Chapter 13.1

Stephanie opened her eyes and widened when she saw herself walking through the carpeted floors. She took in her surroundings and noted the spacious hallway decorated in a vintage motif. She thought she was at

Titan's place because even the red carpets had gold-printed vintage themes on the sides.
'Sir Titan?" she uttered as she continued walking through the end until she reached the big, white door. 'Sir Titan, where are you?" she asked again louder than before. Yet, she didn't hear any word from Titan in response.

Despite her inhibitions, she gulped as she reached her hand to the doorknob. As soon as she turned it to open and see what was on the other side, she was suddenly sucked in.

She screamed as she turned upside down and dropped to her knees with her hands placed on the hard, dark surface. She appeared to be floating in a pitch-black void.

Grunting, she pulled herself up and watched above and saw nothing but endless darkness, an abyss.

'What's this place?" she whispered to herself, feeling her chest throbbing so loud and fast enough to choke her. She gulped and pressed her hand on her chest as she stood. 'Sir Titan?" she called over and over again.

But then again, there was no answer.

After she called Titan's name for the last time, she flinched when she heard a loud voice from an old man who she had never known or met before. 'The land… the land… the land!"

'Who are you?" she asked while her face was up, looking around, hoping she could find a clue about where she was. 'I don't know who you are. Tell me, who are you?"

But there was still no clear response.

Instead, the old man's voice continued, 'The land, the land, the land!" Along with the other members of the choir who were all yelling and playing unappealing percussion instruments, he was screaming loudly and frantically. It was mayhem. Pure and simple.

They sounded like desperate screams and cries, which made Stephanie feel more anxious and worried about her safety. Where the hell was she?

'Who the hell are you? I don't know you, old man! Why did you bring me here?" she sputtered while taking a few steps. When she looked down, Stephanie saw no flooring, seemingly floating in the abyss.

Despite her demands, the old man seemed to ignore her inquiries and continued screaming the same words over and over again.

'What about the land? Whose land? I don't know what you're talking about, old man!" she screamed while she was covering her ears from the loud noise. Again, there was no reply.

She kept on moving on, marching endlessly into the darkness until she felt hopeless because she had no idea where she was. She screamed for rescue and shouted Titan's name in the vain hope that he would hear her.

When she started to cry, the old guy started to open a magical door that didn't look like a door at all, but rather an enormous, seemingly invisible frame that unfolded in front of her.

Even though she didn't want to get in, somebody, perhaps the old man's ghost, pushed her from the back, forcing her to enter the opened 'door."

When Stephanie entered, all she could see was another unending void. She laughed softly and mocked at the absurdity of her predicament. But suddenly, she caught sight of a massive screen that resembled those found in movie theaters.

She remained in front of it while she observed the various frames of footage being played on the reels. A little while later, they switched to a quicker speed, which let the series of images play like a movie with moving things on the screen.

Stephanie heard the antique projector making subtle noises reminiscent of earlier times as they continued reeling each frame at such a rapid pace.

'What's this?" she asked in an attempt to understand what was going on. Yet, the old man didn't respond and continued reeling the images instead.

She gave up and watched the display as the old gentleman continued to play a sequence of pictures that began with an old tree in the middle of big rice farmland.

Stephanie guessed that it was following the farmers' completion of the rice field harvest. Other than the nearby tree, there were no other trees nor tall grasses around.

She became aware that the tree wasn't just another one as she proceeded to observe what the elderly man was attempting to show her. And she grew accustomed to the location where it stood.

She began to feel the heat as she continued to stare at the screen, as though it was radiating the heat of the midday sun.

Stephanie raised her arm in curiosity and made an attempt to touch the screen. When she realized her hand could fit through it and felt the heat from the sun all around her hand, she squirmed. She pulled her hand back and clenched it.

She mustered the confidence to enter the screen as she sighed and closed her eyes. And when she did, she discovered that she was in the center of the rice field, standing in front of the tree.

She didn't know what it was at first, but as she got closer to it, she discovered that it was the location where her grandfather took his life some four decades earlier. She trembled and her jaw fell.

Her grandfather gave her a series of pictures that highlighted the minute features of the branches and leaves just as her legs were ready to tremble from the shock of the revelation. It appeared as though somebody was filming the tree from the roots up.

On her arms, she felt the branches and leaves. Her arms were lifted to protect herself from being assaulted as she winced. Small twigs and leaves flicked on her skin, causing her to scream in agony.

When it was done, she found herself standing in front of the same tree again. This time, she was panting. Her eyebrows knitted, wondering about a lot of things.

'Why are you showing me this, grandpa?" she whispered while she was slowly tearing up. She gulped and pulled her face up to see the bright sun smiling at her, beaming its powerful heat that pinched her skin.