DMHS 54

“……”

“A little while ago I saw an illusion of a forest. There, someone said, ‘Beti, my beloved child, you will always be my child…’ Something like that. Do you know what it is?”

Betias did not answer.

“It’s not important, right?”

“…Yes. It’s nothing you need to care about.”

‘So it is important.’

Kian pressed his eyes with his fingers and drew his dagger. Unlike before, when he worried the Magic Tower might collapse, there was no mercy in the hand imbued with aura.

“I’ll go first.”

Kian checked the walls and pillars that had crumbled. Beyond them, he saw a familiar face. It was the mage he first met at Room 11103, the one he helped by killing the chimeras.

The mage looked visibly relieved, his face brightening.

“So it was you! I was trying to get out of the Magic Tower but lost my way. If it’s alright, would you come with me…”

Kian walked up to him. Then he stabbed the dagger straight into the crown of the mage’s head.

Puk.

The magician scattered like smoke in an instant. All that was left in his place was a pair of shoes and a bead glowing with a strange light. Kian picked up the bead and left.

Now nothing blocked Kian’s way.

If a wall appeared, he broke it. If a chimera appeared, he killed it. If a person appeared, he stabbed their crown.

There were no living people here. The Magic Tower had long since become a nest of dolls.

Kian, moving in one direction, came upon a door labeled Room 00001.

‘The Tower Master’s room.’

He was about to pass by but changed his mind.

‘There might be a clue about how the Magic Tower ended up like this.’

The Fourth Tower was a place for studying time and space. Unlike the other towers based in cities, it was set in a remote place, and the number of mages dealing with such abstract themes was small.

Even so, it was still a Magic Tower. There was a reason for the saying, “If war breaks out, go to a Magic Tower.”

The tower was covered in powerful security magic. Those without permission usually lost their way in the maze or fell into traps.

If someone had seized control of the tower despite that, only one possibility existed.

‘It was done by an insider.’

Kian finished his thought and broke down the Tower Master’s door.

Beyond the fallen door was a space no different from any other magician’s laboratory.

Bookshelves filled one wall, flasks of unknown purpose were scattered about. The difference was that unlike the false windows of other rooms, here the window was real. Fresh air blew in through the open frame.

As Kian scanned the room, he found writing in red blood on a bare wall.

The Day of Judgment Will Come

Beneath it, a woman lay collapsed. As he stepped closer, the smell of decay revealed she had been dead for some time.

Kian turned the corpse over to see her face. Judging by the long purple hair falling to her waist and the ornament on her shoulder, the dead woman was indeed the Tower Master, Laura Walders.

‘She was stabbed in the stomach with a blade.’

Kian inspected the body carefully.

‘Other parts were stabbed as well. The culprit even hit her after she was already dead.’

The murderer clearly bore a grudge against the Tower Master. Kian put down the corpse and stepped back.

‘Could the one who killed the Tower Master be the same person who filled the tower with dolls?’

That, he could not know. But it was hard to believe the lone corpse left in the doll-filled tower and the ominous words on the wall were meaningless.

To see the scene from a wider angle, Kian stepped back further. Then something bumped under his foot.

Thuk.

Kian picked up a book lying on the floor. It seemed someone had been reading that section when the attack came, because the front and back pages around the opened spot were soaked in blood.

[ Dawn is born from the heart of darkness ]

‘What is this?’

Kian read the part that was not stained with blood.

[ Take heed of the ten signs of His descent. On the day when all prophecy is fulfilled, heaven and earth will be overturned. Those who believe in the Dawn of the Abyss must always stay awake and prepare. ]

[ First, the one who guards the kingdom will not hatch from the egg. ]

[ Second, the dead will return and stain the city with blood. ]

[ Third, the land of a ruined city will turn black. ]

‘No way…’

Kian’s hand holding the book began to tremble. The Arbiter’s birth that Betias had spoken of, and these prophecies and signs.

Kian realized that the three prophecies written here had already come true.

‘The one who guards the kingdom must be Lucien. I heard Lucien didn’t hatch from his egg for a long time.’

‘The dead returning to stain the city with blood must mean the Blood Harvest Festival.’

‘The ruined city must be Chronos. Not long ago, demonization began there. Then the next one is…’

[ Fourth, those who fall from the high tower will never rise again. ]

At that moment, a shadow swished past the window, falling downward. Kian felt dread.

‘Falling from the high tower… could it mean this?’

Kian rushed to the window. At that moment, he met eyes with someone falling from a high floor of the tower. The gaze was empty.

‘A doll!’

From then, dolls began falling from the sky like hail. Falling headfirst into the ground, the dolls turned into small beads.

People with expressionless faces plunged down, while the beads bounced across the grass.

The procession of falling did not end. Kian felt his vision blur.

‘What should I do?’

The dead were dolls. If they had been like Wendy and were on leave, then it was fortunate, but if not, they had most likely already been murdered.

‘What should I do?’

The shaman who caused this would be somewhere near the tower. But inside the chaotic mana of the Magic Tower, Kian could not find the enemy.

His throat burned like it was seared. The taste of blood spread from his parched lips.

Kian clenched his fist and looked at the falling dolls, then turned his eyes to the open book.

[Fifth, it will be proclaimed to the world that judgment is near.]

From the sixth line onward, the letters were drowned in blood and unreadable.

Kian folded the book, shoved it into his inner pocket, and went outside without plan.

‘I can’t stay still.’

There might be something he could do here. Rescue survivors hiding in corners, or kill the damned shaman. If not that, then something, anything…

‘Please, anything…’

Without knowing what he himself wanted, Kian climbed the spiral staircase. As he went up the endlessly winding steps, dolls kept dropping from the windows that connected to the outside.

All the empty eyes stared at Kian. He began to hear hallucinated voices.

–It’s your fault.

‘No.’

It was a voice that had repeated too long. That was why Kian knew at once it was false.

–If not for you, this never would have happened.

‘It’s not my fault.’

Even so,

–If not for you alone…

‘Did I do wrong…’

His sight was soaked in blood.

‘Is it true?’

Kian stopped where he stood. Before he knew it, he had reached the top floor. He opened the white door at the end of the stairs, and a balcony connected to the outside appeared.

This was the top of the Magic Tower. Below, dolls marched out and threw themselves from the balcony.

Kian’s eyes blurred. He walked silently toward the railing. His body leaned forward as he looked down at the faraway ground.

“That’s dangerous.”

Kian felt someone grip his arm. He turned his head and saw golden hair scattering in the strong wind, and green eyes looking at him.

“Are you alright?”

It was Lucien’s voice. Kian answered in a daze.

“I found some clues while moving around the tower. First, there was the corpse of the Fourth Tower Master stabbed with a blade.”

Kian explained what he saw in the Tower Master’s room as he reached into his inner pocket.

“I confirmed six prophecies. The book is here, but…”

But his pocket was empty. The book had vanished without a trace.

“It’s gone. Maybe the book I saw wasn’t real, but an illusion.”

As Kian lowered his head in disappointment, a gentle voice sounded above him.

“Are you alright? You aren’t hurt anywhere?”

Only then did Kian look down at himself. The stench of iron was strong from his hands. From head to toe, every part of him visible was covered in chimera blood. Dried blood clinging to his eyelids made it hard to blink.

‘Ah…’

Kian unconsciously stepped back. But Lucien, who had come close, pulled him by the waist. Along with the warmth of their bodies pressed together, Lucien’s distinct scent rushed over him.

Kian unconsciously closed his eyes.

‘The smell of flowers.’

It was a fragrance subtle like evening primrose, spreading softly yet far. A scent familiar from the many nights they had spent together calmed his pounding heart. The weight on his shoulders eased naturally.

Meanwhile, Lucien brushed off the dried blood stuck to Kian’s lashes.

“It’s already hardened.”

Lucien clicked his tongue and licked Kian’s eyes. Startled, Kian opened them. His tongue, after passing over his eyelid and lashes, touched lightly his eyeball before pulling away.

“Now you can see clearly, right?”

“What, what?”

“Maybe your hearing isn’t good either.”

Muttering to himself, Lucien hugged Kian tighter. His tongue pushed into Kian’s ear canal. The contact was so natural that Kian could not gather his thoughts.

“It’s alright.”

Next, Kian felt Lucien lightly bite his cheek. Then he pressed short kisses to his nose, his chin, his forehead.

“It’s all over now.”

Finally, hot breath slipped between Kian’s parted lips.