11:12:23 | Saturday,August, 7, 3210 M — The world of the unconscious and the nowhere
The world of the unconscious and the nowhere was a distorted world, full of errors; the sky there split into black squares that faded in and out, and reality itself failed to hold steady.
Hanging in its heavens were cracked moons suspended in nothingness, some broken in half, others leaking white lines of light like wounds.
As for the ground, it was nothing but a reflective surface stretching into infinity, like a black mirror reflecting the distorted sky above it, until it became impossible to tell where the top ended and the bottom began.
In the middle of this place, there was a dark wooden table, neatly arranged.
A cup of black coffee and a cup of tea rested on top of it, both still releasing slow curls of steam into the surreal atmosphere.
On either side of the table sat two people.
"Come on, tell me, Ray," the woman broke the silence, her gray eyes reflecting the eerie light of the cracked moons above.
"Do you believe in gods?"
Ray stared back at her, his cold gaze holding an equal mix of contempt and fatigue.
He was a tall, thin young man with calm features, resting his face against his right hand with one leg crossed over the other.
Taking a slow sip of his tea, he shifted his shoulders, causing his long white coat—decorated with faint golden lines—to rustle over his formal black shirt, dark tie, and elegant black vest.
"I believe in the Eternal Creator, the one with absolute power, Nora," Ray answered evenly.
As he spoke, a few faint red strands of his deeply divided hair—pitch black on one side, silver-white on the other—swayed near his left eye.
Beside him, resting quietly, was a long sword in a black scabbard.
Nora let out a mocking sound, shifting her weight.
Her long black hair, cascading all the way past her waist, shifted with her.
She had her legs propped up on the table without a care, the black high-heeled shoes clicking lightly against the dark wood.
"So you deny the Twenty-Two Founders?" she asked, a smirk playing on her lips.
"No, not necessarily," Ray replied.
"I believe one of them is the Eternal Creator."
"Isn't that just an excuse you made up to justify choosing the weaker path?" Nora tilted her head.
Her long white coat was open at the front, revealing a tight black outfit reinforced with leather straps.
Thin silver chains encircled her waist and thighs, clinking softly as she moved.
The upper part of her outfit daringly exposed her stomach and part of her chest, dropping down to a short black skirt with uneven edges resting at her waist.
"Maybe. Who knows?" Ray said, unfazed by her taunt.
"But I believe in sin, and I deny everything else."
Nora twirled the long black staff resting in her hand.
Its end formed a spiked circle, resembling a black sun trapped inside a cage.
"Didn't you choose it out of spite toward your father?"
Ray stared down at his cup for a long moment.
"And what do you know, then?" he finally said, his voice deadly calm.
"Still, that is better than believing in the devil."
Nora lifted her cup and took a delicate sip of tea.
"So, what do you plan to do now? We can't continue together because of your naive recklessness. Should you really have killed them all?"
"If I could have done it twice, I would have," Ray stated without a shred of regret.
"But because of that, we'll have to part ways," Nora pointed out, her tone darkening,
"and my father will be furious."
"I don't care about that old man," Ray shot back.
"And I'd rather not be in the same universe as the one you live in."
Nora let out a quiet, chilling laugh.
"Heh… You're funny, little brother. But you are not being cute, and that is exactly what will happen."
Ray slowly lifted his gaze to meet hers.
"What do you mean?"
"I received an invitation to join SCP… the Secret Curfew Program," she announced smoothly.
Ray's eyes widened slightly in surprise.
"That's amazing… so we've reached heaven?"
"Not quite," Nora corrected him, enjoying his reaction.
"The invitation makes you a member of the Dusk Sweepers with the rank of border guard, but…"
"One of us has to go into exile," Ray finished the thought, the realization settling in.
Nora stared into her cup, her mocking smile returning.
"Wow… you really are smart, little brother. So how do we decide? Do we flip a coin?"
The moment those words left her lips, Ray sprang backward, instantly putting distance between himself and her reach.
"What is wrong with you, little brother, running away from a simple killing intent like that?" Nora sighed in mock disappointment.
"And you even spilled the tea I prepared for you with love."
"Sorry, sister, but I am not starting from exile," Ray declared, settling into a defensive stance.
"No, no. Are you objecting?" Nora's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Looks like you need punishment."
Suddenly, seven shadows manifested around her.
One rode a horse, another covered the sky with night, a third turned the earth into a barren wasteland, and four more carried a sword, a spear, a ply, and a pen.
Ray drew his katana, The Laughing Kid.
Wings burst violently from his back as he lunged at the shadow that covered the sky.
He twisted mid-air, avoiding the exploding birds that emerged from the dark mass, and sliced the shadow in two—but the darkness immediately returned, fusing itself back together.
Descending rapidly, Ray saw pale hands rising from the mirrored ground around him, clawing wildly to seize him and drag him down.
He leapt away, but at that exact instant, the spear-shadow rushed at him.
He blocked the heavy thrust with his katana, only for the sword-shadow to sweep straight toward his side, forcing him into a desperate backward retreat.
In the midst of the chaos, Ray realized Nora had vanished.
Clenching his teeth, he pulled his revolver from his waist and fired blindly into the empty space in front of him.
Nora materialized in a brief flash of light, effortlessly dodging the bullet.
Instantly, dozens of light swords formed behind her back.
With a gesture, they shot toward him all at once.
Ray violently flapped his wings, maneuvering between the deadly blades and avoiding them by a hair's breadth, before using his momentum to deflect them back toward Nora.
But darkness coiled around her like a black vortex, swallowing the swords before she disappeared once more.
A split second later, she materialized directly beside him, gripping a giant scythe made of pure light.
With one ruthless strike, she severed his right arm and wing.
Ray plummeted to the ground.
Instantly, the hands rising from the reflective surface seized him, binding his limbs tightly.
He looked up at her, panting heavily, while his severed arm slowly began to regenerate and the remnants of his wings gradually disappeared into his back.
Nora landed gracefully in front of him, staring down at him with utter disdain.
"Do you really think you can defeat a fifth-level blessed bearer when you only chose your god yesterday? Know your place, you wretch."
Ray grit his teeth and grabbed the shadow restraining him beneath his hand.
"Erosion," he whispered.
The shadow began to crumble little by little until it vanished completely.
With its disappearance, his body broke free of the restraints.
He launched himself straight at Nora.
A dense cloud of darkness moved instinctively to shield her, but Ray spoke one word calmly:
"Preservation."
Nora froze in place, utterly paralyzed for a few agonizing moments.
In a blur of motion, Ray appeared directly behind her, aiming the barrel of his revolver straight at her head.
"Checkmate," he breathed.
Nora's eyes widened slightly in shock, but then, a slow smile crept across her face.
"My, my… so this is the ability you gained? Not bad… I actually like it. But how? Your path should not allow that ability… unless you already had it."
"Are you surrendering, sister?" Ray asked, his finger tight on the trigger.
"Your cloud won't stop my bullet, and your shadows won't reach me in time."
"And do you think you are the only one who received a good ability?" Nora chuckled darkly.
The very next moment—
Another Nora stepped out from directly behind him and drove her heavy staff straight into his core.
Ray's body went completely rigid.
He coughed up a mouthful of blood.
At the same time, the pen-shadow finished drawing a glowing seal beneath his feet, while the scroll-shadow finished chanting a strange hymn that entirely nullified his ability.
Ray's eyes slowly widened as the horrifying realization set in.
"All this time… I was only fighting a copy of you?"
He coughed up blood again, his strength fading.
"How weak I am…"
The real Nora approached him casually, bending down slightly to look him in the eye.
"So you lost. I'll join the SCP… and you go rot in exile."
Ray lifted his heavy head with immense difficulty.
Despite the blood dripping from his chin, he managed to smile.
"I'll find a way out… and I'll climb the tree again… and I'll destroy this guilty world. I will be the one to reshape it."
Nora gave him a faint, pitying smile.
"That is, unless I solve the six riddles before you do."
She turned away, then paused, looking over her shoulder as if she had just remembered something trivial.
"Ah, right… I almost forgot. My father is sending Sarah to the Swamp of chaos."
A heavy, suffocating silence fell between them for a few seconds.
Then, Ray spoke, his voice completely devoid of any warmth.
"I don't care about that whore."