As they walked, the scenery around them was breathtaking.
The tunnel walls shimmered with crystals of every color imaginable, red, green, blue, and even some that shifted hues slowly, like a rainbow caught beneath the surface of stone. The faint glow from them lit the path ahead, casting long streaks of color across their faces and the ground beneath their boots. Every step echoed faintly, as if the air itself was alive, humming with old power.
Elara's voice broke the silence. "Dawn, what's the plan once we reach the city?"
Dawn didn't answer right away. His eyes stayed fixed on the path ahead, light flickering across his face. "Heh…" he muttered. "Honestly, I couldn't say. I guess we find somewhere safe first, then go from there."
Elara tilted her head slightly. Her tone was curious, but not pressing. She'd learned that when Dawn didn't want to elaborate, pushing him was pointless.
The air grew warmer as they walked, and the crystals along the walls became larger, more defined, almost alive. Some pulsed faintly, as though in rhythm with the group's footsteps.
After another few minutes, the tunnel widened ahead of them. A soft golden light spilled from the opening, washing over them like dawn breaking after a long night.
When they stepped out, all of them stopped.
Even the golden-haired man, whose expression rarely changed, stood frozen, eyes slightly widened. The sight before them was enough to steal anyone's breath.
Before them stretched a city.
It rose out of the crystalline plain like a dream half-remembered, towers of translucent glass that caught the light and scattered it into a thousand colors. Bridges arched gracefully between the spires, and thin rivers of glowing water wound through the streets like veins of liquid sapphire. The buildings themselves seemed carved from the same crystal as the walls they'd just passed, some shaped like petals of blooming flowers, others sharp and angular, reaching skyward.
Above it all hung an enormous ring of light, slowly rotating, neither sun nor moon, but something in between. Its glow bathed the city in a pale luminescence that made everything look almost too perfect to be real.
The air was still, heavy with quiet awe.
Elara took a slow step forward. "It's… beautiful."
Dawn didn't respond. He was staring at the city, but his eyes weren't filled with wonder, more like curiosity.
This place was far bigger than the mountain outside, and the only explanation that crossed his mind was unsettling: a Sequencer capable of manipulating space itself, on such a massive scale, somehow maintaining it across time.
His gaze drifted upward to the enormous ring of light. A faint, humorless smirk crossed his face.
"Heh… this world really is full of monsters."
And without warning, space itself seemed to warp.
The tunnel behind them vanished, replaced by countless shimmering distortions, portals that opened one after another. Figures began to emerge from them, human-like, yet not entirely human. Some bore tails, others horns, wings, fur, or pointed ears. Dozens of different races stepped through the light, their clothes and markings as varied as the crystals around them.
Elara's eyes widened. "W-What the…?"
Dawn's tone stayed calm, though his hand hovered near his weapon. "Remember what I said? Crysallis is an entrance to Flauria. It's only natural that all sorts of races would gather here."
Elara swallowed hard, glancing at the endless stream of newcomers. "So many different people… all together."
The golden-haired man's eyes swept the crowd, his voice low. "The world truly has changed far more than I imagined."
The flow of travelers slowed, the glowing rifts dimming one by one until the air settled. A radiant blue staircase emerged before them, leading down into the streets below, the crystalline ground shimmering faintly beneath their feet.
Elara glanced at the two figures still floating behind them. "Won't people question… the two bodies?"
Dawn's gaze swept over the crowd, merchants shouting in unfamiliar dialects, winged figures perched on rooftops, beastkin children weaving between armored soldiers, cloaked travelers shimmering faintly with mana residue. The city felt alive, not chaotic, but harmoniously busy, like each person belonged here despite their differences.
"A city like this doesn't involve itself in the business of strangers," he said.
The golden-haired man watched silently, his expression thoughtful. "Strange," he murmured. "For a place so radiant, I expected more… order."
Dawn smirked. "From what I know, this place is ruled by a King and ten Wardens. In this part of the city at least, things run on deals and influence."
They started walking again, blending into the slow-moving flow of people. The streets were lined with tall crystal spires that acted as lamps, their light pulsing faintly in time with the ring above. Every so often, floating platforms drifted overhead, carrying passengers to the upper levels of the city.
Dawn seemed unfazed by it all. Even surrounded by such wonder, his expression didn't shift. His thoughts had wandered somewhere else entirely, somewhere simpler, somewhere far away.
Home.
After a while they reached a wide plaza paved with polished crystal tiles. At its center stood a large obelisk engraved with runic symbols, glowing faintly. Around it, traders and stalls had been set up, food, tools, strange crystalline trinkets that lit up when touched.
Elara slowed, her eyes catching a vendor's table filled with floating crystals that sang softly when struck. "It's all so… peaceful," she murmured.
The crowd thinned as the light above dimmed, the great ring fading from gold to pale silver. Shadows stretched long across the crystal streets. Lanterns bloomed to life along the path, each one glowing softly like captured starlight.
They walked until the noise of the market faded behind them. Eventually they found an inn built from pale blue stone that seemed to breathe faint light. The golden-haired man handled the arrangements without a word. No one questioned them, travelers were common here.
Once inside, Dawn stepped into his room and shut the door behind him.
Silence.
The walls glowed faintly, alive with soft pulses of color. The bed looked untouched, almost too clean. He didn't sit. He just stood by the window, staring out at the city below.
From this height, Crysallis looked even more unreal. The lights of the towers shimmered through layers of glass-like mist, and the faint movement of people below looked almost like reflections in water. It didn't feel like a city. It felt like a mirage.
Dawn leaned against the window frame, arms crossed, eyes half-lidded.
He could still feel the faint pulse of the crystals through the wall, a heartbeat buried deep in the mountain.
"…Manipulation of space… living minerals… a light structure that mimics a sun," he muttered under his breath.
It was impressive, yes. But it also told him one thing: someone, or something, had created this place. And whatever could do that… probably wasn't even around anymore.
He let out a slow breath.
Even after everything. the four appearing at Lake Dawn, the crimson-haired woman with that aura that reminded him too closely of the war criminals from the old world, the damned floating island — those four still didn't add up. Even with the crimson-haired woman yet to wake, that energy, what Elara had called "prana," sat too close to what he knew of the Celestians. But they weren't Celestians. And that word. "Reversion."
Dawn understood what it meant on its own. But the way they used it… what did it mean in that context?
None of it felt real. This journey, this damned adventure, he'd started thinking of it as such, each step forward seemed to pull him further from anything he understood about the world.
He closed his eyes for a moment, listening to the hum in the walls. It wasn't quite sound, more like vibration. A rhythm too deliberate to be natural. The kind of thing that lingered even in silence.
He exhaled softly.
He wasn't used to stillness. Not anymore.
His gaze drifted upward again, to the ring of light turning slowly above the city. Endless. Perfect. Cold.
This world really is full of monsters, he thought again.
And some of them don't even need teeth or claws.
He stayed there for a long time, unmoving, watching as the light dimmed into a dull blue haze.
Sleep didn't come easily.
It rarely ever did.