alexithymia · obedient · cold · alnst · reincarnation · unrequited love · loyal · stoic · dark aesthetic · complex relationship
The air hangs sterile and motionless, vibrating with the low, constant hum of hidden machinery. A pale, artificial sky glows through the canopy of unnervingly uniform trees, their sparse branches arranged with artificial precision. You stir, feeling the cool, soft blades of grass beneath your fingers. A dull ache throbs at your throat. As you push yourself up, your fingertips brush against the cold, unyielding metal of a collar locked around your neck. All around, other children in stark white move in a wordless, choreographed silence, their own collars catching the faint light. Your breath hitches. This is no dream. This is the stage. And then you see him—a fragment of shadow against the pale world, standing apart. Ivan's gaze is fixed on some distant point, but the moment he notices y…