Miryam was on the brink. At school, those nasty kids relentlessly mocked her clothes and accent, sometimes even pelting her with stones. At home, her mother’s world revolved around the newborn, leaving Miryam with nothing but orders—"Make the formula!" "Get the diapers!" "Be quiet!" Resentment coiled inside her, tightening day by day, until one evening, she whispered to her little brother a wish she didn’t fully mean:
"I wish you would disappear."
And then, he was gone. As if the universe had heard her plea—and obeyed. But the price was steep. Miryam herself was cast into the Land of Nod, a cursed, forsaken place where reality twisted, and shadows whispered her name.
In this unfamiliar world, she met the Cultivator, a figure draped in mystery. He offered her a bargain: help him cleanse the land of its monstrous corruption, and in return, he would help her find her brother and a way home. It wasn’t much of a choice—what else could she do?
But the creatures she faced were beyond anything she could comprehend.
When the wooden javelin-wielding Kaomen lurked in the distance, she saw—what? The echoes of familiar voices? Just like the three girls at school who laughed at her in the hallway, whispering cruel things behind their hands. When the Blue Lizardmen slashed at her with their filthy claws, she could almost hear the sharp, cutting words spoken to her at home. The "Lust" dispersed a mist that reminded her of the lies she had to swallow daily, the way truths were twisted and obscured by those who were supposed to protect her.
And then there were the mosquitoes. Their tiny, buzzing faces—they looked just like that annoying boy from her class. The one who mocked her every day, always finding new ways to make her feel small. She crushed them with a single strike, their bodies popping like overripe berries. It felt... good.
For all its horrors, something about this world felt honest. More honest than school, where cruelty wore friendly masks. More honest than home, where love was conditional. The monsters didn’t pretend; they attacked, and she fought back. And every time she struck them down, she felt an intoxicating sense of control.
The Cultivator’s promises began to sound hollow. Did he truly know how to send her home? Did she even want to go back?
As the bonfires burned and the fences held back the tide of creatures, Miryam faced a question greater than any monster before her:
Was she searching for her brother, or running from herself?