Cecile jolted awake from unconsciousness. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in a prison built from grayish-white stone blocks.
"Big Sister!"
A voice sounded beside Cecile's ear. She turned her head and saw her lost younger brother, Lissen.
"Lissen! Are you okay?" Cecile wanted to rush over and check her brother for injuries, but she found that her hands had already been restrained by shackles.
"Big Sister, this is the world inside a dream," Lissen said.
"The world inside a dream?"
Cecile recalled the last moment in her memories: she had ridden into a city shrouded in gray mist, and after entering it, her consciousness had gradually faded away.
Until she woke up now.
"What kind of dream is this?" Cecile had experienced this once before, so she calmed down and observed her surroundings.
Through the window of this strange prison, Cecile could see an underground world covered in lava. Yet gray crystals had formed across the solidified layers of volcanic rock.
What chilled Cecile most was... the magma bubbles rising from the lava looked like human faces.
Cecile examined the prison's interior again. The sight around her was even more terrifying: dismembered limbs were piled everywhere, while a large group of unconscious people lay inside the prison.
Judging by their clothing, Cecile was certain that they were residents of Nicaton City.
"What happened to them?"
The only people awake in the entire prison were Cecile and Lissen.
"I don't know, but every so often, a Masked Man comes and drags someone away," Lissen said, his voice trembling slightly.
"A mask?"
The moment Cecile asked that question, a pitch-black figure appeared at the prison entrance. The instant she saw it, her throat tightened.
The eerie figure glanced around the prison, then opened the door and dragged an