slides behind her desk. As she scans the pages, she frowns and looks up at Klara
"You're a perfect student. It's only couple of weeks into the year, but your grades and attendance are excellent" Ms. Lee says "So, I've got to ask, Klara. Why are you here?"
"It's hard to describe. I know I should be happy but I'm just…not" Klara looks at her right hand where a birth mark of the sun sits in the palm of her hand. She still wanders why she has this mark on her hand, her parents never really told her the truth, and, in a way, she could sense it. The laying and the hiding of something. "I try so hard but no matter what I do it al just feels like I'm waiting in a line or something and no one seems to move or call my name." She looks up to the mentor
"And…What is it exactly that you're waiting for?" Ms. Lee asks
"I guess I'm looking for a life of adventure"
"WHAT!" Ms. Lee asks in shock, mouth opened
"A life exploring new places, collecting ancient artifacts like that famous explorer Lara Croft who just vanished 19 years ago. I want to go on what she left behind to unlocking the secrets of this world and maybe other worlds if I'm lucky…. That's not too much to ask, is it?"
"These are certainly some…original desires, but I can't help you live in a world where the famous Lara Croft lived, hell that times I was still a young professor when she went missing, people think that her demons caught her in the end and other people say she went into hiding with a mystery man, but truth be told we will never know"
"Yeah…I know you can't I just wish I knew what I was looking for. Whatever it is…it's not this."
"I know you're at a crossroads right now. And one of the directions you could go would mean dropping out of UCL."
"It crossed my mind…" Klara sigh
"Please don't do it! When this phase you're in ends, you don't want to discover that you've given up your chance to get a degree in Human Resources, do you?"
"But…but what if you're wrong? What if it's not a phase?"
"Do me a favor go home and thing about it? Will you do that for me?
"Sure…I guess I can do that" Klara answers and stands up and leaves.
Klara stand in her room of her one-bedroom apartment and look at herself squarely in the mirror in front of her.
"I know you belong somewhere else. I know it, there's more to you then this life."
Suddenly the lights in the room flickers!
"What the hell…?"
Something catches her attention out of the corner of her eye… a glint in the mirror. She sees a girl who looks like her with wit hair
"Huh?" Klara gasps "That's…That looks like my face, but…"
She raises her hand to her face, but when her reflection doesn't move with her, she freeze.
"Am I…Am I dreaming again?"
She reaches for the mirror and touching the mirror it starts to grip her hand
"Whoa!"
She tries to pull back, but her hand won't come free! Her palm starts to sink into the glass, then her forearm, and before she knew it…
"Wait, wait, please wa-" She screams her whole body is sucked through!