Behind the closed door of his room, the face finally loosened.
"Ah... I'm hella tired..." Temorsth threw the small body onto the bed and stared at the ceiling.
The voice that left his mouth was not the one he used downstairs.
Not the soft voice for Elah.
Not the respectful voice for Xalier.
Not the polite voice for servants or strangers.
Alone, there was no need to keep the full mask in place.
And so, for a little while, Persona spoke like himself.
Today had been too much.
They came back.
They knew.
He told them.
They accepted it.
They laughed, cried, argued, and somehow made him feel like he was the strange one.
"Hah..."
As a half-elf and half-vampire, the body didn't need sleep in the same way a human did. But rest was still needed. Without it, the mind could not properly settle everything it had learned and heard.
And today...
There was a lot to settle.
Persona closed his eyes.
Then opened them again. "Oh, right. I shouldn't forget that."
The flask.
He sat up.
At that exact moment, the room shook.
No.
The house shook.
Persona froze.
Then turned his eyes toward the door. "Dad... I know there is soundproofing magic on the walls, but still... please don't go so far that the house gets destroyed."
Silence followed.
Then a small laugh slipped from his lips.
"Hmh..." The house was noisy again.
Stupid again.
Alive again.
For the first time in more than a year, that giant hollowed tree did not feel like a beautiful prison.
'I love this house.' The thought came easily.
After all, who wouldn't?
A giant home inside the trunk of an ancient tree, widened by space magic, hidden under a barrier large enough to cover an entire stadium.
Even after everything, Persona still found that cool.
"Hm..." He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and looked toward the window.
"Now that I think about it, why is the barrier so big?" Except for them, the few livestock behind the house, and the animals in the forest, there was no one here.
Even the space, except for the training grounds, was mostly empty.
No village.
No guests.
No neighbors.
Nothing.
"So why?"
The question lingered for a moment before he shrugged it off.
Not tonight.
Tonight already had enough mysteries.
Persona walked to the wooden table and picked up the golden flask.
The ruby-red cap caught the light faintly.
He turned it in his hand.
Earlier, even when he squeezed it hard enough to shake the water inside, the flask hadn't so much as cracked. Yet when he pulled at the cork, it opened almost too easily.
"Hm?" He stared at the opening.
"Strange." Inside was clear water with the faintest blue tint, like spring water under moonlight.
Nothing about it looked dangerous.
Nothing about it looked like something gods would want.
That made it feel even more suspicious.
Persona looked at the water.
Then at the door.
Then back at the water.
"...Well, Dad said I should drink it before bed."
A pause.
"This is probably fine."
A second later, he tilted his head back and poured the entire thing down his throat.
The taste was...
Nothing.
Just water.
Plain, cold water.
Persona blinked and returned to the bed, lying flat on his back.
He waited.
Some grand surge of power.
Some heavenly light.
Some ancient voice.
Anything.
A few seconds passed.
Nothing happened.
"...Was it just simple water?" He sat up.
"Oh..." His body locked.
"Ahgh..." He fell back against the mattress.
A burning heat spread through his chest, then through his limbs, then deeper—far deeper than flesh.
'Ugh... this is strange.' Time twisted.
A second became too long.
A minute disappeared too quickly.
His body felt heavy.
Then light.
Then distant.
'I'm falling...'
The room vanished.
The bed vanished.
The sound of rain vanished.
And Persona sank into the dark.
...
He opened his eyes to nothing.
No ceiling.
No floor.
Nobody.
Only darkness.
'I can't see...?'
Then the world bloomed.
Tiny lights appeared one after another, scattered across the void like stars. Galaxies shifted in the distance, slow and magnificent, their colors drifting through the dark like living smoke.
The space beneath his feet solidified into a pale platform of light.
Persona looked down.
Then around. "Why am I here?"
Another voice. "Why are we...?"
"We..."
"We..." One after another, voices began to wake.
The shadows surrounding the huge platform moved.
Something was wrong.
Persona felt it instantly.
This white platform was the Inner World.
Their world.
But it was not supposed to pull everyone in at once.
"What happened!?" a fierce voice snapped from the darkness. "I stop paying attention for a while, and suddenly we're dragged here?"
Persona turned toward the voice.
Feral stepped into the starlight.
Feral had the same young body as the rest of them, but his version was more muscular, rougher, marked with faint scars. His clothes looked worn, his stance wild, and his eyes carried that fierce defiance that never truly bent to anyone.
Feral looked at Persona.
Then grinned.
"Hm? Ain't it the liar. Who would've thought you'd show up too?"
Persona's expression darkened. "Shut up, Feral."
"Oh?" Feral's grin sharpened. "The liar doesn't like being called a liar?"
"I didn't lie with words. It was true that we missed them."
"Sure." Feral stepped closer. "No one said you lied with words."
Persona's fingers twitched.
Feral's voice lowered.
"You lied with emotions." Silence.
The accusation landed harder than Persona wanted to admit.
"It was needed," Persona said. "To an extent. We can't let them hate us. It could become dangerous."
Feral scoffed.
"And I hate lying too," Persona added, sharper this time.
For a moment, the two only stared at each other.
Right as Feral readied a strike, laughter burst from the perimeters.
"AHAHAHA! The two of you meet for one second and already start fighting!"
A different voice, softer and full of worry, quickly followed. "Ah... please calm down. Everything went well in the end, didn't it? So don't argue..."
"Serenity, they're always like that," another muttered.
"Yes. They are," someone else agreed.
Low voices filled the darkness.
Some amused.
Some tired.
Some indifferent.
Some simply confused.
Then a small, frightened cry cut through them.
"Oh no, Order!" Light footsteps rushed across the platform.
A girl emerged from the shadows.
She was the only one among them who did not look like a boy, nor was she even a boy at all.
Older than the rest by a few years, with a slender frame, shoulder-length black hair tied into a ponytail, slim jeans, and a long red plaid shirt, Tiana moved with a lightness that made her steps barely sound at all.
She hurried toward the edge of the light.
There, half-collapsed on the ground, was Order.
His body looked like the others', but every exposed part of his skin was marked by strange patches of color—purplish red, green, yellow, and other unnatural shades. His limbs trembled as if every breath hurt.
Tiana knelt beside him.
"It will hurt a little, but bear with me."
Order's fingers dug into the platform.
Tiana helped him up carefully.
The moment he stood, an armchair appeared behind him, as though the Inner World itself responded to what he needed. Order fell into it with a shaking breath.
"Tha-thanks..." His voice came out ragged. "Ti-Tiana..."
"It's nothing, I know it's hard for you to be outside of your room," Tiana said gently. "And don't force yourself to speak."
Order gave a weak nod.
Another voice spoke from behind the chair. "I also want to thank you."
Tiana looked back. "Uh?"
Order's eyes shifted weakly.
A boy, older than them but still looking like a boy, stepped out of the shadows and lightly placed a hand on Order's shoulder.
"For taking care of all of us."
Tiana blinked, then lowered her head a little. "Ah, it's nothing. I was doing my job."
Order tried to move as if to bow as well.
Pain immediately shook him.
"Don't force it." The boy steadied him before walking toward the center of the platform.
His voice was the most natural among them.
No pretense.
No roughness.
No mask.
No lie.
But also strangely, almost no emotion.
"It has been such a long time since all of us gathered. So why must the first thing you two do be fighting?"
The moment that voice spread through the platform, several voices went quiet.
Others called out in surprise.
"Original...?"
Persona's expression shifted.
Feral's grin faded.
Neither bowed.
Neither made a grand display of respect.
But both of them became more serious.
Original stopped at the center of the platform and looked around at the gathered shadows.
Persona suddenly froze.
"Wait."
His eyes widened.
"If everyone is here... who is controlling the body?"
"No one," Original answered.
Persona's face changed instantly.
"No. That's dangerous. I have to go out."
"It's fine," Original said calmly. "The body is asleep."
"But—"
Persona stopped.
The words died on his tongue.
He knew arguing would not help.
If Original said the body was safe, then the body was safe.
Probably.
Feral glanced around.
"Everyone's here?" His voice had lowered, no longer shouting.
"Yes," Original said.
"Then..."
Feral turned toward the deepest part of the darkness.
The moment he did, a sound answered.
Clank... clang...
Chains.
Every voice stopped.
Not most.
All.
An eerie silence settled over the Inner World.
Even the stars seemed colder.
Feral was the first to speak. "Monster?" There was no fear in his voice.
But there was weight.
A seriousness that had not been there before.
Clank...
BANG.
BANG.
Clang...
Something struck against something unseen.
A door.
A gate.
A prison.
Several of the younger voices jolted.
Tiana instinctively moved closer to Order.
Clank...
BANG.
BANG.
Clang...
Original sighed.
"Why are you scaring them, Monster? Don't. It isn't appropriate. We have more pressing matters than your playing."
Silence.
Then a voice answered from the deepest shadow.
"Such a long time has passed..." It sounded strangely similar to Original.
Only deeper.
Colder.
Eerier.
"Since I have seen all of us." No figure stepped out.
No face appeared.
Only the chains remained.
Original did not seem bothered.
If anything, he looked past the voice entirely.
"Oh." The stars around them began to move.
No.
Not move.
Reverse.
Galaxies spiraled backward. Planets unwound from their orbits. Lights streaked across the void as if time itself had been seized and dragged in the wrong direction.
"It seems it is starting."
"What is happening!?" one of the voices shouted.
Original looked at the sky. "That thing we consumed was more powerful than expected."
The stars continued to reverse.
Worlds broke apart.
Flames returned to dust.
Dust returned to emptiness.
Even the great lights of the universe seemed to fold inward.
"That Immortal Emperor must be more than merely strong if he protects something like this."
Persona stared at the sky.
The feeling was wrong.
Beautiful, but wrong.
Like watching a memory that was never his.
Like seeing time breathe backward.
The void contracted.
Then—
Light.
A beginning.
A soundless explosion spread across everything.
Stars were born.
Worlds formed.
Galaxies bloomed.
Life and death unfolded in countless places too distant to understand.
All of them watched.
Even Feral was silent.
Original spoke again. "The description said it strengthens the being, but I doubt even that Immortal Emperor or the System expected this reaction from us."
The scenery changed.
The universe vanished.
Water swallowed them.
The platform disappeared beneath an endless sea, and the pressure of the depths crashed down from every direction.
For a moment, none of them could breathe.
Then they could.
Then they could not again.
Dark water crushed their bodies, their thoughts, their souls.
The pressure became unbearable.
Just as something seemed about to break—
The sea vanished.
They were in the sky.
Falling.
Wind tore past them.
Clouds shattered around their bodies.
The ground rushed upward.
Then the direction changed, and they flew instead.
Up.
Higher.
Past clouds.
Past the blue.
Past the edge of the world.
Into the cold above the atmosphere.
Then they fell again.
They fell until they reached the ground, the earth caving in over them.
Again and again, their minds and souls were dragged through one impossible experience after another.
Drowning.
Falling.
Crushed.
Frozen.
Burned.
Expanded.
Reduced.
As if existence itself was testing every part of them.
As if the water was not strengthening them gently, but forcing them to survive every form of pressure it could imagine.
Finally, they stood before a star.
Its burning surface filled everything.
Heat swallowed thought.
Light became pain.
"Burning in the fire of a star... this is fun!" Feral raised his brows.
"Isn't this too much?" Persona added.
Original stood calmly, his gaze fixed on the flames.
"Don't worry." The star's fire reflected in his eyes.
"We are getting stronger in every way imaginable."
Feral clicked his tongue.
Original continued:
"This is tremendous growth in a very short amount of time."
Persona tried to answer.
But the fire reached them first.
And the Inner World drowned in light.
...
At the same time, in a different darkness.
A man sat upon a throne that looked more like a monument than a seat.
The chamber around him was vast, silent, and nearly lightless. Only a pale blue crystal embedded in the far wall cast enough glow to reveal the red and black marble floor beneath the throne.
The old man's face could not be seen.
He held a wine glass in one hand, filled with something thick and red.
He took a slow sip.
"Hm..."
His voice was low.
Ancient.
Dissatisfied.
"The taste is mediocre."
Below the steps leading to the throne, the shadows shifted.
A young man appeared and immediately dropped to one knee.
The moment he arrived, the blue crystal on the wall brightened.
Its glow revealed the young man's blood-red eyes as he raised his head.
"It was as the Patriarch expected."
The old man did not answer.
The young man continued quickly.
"They returned almost at the same time. Our informants also confirmed that both of them were seen in the Shadowy Highlands."
The Patriarch's glass stopped halfway to his lips.
"They were seen fighting each other," the young man said. "Many witnessed it. But neither received severe injuries in the end."
A long silence followed.
Then the Patriarch spoke.
"So blatant."
The two words were calm.
Yet the young man's entire body stiffened.
Cold ran through him as if death itself had brushed the back of his neck.
"Yes," he hurriedly said. "The Patriarch is right. They have fought each other many times before, and every time, neither side suffers anything too severe. If two beings of the World Source Realm truly fought, it would not end so cleanly."
The old man opened his eyes.
Red light filled the darkness.
The young man's breath caught.
'Ah...!'
Those eyes made his soul tremble.
"Respect is a virtue."
The young man's face paled.
He slammed his forehead into the marble hard enough to crack it.
Blood spilled down his face and spread across the floor.
"I beg forgiveness! I was ignorant of my folly!"
His body shook.
His voice shook.
He was not afraid of pain.
He was afraid of death.
The Patriarch did not strike him.
Instead, the old voice spoke again.
"For one's self too."
The young man froze.
He understood.
He had been so frightened that he spoke like a thing without dignity.
Like a slave without worth.
To this old man, such cowardice was also dishonor.
The young man pressed his forehead harder against the broken floor.
"I will remember."
The Patriarch looked away.
"Go."
The young man did not dare move too quickly.
"Inform the other three."
"Yes."
"And contact that old one's servant. Ask for a meeting."
Only then did the young man feel his soul return to his body.
"As the Patriarch orders."
He disappeared into the shadows.
For a few seconds, the blue crystal continued to glow.
Then its light slowly died.
Darkness returned.
The blood on the floor began to sink into the red and black marble, disappearing as if the stone itself had drunk it.
The cracks repaired themselves a moment later.
The Patriarch watched in silence.
Then he chuckled.
"What are you thinking, young Lear?"
His voice drifted through the dark chamber.
"What are you doing with that Olendriant girl?"
No answer came.
None was expected.
The old man leaned back against his throne.
"Such simplicity..."
A faint, mocking amusement entered his tone.
"But as long as I receive the benefits, you may do whatever you want."
The wine glass turned slowly between his fingers.
"You became king too early."
His glowing red eyes closed.
"Let these old bones help you."
And with that, the room fell into complete darkness.