*Tap. Tap. Tap.*
Rain whispered steadily against the tall glass windows of the university library, turning the city outside into a blurry haze of silver streets and flickering golden lights.
At a secluded table hidden near the back book shelves, Kagen Walker sat all alone.
An oversized gray hoodie hung loosely around his thin frame. His dark hair was messy from the cold rain outside, and both of his hands were wrapped around a paper cup of coffee that had gone completely cold nearly an hour ago.
Stacks of heavy books surrounded him on the table:
* Theoretical physics.
* Ancient mythology.
* Quantum spatial theory.
* Folklore concerning alternate realities.
He was searching for anything that might explain what had happened to him over the past few months....or rather "years".
It had been three weeks since he had returned to Earth. Three weeks since he had suddenly awakened in the hospital body that had always been his own. Two weeks since the kingdom of Edrath had completely disappeared from his life.
His physical body had fully recovered from the long coma. His university life had resumed. His mother had worried over him incessantly. His younger sister had annoyed him as usual. On the surface, everything was completely normal.
Everything except him.
Kagen stared blankly at the open textbook sitting before him.
He had spent every single spare moment trying to convince himself that his entire life in Edrath had been nothing more than a long hallucination—a complex dream brought on by his sudden illness, or a bizarre fantasy created by his unconscious mind after skimming through his sister's favorite web novel.
Yet, every time he closed his eyes...
He saw a pair of intense, icy blue eyes staring down at him.
He heard a deep, familiar voice softly calling his name in the dark.
He remembered long silver hair soaked through with cold rain.
He felt a pair of strong, protective arms wrapped tightly around his waist.
And he remembered a man who had once looked at him as though he were the only person existing in the universe.
Lucien.
Kagen slowly lowered his head and rubbed his tired eyes with his palms.
"Stop thinking about it..." he whispered softly to himself in the quiet room.
"He isn't real. He is just a character in a fantasy novel."
The words felt completely wrong and hollow the moment they left his mouth.
He let out a quiet breath, closed his thick notebook, and began packing his stationary into his bag.
Then—
*CLANG.*
Kagen froze instantly in his seat.
A loud, metallic sound echoed up from the narrow alleyway directly behind the library building.
It wasn't the sound of a plastic trash can falling over. It wasn't a passing car. It wasn't anything belonging to the familiar, ordinary rhythm of the city.
It sounded distinctly like heavy iron armor striking wet stone.
Kagen's heart suddenly slammed against his ribs with force. His fingers went completely still over his bag zipper.
"No..." He swallowed hard, his throat feeling completely dry.
"It's just the rain playing tricks on me."
Although he said that, his breathing had stopped entirely.
He quickly pushed himself away from the wooden table. His heavy backpack slipped off his shoulder and hit the floor, but he didn't even notice. He walked rapidly toward the red emergency exit door at the rear of the library, his steps growing faster with every passing second.
"Don't be stupid, Kagen," he muttered under his breath, his chest tight.
"Don't raise your hopes up over nothing..."
His trembling hand reached out and pushed against the glass exit door.
He looked down into the dark alley.
The narrow passage was drowning beneath the heavy downpour. Yellow streetlights flickered weakly through the thick mist of the storm.
And standing right beneath one of those flickering lights was a tall man.
Kagen's entire body went completely numb.
The stranger was drenched from head to toe in cold rain. Thick mud covered his dark leather armor. Long, silver-white hair hung wetly around his face and broad shoulders. His breathing was heavy and ragged, his body visibly trembling from pure physical exhaustion.
He looked utterly lost.
The man stared around him in confusion—at the giant concrete buildings towering overhead, at the bright glowing neon signs written in strange letters, at the fast metal cars passing by on the street nearby. He was staring at a world that made absolutely no sense to his mind.
Then, slowly...
The man turned his head.
His sharp eyes lifted and found the glass exit door where Kagen stood.
Kagen's backpack slipped from his limp fingers and hit the floor tiles.
*Thud.*
Their eyes met through the falling rain,
Dark, warm brown.
Bright, intense silver-violet and blue.
For several long seconds, neither of them moved a single inch.
Lucien's pale lips parted slightly, and his entire exhausted expression shifted in a split second—passing through raw disbelief, overwhelming hope, and deep fear all at once.
'Is that really him?' Lucien asked in his own mind, his voice shaking.
["Are you seriously doubting my capabilities right now?"] Jerga's voice rang inside his skull, sounding thoroughly amused.
["That's your precious boy standing right there!"]
"...Cassian?" Lucien called out softly.
Kagen's eyes rapidly filled with hot tears, blurring his vision. His lips trembled as he stared at the familiar face.
"Lucien–..."
Lucien flinched and inside his consciousness, Jerga practically purred with delight.
["Your precious Kagen Walker is standing right in front of your eyes. So, what do you plan to do now after traveling across entire worlds just to meet him again?"]
Lucien didn't answer the demon. He couldn't speak at all.
He simply stared straight ahead, keeping his eyes locked onto Kagen as though one single wrong movement or blink might cause the young man to vanish into thin air again.
The metal emergency door suddenly swung fully open, and a gust of cold rain rushed into the warm hallway.
Kagen stepped out into the wet alley.
Neither of them said a word for a long moment while the heavy rain hammered against the hard pavement around them.
Lucien took one trembling step forward toward him.
Instinctively, Kagen took a small step backward.
"You–..." Kagen's voice broke completely in his throat.
"...How are you here?"
Lucien's right hand slowly reached toward the dark leather pouch strapped tightly against his chest. He reached inside and pulled out a single item—a small, crumpled piece of old parchment paper.
Even though it was soaked with rainwater and battered from travel, Kagen recognized his own distinctive handwriting instantly.
Lucien held the paper out between them in the dark rain.
"I never wrote that letter," Lucien said, his voice raw and cracking.
Kagen stared at the paper in total confusion.
"What?"
"I never wrote the letter that made you leave the palace," Lucien explained, stepping closer. "Ruby stole your real letter from the Emperor's messenger. She forged my handwriting perfectly. And made you believe that I had rejected you and your feelings."
Kagen's face went completely pale, all the color draining from his skin.
"She did all that?..."
His voice faded into a quiet whisper.
Lucien took another step forward through the water.
"I didn't know."
He took another step. "I didn't know you were carrying my child inside you."
He took another step, his icy eyes searching Kagen's pale face.
"I didn't know you were waiting for me at the estate."
Lucien's eyes filled with heavy tears that mixed with the falling rain on his cheeks. "And when I finally found out the truth..."
His voice completely collapsed into a sob.
"I was already too late."
Kagen felt as though he couldn't draw any air into his lungs.
Without warning, Lucien dropped heavily onto his knees right in the middle of the wet alleyway, his heavy boots sinking into the puddle.
The sight instantly shattered something deep inside Kagen's chest.
The feared Holy Knight of the Empire. The powerful Duke of House Arden. The elite warrior who had commanded thousands of men on the battlefield. The man who had risked his life to cross a dangerous dimensional rift without knowing if he would survive or if he would ever find him...
Was kneeling helplessly in the mud right in front of him.
"That day I ran until my horse collapsed beneath me," Lucien whispered, pressing the wet letter tightly against his chest with both hands.
"I tore through the entire palace searching for you. I searched through forbidden archives night after night. I crossed a dangerous dimensional rift knowing it could tear my soul into pieces."
A warm tear slid down Kagen's cheek, melting into the rain.
Lucien slowly lifted his head and looked up at him with desperate eyes.
"I came here because I couldn't let the very last thing you remembered about me be a cruel lie."
He bowed his head low toward the ground. "Please..." His voice became barely audible over the sound of the storm. "Don't make me too late here as well."
Kagen stared down at the trembling man in front of him. Suddenly, the three long weeks of deep loneliness and confusion became entirely unbearable to hold inside.
He took a quick step forward.
"Lucien..."
Lucien looked up.
Kagen crouched down right in front of him in the rain, ignoring the wet ground. For several seconds, he simply looked into the face of the man who had crossed an entire universe just to find him and make things right.
Then, he whispered softly.
"You really came."
Lucien's pale lips trembled, unable to form words.
Kagen let out a tearful laugh, his voice cracking with emotion. "You complete idiot..."
He reached out his right hand, his warm fingers gently touching Lucien's cold, wet cheek.
"You actually came for me."
Lucien slowly closed his eyes, leaning his face heavily into Kagen's warm palm. And for the very first time since crossing the dimensional rift...
He let out a soft breath and smiled.
"Yes I did.... just to see you again."
*****
Twenty minutes later, the front door to Kagen's small apartment clicked quietly shut, blocking out the sound of the storm outside.
"This is an apartment I am renting to be closer to the university. We will go to my family home tomorrow so we will rest here for tonight."
"Apartment?...what is a university?"
"An academy for young adults. Just so you must know I am twenty four years old here, not twenty."
["More like nearly hundred years old from all the looped lives back in Edrath?... he's old enough to be an immortal Lucien, are you sure you want to be with an old man like him?"]
'Shut the hell up demon!'
Jerga laughed out loud and Lucien quietly clicked his tongue as he stood awkwardly on the small plastic entrance mat near the front door. He looked completely out of place in the modern space, his heavy, mud-stained armor dropping water onto the mat.
The tall warrior stared with deep suspicion at the glowing electric heater sitting in the corner. Then he looked at the quiet refrigerator. Then he looked up at the ceiling light bulb hanging overhead.
"It burns brightly without any mana," Lucien noted softly, his brow furrowed in confusion.
Kagen glanced over from the kitchen counter.
"It's called electricity."
Lucien frowned deeper.
"What is that?"
"Never mind for now," Kagen sighed gently.
Inside Lucien's consciousness, Jerga laughed out loud.
["This is going to be incredibly entertaining to watch."]
'Be quiet,' Lucien thought back sternly.
["I said absolutely nothing wrong!"] Jerga claimed defensively.
'Then you were thinking far too loudly.'
Kagen couldn't help but smile slightly at the strange, distant look on Lucien's face.
Lucien noticed the expression immediately.
"What is it?"
"It's nothing," Kagen said. He disappeared into the small bathroom for a moment and returned carrying a dry bath towel, a pair of oversized gray sweatpants, and a dark cotton hoodie.
"Here," Kagen said, handing the clothes over to him.
"You're going to freeze to death if you stay in those wet clothes."
Lucien accepted the soft garments carefully, his eyes never leaving Kagen's face for a second.
"Cassian–..."
"Kagen," Kagen corrected him gently. "That's my real name here in this world."
Lucien swallowed hard, testing the foreign sounds on his tongue.
"Kagen."
The soft way he pronounced the name made Kagen's heart flutter nervously in his chest.
Lucien looked at him closely for a long moment, observing every detail.
"You look different here."
"I know I do."
"You wear no crown."
"No crown."
"No royal garments."
"Nope."
"No magic or mana either."
"None at all."
Lucien's sharp features softened completely.
"But you are still you, after all."
Kagen felt his face grow warm and quickly looked away toward the hallway. "Just go take a warm shower."
Lucien smiled faintly.
"Yes, Your Highness—"
Kagen turned and glared at him playfully. "Don't say that."
"I am an ordinary human here, Lucien," Kagen explained softly. "I'm not your Prince."
Lucien's eyes softened further, his smile warm and genuine.
"Yes, Kagen."
An hour later, the small apartment had grown completely quiet and warm.
Steam from two ceramic cups of hot tea curled gently toward the white ceiling.
Lucien sat on one end of the small fabric couch, wearing Kagen's oversized dark hoodie and sweatpants. His long silver hair was damp, neatly brushed behind his shoulders. Without his heavy knight's armor and weapons, he looked strangely vulnerable—like an ordinary man resting after a long journey.
Kagen sat right beside him on the couch cushion.
Between them on the coffee table lay two pieces of paper. The authentic letter Kagen had left behind in the palace and a written account of the events that had transpired in Edrath after his departure.
Kagen read through every single line carefully. He learned about the stolen letter, Ruby's deception, the forged handwriting, the seven long days he had spent waiting at the border, Lucien's forced absence due to political traps, his sudden disappearance from the capital, the secret dimensional ritual, and finally... the full truth of what had happened.
Kagen's fingers tightened around his ceramic tea mug.
"She made me believe..." His voice trembled with anger and hurt. "She made me believe that you didn't want me anymore."
Lucien looked down at his own hands in his lap.
"She made me think that our unborn child meant absolutely nothing to you," Kagen added, his chest heaving while Lucien's face twisted in visible physical pain at those words.
"I would never say or think such a horrible thing."
"I know that now," Kagen said softly, letting out a shaky breath. "In fact, I shouldn't have doubted your character like that. I should have gone directly to confront you in person instead of moping in pain at the palace."
A heavy silence filled the room between them for a moment.
"But seeing your handwriting on that paper..." Kagen whispered. "...everything just felt so real."
Lucien slowly reached his hand across the cushion toward him. At first, he hesitated, his fingers trembling in the air. Then, he gently placed his large, warm hands directly over Kagen's cold fingers.
"When I finally found your real letter hidden in the estate..." Lucien's voice shook with deep emotion.
"I realized I had lost the person I loved most in the world because of words I had never written."
Lucien lifted his gaze to meet Kagen's eyes.
"I truly thought you were gone forever, Cass–...Kagen."
"I thought the same of you," Kagen replied gently.
Lucien's eyes filled with quiet tears once more.
"I didn't know what happened to my mind after you disappeared. I couldn't think clearly." He let out a short, bitter laugh.
"I barely recognized myself in those weeks."
Kagen's eyes drifted downward, noticing for the first time the dark, unnatural veins running up from beneath the collar of Lucien's hoodie toward his neck.
His gentle smile faded completely.
"Lucien..."
Lucien noticed his shifting gaze immediately.
"Your body..." Kagen reached out carefully, his fingertips hovering near one of the dark, corrupted marks on Lucien's skin.
"You've changed. You aren't entirely the man I knew back in Edrath. And those aren't ordinary wounds or battle scars either. And your eyes–....now that I notice–"
Lucien stiffened completely as Kagen looked straight into his eyes.
"You became corrupted by demonic power, didn't you?" Kagen asked quietly.
Lucien's heart stopped dead in his chest. He slowly withdrew his hands from Kagen's, pulling them back toward his own body.
For the very first time since finding Kagen in the alleyway, raw fear appeared in his eyes.
'He's going to reject me again,' Lucien thought to himself, panic rising in his throat.
'He's going to see what kind of monster I've become, and he won't want anything to do with me anymore.'
He quickly turned his face away, unable to meet Kagen's gaze.
Inside his mind, Jerga chuckled with dark amusement.
["Oh?"] Jerga mocked softly.
["My grand Holy Knight, are you actually frightened of a little rejection?"]
Lucien completely ignored the demon's voice, his hands trembling on his laps.
Kagen sat quietly on the couch, staring at the visible dark marks, the exhaustion etched into Lucien's face, the countless unhealed injuries beneath his clothes, and the remaining drops of rainwater still trapped in the ends of his silver hair.
This man hadn't crossed dimensional boundaries because he wanted power, glory, or revenge. He had crossed them simply because he couldn't bear the thought of living in a world without him.
And he could see that visibly well.
Lucien slowly pulled himself further away toward the edge of the couch cushion.
"I completely understand if you don't want a corrupted—"
Before he could finish his sentence, Kagen reached out and grabbed Lucien's right wrist tightly.
Lucien froze in place.
Kagen pulled Lucien's hand firmly back toward himself.
"Don't do that."
Lucien stared at him in utter shock.
Kagen's voice trembled with fierce emotion. "Don't you dare try to pull away from me ever again."
Lucien's eyes widened in surprise.
"You crossed entire worlds for my sake!" Kagen shouted softly, tears spilling over his eyelashes. "You became something you never wanted to become because you completely refused to give up on finding me!"
A clear tear rolled down Kagen's cheek. "So don't you dare sit there and wonder whether I'm going to reject you now!.. don't!"
Lucien opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.
Kagen moved closer across the couch cushions, closing the distance between them entirely.
"For three long weeks, I kept forcing myself to believe that you weren't real!"
His voice broke mid-sentence. "I kept telling myself that Edrath was just a fever dream! I told myself that none of it mattered anymore!"
He reached up with both hands and gently held Lucien's face between his warm palms.
"But then you showed up in the rain."
Lucien's breath caught in his throat.
Kagen whispered softly, looking directly into his eyes.
"You came all the way to another world just to tell me that you were sorry."
That simple truth was enough to make the very last wall inside Kagen's heart collapse completely.
He dropped his tea mug onto the wooden table and threw both of his arms tightly around Lucien's neck, pulling him close.
Lucien froze in pure shock—but only for a single heartbeat.
Then, he wrapped his long, powerful arms around Kagen's waist, holding him with intense strength. He squeezed Kagen against his chest as though he were terrified that the universe itself might try to steal him away a second time.
Lucien buried his pale face deep into the crook of Kagen's neck, his broad shoulders shaking violently.
"I'm so sorry..." Lucien's voice broke completely into a sob. "I'm so, so sorry, Cassian."
Kagen closed his eyes tightly, feeling the warm heat of Lucien's body against his own.
Lucien kept repeating the words over and over like a prayer against his skin. "I'm sorry... I should have found you so much sooner... I should have protected you from her... I should have been there with you..."
Kagen tightened his grip around Lucien's back, pressing his fingers into the soft cotton of the hoodie.
"But you're here now, aren't you?.... You actually made it to me."
Lucien began to cry openly. It wasn't a quiet, restrained weeping, nor did it carry the proud dignity of a Holy Knight. He simply broke down completely on the couch. Months of built-up fear, crushing guilt, dark grief, and unbearable longing poured out of him all at once against Kagen's shoulder.
Kagen gently stroked Lucien's soft, damp silver hair with his hand, resting his chin on his shoulder.
"You really came all this way for me... and that's the only thing that matters."
Lucien tightened his hold around Kagen's waist, whispering softly against his skin: "Wherever you go in this universe, Kagen... no matter what world or body your soul lands in... I will always cross the darkness to find you."
Kagen let out a soft, tearful laugh against Lucien's ear.
"You're a complete idiot for risking your life like that."
Lucien smiled faintly against his neck, his breathing finally beginning to steady. "I just wanted to see the person I love and be with him for as long as I breathe."
Outside the apartment building, the steady rain continued falling quietly over the sleeping city.
Cars passed by on the street below, their tires splashing through rainwater, while colorful neon signs reflected off the wet asphalt. The Earth continued moving forward as if nothing extraordinary had happened at all.
Yet inside that small, warm apartment, two souls who had once been separated by an entire universe finally held each other tight in the dark.
Kagen closed his eyes and leaned into the embrace. For the very first time since returning to his original life...
Earth didn't feel quite so lonely anymore.
And for Lucien, the strange, unfamiliar world no longer felt frightening or foreign.
Because he had finally found the only destination he had crossed entire worlds to reach.
Right here in Kagen's arms.
*****