Auren stood frozen.
The mysterious words she had just heard still lingered in the air, like an unseen echo reluctant to fade.
That voice… the same voice that had touched her mind several times before, like a cold breeze drifting from a formless place.
She tried to process everything, but her thoughts were like tangled threads—every time she tried to pull one, the others only tightened.
Why did that voice keep calling her?
What exactly was waiting for her behind all this mystery?
As Auren was still drowning in her thoughts, a gentle tap brushed her shoulder.
She flinched softly, then turned.
Lucen stood right beside her, with a warm smile that somehow never seemed to leave his face.
"You shouldn't think about it too much," he said softly, his voice as calming as a whispering breeze.
"In every life… there are always mysteries left unsolved. That's normal."
He looked at Auren with an expression hard to decipher, as if he understood something far deeper than he said.
"If you seek what lies behind those mysteries," he continued,
"nothing is impossible… as long as you're willing to reach for it."
Auren stared at him for a long moment.
The words sounded sincere—too sincere.
But it was that very sincerity that made her uneasy.
There was something about Lucen that felt… strange.
An aura around him she could not define.
But in the end, Auren took a long breath, trying to release the weight in her mind.
"…If we want to solve a mystery, we should start gathering useful information," she said with a faint smile.
Lucen nodded slowly.
"True. That's a wise step."
They walked past towering shelves of books, the library ceiling fading into darkness far above.
The atmosphere remained silent, with only the soft scrape of their footsteps echoing on the stone floor.
Auren glanced at Lucen now and then, observing.
His movements were calm—too calm.
He looked as if he belonged in this place, as though he had lived among these ancient shelves for hundreds of years.
She couldn't read the emotions behind that smile.
Was he really good?
Was he hiding something?
The thought disturbed her, yet Auren stayed close.
If she wanted the truth, watching Lucen from behind the curtain might not be a bad idea.
But the calm shattered in an instant.
A thunderous roar shook the entire castle.
The bookshelves trembled.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
A deep hum spread through the floor, as if something enormous had just inhaled the air of this world.
Auren froze.
"W-what was that…?" she whispered.
No answer.
She turned to her side.
Lucen was gone.
Auren's chest tightened with sudden panic.
"L-Lucen?" she called softly.
No reply.
Only the suffocating silence.
She swallowed, glancing toward the large library windows.
Nothing outside.
Just the bleak forest and gray sky, as always.
But that roar… it couldn't have been an illusion.
As she stepped back, something worse happened.
BRAAAK
The great library doors slammed shut on their own.
Auren jumped and rushed toward them.
She grabbed the handle—cold as ice—and pulled with all her strength.
It didn't budge.
At the same time, the light from the windows began to fade.
Slowly.
As if being stripped away from the world, thread by thread.
Auren turned toward the window.
The world beyond…
was swallowed by darkness.
Completely.
No shadows, no shapes.
Not even the faintest glimmer of light.
Just endless, absolute black.
Inside the library, only a few small candles remained—barely burning, their flames trembling as if fighting to stay alive.
Auren steadied her breathing, pushing back the panic creeping from her fingertips to her spine.
"What… is happening…?"
She turned to the shelves.
If there was any answer, it had to be hidden among the ancient knowledge there.
Auren walked slowly, letting her left hand glide along the shelf edges to guide her through the dimness.
The candles lit only small pockets of space, and thick shadows crawled along with her steps.
She began pulling out books, reading their titles, hoping for a clue.
'Bubble Dimensional Shifts'
'Ancient Darkness in Forbidden Lands'
'Phenomena of Spatial and Temporal Illusions'
None of them specifically explained this.
She gripped her guidebook tightly in her other hand, hoping it would give her a sign like before.
But the book remained silent.
Its pages unmoving.
Unlit.
She continued searching, her fingers running across spine after spine.
Some books felt warm, some frigid, as if storing something within.
When she pulled out a grayish-black book, the candle beside her nearly went out.
"Come on… don't die now…" Auren muttered.
The flickering light cast long shadows that crawled across the floor like dark arms.
Auren opened the book.
A single sentence on the first page stole her breath:
"When the light is devoured, the gates of the world will close.
Only those who can ignite the darkness may step outside."
Auren read it again.
And again.
"Ignite… the darkness?"
She swallowed.
That meant she had to use her own darkness magic.
She rubbed her hands together, trying to recall how she did it last time.
"Darkness… you're not my enemy. You're… a part of me," she whispered, steadying herself.
She closed her eyes, gathering energy into her palms.
The air around her grew colder.
A pulse of something foreign, like breath from another world, swirled around her hands.
But the magic was wild.
The energy trembled, unstable.
She tried again—this time deeper—pulling from her fear, her desperation, the emptiness she felt not long ago.
All those emotions became fuel.
Darkness gathered in her palms, forming a small vortex.
The candles flickered violently.
The vortex thickened.
With one desperate motion, Auren hurled the magic toward the great door.
BOOOOM
A supernatural shockwave thundered through the library.
The black energy struck the door, coating it like creeping fog.
Auren staggered, her knees nearly buckling.
But then—
KRRREEEKKK…
The door began to open.
Slowly.
Auren stared in disbelief.
She stepped forward and pushed it until the door swung wide open.
But the sight before her made her blood run cold.
The entire castle…
every hallway…
every window…
was wrapped in total darkness.
No light.
No sound.
Only the faint glow of distant wall candles—like the last points of life in a dying world.
Auren clutched her guidebook tightly.
"What is happening to this world…?"