POV Anna
For a moment after the light disappeared, the world became unbearably still.
Not quiet—the kind of stillness that pressed against your ears until it hurt, until your own heartbeat sounded too loud, too wrong. My hand remained stretched forward, fingers trembling in empty space where Arin had been just seconds ago. I could still feel the warmth of his skin lingering against mine, like a memory my body refused to let go of.
But he was gone.
Not stepped back. Not hidden. Not taken in any normal way.
Gone.
And I knew exactly what that meant.
The knowledge didn't come like a realization—it settled into me like something old, something buried too deep to forget. The Legend of Shou feng didn't play by the rules of this world. It never had. It didn't just take people—it chose them, pulled them into something beyond time, beyond logic, beyond anything that could be explained with reason.
My chest tightened, but I didn't cry.
Not this time.
Because panic wouldn't bring him back.
And fear?
Fear was useless here.
A slow clap echoed behind me, sharp and deliberate, breaking through the suffocating stillness.
"Well," William's voice rang out, amused in a way that made my skin crawl, "that was unexpected."
I turned slowly.
Not with shock.
Not with confusion.
With something colder.
"You opened it," I said, my voice steady despite the storm rising inside me.
He tilted his head slightly, a smirk tugging at his lips. "I did."
"You used it."
Another step forward.
"And now you're going to fix it."
For a split second—just a fraction of a second—his expression shifted. Not much. Most people wouldn't have noticed. But I did.
Because I knew.
"You think it's that simple?" he asked.
"I know it's not," I replied sharply. "Which is exactly why you shouldn't have touched it."
His eyes narrowed. "So you knew."
A bitter breath escaped me. "More than you ever will."
Silence stretched between us, heavy and suffocating, as the truth settled into the space. William looked at me differently now—not like I was just someone he wanted to control, but like I was part of something he didn't fully understand.
Good.
Let him feel that.
"Then you also know," he said slowly, "that once it takes someone—"
"I don't care."
The words came out instantly, cutting him off without hesitation.
"I'm not leaving him there."
There was no doubt in my voice.
No hesitation.
Because this wasn't a choice.
It never was.
My gaze dropped to the book.
Closed.
Still.
But not silent.
I could feel it.
That same presence that had swallowed Arin whole. It lingered in the air, curling around the edges of reality like something waiting—watching—knowing.
Memories flickered at the edges of my mind.
Not clear.
Not complete.
But enough.
Fragments of another time. Another place. Another version of me that had already been touched by this curse.
I had been there before.
Inside the legend.
Not as a visitor.
As something trapped.
Something misplaced.
"Anna," William's voice came again, sharper now. "Don't."
I stepped forward anyway.
Each step felt heavier, like the air itself resisted me, like the world was trying to hold me back.
But I had already made my decision.
"If it took him," I said quietly, my eyes fixed on the book, "then it can take me too."
"You don't even know where it leads," he snapped.
"I don't need to."
Because Arin was there.
And that was enough.
William moved, stepping in front of me, blocking my path.
"I'm not letting you do this."
I stopped just inches away from him.
For a moment, neither of us moved.
Then I looked up at him, my expression calm in a way that didn't match the chaos inside me.
"You already did," I said softly.
His brows furrowed.
"What?"
"You opened it," I continued. "You brought this here. You caused this."
A pause.
"And now you think you get to stop me?"
Something in my voice made him hesitate.
Just enough.
I didn't waste it.
I shoved him aside.
Hard enough to break his stance, not enough to injure—but enough.
Enough to reach the book.
My heart pounded violently in my chest as I closed the distance.
This was it.
No turning back.
No second chances.
I knew what this book was.
I knew what it did.
And I knew—
This wasn't just about stepping into another world.
This was about me.
About something that didn't belong.
I reached out.
My fingers hovered over the cover for just a second.
Just one.
And in that second—
Everything came rushing back.
Not memories exactly.
More like echoes.
Of a life that wasn't supposed to be mine.
Of a time that had already happened—
And was happening again.
I wasn't supposed to be here.
Not like this.
Not in this body.
Not in this time.
The realization hit me like a wave.
Cold.
Sharp.
Terrifying.
This body—
It wasn't rejecting me.
It had accepted me.
But my soul?
My soul didn't belong to this moment.
It belonged somewhere else.
Somewhere tied to that book.
Which meant—
The moment I touched it—
I didn't hesitate anymore.
"Arin…" I whispered.
And placed my hand on the cover and opened the first page.
The world shattered.
Light exploded around me, violent and blinding, swallowing everything in an instant. The ground beneath my feet disappeared, replaced by nothing—no weight, no direction, no sense of up or down.
The force hit me immediately.
Stronger than before.
Different.
It didn't just pull.
It recognized.
I gasped, my body jolting as something tore through me—not physically, but deeper. Something unseen, something essential.
My vision blurred violently.
My heartbeat stuttered.
And then—
I felt it.
Separation.
My body remained where it was.
I knew it.
I felt it.
Standing there in that broken garage.
Still breathing.
Still alive.
But I—
I was being pulled away.
"No—" the sound left me, but I didn't know if it was heard or just felt.
The force tightened around me, wrapping around something invisible, something that wasn't flesh or bone—
My soul.
It was tearing me out.
Not violently.
Not painfully.
But undeniably.
And the moment it did—
Everything made sense.
This had happened before.
Not exactly like this.
But close enough.
I had been inside the Legend of Shou Feng once before.
Trapped.
Lost.
Displaced in time.
And when I returned—
I didn't return correctly.
I came back wrong.
Not wrong as in broken.
Wrong as in—
Out of place.
I had come back into a time that wasn't mine.
Into a life that wasn't originally mine.
Into a body that belonged here—
But a soul that didn't.
And now—
The book was correcting that mistake.
My body stayed.
Because it belonged.
But me?
I didn't.
The pull intensified.
Stronger.
Faster.
The world around me dissolved completely, replaced by endless darkness streaked with flashes of light—memories, moments, fragments of time slipping past too quickly to grasp.
Voices whispered.
Faint.
Ancient.
You returned... The witch whispered
But not where you belong ...
My breath came in short, uneven gasps as I was dragged deeper into the void.
"No…" I whispered. "I'm not leaving him…"
And then—
Suddenly—
The pull stopped.
My eyes snapped open
---
To Be Continued…