Veer found himself in a very strange place.
Before he could look around, he realized someone was staring at him. He turned his head, his eyes bulging as he identified the figure. It was himself.
The man had long white hair reaching beyond his waist and incredibly sharp features. This white-haired Veer looked back at him and smiled.
It was him—the version of himself who had borrowed something from the stars. Even the katana he used last time was similar to him. This was the entity that had played with the Clayren commander as though he were an ordinary person. Suddenly, Veer felt his mind spin. The world around him vanished into a blur that felt simultaneously vivid and dreamy. Somehow, though, it was comforting.
His body seemed to be rotating. His mind was rotating.
A strange feeling washed over him; he felt, in some inexplicable way, complete. What did "complete" mean? He didn't know. Maybe it was just a dream. In fact, he knew it was a dream. That much he could understand.
"Where am I?" he wondered aloud.
The surreal silence persisted for a time until the background noise began to intensify. Looking up, he saw a sky of absolute, pristine blue. Veer felt as though he hadn't seen a sky like this in an eternity. Below it, golden castle walls stood proudly, reflecting the brilliant rays of the sun. Everything around him hummed with life.
Veer felt entirely disoriented.
Am I sleeping? he wondered.
Suddenly, the atmosphere shifted. He heard a scream. No, not a single scream—continuous, overlapping shrieks. Strangely, the agonized voice felt intimately familiar.
With a jolt, he realized why. It was the sound of his own voice screaming.
He looked down at a crossroads that felt horribly familiar. He was there. Was he not? But when? His memory felt foggy, as though something vital was slipping through his fingers. What was he forgetting?
He saw himself down on the roads. In that vision, his hair was shorter, and he wore no knight armor—only plain, ordinary clothes. Oddly, a breathtakingly beautiful woman wearing a veil stood near him. Suddenly, his vision blurred. Why can't I see clearly? he frustratingly questioned.
But the phantom sensation of terror was undeniable. Something catastrophic was happening.
Ah, he remembered now. He was here with Eleana. But when? Wait... who was Eleana again? Hmmmm?
Right. The White Knight.
He looked again. The screams did not stop, but a detached coldness settled over him; he felt as though there was no point in trying to stop them. Let it happen. Or perhaps, he simply didn't understand the nature of the events unfolding before him.
Scanning the scene, he spotted a man clad in golden knight armor. He looked familiar. Who was he? He possessed sharp features and bore a strange, glowing red-and-yellow sword on his back. The golden knight simply stood near the periphery, silently observing.
Veer felt a bizarre connection—the man was somehow just like him. Both of them were mere onlookers to the suffering of that third person. No, to the suffering of himself.
Oh, it was John. He remembered now.
John... John... John...
Suddenly, Veer let out a raw scream that mirrored the agony of the man being tortured below. "John...!"
"John... you bastard...!"
"Calm down..." a serene voice echoed right next to his ear. "He can't hear you."
Instantly, the rage drained from Veer, leaving him uncannily calm. Why had he been so angry with John? John had done something terrible... right?
The white-haired Veer remained perfectly serene, looking completely at peace.
Seemingly snapping out of the waking nightmare, the current Veer turned to his counterpart and asked, "Say, are you enjoying this view?"
"You... you are talking to me?" the white-haired Veer replied, a faint glint of amusement in his eyes.
"Yes..." the current Veer hissed through gritted teeth. His chest burned with an anger he couldn't fully comprehend.
"Huh... just when I thought you had finally learned to be at peace and matured."
"What are you talking about?"
"What am I talking about?" The white-haired Veer gestured to the void.
As his long white hair scattered in a sudden gust of wind, solid ground mysteriously materialized beneath their feet. Then, a chair formed out of nothingness. His robes were pristine, giving him the detached air of an ancient scholar.
He sat down. "Sit," he commanded softly.
His jaw clenched, the current Veer approached as a second chair manifested. He sat.
"The view sure is mesmerizing," the white-haired Veer noted, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips.
"You find this mesmerizing? Look down there! That strange woman is dangling a person—a person who looks exactly like me. John is standing right next to the scene, yet he isn't taking action."
The white-haired Veer turned his calm, unreadable gaze back to him. "Only him?"
Veer forced himself to look back at the crossroads. "No, there is another person... no, wait. I see a child, too... what is this strange sensation? I feel a localized pain, but also... comfort."
Anger flared within Veer once more. He demanded, "What is so mesmerizing about this?"
The white-haired Veer looked directly into his eyes. "Because at least I am present there."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, wake up. You are still not ready."
Without warning, the white-haired Veer reached out and tapped the current Veer's forehead. The dream realm immediately began to splinter and disperse.
Left alone in the fading domain, the white-haired Veer continued to watch the scene below.
Suddenly, his eyes squinted as he looked ahead.
From far away on the battlefield, a man was looking directly up at him. It was none other than John.
The white-haired Veer's smile widened. "Interesting..."
Down below, John suddenly began to tremble violently, as if he had laid eyes on an unspeakable cosmic horror. He cast his gaze downward, his entire frame shaking.
Rio stepped closer, concern etching his face. "What happened, man?"
"Ahhhhhh! I saw... I saw..." John choked out.
"A monster."
"What do you mean?" Rio pressed, bewildered.
As the white-haired Veer watched from the dissolving space, a grotesque sequence unfolded.
A howling baby manifested out of thin air, radiating a brilliant halo of light as though a new star had just been born into the cosmos. The infant wailed piercingly.
Hearing the cry, a nearby dancing boy suddenly spoke, his voice eerie and ecstatic. "Ahh! Finally, I can see you? Master, master... Let me—!"
The small boy launched himself into the air. Mid-flight, his jaw distended impossibly wide, transforming into a massive maw that cleanly gulped down the small, howling celestial baby. The boy landed, letting out a deeply satisfied grin.
John and Rio watched the scene, frozen in sheer horror.
Then, the boy's body violently burst apart, and the howling baby emerged from the ruptured flesh entirely unscathed.
As John and Rio instinctively drew their weapons to face the celestial infant, the sound of frantic footsteps made them look behind themselves. An old man, tears streaming down his face, was running toward them through the debris. His teeth were broken, and he wore bizarre robes patterned with intricate constellations of stars.
"Young master... Young master...!" the old man wept. "This old man has finally found you...!"
The white-haired Veer witnessed this and let out a melancholy sigh.
...........
In a completely separate sector of the ruins, Lythria sped through the wreckage.
Even as she sprinted, her mind couldn't help but wander back to the beautiful moments she had once spent in Mythria. Her thoughts drifted to her first meeting with Veer. He had been so intensely curious about everything. Then, their ancestor had actually summoned him. Navigating the grand expanses of Mythria together had been pure joy; she remembered laughing as she showed him every corner of their world.
She shook her head, snapping herself back to reality.
Looking toward the burning castle, she muttered to herself, "Now, I only want peace."
"Hah... last time, that woman really caught me off guard."
"But how much does she actually know?"
"Caria, huh. I really underestimated you."
"Perhaps the reason our vice leader died is because of you and John. It's just that Father and Mother refused to say anything about it."
She continued to mutter frantic ramblings as her pace quickened. The castle grounds were entirely barren now. The legendary gardens lay trampled and broken; devastation reigned everywhere. In the distance, she could see the massive cross standing ominously over the front courtyard.
Looking down at her trembling hand, she whispered, "Eryssa should be underground. But the location changed again."
She frowned, arriving near the rear entrance of the garden—near the exact location where Caria had previously captured her.
"Hmm, Eleana and Kerin shouldn't lose to that traitor. This time, there is no need to hide anything. Father should be able to teleport directly to my coordinates."
She clenched her fists tightly. "I must complete the task. I need to find that painting...bring it back after a hundred years."
She let out a heavy sigh. "A painting, huh. I wonder... is the woman depicted in that painting related to Veer?"
She shook her head aggressively. "Why am I muttering all this nonsense right now? Am I being nostalgic, or am I just feeling guilty?"
Suddenly, her pupils dilated. To her absolute shock, her muscles locked completely. Her body began to shake violently, entirely paralyzed by a sudden, overwhelming wave of primordial fear.
"What is this...?" she whimpered internally.
......
Sometime earlier, over at the Knight's residential quarters, Sythris watched over Veer as his eyelids twitched erratically. In the background, Revel and Temur were systematically turning over the debris and broken rooms, searching for anything useful amidst the chaos.
Veer felt his consciousness slowly float to the surface. He forced his eyes open, greeted by a face hovering just above his own. He saw eyes deeply deprived of sleep—eyes that flared with profound relief at his awakening, yet held a dark, underlying mystery.
Sythris stared down at him.
"Ahh. Where am I?" Veer mumbled. "You... who...?"
"It's me, Veer..." she whispered, tears spilling over her lashes and dropping onto his cheek.
"Oh... a beautiful girl is crying..." Veer murmured.
Instantly, his consciousness slipped away again, his mind plunging back into a blank void. Just before he lost consciousness entirely, he mumbled, "Oh, it's you, Sythris..."
Temur and Revel came rushing over the moment they realized Veer had briefly stirred. Revel held a battered, torn book tightly in her grip.
They found Veer lying motionless across Sythris's lap.
"Captain? What happened?" Revel asked anxiously.
"He woke up, but he just lost consciousness again," Sythris replied. She carefully checked his pulse, letting out a ragged sigh of relief. "This time, he's just resting."
Looking down at Veer's pale face, her expression hardened. "I don't know what transpired with John, but he completely broke Veer mentally."
Revel held up the torn book. "You mean..."
Sythris nodded, grinding her teeth. "Those things... the horrific things you reported to me .. John really said those to Veer ?"
Temur gave a grim nod.
"That confrontation must have taken a devastating toll," Sythris sighed. "Let him sleep. We will wait here for a little while."
Revel's voice turned agitated. "Captain, I know you need to rest and look after him, but if John tracks us down right now... with the severe injuries Knight Veer sustained from my previous strikes, surviving another encounter will be impossible."
Sythris looked thoughtful. "True. But if something truly unnatural occurs... John might still come." She glanced up at her subordinates. "Let's give some more time, then we move to a secure safe house."
"Captain..." Revel interrupted, her tone turning dead serious. "While you were tending to Knight Veer, we searched the immediate perimeter and found this strange diary in the rubble. It might belong to him."
She handed the battered, torn document over.
Sythris looked from the book to Temur and Revel, her voice dropping into a forced, tense register. "You opened it?"
Both lowered their heads guiltily, nodding in unison.
Sythris let out a tired sigh. "Did you find anything useful?"
"It's bizarre," Temur explained. "Most of the pages are completely blank. There are fragmented notes about killing in the middle sections, but I couldn't decipher any coherent meaning."
Sythris opened the cover, casting a apologetic look at the sleeping young man. "Sorry, Veer. I need to know what we are dealing with. Maybe I can find a pattern you guys missed."
She began to flip through the diary. The first page was completely blank. The second page was the same. She continued to skim through the empty sheets until her eyes suddenly locked onto a passage. Her breath hitched.
"It's over. They have found me. They have found me. They have found me..."
She rapidly flipped through a few more pages.
"They will kill everyone..."
"What in the world is this diary?" Sythris whispered, a chill running down her spine.
"We don't know," Revel admitted. "The context just doesn't make any sense."
Sythris stared intently at the messy handwriting. Revel continued to urge her, "Captain, we really need to hurry, or that bastard John is going to hunt Knight Veer down."
Sythris didn't even hear her voice. Every ounce of her attention was frozen on a massive contradiction at the top of the page. It was deeply unsettling. A cold dread began to pool in her stomach, rapidly escalating into pure terror.
At the top of the frantic entry, a date was clearly written: 7th day of the 7th month, Year 7757 .
A high-pitched, whistle-like ringing erupted in Sythris's ears. Sweat began to bead on her forehead.
"This... what in the world...?"
"How...?"
"Revel..." Sythris choked out.
"Captain, I'm telling you, we need to move—"
"Revel!"
"Yes...?"
"Which year is it currently?"
Revel blinked, thoroughly confused. "Isn't it obvious? It's 7777."
Sythris was trembling so violently she could barely hold the paper. The horrifying implications pushed the immediate danger out of her mind. "Which date? Which month?"
Revel's expression shifted to deep worry. "Captain, why are you asking such obvious questions right now? Today is the 7th day of the 7th month of the year 7777 ." Revel attempted to inject a bit of desperate humor into the tense air. "Do I need to explain what era is it also ?"
Sythris was entirely deaf to the joke, utterly paralyzed by an impossible reality.
Earlier, it was supposed to be a dream... When Canthia's magic struck her, the entire academy disaster and Veer being taken away felt like a nightmare.
But this...
In the background, Temur urgently shushed Revel, drawing her slightly away. "Revel... there's something else I need to tell you. I've seen Captain Kerin's mother during my past visits to their estate."
"Okay? What about her?"
"The woman we saw earlier, the one engaged in that brutal fight with the strange guy..."
"The strange guy? You mean that absolute bastard Sebastian?"
Temur nodded grimly. "I strongly doubt that woman was actually Captain Kerin's mother."
Revel nearly jumped out of her skin. "What? Are you absolutely certain?"
"Ninety percent. No, one hundred percent certain."
"But... but how is that possible?"
Revel completed his thought, her voice dropping. "She is bedridden and severely ill, right?"
Temur nodded, his face pale. "It's completely unsettling. Before the chaos, Captain Kerin gave me his secret rune-bag to safeguard. It contained a legendary, restricted medicine capable of healing together almost any fatal injury. He thought it through so carefully... and yet he chose to use that specific medicine to heal Lady Eleana."
He let out a long, ragged breath, running a hand through his hair. "Honestly, Revel... I don't know if something is wrong with me, with Kerin, or with everything else around us."
Revel grabbed his shoulder. "Let's just focus on getting Knight Veer out of here alive first."
Temur nodded at Revel who was also looking tense.
Meanwhile, Sythris sat completely isolated from their bickering. Her heart hammered against her ribs as her mind desperately tried to map out the reality-shattering implications of the diary's date.
Then, a new sound cut through her panic.
It was a heartbeat.
It didn't originate from her own chest. Instantly, the heavy, echoing resonance caused Temur and Revel to cut their conversation dead.
It was all around and Temur and Revel revealed looks of being terrified of something. They were frozen in fear like Lythria.
Thump...
Thump...
Thump...