Space itself had been rearranged instead of destroyed. Shapes slowly returned through the fading white light, and little by little the world became visible again.
The burning in Zekai's eyes faded. He forced them open.
The moment his vision cleared, he froze.
For one impossible second, Zekai thought the city intersection still existed.
Then he saw the truth.
He was standing in the middle of a ruined stone courtyard.
It looked like a fragment of Hell.
"Oh wo— no…"
"…That's not possible."
Ancient palace walls surrounded the courtyard, cracked and half-collapsed.
Cold crawled down his spine. The ruins felt aware.
Something had already chosen him.
Watching was no longer enough.
Beside him, Aron slowly reappeared through the fading distortion, but Zekai didn't notice him immediately.
Aron still had his eyes squeezed shut.
"I can't see—!"
His hands moved frantically in the air while he shouted in fear without opening his eyes.
Hearing Aron's terrified voice, Zekai turned instantly.
"What is this idiot doing now…"
Zekai quickly walked over and grabbed both of Aron's shoulders firmly.
"This idiot's going to panic himself to death."
"Ahhh—!"
Aron jerked violently at Zekai's voice before slowly forcing his eyes open little by little.
The moment he saw Zekai, his shoulders loosened.
"Mr. Zekai… thank god… we're alive."
But that relief lasted only a second. Because then Aron finally saw the world around them.
His expression froze completely in disbelief.
He took one careful step forward while his eyes moved across the broken landscape.
It was a complete wasteland.
Ruined marble statues littered the courtyard—headless, broken, eroded by time.
Dark water sat motionless inside cracked fountains.
Thick vines wrapped around the statues like snakes strangling a corpse.
Shattered stone crowns were scattered across the floor. The entire place looked like a royal garden that had been completely obliterated.
Aron instinctively stepped backward.
Both of them slowly lifted their heads upward again.
The sky was no longer blue.
A dim crimson glow stretched endlessly across the heavens like smoke from a distant fire. The entire sky resembled permanent twilight.
"That's not the same sky…"
Their eyes narrowed automatically. Their minds refused to accept the sky above them.
Then Zekai slowly lowered his head again.
Something else felt wrong. Immediately, he turned around.
"Look behind us," he said quietly.
"That's even worse."
Aron slowly turned as well, already knowing he wouldn't like what he was about to see.
Behind them stood the remains of a fallen civilization.
Stone buildings had collapsed into jagged debris. Towers lay broken across ruined streets. Giant statues had shattered across the ground like discarded corpses.
Dark scorch marks stretched endlessly across the land, as if something had burned through the entire city and erased its existence.
"Why did we end up in a cursed place like this…?"
How did this even happen?
Aron opened his mouth to speak, then stopped. Instead, his grip tightened against Zekai's coat.
This place didn't feel like ruins. It felt like the graveyard of an entire world.
"Whatever destroyed it… might still be here," Zekai said quietly.
"…Then why are we still standing here?" Aron's voice lowered.
"We should move."
Aron said it, but neither of them knew where safety existed.
But even while saying it, his eyes kept moving desperately in every direction searching for an exit that didn't exist.
But Zekai had no idea how they were supposed to escape from a place like this.
Instinctively, he pulled out his phone from his pocket.
One missed call.
[ Marcus Grandpa ]
The timestamp read:
8:43 AM.
Then suddenly— The numbers flickered.
8:43 AM.
9:30 PM.
Aron leaned closer immediately.
"That… changed just now, didn't it?"
Zekai stared.
The seconds jumped erratically.
"Damn it…"
"It keeps glitching…"
This wasn't a normal glitch.
"Why is the time changing like that…?"
Morning had turned into night in an instant.
Zekai's grip around the phone tightened unconsciously for a second before he slowly forced himself to relax.
Panicking won't solve anything. But for the first time in years—staying calm no longer felt easy.
At that moment, Aron stretched his hand toward him.
"You forgot this at the counter."
The black-and-red tarot box rested in his hand.
Zekai silently took it back and slipped it into his coat pocket.
"Thanks… though because of this, you ended up trapped here with me."
For a moment, Aron didn't know what to say. Yet somehow, he ended up dragged into this nightmare too. Even now, despite the fear in his eyes, his nature hadn't changed.
"I have no idea what's happening… but standing here panicking won't help."
Even though Aron tried to reassure him, Zekai still felt a deep uneasiness growing inside him.
Nothing here made sense. Everything around them felt like an unsolved puzzle.
"…Do you think this is still Earth?" Aron asked quietly.
The question sounded like something he already knew the answer to.
Zekai stared toward the ruins.
"Maybe."
"Or something pretending to be."
He didn't look at Aron while saying it. And only after saying those words did the truth finally begin settling into his mind.
Maybe this really is another dimension.
Which meant they were completely unprepared for whatever this world had waiting for them.
Zekai's hand tightened slightly again.
…This wasn't supposed to happen.
Thump.
Suddenly, an intense heat erupted from both pockets of his coat.
Zekai's eyes narrowed. He plunged his hands inside and pulled the objects out.
In his left hand, the black-and-red tarot box glowed with a faint, eerie crimson light.
The crimson glow illuminated nothing. Yet Zekai could still see it clearly.
In his right hand was the black stone cube.
There was no glow.
That alone made Zekai pause.
The stone felt unnatural—but unlike the tarot, it remained completely silent.
"...Aron."
Aron turned. "Yes?"
Zekai raised the tarot card in his hand and showed it to Aron.
"Do these look like they're glowing to you?"
Aron stepped closer and squinted at Zekai's hands. He shook his head.
"No," Aron replied, confused. "They look normal to me."
'As I thought.'
Zekai wanted to believe him. But if Aron couldn't see the crimson glow, then this anomaly was reacting specifically to him.
His eyes flicked between the two objects in his hands.
The tarot box pulsed with that unnatural crimson presence.
The black stone cube remained completely inert.
'If something here was targeting me… it's this.'
The stone felt wrong—cold, heavy, unnatural—but it hadn't shown a single direct reaction since they arrived.
'If one object was a trigger, the other was probably just Marcus's bizarre keepsake.'
To test that assumption, Zekai thrust the black stone toward Aron.
"Hold this for a bit," Zekai commanded. "I'll take it back later."
If a trap triggered, it was better if both of them weren't tethered to the same item.
Aron hesitated but took the heavy stone. "Okay..."
He turned the pitch-black artifact over in his hands, examining it like an ordinary rock. Even while touching it, he showed absolutely zero reaction to the violent crimson glow Zekai saw clearly.
But something was wrong.
It wasn't a visual thing. It was an instinct. A cold feeling that hit them a second later.
Zekai's eyes swept across the stone figures. Suddenly, his boots stopped.
"...!"
One of the statues had moved.
…
It had been facing the palace before. Now it faced them.
Zekai's expression hardened.
'I didn't see it move.'
Aron forced out a weak laugh, but it broke halfway.
"Mr. Zekai… just looking at this gives me chills."
He stared at the darkness beyond the gate.
"…Why does it feel like something is watching us from inside?"
His body leaned backward unconsciously, like instinct itself was warning him not to go near it.
That absolute silence made it terrifying. It was unnatural.
Meanwhile, Zekai snapped open the tarot box.
Inside was an old, tarot deck.
The cards had deep red backings with gold borders. Bizarre illustrations were etched across them in black and silver lines that shimmered purple under the dim sky.
Zekai touched the top card.
Hum.
A distinct vibration rippled through the entire deck. The deck pulsed once beneath his fingers. Like a heartbeat.
He tilted the card. The silver image didn't shift. It wasn't a hologram. It felt less like printed artwork and more like something sealed.
Beneath the deck was a folded piece of paper.
The paper crackled loudly as he unfolded it. It felt ancient, but the dark ink looked unnaturally fresh.
At the top of the page was a bold header.
[ CAUTION — RULES ]
Zekai's brow furrowed.
The handwriting was jagged and uneven. The writer had pressed down so hard they had physically scarred the paper.
These weren't instructions. These were warnings from someone who learned the truth too late.
"Of course there are rules," Zekai muttered.
The first line read:
[ User blood required for ritual. ]
He sighed. 'Why does everything require blood?'
His eyes moved down.
[ Rule 0: You were already chosen before you arrived. ] Zekai's face darkened.
✦ Chapter 3 — The Fallen Realm ✦