When Our Fate Becomes Game

Prologue- THE AWAKENING!

A woman gently shook Seraphina's shoulder.

"Seraphina... wake up, dear. It's time for school."

Seraphina's eyes fluttered open, heavy and slow. For a moment, she didn't know where she was. The ceiling was familiar — too familiar. The same crack in the plaster. The same faded yellow light from the window. The same suffocating feeling in her chest.

She blinked.

"Aunty... Diana?"

Her voice came out as a whisper, cracked and dry.

Aunty Diana smiled warmly. "Yes, dear. You fell asleep again. Come on, get ready. You don't want to be late for school."

She patted Seraphina's head gently, then turned and walked out of the room.

The door clicked shut.

Seraphina sat up slowly, her body heavy with exhaustion. She stared at her hands. They were trembling.

She closed her eyes.

"I died again..."

The words left her lips like a secret she couldn't keep anymore.

"I died... and I'm back."

She clenched her fists.

It wasn't a dream. It was never a dream.

The memories flooded back — fragments of the game, the freezing time, the shadows, the white-eyed girl who smiled with pity and whispered "Welcome to the Hell Game."

The fall.

The darkness.

The cold.

And then — nothing.

Until she woke up here again.

Same room. Same ceiling. Same fake reality.

She looked around the room, her eyes scanning every corner. The same books on the shelf. The same clothes on the chair. The same mirror on the wall — cracked, just like the one she fell through.

She traced the crack with her eyes.

"I've been stuck in this hell for half a year now," she whispered. "Six months of running, hiding, dying, and waking back up in this nightmare."

She counted on her fingers.

"First time I died from the curse — it caught me in the library."

A shudder ran through her.

"Second time, I fell from the roof trying to escape."

She swallowed.

"Third time..."

She couldn't finish.

It didn't matter.

They all led to the same place — back to this bed, back to Auntie Diana's voice calling her to wake up.

She took a shaky breath.

"This is my 7th restart."

The number felt heavier than it should. Seven chances. Seven deaths. Seven times she had hoped this would be the last.

But it never was.

She looked at the door.

"Is there really an escape door...?"

The question hung in the air like smoke — fragile and hopeless.

She didn't know the answer.

No one did.

But she had to find it.

She had to.

Because if she died one more time...

She wasn't sure she would wake up again.

She swung her legs off the bed and stood up slowly. Her legs felt weak, like she had run a thousand miles. Maybe she had. In the game, she ran. She always ran.

She walked to the window and looked outside.

The streets were quiet. Normal. Too normal.

People walked by, laughing. Birds sang. Life went on.

None of them knew.

None of them saw.

To them, she was just a girl going to school.

But Seraphina knew the truth.

She was a player in a cursed game.

And she had to survive.

No matter what.

She turned away from the window and whispered to herself.

"I'll find the truth this time. I'll fix the mirrors. I'll find the door."