Day: 3660

Days Left: 1820

Lives Saved: 20

At first, there was nothing but an endless darkness. Henry looked down at himself, seeing his arms and legs and the rest of his body still intact. Then he spotted a figure in the distance.

"Corinna!" he called out, running over, speeding up as it was indeed Corinna in her human form. "Corinna?' Henry's voice caught in his throat, slowly approaching his cousin.

The woman remained still and unresponsive, her face vacant as she stood lifelessly staring off into the distance, unblinking. At the very least, it was a good sign that she was standing, any visuals in a mindscape representing the state of mind; if she truly was gone, then she would be on the ground unconscious.

Henry dared to reach out, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder and closed his eyes, concentrating, searching through her mind for anything that would indicate that she wasn't wiped clean of memories.

And there it was. Corinna. All of her, not just the Corinna from The Eternal Abyss but the one from before. Henry opened his eyes to find that the once empty void of Corinna's mind was now filled with Corinnas, all of them different versions of her from the past. Henry stood by the original Corinna's side, not wanting to lose sight of the present timeline just in case as he watched other Corinnas dressed in different clothes walk on by listlessly without aim, all with vacant expressions. There were some as young as four, Corinna as a child, others were her in her celestial form and others in golden armour. Some Corinna's still had both of their hands, a couple only had the one. When a Corinna clone would intercept another's path, they would simply phase through each other like a ghost with no reaction.

This was completely different to any of the other victim's minds that Henry had entered. The very from victim had been wiped clean of anything, and the others were the same, but in here all of Corinna's memories were laid out in the open, brought to the surface no matter how small and insignificant, even the ones that were locked away by the memory curse that was placed upon every prisoner. Was this how The Grim Fairy worked? It would devour each memory individually when it came here? It could even dispel the memory curse and take the prisoner's life from before and not just of The Eternal Abyss. On the outside, it seemed like The Grim Fairy took everything in an instant but time worked differently in people's minds, an entirely strange and unknowable realm of mystery. Perhaps Lili's desperate theory was correct, that since Corinna had torn the door half off right as The Grim Fairy attacked her, she wasn't fully gone, but she was still fractured, no longer whole and in danger of losing all of her if they didn't do something to help her.

"Corinna..." Henry tried again, standing closer, looking into her eyes trying to gauge whether she could hear him, if he could get through to her. "Corinna, please come back. We're all waiting for you. Please don't go... I only just got to remember you again."

Corinna continued to be unresponsive.

"I-" Henry was about to begin but was interrupted as another Corinna phased through him, it felt like an electrical current passing through him and Henry's breath caught in his throat from the sensation. Images flashed before his eyes of Corinna playing rounders on a plane of desert, the lines of the field marked in the sand with stones. Corinna was one of the fielders, waiting for the batter, Rin, to swing at the ball that was being thrown by a goblin wearing the same woolly red hat that Kai always wore.

Henry thought he imagined it when he saw the present Corinna move, just a little flinch afterwards. He called out to her again, cupping her face with his hands, trying desperately to get her to look at him. Knowing not what else to do, Henry reached to another Corinna passing by and another memory played before him of Corinna as a nine year old sat on the garden porch overlooking the flowers of the Warren-Earl-Best family estate. Sat next to her was their great-grandfather Ernest Best, the two of them happily drinking lemonade on a hot summer's day. This time, Henry waited, watching intensely as he saw Corinna's eyes blink then return back to stillness.

Henry found another Corinna, who held the memories of a time when Corinna got a flat tire on her bike on the way to school, how panicked she was about getting late for the first time ever. Despite being prepared always carrying a puncture kit, the tire unfortunately had too many holes to be fixable.

Again, the real Corinna stirred ever so slightly, this time more of a blink, her hand twitching. This was it. To wake her up she had to be reminded of who she was. Henry approached every Corinna that came his way, spurring up memories from Corinna's childhood to her adult days imprisoned in The Eternal Abyss, from hiding birthday presents from her sister Bess, studying for her exams with Henry's help, to fixing up a fireplace in The Eternal Abyss. Henry halted when he came across a bad memory, one involving Corinna being attacked by a life-sized doll monster, almost choked to death by wire, but even that memory seemed to cause Corinna to regain consciousness. Every memory, no matter if it was happy or painful, small and insignificant or pivotal they were all Corinna, every moment of her life made her who she was and it would bring her back to Henry.

"Come on, Corinna!" Henry cried out, reaching for another memory and then another. "Remember! Remember who you are! You are Corinna Warren! You're a survivor! And so stubborn and steadfast! You volunteered and risked your life to save your family! To be imprisoned in The Eternal Abyss not knowing how long you would survive for! You tried to make everyone safe and happy! You provided shelter and care in a world designed for people to fight one another! You built a city, an actual bloody city in The Eternal Abyss! Yes, it came with hardships, it came with making difficult decisions but you took it on, took on the burden of so much without asking for anything in return. You wanted to make the world a better place! You can't give up now! Not after surviving for so long, after accomplishing so much! The Corinna I now would never give up because there is always something left to do! You are never finished with anything! Which can be really annoying, you never let yourself rest so don't start now!"

Corinna's eyes blinked again, her arms flinching, mouth opening and closing as if drawing sudden breath.

"Come on, Corinna! Come back! Please!" Henry made another desperate cry out again. "You can do it! You can-" Henry froze, feeling the ground beneath, the endless void shake and move followed by a distant growl. Henry rushed to the original Corinna's side, glancing around as a stiff coldness enveloped the area, a cold mist swept in from no origin into the endless void, billowing around everyone's ankles. A part of the mist clustered together compactly then spiralled upwards, growing larger and larger, thicker and dark as it turned into The Grim Fairy, the black furred dog easily the size of a two-story building. This monster was what had been lurking around Corinna, unseen even by her, waiting until that protection spell was broken, when she could have nightmares again and Henry had foolishly woken it, believing to have saved Corinna in doing so. He could have saved her with a different method, anything, maybe he could have even let her go and attempt to escape, to watch her fail, or even succeed. Perhaps her having succeeded would have been better than this, to lose her and a stranger take over her body.

One of The Grim Fairy's front paws stepped forward, the sheer force of the threat creating a wave of the mist lashing out at Henry and Corinna. It turned its head to one side, a slobber of drool dripping down its jaw, before it raised a paw and lashed out at one of the passing Corinna's, one whose dungarees and purple top was covered in mud from making bricks. The Corinna dropped the ground in an instant, with no noise or fanfare, limbs limp like a puppet whose strings had been cut before it then faded from existence. Henry winced, as the memory played out of Corinna and Harmony sitting against a wooden house eating tuna and sweetcorn sandwiches, taking a break from fixing up the fireplace. And then that memory was gone. Henry tried searching for it and found nothing, only the pieces that had once connected to it which had a chasm in-between.

"Corinna!" Henry stood firmly by the original Corinna's side. "Corinna you need to fight back! Whatever you did, you managed to weaken the thing! You broke half your door when it took you and now The Grim Fairy is stuck here! You need to fight or it'll take all your memories! You have a chance to save yourself! Please, Corinna!"

Henry reached out his hand, trying to conjure something to ensnare and trap the monster, chains, ropes, cages, spears, and blades but everything that he conjured in the mindscape was frail and brittle, some shattering upon impact with The Grim Fairy, others falling into grains of sand before being able to strike and disappearing into nothing. "Corinna! You have to be the one to fight! It's your mind! Your mind that is at stake here! You need to fight!"

Corinna was still unresponsive, her arms occasionally jolting as if about to wake but then returned to stillness, her eyes blinking, lips slightly parting. Henry wondered if The Grim Fairy could take memories like that so easily, just with the slightest physical contact, what would happen to him whilst in here if he stayed? All of Corinna's memories were separated and divided but he was all as one person here. Could he be harmed in here? With one strike would he lose all of his memories? The Grim Fairy hungered for those in pain and suffering and if Henry was not a target before he certainly was now with all his guilt for breaking that protection spell.

The Grim Fairy made another swipe with its paw and struck a nearby Corinna, devouring the memory of Corinna receiving her first exam marks back, how she screamed in joy and startled the other students in the room. Another lash of claws and the memory of Corinna baking the birthday cake for her grandmother Marjolaine alongside her younger nieces and nephews who couldn't help but sneak tastes of the chocolate mixture and scooping the icing directly out of the bowl, leaving nothing left for the cake itself.

"Corinna..." Henry spoke gently, returning to Corinna's side. His hand slowly reached out and held onto her arm and stood in front of her, looking at the blank expression on her face. "I'm sorry, it's all my fault. I shouldn't have broken that protection spell, I should have found another way to stop you. I was trying to protect you, but now it has just led me to losing you again, I've only just remembered you, just found you again and I..." Henry swallowed then put on a brave smile. He continued to hold onto Corinna's arm then moved and stood next to her shoulder to shoulder. "And I said I would stay with you no matter what, I promised. I'm not going to leave."

The Grim Fairy let out a resounding growl of approval as it devoured another memory of Corinna and her mother arguing as Corinna wanted to go to a university in another city instead of close to the family estate.

"I will fight alongside you," said Henry, his throat closing up, fighting through his own fear. "And I'm not the only one. Lili is fighting for you too, and all our friends. Stay strong..." The last word fumbled on Henry's lips as he made another attempt to subdue The Grim Fairy but all of his conjurations broke and shattered, proving unsuccessful.

And then out of the corner of his eye, Henry saw Corinna's right arm move, raising it, pointing to The Grim Fairy. All of the Corinna's stopped in unison, no longer rambling in random paths.

"Corinna?" Henry breathed.

All of the Corinnas began to act, retreating away from The Grim Fairy and forming a defensive line in front of Henry and Corinna.

The real Corinna raised her head, life returning to her eyes. She turned to Henry with a wavering smile, her eyes softening. 'Thank you,' she mouthed. 'For everything.'

"Corinna?" Henry's voice broke.

Corinna smiled, turning fully to him. "You're not safe here," her voice echoed across the endless void as her lips moved.

"I'm not leaving you."

"I know." Corinna's lips bit down on her bottom lip, her smile wavering, her eyes watering. "Don't worry, I have this now." A golden knight nearby lunged forwards and impaled Henry with her spear through is chest. Henry gasped feeling the pain and shock, fighting through it, knowing none of it was real.

"Corinna..." He spluttered, a gag of sand coughing out of his mouth, grains streaming down from the wound. His vision grew fainter, the nightmare fading out and he caught a glimpse of the army of Corinna's conjuring up their own weapons and monsters to battle The Grim Fairy. His body fell and collapsed into a pile of sand, deconstructing before he blacked out and startled awake in the real world. 

Henry panted, struggling to breath as he clutched his chest from the golden knight had stabbed him, trying to tell his brain that it was just a nightmare and not real.

Lili and Sumit rushed to his side, supporting him from collapsing to the ground.

"Henry!" Sumit panicked. "What happened! Are you okay!"

Henry swallowed and nodded, controlling his breathing into calmness. His heart fell as he saw that Corinna was still unconscious in Alfreda's arms. "She's still there," he said quietly.

Lili bit down on her bottom lip, not knowing yet whether to cry or smile. "She is?' her voice croaked.

"The Grim Fairy is in there though," said Henry. "It seems that its stuck there, but weakened. Probably because Corinna managed to take off half of the door before it took her."

"It's still there? Then what will happen to Corinna?"

"She's currently fighting it. I don't know if she can defeat it or at best she can delay it." Henry hesitated, staring back down at the unconscious body, noticing that some of the stars of the celestial had returned. "Let us hope she can fend it off long enough to wake up."

Apologies for the late update; work has been busy. Thank you for reading!