A heavy silence filled the room.
Pia's words echoed in my head.
"Anyone who crosses from that world to this… loses their sanity. They become unstable, chaotic, dangerous. It's as if their very existence is being rejected by the world they don't belong to."
Barren was the first to break the cold silence. His voice was low. "So what you're saying is… Kathleen's very existence in this world is a mistake?"
Pia hesitated. "Yes, but—"
"But what?" Eddy cut in, his tone sharper than before.
Pia took a deep breath. "It's true that the world itself rejects people from the other side, but it's not always instant. Some people last weeks, some months… some even years before the effects fully take hold. But when it does…" She clenched her fists. "There's no coming back from it. The mind breaks. They become something… inhuman."
I swallowed hard. The way she spoke—she had seen it happen before.
"When did Kathleen come to this world?" I asked.
"It was two years ago, when Viola died."
Two years… That means—No, I don't even want to think what that means.
"So, what's going to happen to Kathleen?" Simon finally asked, his voice quiet.
Pia glanced at Alexander. He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "It depends," she admitted. "If she stays in this world too long, eventually she'll lose herself. Her memories, her emotions… her sense of self. She'll become something else entirely. A shell of a person."
No one spoke for a long time.
I broke the silence. "How can we trust this girl who claims to be a goddess? I think she's lying."
Barren suddenly let out a laugh—a bitter, humorless sound. "I wish she was lying. Didn't you notice where we are?"
Something was strange about this place. It didn't feel… real.
Pia hesitated again, glancing at Alexander as if seeking permission.
"Precisely. I didn't think you would notice. This is not your world. Right now, we are inside my domain."
"But that doesn't prove she's a goddess," Simon exclaimed.
"Yes," Barren agreed. "But do you remember meeting her before today?"
"No, I don't think so," Simon replied.
"Did we tell her about Viola?" Barren asked again.
"No."
"Then if we didn't meet her before, and we never mentioned Viola… how does she know about her?"
I didn't want to believe it either. But the truth was undeniable. Pia was telling the truth.
"What now? How can we prevent Kathleen from losing control?" Eddy asked.
"We have to send her back. To her own world, where she has family and friends waiting for her. That's the best we can do."
"That would be best for her," Pia said softly.
"But how?" Eddy asked.
Alexander stepped in before Pia could answer. "That… we can't explain to you. Otherwise, there will be consequences."
"First, we have to find Kathleen as soon as possible," Pia added, her voice tense. "She doesn't have much time left."
"If we don't act quickly, it will cost a lot of lives," Alexander continued. "She will turn into a monster, and then—"
"But she can't even use magic!" I screamed.
"Yes. For now," Pia admitted. "But when she loses control, she'll be able to manipulate unpurified mana around her. If that happens… a catastrophe will strike Luminous City."
I could feel my jaw clench.
Pia and Alexander… they were still hiding something. They weren't telling us everything. That much was obvious.
"The black card," Barren said, his voice tense. "All of the adventurers who got the black card… that means they don't belong here, right?"
"Yes, precisely," Pia confirmed. "The ones who came from the other world are marked with black cards."
Alexander sighed and reached into his pocket. "Here," he said, pulling out his own card.
It was black. Just like Kathleen's.
A cold chill ran down my spine.
But there was something different. We couldn't understand what was written on Kathleen's card, but the writing on Alexander's… it was different somehow. I still couldn't read it, but I knew it wasn't the same.
"That means you're—"
"No," Alexander cut me off, his expression unreadable. "I am not from the parallel world. And please, don't ask anything more regarding this. Just know that we can't tell you more than this… or it will be bad for you."
Eddy's gaze didn't waver. "Can I ask one last question?" His voice was firm.
Alexander hesitated, then nodded. "Go ahead."
"We learned from the guild that there have been many adventurers in the past who had black cards. What happened to them?"
Alexander's jaw tightened. Pia opened her mouth to speak—
BAM!
Once again, she got hit on the head by Alexander.
But this time, she didn't just groan and clutch her head.
The air around us crackled.
In that instant, a lightning bolt shot down from the sky and struck Alexander.
"DON'T HIT ME, OKAY?! Auuuugh!" Pia yelled.
Alexander twitched, smoke rising from his clothes as he stood there, trembling.
"Th-That… hurt way more than a head hit… that's for sure…" i thought to myself
We all just stared. Did she… did she just call down lightning on him?!
With a shaky breath, Alexander finally managed to respond. "We can't say what happened to all of them. For some, the world corrected its mistake and sent them back. And for the rest… we can't say. Sorry."
With that, his body swayed—and he collapsed to the ground.
A long silence followed.
"Yeah… mental note:neverhit Pia or annoy her…"
"..."
"The preparation has been completed. Now we can finally send you and her back to her world, my liege," a woman said, kneeling in front of a man who was sitting on a throne.
"Finally… my research has paid off. Now I can go back to my world!" the man said, laughing.
"That day, I made a huge mistake that almost cost me my own life. If you hadn't saved me that day, I would have perished."
"Scarlet, my dear, get up. We have finally done it."
"Now I can go home, and I can send her to her home too."
"That day… if I hadn't taken them with me to that dungeon, none of this would have happened."
"Viola… she died because of me. And now, her counterpart… she is also suffering in this world because of me." As the man said that, his voice started to grow dimmer and dimmer.
"Scarlet, begin the preparations. Tomorrow, we will go back to our worlds."
"My liege… can I also go with you?" the woman asked.
"No."
"We can't take the risk of you going berserk."
...To be continued.