The deeper they ventured into the castle...
The stranger it became.
Every corridor looked identical to the last.
Every staircase led to another hallway.
Every door opened into yet another lavish chamber decorated with polished marble, golden chandeliers, and expensive paintings.
At first, Kame assumed he had simply lost his sense of direction.
But after passing the same crimson vase for what felt like the fourth time...
He stopped.
"...Didn't we already walk through here?"
Joshen looked around.
"I was about to ask you the same thing."
Catia continued walking ahead without saying a word.
Kame frowned.
"Ms. Catia?"
She didn't respond.
The three continued onward.
Minutes turned into what felt like hours.
The castle refused to end.
Hallways stretched endlessly before them.
Staircases seemed to lead nowhere.
Every path looked familiar, yet none of them brought the exit any closer.
An uncomfortable silence settled over the group.
Finally, Joshen muttered,
"...This place isn't normal."
"No..."
Kame quietly agreed.
"It feels like we're walking in circles."
Except...
Neither of them could remember turning around.
Another hallway.
Another staircase.
Another luxurious room.
Then—
Someone appeared.
Floating several feet above the ground.
Long silver hair drifted gently despite the complete absence of wind.
Her robes flowed as though gravity had forgotten them.
Kame froze.
"...Catia?"
Joshen instinctively stepped forward.
"Wait..."
He narrowed his eyes.
"No..."
She looked almost identical.
The same face.
The same eyes.
Yet something about her presence felt entirely different.
Cold.
Ancient.
Overwhelming.
"Kame."
Joshen lowered his voice.
"...Run."
Neither of them questioned the decision.
They turned and sprinted down the corridor.
Behind them...
The woman simply watched.
She didn't chase.
She didn't attack.
She merely floated there.
"...Wait."
A familiar voice echoed behind them.
"Please stop."
Kame glanced over his shoulder.
Catia.
The real Catia.
She hurried after them, slightly out of breath.
"You're misunderstanding."
The two finally slowed.
Kame looked back and forth between the sisters.
"...There are two of you?"
Catia nodded.
"Yes."
"She's my older sister."
The woman hovering above the floor offered a small smile.
"My name..."
She paused briefly.
"...Amanda."
Silence followed.
Kame stared at the two sisters.
They were almost identical.
Only their expressions differed.
Catia's felt gentle.
Amanda's was unreadable.
For some reason...
Kame wasn't nearly as surprised as he should have been.
Instead...
A strange sensation crept through his mind.
As though...
He had already experienced this moment before.
He instinctively pressed a hand against his temple.
"...What is this feeling?"
Beside him, Joshen frowned.
"...You too?"
The same uneasy sensation lingered inside both of them.
Not pain.
Not fear.
Recognition.
As if reality itself was repeating.
Amanda quietly observed them before speaking.
"You've begun to notice."
The sisters led them into a quiet chamber.
Unlike the rest of the castle, the room was almost empty.
Only a table and four chairs occupied the space.
Amanda finally broke the silence.
"What you experienced wasn't an accident."
"There exists a rare substance found in only two locations across this entire world."
She paused.
"It is known as..."
"Crombus Compound."
The unfamiliar name hung in the air.
Kame leaned forward.
"...A compound?"
Amanda nodded.
"It grants extraordinary abilities to those capable of wielding it."
"What kind of abilities?" Joshen asked.
Amanda calmly raised one finger.
"The ability to imitate another person's existence."
A second finger.
"The ability to create simple mirages."
Kame immediately remembered the endless hallways.
"...So the castle..."
Amanda neither confirmed nor denied it.
Instead, she slowly raised a third finger.
"And finally..."
She stopped speaking.
Silence filled the room.
Kame frowned.
"...What's the last ability?"
Amanda looked directly into his eyes.
Her lips parted.
But no words came out.
At that exact moment...
Her body flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then—
She vanished.
Catia disappeared with her.
The chairs.
The table.
The room.
Everything dissolved before Kame's eyes.
The strange tingling sensation returned.
Stronger than before.
Reality itself began to crack.
The cracks spread across the room like fractures in glass.
One after another.
The walls distorted.
The ceiling rippled.
The marble floor beneath Kame's feet dissolved into shifting fragments of light.
"...What's happening?" Kame shouted.
No one answered.
The entire castle trembled.
A deafening rumble echoed through the halls.
Chunks of stone broke away from the ceiling and crashed to the ground.
"The building!" Kame yelled.
Joshen looked around, breathing heavily.
"...Yeah."
"But..."
His voice faltered.
"...Was this even a building?"
Kame turned toward him.
"What?"
Joshen pressed a hand against his forehead.
"It was a castle..."
"No..."
He frowned.
"...A fort."
A moment later, he shook his head violently.
"No..."
"A monument?"
His breathing became uneven.
"...Or..."
"...The inside of a statue?"
The words echoed strangely.
None of them felt correct.
Yet somehow...
All of them did.
Kame felt the same confusion spreading through his own mind.
Every answer immediately replaced itself with another.
His memories no longer matched what his eyes had seen.
Then...
Everything stopped.
Joshen's eyes widened.
"...The paper."
Kame looked at him.
"The Black Paper..."
Joshen whispered.
"It was there from the very beginning."
Before Kame could ask what he meant—
Darkness swallowed everything.
Kame slowly opened his eyes.
A wooden ceiling greeted him.
He blinked several times before sitting upright.
"...A bed?"
His head throbbed.
Beside him, Joshen was only just beginning to wake.
"...We're alive?"
A familiar voice answered.
"Of course you are."
Kame turned.
Catia stood quietly beside the bed.
This time...
There was no endless castle.
No collapsing walls.
No Amanda.
Only a small room inside Henry's farmhouse.
Kame immediately stood.
"...What happened?"
Catia remained silent for a few moments before answering.
"You never entered that castle."
"...What?"
"The moment the guards welcomed you..."
"...everything after that was an illusion."
Kame froze.
"The guards..."
"...weren't guards."
Catia slowly nodded.
"They were my sister."
"Amanda used the final ability granted by Crombus Compound."
Kame remembered Amanda raising her third finger.
"...The last ability..."
Catia lowered her eyes.
"...It allows its user to show someone the worst possible future."
Silence filled the room.
"The future..."
Joshen repeated quietly.
"...So none of that happened?"
"No."
"It was a possibility."
"A future that should never come to pass."
Kame's heartbeat quickened.
"...Then why did it end?"
Catia looked toward the window.
"Our village doctor realized what Amanda had done."
"He interrupted the vision before it reached its conclusion."
Joshen frowned.
"...Reached what?"
Catia's expression became unusually serious.
"The Final Way."
Neither of them spoke.
Something about those three words alone was enough.
They didn't need an explanation.
Not yet.
After a long silence, Catia walked toward a large cloth covering something in the corner of the room.
She pulled it away.
Beneath it stood a strange metallic device unlike anything Kame had ever seen.
Circular rings surrounded its center, covered in symbols he couldn't recognize.
"I've spent two years building this."
Kame slowly approached it.
"...What is it?"
"A teleporter."
She answered simply.
"It should be able to return you to the place where your journey began."
Kame studied the machine before asking the question that had been bothering him.
"...You said someone altered realities."
"Who?"
Catia hesitated.
"...Sun Morbious."
The name hung heavily in the room.
"He was the first person to alter reality itself."
Kame scratched the back of his head.
"...That's a strange name."
"And who exactly is he?"
Catia's expression stiffened.
"...You don't need to know that."
"...Not yet."
Joshen suddenly burst into laughter.
"Hahaha!"
He casually threw an arm around Kame's shoulders.
"Forget all that mysterious nonsense."
He pointed at the machine.
"That thing really sends us home, right?"
His carefree grin returned as though the past few hours had never happened.
Catia smiled faintly.
"...That's the plan."
Outside the farmhouse...
Henry waited quietly.
Catia stood before her father.
Neither of them spoke for a while.
Finally...
"I've made my decision."
Henry looked at his daughter.
"...You're leaving."
She nodded.
"I've always wanted to see the world."
"I can't let this chance pass."
For a brief moment...
Neither smiled.
Henry simply placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"...Then go."
"...And don't waste the opportunity."
His voice carried sadness.
But beneath it...
Pride.
Kame stepped forward and bowed respectfully.
"Mr. Henry."
"I promise."
"I'll protect Catia."
Henry gave a small nod.
"...Take care of each other."
The three stood before the teleporter.
Kame.
Joshen.
Catia.
None of them knew what awaited them beyond that machine.
But each understood one thing.
Turning back was no longer an option.
The device hummed to life.
Light gathered beneath their feet.
The world around them blurred.
And together...
They took their first step into a journey far greater than any of them could have imagined.
The trio had finally been formed.
End of Chapter 4
The cracks spread across the room like fractures in glass.
One after another.
The walls distorted.
The ceiling rippled.
The marble floor beneath Kame's feet dissolved into shifting fragments of light.
"...What's happening?" Kame shouted.
No one answered.
The entire castle trembled.
A deafening rumble echoed through the halls.
Chunks of stone broke away from the ceiling and crashed to the ground.
"The building!" Kame yelled.
Joshen looked around, breathing heavily.
"...Yeah."
"But..."
His voice faltered.
"...Was this even a building?"
Kame turned toward him.
"What?"
Joshen pressed a hand against his forehead.
"It was a castle..."
"No..."
He frowned.
"...A fort."
A moment later, he shook his head violently.
"No..."
"A monument?"
His breathing became uneven.
"...Or..."
"...The inside of a statue?"
The words echoed strangely.
None of them felt correct.
Yet somehow...
All of them did.
Kame felt the same confusion spreading through his own mind.
Every answer immediately replaced itself with another.
His memories no longer matched what his eyes had seen.
Then...
Everything stopped.
Joshen's eyes widened.
"...The paper."
Kame looked at him.
"The Black Paper..."
Joshen whispered.
"It was there from the very beginning."
Before Kame could ask what he meant—
Darkness swallowed everything.
Kame slowly opened his eyes.
A wooden ceiling greeted him.
He blinked several times before sitting upright.
"...A bed?"
His head throbbed.
Beside him, Joshen was only just beginning to wake.
"...We're alive?"
A familiar voice answered.
"Of course you are."
Kame turned.
Catia stood quietly beside the bed.
This time...
There was no endless castle.
No collapsing walls.
No Amanda.
Only a small room inside Henry's farmhouse.
Kame immediately stood.
"...What happened?"
Catia remained silent for a few moments before answering.
"You never entered that castle."
"...What?"
"The moment the guards welcomed you..."
"...everything after that was an illusion."
Kame froze.
"The guards..."
"...weren't guards."
Catia slowly nodded.
"They were my sister."
"Amanda used the final ability granted by Crombus Compound."
Kame remembered Amanda raising her third finger.
"...The last ability..."
Catia lowered her eyes.
"...It allows its user to show someone the worst possible future."
Silence filled the room.
"The future..."
Joshen repeated quietly.
"...So none of that happened?"
"No."
"It was a possibility."
"A future that should never come to pass."
Kame's heartbeat quickened.
"...Then why did it end?"
Catia looked toward the window.
"Our village doctor realized what Amanda had done."
"He interrupted the vision before it reached its conclusion."
Joshen frowned.
"...Reached what?"
Catia's expression became unusually serious.
"The Final Way."
Neither of them spoke.
Something about those three words alone was enough.
They didn't need an explanation.
Not yet.
After a long silence, Catia walked toward a large cloth covering something in the corner of the room.
She pulled it away.
Beneath it stood a strange metallic device unlike anything Kame had ever seen.
Circular rings surrounded its center, covered in symbols he couldn't recognize.
"I've spent two years building this."
Kame slowly approached it.
"...What is it?"
"A teleporter."
She answered simply.
"It should be able to return you to the place where your journey began."
Kame studied the machine before asking the question that had been bothering him.
"...You said someone altered realities."
"Who?"
Catia hesitated.
"...Sun Morbious."
The name hung heavily in the room.
"He was the first person to alter reality itself."
Kame scratched the back of his head.
"...That's a strange name."
"And who exactly is he?"
Catia's expression stiffened.
"...You don't need to know that."
"...Not yet."
Joshen suddenly burst into laughter.
"Hahaha!"
He casually threw an arm around Kame's shoulders.
"Forget all that mysterious nonsense."
He pointed at the machine.
"That thing really sends us home, right?"
His carefree grin returned as though the past few hours had never happened.
Catia smiled faintly.
"...That's the plan."
Outside the farmhouse...
Henry waited quietly.
Catia stood before her father.
Neither of them spoke for a while.
Finally...
"I've made my decision."
Henry looked at his daughter.
"...You're leaving."
She nodded.
"I've always wanted to see the world."
"I can't let this chance pass."
For a brief moment...
Neither smiled.
Henry simply placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"...Then go."
"...And don't waste the opportunity."
His voice carried sadness.
But beneath it...
Pride.
Kame stepped forward and bowed respectfully.
"Mr. Henry."
"I promise."
"I'll protect Catia."
Henry gave a small nod.
"...Take care of each other."
The three stood before the teleporter.
Kame.
Joshen.
Catia.
None of them knew what awaited them beyond that machine.
But each understood one thing.
Turning back was no longer an option.
The device hummed to life.
Light gathered beneath their feet.
The world around them blurred.
And together...
They took their first step into a journey far greater than any of them could have imagined.
The trio had finally been formed.