That night, while Shinya and Kyle were sharing drinks and reminiscing, Nicole remained trapped in that strange dreamscape.

  Yet the figure and the parrot within the dream insisted it was not a dream at all, but a "Library."

  "A library? Why would I be in a library? What kind of library is this?" Nicole felt completely lost.

  She tried hard to recall what had happened before she arrived here.

  "I remember... Shinya and I went to Acorn Town. We saw visions of the past. Then... we ran into ghouls. Right, I was poisoned, and then..."

  Suddenly, realization dawned on her.

  "Wait... could it be... I’m already dead? Is this library the afterlife?"

  "You’re not dead, Nicole. That werewolf saved you."

  "Shinya?" Nicole quickly recalled the moments before she lost consciousness and instinctively touched her neck.

  The strange, stinging pain was still vivid in her memory, but when she felt her neck, she found no wound there.

  "What happened back then? Did he... bite me? But..." Nicole couldn’t bring herself to bIreneve it.

  She could only convince herself it had been a hallucination brought on by the poison.

  "That must be it. It was just a hallucination from the poisoning. And this place... this must be another hallucination too."

  Alice said nothing.

  She merely lowered her gaze to the book in her hands, as if the answers Nicole sought might be hidden between its pages.

  The macaw flapped its wings lightly.

  "Hallucination! Hallucination!" it squawked.

  Nicole grew increasingly agitated.

  She desperately wanted to leave this place.

  Whatever the truth was—whether this was a dream or some illusion—if she was alive, then she had to return to Shinya’s side.

  Fortunately, the head maid didn’t seem hostile toward her.

  Maybe... maybe she could ask her for help to find a way out.

  "Alice, I want to go home. I have to leave this place—I have to be by his side. Can you tell me where the exit is?"

  Alice’s hand froze over the pages. Without looking up, she replied,

  "There is no exit."

  "No exit? Then how did I get here? And how do you even know Shinya saved me? Were you there? Did you see it happen?"

  A flurry of questions tumbled out of Nicole’s mouth, but Alice offered no answer.

  Instead, it was the macaw perched on her shoulder that squawked in response,

  "She reads! She reads!"

  Nicole’s patience snapped.

  She decided she couldn’t rely on Alice.

  She would find her way back on her own.

  When she and Shinya had been trapped together in the illusion at Acorn Town, she hadn't felt nearly as frantic as she did now.

  She never expected that being separated from Shinya would leave her so anxious and unmoored.

  Nicole began following the stone paths winding through the garden, searching for an exit, only to find that every trail led to a dead end.

  Beyond the vine-covered walls, there was nothing but endless blue sky and drifting clouds.

  She tried climbing the wall by grabbing the vines, but fell back down twice in a row.

  It was after her second attempt, as she stood back up, that she noticed something strange: the broken vines were hollow inside.

  No wonder they couldn't bear her weight, despite being as thick as her fingers. They were far more fragile than the climbing plants she knew.

  Then something even stranger happened—the broken vines began to grow back at an astonishing speed, erasing any trace of the damage.

  Alice remained absorbed in her book, paying no attention to Nicole’s reckless attempts to escape.

  Left with no other choice, Nicole gave up on scaling the wall and instead ran along the deep, inviting path that led toward the towering stone structure of the "library."

  It was a tunnel woven entirely of plants, with countless blooming wisteria vines cascading down, brushing lightly over her head as she sprinted through.

  She had no time to admire the vivid beauty around her—she ran with all her might toward the massive wooden doors at the end of the path.

  Bursting out of the tunnel, she climbed a few steps and finally stood before the tightly shut doors.

  Nicole knocked on the door, but there was no response.

  She tried pushing it open, but even when she used all her strength, the heavy wooden door refused to budge.

  "Guess I'm stuck," Nicole sighed, slumping down onto the ground. "Looks like I’ll have to go back and find Alice."

  Just then, faint footsteps and voices drifted from the other side of the door.

  There’s someone inside.

  Nicole quickly got back to her feet and knocked harder.

  But no one came to open the door.

  Nicole lowered her gaze and noticed a keyhole on the wooden door.

  At first glance, it did look like a keyhole—but the size was all wrong for any normal key.

  She was certain the opening was wide enough to fit two of her fingers.

  Curious, she bent down and peered inside.

  To her horror, she found an eye staring straight back at her.

  Startled, Nicole stumbled backward several steps, nearly falling off the stairs.

  A woman's wary voice came from behind the wooden door.

  "Who are you? How did you get in here?"

  Nicole steadied herself and quickly replied,

  "I'm sorry—I didn't mean to intrude. I don't even know where this place is. I just want to go home."

  There was no further response from behind the door.

  Instead, a sudden sharp pain pricked at her wrist.

  Nicole rolled up her sleeve and found the inverted pentagram carved into her skin.

  Instantly, fear gripped her.

  Having grown up in a church, she knew all too well what it meant.

  "Go home! Go home!"

  The macaw swooped through the wisteria tunnel, circling above Nicole's head.

  Nicole looked up at it, lost and helpless, and murmured,

  "Home..."

  Could she really go back, now that she had been marked by a demon?

  Just then, without warning, the ground beneath her feet trembled violently.

  Nicole lost her balance and tumbled down the steps.

  Ignoring the pain, she scrambled up, steadying herself against the wisteria-covered wood.

  A pair of broad, black wings cast a deep shadow over the garden,

  swallowing everything in darkness.

  Nicole immediately ran toward the center of the garden.

  When she passed through the tunnel, she saw a massive black bird folding its wings as it perched atop the garden wall.

  This giant black bird wasn't like any species of wild beast or magical creature Nicole had ever seen.

  It lightly shook its pure black feathers and turned its head, fixing her with a pair of eerie violet eyes.

  The instant their gazes met, Nicole seemed to hear a horrifying voice that pierced straight into her heart.

  "Found you."

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  At that moment, the wall beneath the black bird crumbled.

  Forced to take flight again, it soared upward, circling above the Library.

  Immediately after, the garden itself began to collapse, the destruction spreading like a chain reaction.

  All the flowers, soil, stone paths, and statues disintegrated under an invisible force, falling away like cascades of sand.

  Nicolele had no time to flee.

  She hadn’t even managed to grab hold of the nearby wisteria vines before she, too, was pulled down along with the crumbling garden.

  It was then she realized—

  Beyond the garden... was open sky.

  And this grand structure had been a floating “Library,” suspended high above the clouds.

  As Nicole plummeted downward, she caught a distant glimpse of where the collapse had stopped—right at Alice’s feet.

  The maid stood poised and graceful beside the table under the pavilion, gazing at Nicole from afar.

  There was a complicated look in Alice’s eyes, as if she wished that Nicole had either never appeared here—or, having appeared, would never leave again.

  [Alice... who are you? Have we met before?]

  That fleeting thought crossed Nicole’s mind.

  But an even more pressing question quickly followed:

  If this wasn’t a dream...

  Would she even survive such a fall?

  Strangely, Nicole wasn't afraid of falling at all.

  Not only was she unafraid—there was even a faint sense of longing, as if deep down, she bIreneved she could fly.

  Of course, Nicole couldn’t fly.

  She saw luminous arrows shooting out from the towers of the "Library."

  The enormous black bird couldn't dodge them all and was ultimately forced down, its massive form slowly sinking through the sky.

  She also spotted the macaw flying near her, squawking noisily as it repeated its clumsy phrase:

  "Take off! Take off! Find the way home, the way home!"

  Suddenly, a gust of wind blew the macaw far away, leaving it unable to get close to Nicole again.

  Then Nicole heard a familiar voice.

  "What a lovely day, isn't it, little Nicole?"

  Sunlight broke through the clouds, stabbing at her eyes and forcing her to squint.

  When she opened them again, black feathers were drifting through the sky—like a snowfall of darkness under the blazing sun, both breathtaking and eerie.

  She watched as the massive black bird plummeted past her, falling faster than she was.

  Its body was riddled not just with countless arrows, but also impaled by a single massive sword forged of pure light.

  As Nicole watched the creature fall, a wizened voice echoed in her mind:

  "A lengthy journey lies ahead, tread carefully. Shadows lurk all around you."

  On her wrist, the inverted pentagram flickered and smoldered, as if to confirm the warning—its shadows unfurling like smoke and flame.

  ***

  Shinya sat quietly, his gaze fixed on Nicole, who floated within the Suncrystal.

  His eyes were filled with tenderness—and a deep, aching sorrow.

  The inverted pentagram stood out starkly against her wrist, painfully visible under the soft glow.

  There was nothing he could do for her.

  All he could do was watch as the shadows emanating from the mark burned silently under the brilliance of the light.

  After dining and bathing at Kyle’s place, Shinya still couldn’t set his worries aside.

  In the end, he decided to return to the basement and keep watch by Nicole’s side.

  Kyle hadn’t stopped him; they simply agreed to meet again at dawn.

  And so, he had come back here once more.

  The three orbs of light circling the Suncrystal cast wavering shadows behind Shinya.

  Bathed in their glow, his tall figure seemed to have lost all its strength.

  Shinya sat down facing the Suncrystal.

  One hand pressed lightly against the barrier he could not breach, his gaze lowered to the floor.

  "I'm sorry, Irene... I'm sorry, Nicole."

  Over twenty years ago, he had sworn at Irene's father's grave that he would protect her in his stead.

  Fifteen years ago, during the massacre, he and Irene had fallen from the Selt Cliffs, torn apart ever since.

  And now, faced with the returning horrors of the ghouls, he had once again failed to protect her—

  even worse, he had dragged her into becoming a target for demonic corruption.

  If his very existence only ever brought her danger, then what meaning was there in their meeting and reuniting?

  Actions without meaning—weren’t they just mistakes?

  "Was our meeting… a mistake?"

  Shinya suddenly found himself recalling the first time he met Irene.

  It had been the second year since he and his father, Aoshi, fled to the human world of the Asate Continent.

  Aoshi had become a mercenary and had made a handful of human friends who were willing to befriend a werewolf.

  Among them was Old Rogers, Irene’s father.

  Rogers was a warm-hearted, hospitable man.

  After one mission, he had invited Aoshi and Shinya to his home.

  It was there that Shinya first saw baby Irene, still lying in her cradle.

  When that tiny, chubby hand clutched onto his equally small finger and refused to let go, it felt as if she had seized his heart as well.

  That year, he had been fifteen years old—equivalent to a human child of four or five.

  And Irene had only just turned one.

  Old Rogers had laughed, saying how rare it was for Irene not to be shy around strangers.

  He joked that she must have already taken a liking to the "little big brother" in front of her.

  This so-called "big brother" watched as Irene grew from a baby into a young girl, and from a young girl into a woman ready for marriage—while he, even at over forty years old, still retained the youthful appearance of a teenager.

  Back then, Shinya hadn’t realized it yet.

  Between them stretched an invisible chasm called "race," a gulf carved by the cruel disparity of lifespan and time—one that no bridge could ever truly span.

  Irene had realized it, long ago.

  "A wolf cub must eventually return to the pack; you can't live here forever. Besides, you're the most unique shapeshifter among the werewolves. Staying in the human world will only hinder your growth..."

  His father, Aoshi, had realized it too.

  "How many times have I told you not to get too close to humans?"

  And now, finally, Shinya himself understood.

  But by now, everything had changed.

  In that critical moment, to give Nicole the strength to resist the poison, to keep her alive,

  Shinya had sacrificed half his own lifespan, turning Nicole into a "half-blood"—

  a hybrid of human and Bloodwolf.

  A "half-blood" typically lived between ninety and a hundred and ten years,

  slightly longer than an ordinary human.

  Now, Shinya’s remaining years barely surpassed that number by a few decades.

  He had paid a brutal price,sealing that rift between them—at least for a while.

  And yet, a single great blade had cleaved it open again.

  That demon had so easily spoken Shinya’s full name, and had branded his mark onto Nicole’s body.

  [Who the hell is he? What is he trying to do?]

  [If his real target is me... if Nicole is only caught in this because of me...

  then does my staying by her side even have any meaning?

  I can't even fully protect her from these dark creatures.]

  "Nicole... do I even deserve... to stay by your side?"

  Shinya's murmur echoed through the bright underground chamber, a prayer cast into the void, unanswered.

  Nicole floated silently at the center of the Suncrystal,

  her lips parting and closing as if calling out a name.

  Yet this soundless plea would never reach the one she called for.

  Around Shinya, there was nothing but endless silence.

  The slow dance of light and shadow, and dreams drawn from a distant past, quietly pulled him into unconsciousness.

  ***

  His four paws splashed through the mud, the torrential rain pouring down like a prison of cold iron, binding his movements and stealing the strength from his limbs.

  But he could not stop—he must not.

  Behind him, the ghouls pursued relentlessly.

  Clutched tightly to his chest, an infant wailed and cried.

  "Irene... be good... don't be afraid. We can escape. We will..."

  The roar of the rain drowned out the desperate scrabbling of the young black panther, devouring the last flickers of hope in his heart.

  For he realized, at last, that in the blinding storm, he had lost his way.

  Before him, there was no road—only a sheer cliff and a thundering waterfall.

  There was no way for him to escape with Irene from here.

  Lost and desperate, he was driven step by step toward the cliff’s edge by the relentless ghouls.

  In the final scramble to dodge their attack, the bundle of cloth swaddling Irene finally slipped loose.

  She was flung out into the void.

  The black panther’s first instinct was to reach out with his claws to catch her.

  But then, in a split second, he remembered—his claws could hurt her.

  It was this moment of hesitation that cost him his last chance.

  The frail little figure tumbled off the cliff, swallowed instantly by the raging waters below.

  The roaring of the flood sounded like thunder in his ears, but he could no longer hear anything.

  He saw himself kneeling motionless in a pool of blood.

  The crimson liquid mirrored his face—he didn’t even know when he had shifted back into human form.

  Turning his head, he saw the hills littered with corpses.

  The slaughtered villagers of Acorn Town, the ghouls that kept crawling even when torn to shreds, and his father—whose head had been crushed into pulp…

  Terror stole his sanity, shattering the last of his defenses.

  He felt himself plunging into a bottomless abyss, becoming nothing more than a bubble in a stormy sea.

  The tide swept him into the darkness.

  And atop the cliff, where the faint light barely reached, a shadowy figure stood, blurred and indistinct.

  Dozens of ghouls stood beside the figure, lined up like disciplined soldiers.

  Only those violet eyes seemed to pierce through time itself, locking onto Shinya as he sank into the dark tide.

  "It’s been a long time, Akane Shinya. You've grown."

  Those eerie violet eyes were set into a face—

  a face all too familiar.

  The freezing waves crashed against Shinya, sending a shudder through his body.

  Because the face looking down at him—

  was his own.