The weight of Elizabeth's words pressed down on me like an invisible mountain.
I stood up abruptly from the stone bench, my chest tight.
"I… I need some time alone," I muttered. "I need to think."
Elizabeth watched me with understanding eyes but said nothing. She simply nodded once.
I left the half-finished cup of tea on the bench and walked back into the cabin. The heavy wooden door creaked shut behind me, sealing out the violet night sky and the glowing garden. Inside, the fire in the hearth had burned low, casting long, flickering shadows across the walls lined with ancient books and strange artifacts.
I collapsed onto the bed, still fully dressed in the black sorcerer's cloak. For a long time, I just lay there, staring at the wooden ceiling beams.
My life had been flipped upside down in mere days.
Just a short while ago, I was an ordinary, invisible high school boy — going to school, coming home, doing homework in silence, avoiding everyone. My biggest worry was how to survive another lonely day without being noticed.
Now?
I was trapped in another world.
No way back.
The mirror was destroyed. The bridge was gone. My mother, my unborn sibling, my home — all of it was on the other side of an unbreakable veil. I would never see them again.
And worse…
I had left four women pregnant in my original world.
Erico. Aiko. Mizuki. And Yuki Sensei.
Four lives forever changed because of me. Four children who would grow up without ever knowing their father. I imagined them — innocent babies, then toddlers, then children — living in a world I could never return to. The thought carved a deep, aching hole in my chest.
If this had happened in my old life, maybe I could have been happy. Scared, but happy. The idea of becoming a father so young would have terrified me, but at least I could have been there. I could have tried to be a good dad.
But now?
I would never hold them. Never see their first smiles. Never hear them call me "father."
Tears burned at the corners of my eyes.
I curled up on the bed, pulling the cloak tighter around myself. The crimson mark on my face and arm pulsed faintly, as if mocking my pain.
Everything felt distant. Unreal.
I was alone.
Truly, completely alone in a strange world full of magic, curses, and dangers I barely understood. The only person here who knew me was a powerful witch who carried the same curse — a woman who was both my savior and my warden.
The loneliness hit me like a physical blow.
In my old world, I had been lonely by choice — hiding from people. Now I was lonely by force. Cut off from everything I had ever known.
I closed my eyes, but sleep refused to come.
All I could do was lie there in the dim firelight, drowning in the wreckage of my old life and the terrifying uncertainty of this new one.
---
Ren stood alone in the dimly lit room, the weight of Elizabeth's words pressing down on him like an invisible mountain.
He walked slowly to the edge of the bed and sat down heavily, elbows on his knees, hands buried in his hair. The black wizard cloak felt foreign against his skin — a constant reminder that he no longer belonged to his old life.
"I will never be the same person again…" he whispered into the quiet room.
The words tasted like ash in his mouth.
Just days ago, he was Ren Amekawa — the invisible, introverted boy who slipped through high school like a ghost. No friends. No club. No future plans beyond surviving each quiet day. Now that boy was gone. In his place was something marked, cursed, and trapped in another world.
A strange, bitter laugh escaped him.
He had four children on the way back home. Four lives that would grow up without ever knowing their father. His mother was pregnant with his sibling — a brother or sister he would never meet. The thought carved a deep, aching hole in his chest.
Tears burned at the corners of his eyes, but he refused to let them fall.
"No. I can't break here."
He lifted his head, staring at the ancient wooden beams above him with renewed determination.
"I have to live inside this fantasy," he murmured, voice growing stronger. "The fantasy that one day… I will create a path back to my world. No matter how long it takes. No matter how impossible it seems."
Ren stood up slowly. His reflection in a nearby brass mirror showed a boy with crimson veins crawling across his face and arm — a stranger wearing his skin.
"I have to know this world," he continued, clenching his fists. "Its rules. Its dangers. Its secrets. I have to learn magic. Not just enough to survive… but enough to investigate. To search for other artifacts, other mirrors, other cracks between worlds."
A quiet fire ignited in his eyes.
He was no longer the passive, shy boy who let life happen to him.
He would become someone who "made" things happen.
Even if it meant walking beside a powerful, dangerous witch. Even if it meant mastering forces he barely understood. Even if the curse inside him continued to whisper dark promises in the back of his mind.
Ren looked toward the door where Elizabeth waited outside.
This world had taken everything from him.
But he would take something back.
Knowledge. Power. A way home.
No matter the cost.
---
Ren stood up from the bed, his resolve hardening with every step. He walked out of the room and returned to the main chamber where the fireplace crackled with green-tinged flames.
Elizabeth Evernight was sitting in a high-backed wooden chair beside the hearth, one leg crossed elegantly over the other. The firelight danced across her pale skin and the deep curves of her body, making her look like a painting brought to life. She held a glass of dark wine in her hand, slowly swirling it as she stared into the flames.
The moment Ren entered, the sound of rain began outside.
It started softly, then grew into a steady, heavy downpour. Cold wind slipped through the slightly open window, carrying the fresh, earthy scent of rain mixed with the forest's night-blooming flowers. The droplets pattered against the roof and windows like thousands of tiny fingers tapping on the world.
Ren stopped a few feet away from her. The fire warmed his face as he spoke, his voice steady despite the storm raging in his heart.
"Elizabeth… I've made up my mind. I want to learn magic. I want to understand this world — its rules, its dangers, everything. And more than anything, I want to create my own path back to my world. Even if it sounds impossible. Even if it takes years. If I don't try… I'll never know."
A small, gentle smile curved Elizabeth's lips. She set her wine glass down on the table beside her and looked at him with genuine warmth in her crimson eyes.
"As you wish, Ren," she said softly. "I won't tell you not to try. This is your life now. As long as you decide your own path, that's all that matters."
She rose gracefully from the chair, the firelight outlining her figure through the thin black fabric of her dress. The rain continued pouring outside, a constant, soothing rhythm against the wooden walls.
"Tomorrow," she continued, "I will begin teaching you about this world and the fundamentals of magic. For tonight… rest. You've been through more than any ordinary soul should endure in such a short time."
Elizabeth stepped closer until she was standing right in front of him. The scent of rain, herbs, and her own intoxicating presence filled the space between them. She looked up at him, her crimson eyes softening with a different kind of hunger.
"But before that…" she murmured, her voice dropping into a velvety whisper, "there is something I want to do with you."
Ren's heart skipped a beat.
"What is it?" he asked quietly.
Elizabeth leaned in slowly, her full lips brushing against his ear as she whispered:
"I want you to kiss me."
---